CMS Collection

This book will show you how to sell online using the award-winning open-source Drupal web application. No prior experience of Drupal is required; you will learn all you need as you step through the creation of an online shop.

You will learn the basics of Drupal, and see how to use the standard features of Drupal to begin construction of an online shop, and improve the selling interface, handling of orders, and reporting with new modules and other customizations.

In Detail

Drupal is a free and open-source modular web application framework and content management system (CMS) written in PHP that can run in many environments, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. Drupal e-Commerce is a free, open-source, feature-rich, flexible package of modules that seamlessly adds full e-Store capabilities to Drupal.

Drupal e-Commerce is the combination of Drupal, the award-winning Drupal 5 content management system, and the e-Commerce package of modules that can be plugged into it, bringing a wealth of e-commerce functionality to the software.

In this book you will learn how to use the Drupal content management system along with its e-Commerce modules to set up and manage an online shop. We will install the software, have a look at its features, plan our shop, create our shop, look at customer management, create a design for our shop, and cover security, taxes, shipping, and even marketing our business!

If you’re new to Drupal and want to set up a powerful e-commerce system, this book is for you. If you’ve some experience of working with Drupal and want to understand how its e-commerce options can be used to power an online shop, this book will also prove invaluable.

What you will learn from this book

* Why to choose Drupal for e-commerce

* Installing and configuring Drupal and its e-Commerce module

* How Drupal and its e-Commerce module work

* Creating and managing content

* Creating and managing user accounts, roles, and permissions

* Things to think about when planning to sell online

* Structuring your site, your product catalogue, and framing a shopping process for users

* Framing business policies to handle legal and professional issues

* Branding your site by customizing default themes

* Installing new themes and creating a custom theme

* Customizing the checkout process for processing orders

* Creating a better selling experience

* Attracting customers with discounts, coupons, auctions, donations, flexicharges

* Working with taxes and shipping rules in Drupal e-Commerce

* Drupal e-Commerce’s shipping API modules

* Securing and maintaining your site (deploy, backup, restore)

* Creating and managing invoices using the Invoices module

* Integrating CiviCRM to manage appointments and log phone calls

* Improving traffic with Search Engine Optimization

* Advertising programmes, newsletters, and viral marketing campaigns

Approach

The book starts with the basics of Drupal and then steps you through the creation of an online shop, exploring Drupal further as needed. Only the features of Drupal relevant to the e-commerce application will be covered.

Written in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner, the book provides the essentials of getting your e-commerce website up and running with Drupal.

Who this book is written for

This book is for people who want to start selling online as quickly as possible, and want to see how to use the proven Drupal platform to achieve this.

The book is ideal for use in a small business with only basic in-house technical skills. It will also be useful for developers who not only want to create an e-commerce site, but also want a CMS platform for expanding the site in the future. No prior knowledge of Drupal is required. No PHP experience is expected, although it will be useful. Basic knowledge of e-commerce will also be useful, although the main concepts are introduced and covered as required.

For more details on the book please visit www.PacktPub.com/drupal-ecommerce/book

The potential for access to customers and high profitability are what drives ecommerce on the web. But with ecommerce comes a special set of needs and responsibilities. These can be managed quite effectively by utilizing the right Drupal ecommerce tools as you develop your Drupal design. In most cases, getting Drupal ecommerce right leans seeking the help of experts—Drupal experts.
Better Drupal Design With The Experts

One of the things that has a large bearing on the success of any ecommerce site—whether based in Drupal design or not—is the clarity and functionality of the website. In this aspect the success of any given ecommerce website relies heavily on the design of the website itself. A profitable business website needs to be
• Attractive and inviting, visually speaking

• Unique and cutting edge, offering the visitor something much better than average

• Utterly clear and simple in use, while still fulfilling the visitor’s needs for attractiveness, information, and functionality

• Friendly to search engines so that it also can be ranked and found

• Secure

Successful ecommerce sites give all the elements the visitor needs them to in order to convert hits to sales. But achieving all of these things and finding a way to package them nicely—and still maintain that high level of function that visitors need to complete the sale is an awful tall order. It takes a very talented and knowledgeable Drupal developer to cohesively design a profitable Drupal ecommerce site.
Your Drupal Designer—Your Key To Profitable Drupal Ecommerce

The core Drupal installation is not designed to fulfill the needs of Drupal ecommerce sites. For that, added functionality must be used. This means selecting and applying the right Drupal modules and customizing them to suit your site’s needs.
If you look at the available modules that can be used with the core Drupal application, you’ll see that there are more than 3300 modules available for use and website development. How, then, can you know what to choose and which applications are best suited for your particular flavor of ecommerce?

The only real way to be sure is to work with an expert Drupal designer who is familiar with the system, and capable of customizing the system by modifying the source application and its modules. And of course, it is imperative that that professional be able to do so without compromising the safety and security of your crucial information, or that of the visitors who are relying on you to protect them.

Drupal ecommerce adds a whole new dimension to Drupal design. As important as the safety, security, functionality and performance of Drupal ecommerce sites are, it is imperative to make sure that you work with Drupal experts who can deliver the product that will be all that you need it to be and more. Choosing Drupal designers carefully takes on a whole new level of importance when you enter into the realm of Drupal ecommerce. Do be sure that the designers and experts you choose have the knowledge, experience, and credentials behind them to deliver.

 

Author bio:-This article was written by Steve Morris. Mr. Morris runs New Media, a drupal web design Company located in downtown Denver, Colorado (http://www.NewMediaDenver.com). Newmediadenver offers Web design denver, drupal web development , Web development, Internet marketing.

Product Description
In Detail Drupal is a free and open-source modular web application framework and content management system (CMS) written in PHP that can run in many environments, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. Drupal e-Commerce is a free, open-source, feature-rich, flexible package of modules that seamlessly adds full e-Store capabilities to Drupal. Drupal e-Commerce is the combination of Drupal, the award-winning Drupal 5 content management system, and t… More >>

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Build, administer, and customize an online store using Drupal with Ubercart Create a powerful e-shop using the award-winning CMS Drupal and the robust e-commerce module Ubercart Create and manage the product catalog and insert products in manual or batch mode Apply SEO (search engine optimization) to your e-shop and adopt turn-key internet marketing techniques Implement advanced techniques like cross-selling, product comparison, coupon codes, and segmented pr… More >>