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Upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2

Categories: Web Design
Author: Carolyn Menz
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Magento is a popular open-source e-commerce content management platform that lets businesses create a completely customized online shopping experience for their customers. Magento website users, however, have recently been informed that Magento version 1 is now in end-of-life with a final sunset date expected sometime in July 2020. Currently, of the 250,000 total Magento users, only 11,000 are running Magento version 2, which means 95% of Magento website users are not. If you are among them and do not have a plan to upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2, your site could be at risk.

Why the Need for a Magento 2 Migration?

Let me explain. After July, Magento will no longer provide support for their version 1 platform; if you have an issue, you’re on your own. What’s more, by staying on Magento version 1, you expose your site to malware that can cause server attacks, website defacements and spam attacks.

Spam attacks are particularly dangerous. In essence, the malware captures information within your site and spams out emails. To make matters worse, you may not even know the issue has occurred. Websites that send spam emails are typically blacklisted. If that spam is coming from your website, search engines will expel your site from their list. When that happens, you stand to lose as much as 95% of your organic traffic, which can rapidly affect revenue.

Given the significant security risks and looming threats that you face by not running the Magento 2, why wait? The Magento 2 update is available now. Sooner or later, you’ll have to face the issue head-on. Why not do it when you have the luxury of time on your side?

How do I upgrade to Magento 2?

Let’s get into specifics. Unlike other e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, upgrading to Magento 2 is not a simple click of a button. The fact is, Magento 2 came out a decade after Magento 1. What’s great about that is the e-commerce platform has had plenty of time to make numerous updates that improve user and admin experience. The downside is a complicated Magento 1-to-Magento 2 upgrade process. It’s no small feat.

When you upgrade your Magento e-commerce platform from Magento 1 to Magento 2, you’re essentially switching to an entirely new platformFor that reason, you’ll want to hire a Magento developer who can initiate the upgrade and complete all the technical tasks required, including saving and exporting required code from Magento 1 and importing it into Magento 2, adding new code structures and testing.

What’s so great about Magento 2?

Now that we’ve gotten the tough love out of the way, it’s time to focus on the many benefits of the Magento 2 platform. The fact is, the positives absolutely outweigh the negatives. Magento 2’s new features affect every aspect of the e-commerce, online shopping experience—on both the administrative and customer-facing ends of the platform.

Here are a few of the more robust Magento 2 features:

  1. The Magento 2 upgrade supports the latest PHP for better overall site speed. A faster viewing experience for users means more orders per hour.
  2. The Magento 2 upgrade offers meta tag functions for better SEO so you can market your brand online more effectively.
  3. The Magento 2 upgrade offers a cleaner code with a user-friendly dashboard, making customization easier than ever to achieve.

Switching to something new and unknown always has its risks. But in this case, doing nothing opens you up to greater risk with higher costs. Better to do something now when you still have the Magento 1 support available to you rather than later when your site crashes and you’re faced with reactive damage control measures with no technical support to guide the process. When that happens, you risk losing time, money and even customers.

To upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2, look for support from a Magento development company. By working with a skilled Magento 2 developer, you’ll remove that burden from your plate, minimize costly migration risks and end up with a Magento e-commerce site that’s far superior to what you have today—and fully supported.

If you are looking to learn more about the Magento 2 upgrade for your website, contact us today!

Carolyn KO 326x375

About the Author

Carolyn is COO at Paradigm Marketing and Design, where she oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations and ensures the quality of every deliverable that crosses our desks. At Paradigm, we believe every project has a purpose, and Carolyn makes it her mission to turn that belief into reality with strategic guidance and oversight that help businesses achieve growth goals and maintain their competitive edge. 

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