I’ll cut to the chase my Magento peeps..

Before you upload all of your products into Magento, follow a few simple steps and you can save mucho tiempo.

attributes
1.  Plan out your product types (shoes, shirts, watches)
2.  Create your product attributes
3.  Create your attribute groups (combinations of attributes)
4.  Apply the appropriate attribute group to your product types.  While not a impossible to fix, it’s time consuming if you have already setup your configurable or grouped products.

Planning out your attributes can be time consuming; dont rush.  You will be rewarded with some sweet layered navigation and sorting options once only available to higher end commerce tools.

Rock on.