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At OneStepCheckout, we have always been all about improving online sales conversion. In that spirit, we invited Abdur Rahman, the Magento whizz at Cloudways, who is sharing with us the benefits of combining his hosting solution and our checkout extension as well as how to install OneStepCheckout on Cloudways hosted Magento 2 stores.
(Spoiler alert: there is an exclusive Discount Code for our readers)
Three factors of success for eCommerce stores
Over this long time, some things have remained consistent – the success of almost every eCommerce store is dependent upon three factors. All these factors come together to ensure that the store offers the best user experience that directly translates into brand recognition, traction and ultimately revenues.
The first of these factors is the choice of the platform that powers the eCommerce store. Given the complexities of running an eCommerce business, it is important that the platform should be robust enough to take care of all essential operational requirements of the business in the terms that are clear to a layperson. Magento is one such platform that is powerful and easy-to-use enough to be of service to both the novice and the expert.
Next, and equally important is the hosting solution that powers the webshop. Compared to other eCommerce platforms, Magento requires higher server resources (such as RAM, bandwidth, processing power) for optimal operation. If you have opted for Magento, it is a good bet to host your Magento store on cloud-based hosting because of the best mix of server resource availability and operational reliability (read, minimum downtime).
Finally, out of all the store-level operations, checkout is where the deal often goes sour for many shoppers. A simple and easy-to-use checkout process is essential for ensuring that the visitor goes through the last critical checkout process without any hassle and the store scores a sale!
If you are reading this article, you have already decided on Magento as your eCommerce platform of choice. Thus, I will now introduce a great cloud hosting platform and a powerful Magento checkout extension that adds great value to your eCommerce store.
Introducing Cloudways – Your Managed Magento Cloud Host
Cloudways is a managed Magento cloud hosting provider that emphasizes simplicity and choice. You have the choice of hosting your store on the top five IaaS providers including AWS, GCE, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode.
Magento businesses come in all sizes and shapes. Magento developers have different experience levels from beginner to pro. One thing is sure: running an eCommerce business is a full-time task and requires all the attention of the store owner.
Since Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting provider, it takes over all the server management hassles – in fact, you can get a Magento store up and running within minutes without having extensive knowledge of server setup or security.
Blazing Performance
The highly optimized stack on which your Magento store is hosted ensures blazing fast performance for your Magento store. This stack is supported by industry-standard caches such as FPC, Varnish, Memcached, and Redis. Finally, the PHP 7 ready servers allow you to leverage the latest Magento versions for your benefit.
Managed Security
Security is one of the most important aspects of Cloudways managed servers. Security is built into the Cloudways platform from the ground up. That’s why when you opt for a Cloudways managed Magento hosting, you get 1-click free SSL certificates, 2FA on platform login, secure SSH & SFTP connection, and end-to-end HTTPS encryption for ironclad security.
24/7 Expert Support
Cloudways offers 24/7 live support by expert cloud engineers. This support is augmented by an active community team and a detailed Magento focused knowledgebase. When migrating your Magento store to the Cloudways Platform, you are in good hands, thanks to the stellar support. BTW, the first migration is completely FREE.
Power Up your Magento Stores with OneStepCheckout
Since checkout is the make-or-break process, it is important to have a feature-rich extension that adds value for the shoppers.
The native Magento checkout process is quite long and forces the user to go through several steps that could result in high cart abandonment rates for the store. In addition, this process has the following shortcomings:
- The hidden costs are often not visible immediately.
- The page load speed is often not ideal.
- The original form requires some effort.
OneStepCheckout is a powerful Magento extension that greatly simplifies the checkout process and essentially condenses a multi-step process into a single page. In particular, the extension:
- Excludes unwanted fields
- Offers built-in delivery date picker
- Supports all major payment providers
- Offers order confirmation popup
- Offers multiple registration and guest- purchase options
Installing OneStepCheckout Extension on Cloudways Hosted Magento Stores
Cloudways has greatly simplified the process of managing your Magento store. As such, the process of installing the extension on your store is super easy. The process has two major parts:
- Launch a Magento App on Cloudways Managed Server
- Install OneStepCheckout with Composer
1. Launch a Magento App on Cloudways Managed Server
First login to the Cloudways platform. If this is your first time on the platform, signup and get a 20% OFF discount for 3 months on your hosting fee with the promo code OSCPROMO.
Next, click Add Server to select the IaaS provider and the Magento version of your choice.
Cloudways have the latest versions for both Magento 1 and Magento 2.
Once you have selected your Magento version, select the cloud hosting provider that fits your requirements.
Nest, select the server specifications for your applications. The good thing is that you can easily scale your server resources to accommodate the needs of the growing business. Next, select the data center for your server. Remember to host the server at the data center closest to your target audience for lightening-fast store performance.
Click the Launch button to launch the server and the Magento application.
Within minutes, your server will be up-and-running
Server Overview
Now that the server and the store are operational, I will go into the details of the next part of the extension installation process.
2. OneStepCheckout Installation with Composer
Get your personal composer channel details from OneStepCheckout . OneStepCheckout provides each customer with their personal composer channel for easy installation and upgrading process.
To use the composer channel you first need to add this with composer:
composer config repositories.osc_iosc composer your_unique_channel_url
Next up we can use composer to install the latest package:
composer require “onestepcheckout/iosc”
If OneStepCheckout is installed and dependencies added we can proceed with enabling the extension:
php bin/magento module:enable Onestepcheckout_Iosc
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile # only if not in developer mode
php bin/magento cache:flush
After that OneStepCheckout is installed and you can see the settings:
log in to admin and go to Stores > Configuration > Sales > OneStepCheckout
OneStepCheckout Installation by providing files to filesystem and getting dependencies with composer
Start by downloading the extension from OneStepCheckout
When you have purchased the extension, upload it to the Magento root directory, app/code/Onestepcheckout/Iosc
Now run the following commands to install the extension through Composer:
php bin/magento module:enable Onestepcheckout_Iosc
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento cache:flush
In the next step, log in to the Magento admin panel and move to OneStepCheckout configuration. Use the path: Stores > Configuration > Sales > OneStepCheckout
Configure the OneStepCheckout extension to offer an easy checkout process to your customers.
Let’s see how it look like after successful configuration.
Wrapping Up
Magento is one of the most popular platforms for building eCommerce stores. To enhance this already-powerful platform, experts recommend hosting Magento stores on managed cloud hosting solutions so that you can dedicate all your time to your business. Finally, you need a powerful extension such as OneStepCheckout to ensure smoother user experience and simpler checkout process at your store.
Signup with Cloudways
and get a 20% OFF discount with promo code OSCPROMO
HOLIDAY SPECIAL: 40% OFF for 3 Months on All Plans
Promo Code: BFCM40
Validity: Starts November 14th til December 4th, 2019
Play with OneStepCheckout DEMO for Magento 2
Love the cover picture? It’s a church in the village of Miellieha in Malta, where Cloudways is based.