Do you have clients who are reporting that their customers are unable to checkout, but you can't find any problem with your client's Magento checkout process? Are customers of your Magento site complaining that they have to re-enter their address because they can't check out? We may have an answer for you! Yesterday, we discovered the source of a particularly ugly issue that has been plaguing one of our clients. For months, customers of this client's Magento site have been complaining of problems checking out, but we've never been able to reproduce their issues. We found out yesterday that their was a gap in some of the customer data that had been imported into Magento when the site was first built. Some customers have customer accounts with saved addresses, but those addresses do not...

We decided Classy Llama Studios would not be complete until we adopted our own mascot. Meet Cindy: We adopted Cindy from Mountain Meadow Llama Ranch yesterday after a few months of paper work and transporting her from Romana California. She's four years old and has two geldings, one in Paris, Oregon and another Versailles, Missouri. We're planning on reuniting her and her young gelding later this Spring. Charles, biting off more than he can chew... as usual She'll be taking on the Team Morale Manager fulltime by being available at our office for rides around the block anytime one our team members needs a break. We'll be saving about $3,500/month by not having to rent Charles the alpaca. Apparently, he was tired of the team making fun of him for his inability to produce enough fiber....

One of the things that we treasure most here at Classy Llama Studios is trust. We operate as a very close knit team, in an environment that is open, free and flexible. Its an incredibly powerful way to operate, and makes working together a beautiful experience because we don't waste time on politics or power plays or jockeying for position. Everyone strives for the good of the team and the growth of our clients, and the synergy that is created by that is very powerful. But maintaining an operating environment like this isn't easy, and it requires above almost everything else that everyone on the team have a mutual trust and respect for each other. To work in an environment where you are very open, about everything including your faults, means that people have more opportunities than they...

What is it that makes people hate their jobs? "I don't get paid enough?"  Possibly. "My boss is an idiot."  Feasible. "The hours are too long."  Perhaps. "I'm not productive enough."  ... HUH? That's not something you'll hear often.  You'll never hear someone complain that they're not productive enough; probably because they'd get fired. Why is this question avoided so often?  I believe that productivity, or lack thereof, can play a huge part in how fulfilling a person's job can be.  Doesn't it make sense for someone to be frustrated?  5 days per week, working 8-10 hours doing nothing, accomplishing very little, and making zero progress?  Sounds like fun, eh? Sadly, too many people believe this is the only option; they'll have to deal with it for the rest of their lives; just...

Introduction No matter what you sell online, there are three core constituents to revenue:  Traffic, Conversion Rate, and Average Order Size.  In fact, it's a cubic equation: Revenue = Traffic (#) x Conversion (%) x Average Order Size ($).  So if you generate 21,000 visits in a month with a conversion rate of 3.00% and an average order size of $156.23, your revenue is $98,424.90 (21,000 x 3.00% x $156.23). If you can analyze each of these variables effectively, the e-commerce world is your banana.  I hope that by the end of this article series, you'll understand the "sub-variables" that affect each of these core revenue variables, equipping you with the tools to optimize your e-commerce revenue.  (btw, many of these principles apply to business in general, not just e-commerce) This...

We have seen dramatic increases in site traffic and better native search positioning for our clients, but we wanted to be sure that the SEO value of  sites that had built great positioning through years of business would not be lost when switching to Magento and using 301 redirects.  As Magento Professional Partners, we now have access to a whole new world of resources through Varien, so we asked them about what results they had seen.  Here is a portion of their response, straight from one of Varien's many clients: "Yesterday I attended a very interesting presentation of the new Jack Wolfskin online shop (Globetrotter in Germany) based on Magento (yet community, next year enterprise). They seemed to be very happy with your product and increased traffic (+ customers) by 600% in 10...