Customer Paradigm Blog

  • Google Penguin 2.0: SEO Changes and Importance

    May 20, 2013

    Alisa Carscaden

    Another Google update has been announced by Matt Cutts, head of Google's web spam team and our face for all Google algorithm information. This one has been lovingly named "Google 2.0" courtesy of the internal Google team. As always we don't know how much the changes will affect your rankings, and as always the affects are determined by your SEO practices. Below is the a short YouTube video by Matt Cutts on Google 2.0. Keep reading for what this all means for SEO, both recovering bad past work, and moving forward with white-hat ethical SEO from here.     For the best of every business, I hope that your employed SEO company is bringing you forward thinking SEM tactics, such that you are not worried at all after watching that video. If you are unsure at all, please contact us and have us evaluate your current tactics and link-profile. Algorithm…
  • Top 10 E-commerce Design Mistakes

    May 13, 2013

    Damien S. Wilhelmi

    At Customer Paradigm, we know what it takes to properly develop and aesthetically pleasing and functional E-commerce website. We have some of the absolute best Magento Programmers and Magento Developers in Colorado, so if you are in need of Magento Programming yourself, give us a call! Beyond website development, we are also a specialized Colorado SEO agency, so for all of your Colorado SEO needs, contact us now! E-Commerce Design Mistakes To Avoid E-commerce websites are a relatively new territory for both buyers and sellers, and as a result much traditional retail wisdom does not carryover to the web. Though many business professionals view websites as simple ads for their products, in reality e-commerce sites need to account for essentially all aspects of the real-world shopping experience to successfully attract and engage consumers. To safeguard against the common pitfalls of e-commerce website design, check out the 10 most common design…
  • Apple iTunes – HTML Email Error. Oops!!

    May 9, 2013

    Jeff Finkelstein

    Oops! Even the best sometimes fail. Talk about HTML email errors... I received this email from Apple, and they messed up the image source reference links: <img src="https://itc.mzstatic.comhttps://itc.mzstatic.com/itc/images/email/itc-header.png" border="0" alt="iTunes Connect" width="700" height="45">  (double https:// in there)        
  • The Web Turned 20 Years Old Last Week

    May 9, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

      Last week, the Word Wide Web officially turned 20 years old. Back on April 30, 1993, CERN issued a statement saying that the World Wide Web was now officially in the public domain. (It wasn't Al Gore.) The World Wide Web (that's why you type in "www" before a domain name to visit a site) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 on a NeXT computer. The NeXT computer was invented by Steve Jobs, after he was kicked out of Apple. But that's another story. Why was the Web created? Back in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee saw a problem: it was really difficult to share documents with other researchers. There were many different types of computer systems (many more than today), and files were often incompatible. Sharing was difficult. The World Wide Web project was "based on the philosophy that much academic information should be freely available to anyone." Berners-Lee…
  • Magento Programming: Adding a “Home” link to the top menu (Magento Way)

    April 17, 2013

    Alisa Carscaden

    So, in this article I'll give you a handy script to add a home link to the top menu. In magento 1.7, the menu is now created via an *event* (page_block_html_topmenu_gethtml_before) The catalog observer hooks into this and adds menu items as Varien_Data_Tree_Node objects. I have some samples here to show you how to add a link at the beginning of this menu. config.xml portion: Copy The Code: =============================== .... cp_layout/observer addTopMenuItems observer portion: =================================
  • Magento Imagine 2013 – Recap in Photos

    April 15, 2013

    Jeff Finkelstein

    888.772.0777 303.473.4400 It was so wonderful to see so many people at the Magento Imagine conference last week. You might have seen me walking around with a camera during the conference; I've put together a summary of what I learned at the conference, using photos to help me remember it all... Enterprise 1.13 Released The biggest news was the release of Enterprise version 1.13, announced by Magento founder, Roy Rubin (below): Magento's CTO, Matthew Mengerink Magento's Matthew Mengerink spoke about what to expect with Magento's new Enterprise 1.13, including faster indexing: For merchants with large catalogs (i.e. 50,000 products or more), Magento Enterprise 1.13 offers an 83% faster re-indexing time. And the ability to instantly have products displayed on the site, instead of a twelve-minute delay for version 1.12. What Magento Enterprise 1.13 means is that with the same hardware, you can accept 33% more orders per day: Magento Has…
  • Upgrading to Magento Enterprise 1.13 – Introduced by Roy Rubin

    April 10, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    At the Magento Imagine Conference today, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, Roy Rubin announced the release of Magento Enterprise Edition version 1.13 The biggest benefits to Magento Enterprise Edition (EE) 1.13 are all performance related. These improvements are the hardest to describe to a customer, but for large accounts, are the area that Magento has been most lacking in. We have received a lot of inquiries over the past 2 years of customers trying to squeeze the most out of Magento  We always have some way or another to help them, but the truth is just that Magento is somewhat clunky. The improvements I've seen in 1.13 indicate that Magento feels the same way, and the core team is making every effort to remedy that issue (an effort that I hope will come to full fruition in 2.0) ================================================================== Redis Support Magento EE 1.13 now support Redis NoSQL as a cacheing session storage solution. I'm not…
  • Best contract Magento Programming I’ve ever had

    March 14, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    This review for a custom Magento Enterprise reporting project just came through to us: "Amazing job guys, best contract Magento programming I've ever had. Customer service was awesome and the communication was perfect. Thank you!" We're here to help!  
  • Major Google Update to Search Rankings

    March 13, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

      This Friday or Monday, Google will be significantly updating their search algorithm to decrease web spam and increase the quality of search results for end users. Will you be affected? Read More Below >> Major Google Update to Search Rankings According to Google`s Distinguished Engineer, Matt Cutts, this will be a major update to Panda. During remarks at the SMX West conference, Cutts said, "The update will be significant and one of the most talked about Google algorithm updates this year." Panda. Panda was first released in February 2011, and was designed to punish websites that have unnatural inbound link profiles and spammy web content. For some sites, the Panda update created a 98% drop in inbound traffic to their site. The Surge. But before they dropped off the cliff in search rankings, there was a surge in traffic to their site. What was going on? Google was testing…
  • Customer Paradigm Adds Three New Magento Certified Developers

    March 12, 2013

    Alisa Carscaden

    Last Friday, Customer Paradigm has three more developers successfully complete the Magento Certified Developers exam:   What does does a Magento Certified Developer Mean? It means our developers have gone through the process of learning the Magento commerce system - inside and out.  Need a Magento Certified Developer?  Call Customer Paradigm - 303.473.4400 or visit here >> But don't take our word for it.Our developers know Magento's 150,000 lines of code inside and out, and have been tested directly by Magento and certified to work on Magento Websites.  
  • SEO Myths Debunked #7: Top #1 Position on Google

    March 6, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    This week`s SEO Myth Debunked article discusses one of the most common myths: We`ll get you to the #1 position on Google. Read More Below >> SEO Myths Debunked #7: Top #1 Position on Google The Myth: "We guarantee that you will get the top #1 ranking on Google." The Dodge: "The ranking will be for a keyword term that we choose." The Facts: It`s not difficult to rank for an obscure term that nobody searches for and nobody cares about. It`s much more difficult to rank in competitive industries, where inbound search-related traffic to sites is the engine driving eCommerce websites. Keyword terms are categorized in two ways: - Search Volume (how many people are searching for the term each month) - Competition (how many sites are competing for these keywords) For example, Customer Paradigm ranks fairly well for the competitive keyword term, "Magento Programmer." Search Volume>> Global: 12,100…
  • Choosing Between Magento Enterprise and Community Edition

    March 5, 2013

    Damien S. Wilhelmi

    The Difference Between Magento Enterprise and Community Edition History is littered with the ghosts of corporations who, out of ignorance, folly, or through plain stupidity failed to choose solutions that best fit their company. Just ask your local Blockbuster franchise. Picking the right solution for your business requires a realistic and honest assessment of your resources, finances, and goals.  While choosing between Magento Enterprise and Magento Community Edition ranks somewhere between ordering lunch and naming your firstborn, it’s closer to that kicking and screaming bundle of joy than you might think. Another way to look at it is to see the choice as choosing between college and Wikipedia: Two very different beasts, with different applications. With plans starting at $14,420 annually, Magento Enterprise costs about as much as a year of college, although it includes considerably fewer all-nighters, dive bars, and student loans. Magento Community edition, however, is free open…
  • SEO Guide: 301 Redirects Explained

    March 1, 2013

    Damien S. Wilhelmi

    What Are 301 Redirects and Why Do They Matter 301 Redirects are the most important action that can be taken when moving content from one URL to another while maintaining PageRank as well as search rankings. If done properly, the value will be transferred over slowly, meaning the value from the old URL will not be apparent immediately after the redirect has occurred. Through the slow transfer of old value to a new URL, bots are able to determine if the new page correlates in context with that of the old URL. If the context between the two URLs is not the same, the value should not be switched over since they are not, in fact, the same. Proper use of 301 redirects increases user experience by not showing a 404 error when attempting to land on a page that is not available. A 404 error page for a user…
  • Apparently Microsoft Didn’t Read My Article About Checking SSL Certificate Expiration Dates

    February 25, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    Apparently Microsoft didn't read my article, Check your SSL certificate and domain name for expiration date: http://www.customerparadigm.com/7-tips-to-get-your-website-ready-for-the-holidays-3-check-your-ssl-certificate-and-domain-name-for-expiration-date/ (Their entire cloud system crashed due to an expired SSL certificate.) Here's the Wired Article: Microsoft’s Cloud Goes Dark Across the Globe http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/microsoft-cloud-goes-poof/
  • SEO Myths Debunked #6: We`ll Get Thousands of Links To Your Site

    February 21, 2013

    Jeff Finkelstein

    This week`s SEO Myth Debunked article is about link farms, and how they can actually do more harm than good for a website. Read More Below >> SEO Myths Debunked #6: We`ll Get Thousands of Links To Your Site The Myth: "The most important thing to Google is inbound links. Through our network, we can get thousands of links pointed to your site." The Dodge: "The more links you have, the better. And you don`t have nearly enough to rank well." The Facts: Google and other search engines do, in fact, use inbound links to your site as a clue to determine how relevant your site is compared to others in your industry. It`s like a high school popularity contest. If 500 people point to one particular person (let`s call her "Amy") to say she is the most popular person, while only two people point to "Susan," a social network…
  • Emergency Magento Fix: Customer Feedback

    February 18, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    Last week, we had someone call in for an emergency fix to their Magento Commerce website.Here's a quick note a couple of days later: Hi Allison, I just wanted to let you know that everything is still working fine. My bosses are extremely happy with how promptly and quickly you guys were able to help us out. I'm hoping that as we continue to progress with the site, that I will be able to work with your team again. Thank you. Landon
  • Magento 1.7.0.2: How to Select Both PayPal Express Checkout and PayPal Standard

    February 15, 2013

    Jeff Finkelstein

    In Magento Community version 1.7.0.2, many of our clients have complained that they have not been able to select more than one PayPal method at the same time. For example, if you are running Magento Community 1.7.0.2, and want to enable both PayPal Express Checkout, as well as PayPal Website Payments Standard, the system throws an error like this: This happens when you are in the Magento admin area of the site, under the PayPal Payment Solutions: If you attempt to add both the first option (PayPal Website Payments Standard) and the fourth option (PayPal Express Checkout) at the same time, you're not able to add both at the same time. A big reason to add both is that a customer will often choose the PayPal Express Checkout option on the shopping cart page (and thereby bypass the checkout page). Mobile users are a huge reason why a website should…
  • How Companies Track You On The Web

    February 14, 2013

    Jeff Finkelstein

    For today's guest lecture by Jeff Finkelstein about how Companies Track You on the Web, the presentation is posted here: Click Here To View Presentation: How Companies Track You On The Web by Jeff Finkelstein, CustomerParadigm
  • Chapped with Your Magento Developer? Try Customer Paradigm (Lip Balm Promo Product)

    February 13, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    A few of us are going to the upcoming Magento Imagine Conference, and we just ordered a fun giveaway promo lip balm: The reasoning behind using lip balm, and the tie-in, is that many people who run Magento websites are often burned by developers who don't know what they're doing, when it comes to a complicated system like Magento. (Customer Paradigm is a Magento Silver Solutions Partner with 5 Magento Certified Developers on our team.)Plus, Las Vegas (where the conference will be held) is a very dry place. Here's what Jesse on our team designed:
  • Cupcake Sponsorship of Women Who Code

    February 13, 2013

    Customer Paradigm

    Customer Paradigm was thrilled to sponsor the Boulder-based Meetup, Women Who Code in Denver / Boulder. We're doing what we can to help bring support to all women in their coding aspirations... and this time with tasty cupcakes. Here are a few images from the event, taken by Lonny on his phone:
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