If you are looking to move your site to a new hosting company, perhaps to change the URL of your website or setup a copy of the site for testing and development purposes this guide will give a general overview of how to go about this. The steps tend to be fairly similar for any content management system so this will point you in the right direction, though for specific tips we’d recommend checking out the documentation and community sites for the CMS you are using.

 Step 1 – Backup!

The importance of creating a backup of your site before making changes to it can never be overstated, using cPanel this can be done with just a couple of clicks and could save you hours if not days of work down the line. This process shouldn’t affect your existing site however mistakes can happen so it’s always best to be on the safe side. (more…)

EM Bellentesque - $99

This is a very stylish fashion boutique store theme offering many features such as: product image sizes controlled in the back-end, slideshow with over +20 transitions, mega-menu with many multiple columns styles, constantly updating new products, best-seller, the promotional information. Featuring clean lines with large product images and an attractive layout it’s perfect for a high end fashion store.
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Monday 06/06/2011 – eBay have today announced they are purchasing the remaining 51% stake in Magento Inc. the company behind the open source eCommerce platform Magento.

The full announcement is available to read here and states that Magento will join X.Commerce, eBay’s newly created integrated open source platform group, this hopefully suggests that Magento will continue to be available free of charge as a Community Edition, as well as their commercial editions.
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Magento is right now the most complete and fully featured e-commerce system in our opinion, but unfortunately this does come at a price in performance. Whereas osCommerce, Zencart, CRE Loaded and Virtuemart all perform quite well out of the box, Magento seems slow in comparison. You could say this is a price worth paying for the additional features, but with some steps which we will go into here you will be able to make your Magento store much faster.

We’ll fully explain each tweak and the steps you need to go through to implement these on our hosting, these are all tweaks that you can do yourself without having to contact your hosting company, at least on the NetHosted Platform!

N.B. Click images for full sized versions

1. Setup Magento Caching

This is the first step you can take to speed up your Magento after a fresh install, simply login to Magento as the admin user and go to the System menu and choose Cache Management. Select the following 4 options: (more…)

A Drupal theme is a high quality design that can accentuate any website.  There are several different free Drupal templates available for download online that can help you change the look and feel of your site.  These resources for these templates are all easy to download and absolutely free, helping you to get the most out of your Drupal site.  Listed below are the ten most outstanding Drupal templates available for free.

1.       Zen: This theme is the best starting point for Drupal templates.  It is a great way for beginnings to get the most out of their theme and to build their own website.  It is probably the most user-friendly to setup with attractive options and amazing features.  Download this template here: http://drupal.org/project/zen (more…)

Sociable is a useful program that enables you to add links and icons of your favorite social networking sites to your WordPress blog and RSS feed.  This enables your readers to share any of your WordPress articles with any of the social networking sites you choose.  Normally, whenever you add icons to your site, they appear tiny like below:
 

 
With icons so small, it is sometimes difficult to click on the right one, causing your readers to give up easily.  Those who have a difficult time reading small sized print may also give up.   This does not necessarily need to happen, changing the size of the icon is simple and easy! (more…)

There are many different useful WordPress plug-ins available today that can extend and accentuate any newletter WordPress account.  It is important to remember, however, that not all plug-ins are the same.  Some are excellent in quality and can be quite helpful while others may in fact harm your site or your WordPress account.  It is important to take into consideration the different plug-ins available and choose one that is right for you.  The following list comprises the top five useful plug-ins available:

1. Subscribe2: This plug-in is a comprehensive subscription management system for your WordPress blog.  It allows you to send e-mail notifications to your subscribers via post or in an e-mail.  This also allows readers to automatically subscribe to your blog by entering an e-mail address.  (more…)

WordPress themes have become increasingly popular and most used CMS in the online industry.  They are specifically popular amongst bloggers and owners of websites.  These types of themes are extremely useful for businesses and can be used to create and plan your own business site.  There are many different WordPress theme resources available on the internet that are user-friendly and free.  These offer the best features, designs, and updated versions that can take your blog or website to the next level.  Continue reading to find the ten most outstanding free WordPress theme resources.

1.  Magazeen: This theme offers a sleek, clean, and functional look. The theme itself provides a great first impression to all who view it and is a great way to begin a new site or revitalize an existing one.  It is a designed in a way where the newest posts are automatically updated to the top of the homepage with a neat arrangement of recent posts.  There are also automatic thumbnails created that will help visitors navigate and explore your site. (more…)

The Thesis WordPress Theme is one of the most, if not the most, popular high-end theme available on the market for WordPress users. The official website claims that nearly 28,000 bloggers use Thesis. This mass amount of Thesis users must have a good reason for using the theme on their website right? Take a look at some of the features the theme offers, and decide for yourself!

1. Pricing – The Thesis WordPress theme is one of the more expensive themes available today. Two options are offered in terms of pricing. There’s the $164 “Developer’s Option” which includes the unlimited use of Thesis on sites that you own as well as the ability to install Thesis on sites for clients.  The $87 “Personal Option” offers use of Thesis on just one live website, with the ability to purchase an upgrade to the Developers Option at a $77 price. (more…)

One of the many great features of WordPress is the ability to install useful plugins to your blog. There is an enormous amount of WordPress plugins. At the time of this writing there were over 10,000 total plugins available for download! Many of the plugins are just plain awesome and serve as extremely useful additions to your blog. If you are serious about getting the most from your blog, it would be worth your time to take a look at the official plugin directory and pick out whichever plugins suit your own personal needs. I have taken the time to compile a list of the six most essential WordPress plugins. Each of them serve a unique and useful purpose, and will take your blog a step above. All of the plugins listed are compatible with WordPress 3.0.

1. All in One SEO Pack – The All in One SEO Pack is definitely the #1 must-have WordPress plugin for any blog owner. This plugin gives you full control over search engine optimization by allowing you to edit your post’s title tags, meta keywords, and meta description. This information determines what your blog’s homepage will look like in search results. (more…)