How do I manage the Blog?
In:
> MAIN > Blog
Using this section you can create or edit categories and posts.
Blog categories
By clicking on New Category or right clicking on the central part of the page, you can create a new category. The information about a category shown in the blog will depend on its design.
For each category, you can define periods of activity in which it will be displayed, or not. Also, if you have contracted "advanced filters" you will be able to filter a blog category in order to make it visible or not for certain users, groups of users, countries, etc.
The SEO of a blog category can be defined in the same way as the rest of the elements in LogiCommerce (categories, pages, products, etc). E.g. you can assign to a blog category a URL, a title, alternative texts for images, meta-descriptions and keywords. See SEO guide for more information.
Create a Post
Click on Create Post or right click on the central part of the page within a category to create a new post on the blog.
The post itself will appear in the Content section. You can upload text, images, videos, etc. Content will be in html and using an html editor you can easily create content. For more advanced users we offer the ability to edit using source code.
Information in a post displayed on the blog will depend on how it has been designed.
You can define tags for each post in order to identify it. Tags being a few keywords that relate to the post. Tags appear on the right side of the blog as a tag cloud and users can access a list of posts that match any tags you have defined.
The blog can have a search engine or the search engine of the store itself can include posts in search results. Therefore, you can decide, for each post, whether it will be Searchable or not, should you ever not want a particular post to be found through a search.
Posts will not be displayed on the blog if they are not active posts. Depending on whether they are authorized to publish or not, bloggers can activate posts, allowing them to become visible on the blog. Bloggers who are not authorized to publish, must wait for an Editor to review the post and activate it, making it visible.
You can also define the periods of activity in which a blog will be visible or not. In addition, if you have contracted "advanced filters" you will be able to filter a post to make it visible only to certain users, user groups, countries, etc.
You can also create a post and give it a specific future release date. Choosing that option means a post will not be visible on the blog until the specified date. This option can only be performed by a blogger with editing rights.
The SEO of a post can be manipulated in the same way as all other elements in LogiCommerce (categories, pages, products, etc.). You can assign a URL or title to a post; add alternative text for images, meta-descriptions and keywords, etc. See SEO guide for more information.
Linking elements to posts
The blog integrator allows you to link certain elements of your store to a post. For example, if your online shop sells food products, you can link products to a post that includes a recipe: thus enabling users to buy products to make that recipe.
In order to do this, you must first create a new section in Settings > Sections. This new section should be a Post and be entered manually.
Once the section has been created, when editing a post you can click on the Related Products icon. You can drag the products directly to the window from the catalogue in order to link them to the post.
User comments on posts
If Comments on Posts is enabled, you can batch manage them in the main menu section Blog Comments or through each post individually.
In these screen shots you can see how to moderate comments that users have made on blog posts. If you have activated Moderation of Comment Required in the general configuration of the blog, then only those comments that have been reviewed and accepted for publication will be displayed. If not, then all comments made will automatically appear on the blog.
