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Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA

Both Magento and OpenCart are robust ecommerce platforms for the serious ecommerce merchant.They are deployed worldwide by hundreds of thousands of ecommerce merchants in multiple languages and multiple currencies. Their versatility and flexibility have made them so popular. However; that also makes them hard for the average user to maintain, troubleshoot and enhance and you need professional Magento and OpenCart developers to help you out.

Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA
Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA

Both Magento and OpenCart are:

  1. Open-Source and Free
  2. Provide powerful store management features
  3. Have available a wide collection of extensions, modules and themes to suit almost every need
  4. Suitable for a wide variety of industries
  5. Flexible and customizable
  6. Worldwide support through freelancers and support agencies specializing in ecommerce
  7. Integrate well with 3rd party applications
Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA
Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA

At InterloperInc.com, we specialize in ecommerce and most of our larger clients use either Magento or OpenCart. We love them both and provide help in the areas of:

  1. Tech Support
  2. Ongoing maintenance
  3. Adding new features
  4. Integrating Magento and OpenCart with 3rd party applications
  5. Migration
  6. Design new sites or re-design existing websites / online stores
  7. Develop custom extensions, modules, themes and plugins
  8. Setup multi-vendor marketplaces

When you have a robust ecommerce platform such as Magento or OpenCart as your foundation, in the right hands, it can serve you for years to come. You can add, subtract and adapt as your business evolves and as the needs of your customers change.

Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA
Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA

You can use your ecommerce platform as a standalone ecommerce online store, you may want to import product data feeds from multiple distributors, suppliers, drop shippers. You may also want to upload your products to multiple marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Rakuten, Google Shopping and similar. We can help with all of that. The more customers see your products, the better your chances off making a sale.

We can even help you with ecommerce data entry, writing SEO friendly descriptions, images, rich snippets and content for your blogs.

It is best to get started on a few smaller projects and allow us to get to know your business better. The better we understand your business, the better we can serve you.

Give us a call. You’ll be glad you did.


Magento and OpenCart developers in Dallas DFW, Texas, USA

How to start an online Jewelry store

Are you thinking of starting an online jewelry store? Maybe you have the skills to make custom jewelry or have a really good source of merchandise and want to capitalize on that. Either way, this may be just the right time to open your own online jewelry store / ecommerce shop.

Thanks to the ever growing number of internet users, ecommerce is gathering momentum with China being the fastest-growing and biggest ecommerce market in the world. But, online shopping is increasing in popularity all over the world with USA leading the way. Entrepreneurs looking for a slice of this cake setup shop every day.

Jewelry Stores are some of the most popular ventures in internet ecommerce. Women love to buy jewelry and if you can come up with a unique design or better pricing and can promote well, you could make a decent penny.

The most popular reason for online shopping is the availability of choices and variations that you may not necessarily find in your local market. You can browse through hundreds of choices from multiple jewelry stores and decide on your own time. When ready, just a few clicks and a package shows up at your door a few days later. So whatever kind of jewelry you decide to sell, make sure you provide the kind of options that may not be available in your local stores.

How to setup an online jewelry store
How to setup an online jewelry store
  • Offer multiple shipping options. Some people are always in a hurry so make sure you have Next Day and Two Day Options available. Some companies have even started experimenting with same day delivery.

 

  • The majority of users access online stores and do their shopping from their mobile devices. Make sure your accessories and jewelry store is mobile responsive. However, this does not mean that you should ignore the users on other devices. People shop wherever is most convenient at any given time. So, reach the multi-device audience for greater profits.
  • If you have decided to start an online jewelry store, follow the trends and do not lag behind. With so many different stores and options, customers can turn elsewhere in a matter of seconds.
  • If you are wondering about how to start an online jewelry store, that is not that difficult. If you are tech. oriented and have setup a website before, you can do it yourself. But, if like most people you don’t have that kind of technical skills, do not despair. Reach out to a web development company like us (Interloper Inc.) that specializes in ecommerce. We can help you quickly setup and tweak an existing template or make a custom site depending on your needs and time frame.
  • If using a template, the site will look a bit cookie cutter but it will cost less and your jewelry store can be setup within a couple of weeks. If you prefer a custom design, a designer will put together a design that reflects your vision, targets the right demographic and also reflects the income level of the people you are targeting. If you are selling expensive jewelry, then you must go with a custom site that does not look like WalMart. On the other hand, if you are selling cheap costume jewelry but your website looks like Nordstrom, you will scare away buyers.
How to setup an online jewelry store
How to setup an online jewelry store / ecommerce shop
  • A good web development company will also make sure that your site has secure payments integrated, shipping API’s are setup correctly, transactional emails are in place and the site is setup for future SEO optimization.
  • Social media plays an important role in promoting an apparel ecommerce store so make sure the developer integrates social media.
How to setup an online jewelry shop
How to setup an online jewelry store

Tell your developer what kind of budget you want to stay within. Then let them show you some options within that budgetary range and you can proceed accordingly. Here are some sample jewelry websites and their approximate investment:

  • Budget: $1,000 to $1,500 https://girlprops.com/
    If you are selling inexpensive costume jewelry, such a site will be ideal. The presentation is simple. Categories are clearly identified. You can quickly see the items and if you like a few, quickly add them to your shopping cart and check out.
  • Budget: $2,000 to $3,000 http://jewelrynest.com/
    Better suited for premium jewelry. This is the type of jewelry website where women like to spend time, browse, bookmark some items and when the timing is right, go ahead and buy. A very good choice for professional jewelers.
  • Budget: $3,000 to $5,000 http://anjolee.com/
    This is a higher caliber jewelry website. It allows you to customize your jewelry, select the type of stones you want to add, the type of jewelry you want, detailed help, information, guidelines and is an excellent example for a serious push into online jewelry ecommerce.
Setting up an online jewelry store
How to setup an online jewelry store / ecommerce shop

Sometimes you may be tempted to skimp a little but if a better site brings you an extra sale or two a week, it may be worth it. In absolute dollars a better website sometimes looks more expensive. Let’s say a premium site is $2,000 more than an average site. Spread over an average life span of 3 to 5 years for a website, that is barely a dollar / day over the life of the website. Your website after all is a vehicle to bring you more business. If a better website brings you one additional sale a week, think about how many times the better website pays you over and over and over again.

How to setup an online jewelry store
How to setup an online jewelry store / ecommerce shop

To sum up, if the idea of an online jewelry and accessories store intrigues you, this is the best time to get started. It has huge growth potential and compared to traditional brick and mortar jewelry stores, online jewelry stores cost significantly less.

We hope this article was helpful. Good luck!

How to quickly setup an online store
Click or Call for help with setting up your online jewelry store

Why are my eBay listings showing ‘See Full Item Description’ button?’ and how to fix

A very large number of eBay sellers are seeing only a two line description on their listings and then a button that says ‘See Full Item Description’. The rest of their description including text and images have vanished. If you click on the ‘See Full Item Description’ button, then the complete description shows up on a separate page.

Wondering why is that? See eBay’s response on this subject:

Why are my eBay listings showing See Full Item Description and how to fix
Why are my eBay listings showing See Full Item Description and how to fix

What’s the fix?

If you have images in your description or table or anything that is trying to pull in data from another website, for example, your own website, and if that link is not https, then as ebay explains, this problem arises because of the Google implementation. The fix is easy but time consuming. Replace the http with https and save the listing again, and now your listing will show the full item description. However; if you don’t have the time or have a large number of listings, then you need to hire companies like us (InterloperInc.com) to go through your listings and fix them. If you have thousands of listings, then we may write a script to go through all your website and fix the URLs on your website and also on your listings.

We can help with eBay listings, templates, stores and automation
eBay issues? We can help

Fix eBay Store & Product Template for compliance with eBay Rules

Have you received an email from eBay about your eBay store or product template? Ebay is getting stricter and imposing it’s policies and unless you bring your eBay store and product template / product listings in compliance with eBay rules, they will start imposing restrictions and even account suspension.

We work with clients and help them with their eBay stores. We will fix your eBay store and product template as per eBay rules and bring it in compliance with eBay’s rules to avoid getting de-listed or suspended. Ebay has started enforcing it’s new rules and it is best to comply. We will go through your store design as well as product template and see what is and what is not in compliance and fix accordingly.

Fill out the contact form or call us and let’s get started.


 

Integration Support for OptimizePress & Membership Applications

OptimizePress is a great application for quickly and easily getting websites launched and is very popular in the internet marketing industry. Many people get started with OptimizePress on their own but sooner or later may need professional help. Are you at that stage? If so call us at 1-972-245-0340 or fill out the contact form and we’ll be glad to help you out.

OptimizePress is great at quickly creating :

  1. Landing Pages
    Create high converting landing pages
  2. Sales & Marketing Pages
    Create full scale marketing sites and sales pages
  3. Free Training & Course Pages
    Deliver free training or courses with progress bars
  4. Webinar Registration Page
    Create high impact webinar registration pages
  5. Secure Membership Portals
    Protect your content in secure membership portals
  6. Product Launch Funnels
    Use our unique LaunchSuite to create product launch funnels
  7. Authority Blogs
    Grow your audience with our premium blogging system
  8. Mobile Ready Versions of All Pages
    All your pages will be mobile responsive automatically

If you need help with any of the above, call us at 1-972-245-0340 or fill out the contact form and we’ll be glad to help you out.

We can help you with API Level Integration With:

  1. Aweber
  2. MailChimp
  3. iContact
  4. GetResponse
  5. OfficeAutopilot
  6. Infusionsoft
  7. 1ShoppingCart
  8. … Others
Need developers specializing in OptimizePress integration?
Need developers specializing in OptimizePress integration?

We can also help with the Membership Portal integration to:

  1. iMember360
  2. WishlistMember
  3. DigitalAccessPass
  4. MemberMouse
  5. FastMember
  6. Memberium
  7. … Others

Some clients need help with Affiliate Membership integration like:

  1. Hasoffers.com
  2. Idevaffiliate
  3. Cake
  4. … Others

So how can we help you? Call us at 1-972-245-0340 or fill out the contact form and we’ll be glad to help you out.


 

Social Media and PR are like Smores

Have you been trying to use one of the many social media platforms to no avail? This does not mean you are doing something wrong, you are just not doing everything you can. If you use only Facebook or Instagram to promote your services, you are not using the potential of PR.

Social media and PR should go hand in hand in order to bring optimal results for your business. Experts have proven that this strategy will boost visibility tenfold. Just like smores. You can eat the crackers and chocolate separately, but adding some marshmallows will create a deliciously sweet combination.

So, let us show you how to make smores aka how to use social media and PR to get more business. Here is the list of ingredients:

  1. Graham crackers

  2. Milk chocolate

  3. Marshmallows.

Graham crackers are the foundation of our smores, so for our intents and purposes, they are equivalent to your business. The crackers alone are not that attractive, so add some more ingredients.

Chocolate equals social media. It definitely sweetens the deal. We live in a day and age when social media presence is required of businesses. Not being present there could mean you do not exist for over 2 billion social media users. So, pick a platform you are comfortable with and engage with your audience as much as possible. Using its full potential takes some getting used to but you can get the basics down easily enough. There are so many helpful tools available that there should be no excuse.

Marshmallows are PR. Why are smores so special? The marshmallows add a certain kick to smores that is quite special. Think of it as the PR of your business. You may be doing good work but do you have a good selling point as well? In this case, use PR as a form of free publicity. Your visibility will grow and improve much faster than using just one technique. Start small by contacting your local media and explain a newsworthy event. Why, what, where, when, how did it happen? Why is it important? Write your piece and send it to the right person in your publication or media outlet of choice. Make sure it is relevant to their publication, has a good title that will hook the editor/reader and that’s pretty much it.

To resume Graham crackers + Chocolate + Marshmallows = Smores

The final step is to eat the smores. Or, better yet have your customers eat it. If they like it, chances are they will come back for more. They might even recommend it to their friends. And you will have more business that you hoped for.

We are pretty sure you got the point by now, but let us repeat it just in case. Connect with your audience on social media, connect with the editors that publish your press releases. Build a strong relationship with them. If you need more help with your social media strategy or pitching your PR to media, check out our other articles on the topic. You can also feel free to contact us for extra advice. We’d be happy to help! We love smores too!

We hope this article was helpful. Good luck!

MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas

Microsoft Access – MS Excel – Visual Basic – C#

We are based in the Dallas / Fort Worth (DFW) area of North Texas but provide support worldwide

In a rush, Call us at 972-245-0340

MS Access is an excellent tool for both single-user and multi-user business solutions. While Access may not be indicated for high volume transaction environments (such as reservation systems), it is a proven, powerful application development tool at the department-level (up to 30-40 users, in some cases more), and for small business applications (single, or multi-user).

We develop applications using Microsoft tools like:

  • MS Access
    Front end for client/server. Back end for small or mid-size databases.
  • MS SQL Server
    Back end for .NET client/server or web database.
  • Active Server Pages (ASP)
    Front end for web.
  • Visual Basic
    When you need custom controls or small distribution file.
  • Web Site Design
    Internet Information Server, HTML, VBScript, CSS, JavaScript Web page
    development and .NET network support.

Are you looking for a unique database design but not quite sure how to get there? In many situations, companies like yours truly need a custom Access database to fully optimize the data they have or want to collect and develop the functions and features that will allow them to generate intelligent reports. That’s where we come in handy. We listen to you and see what your requirements are. Then we try to figure out whether your requirements can be better handled by a custom MS Access database, a custom Excel sheet or maybe some custom coding in Visual Basic or C#.

We can help with:

  • Tables
  • Queries
  • Forms
  • Reports
  • VBA – Visual Basic for applications
  • Data import / export
  • Merging data with Word or Excel
  • Linking to SQL server data
  • Data migration
  • MS Access version updates

Custom Excel Programming:

We can help with custom excel programming and also integrate Excel with your MS Access or SQL database. We can work with you to help you get the most out of Microsoft Excel. When you come to us with a spreadsheet problem, we will try and see how our work will fit into your bigger picture. Our Excel experts have worked within, and consulted for companies of all sizes, across all industries. So although we
specialize in Excel development and coding, we are consultants as well as programmers.

MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas
MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas
  • Financial Models
  • Proposal or Quote Generators
  • Custom Reports
  • Sales and invoicing systems
  • Data Processing
  • Custom Spreadsheet Templates
  • Dashboards / Summaries
  • Automate Repetitive Tasks

Visual Basic Developer:

For many custom applications, you may need a Visual Basic programmer / developer to create custom functions for you, generate application
specific reports, perform certain database functions and create application specific UI screens.

MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas
MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas

We can help you with Visual Basic programming as well as C# where applicable. Quick access to your business information is critical.  Our database programmers create custom database applications designed to improve business productivity.  Visual Basic is used to perform data validation and creation of user-friendly features on data entry screens.  Advanced table design makes your database shareable and fast.  We perform database design and contract programming in MS Access and MS Office.

MS Access, Excel, Visual Basic and C# developers in the DFW area of North Texas
Microsoft Access – MS Excel – Visual Basic – C# developers in DFW area of North Texas

Custom Plugin Developers in the DFW North Texas area

In a rush? Call us at 972-245-0340

Custom plugin development

Whether you are using WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, sooner or later you may end up in a situation that an off-the-shelf plugin just won’t work for you. In such a situation, you’ll need a custom plugin developed only for you.

Custom Plugin Developers in the DFW North Texas area
Custom Plugin in PHP

Who does custom plugin development? We do. Do all developers develop custom plugins. No not all. A normal run of the mill WordPress developer for example is not that good at core PHP and would avoid developing custom plugins. Being a company, we have different developers for different tasks and have core PHP developers who are great at developing custom plugins or modifying existing plugins.

Custom Plugin Developers in the DFW North Texas area
Application specific custom plugins development

Some custom plugins are more geared towards presenting information in a certain way on the user facing front end. Others are meant for internal data collection and reporting and are meant for the site owners / admin.

How long does it take to develop a custom plugin and how much does it cost? There is no telling beforehand like that. We first try to understand your requirements, then we give you a quote accordingly. Just call us or fill out the contact form and help us understand what your requirements are and why an off-the-shelf plugin simply won’t work for you.
Looking forward to helping you out.

Custom Plugin Developers in the DFW North Texas area


 

 

Should I learn to build my website or outsource it?

This is a common question with cash strapped small businesses. They understand that in this day and age, every business needs to have a website. They don’t have the skills in-house to build a website. They hear these Ads suggesting they build their own and save money. Sounds convincing. Why spend money when you can do it yourself. Money is scarce isn’t it.

Before we go further, we would like to explain that just like every business is different, every website is different and costs vary accordingly. A blog will not cost as much as a photography portfolio website. An informational website will generally not cost as much as an ecommerce website. What we are trying to achieve with this article is NOT to provide you with a price chart for your website, but rather to give you an idea of everything that goes into building a website.

There is a lot that goes into building a website. First and foremost is time – whether its your own time or the time of a developer, time is an important variable in this equation. How much time do you have or how soon do you need your website? Next is your interest in gaining coding knowledge, followed by design skills and money. How much are you willing to spend on learning web development vs how much are you prepared to pay others to build it for you. The variables differ from business to business. You may lack one, two, or even three of these resources. What then? Don’t feel stuck as there is a way around everything. One resource can compensate for another. So, if you lack design skills but have time, do not fret, just start looking for a good course on web design.

Contrary to popular belief, money is actually the most flexible resource. You have time or you do not, you can code or not, you can design or not and not be willing to learn how to do it. Money on the other hand can buy you what you don’t have. If you feel something is valuable to you, you will have no qualms about paying for it. If your website has value for you, you will find a way to pay for it.

Building your own website

Let’s say you have time and want to build the website yourself. Here are some of the steps involved:

Do it yourself - web design
Do it yourself – web desig
  1. Setup

  2. Website builder

  3. Design

  4. Content creation

  5. Maintenance

Each of these will largely depend on the variables of time, technical knowledge and design skills. You can opt for professional help for parts of it if necessary.

There are two options. You do all the website building yourself, from scratch. Or, use a Drag & Drop Website builder tool like Wix or Weebly. As a drag and drop builder, Wix & Weebly require minimal technical knowledge. The only drawback is that some of the available tools may be very limited. These builders do not let you do everything you want. What’s in their existing menu is what you can use and not much else. But that may be good enough for you.

If you are a DIY type, you can create the content and graphics yourself. Since you are saving money by building the site yourself, there is a good chance that you have some spare pennies for content. You may even splurge a little on promoting the website.

Outsourcing web development to professionals

A professional developer will likely build your website using WordPress if it is a catalog or informational type of website or may switch to a different platform if complex ecommerce is involved. WordPress powers over 26% of all websites. Think of all the websites you visit. Chances are that they are WordPress sites.

Your web developer will ask you to buy a domain name (your web address) and hosting (where your website will reside). There are different types of hosting but you can start small and ramp up as the number of visitors to your site (traffic) grows. Here are sample hosting expenses:

  • Shared hosting costs $5 to $30 / month
  • VPS hosting costs $50 to $100 / month
  • Dedicated hosting $150 and up / month

If you are very particular about design, then you may go for custom design. That could cost between $750 to $2,000 and up. If you want to be on the economical side, you may buy a ready made theme that will cost around $100 and still look decent. It may look a little cookie cutter but can save you a lot of money and your developer will then adjust it to your needs.

Once the design part is done, your web developer will code the functions that you need and also integrate the design into the backend. This could run from about $500 to several thousand dollars depending on the complexity of your needs.

Don’t forget content. Once you have the web site designed and developed, you need some content. Are you going to create it yourself or hire professionals. A good copy writer may cost $500 to $1,000 and you may spend an additional $500 to $600 on a graphic designer.

The last thing is traffic, that is, visitors to your website. A website does you no good if it has no traffic. But that is a separate subject in it’s own right and we can discuss it in a separate article.

Whether you decide to build your website yourself or outsource it to professionals, you must have a website. I hope this article helped.

Good luck!

How much should a website cost you
InterloperInc.com – A web development Company