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Blog for Magento 2 New Features Release: Improved Blog Post Filter, Placeholder and Some More

Blog for Magento 2 New Features Release: Improved Blog Post Filter, Placeholder and Some More

When building a brand in eCommerce, a lot of merchants pay special attention to a blog and its content. They struggle to find the best software for their blog, being torn between Magento blog extensions and third party engines. It happens because blogs have gained fame as a powerful marketing tool. To evaluate the place of blogs in eCommerce we should mention a fact that 80% of companies that acquire customers use blogs for their marketing efforts. And it is reasonable. According to the Oberlo research, 55% of marketers gained new customers because of blogging. It makes this sphere prosperous and worth-to-invest-in for eCommerce businesses.

Importance of blogging in digital marketing

When you have something to share with your customers or potential customers, a business blog becomes a powerful tool. Through it, you can educate shoppers about your products or industry trends, inform them about new coming changes and company news, acquire new audiences with smart use cases, etc.

Successful blogs help businesses to gain expertise in their field - every time when an internet user comes across your articles and finds them useful, it not only contributes to your business awareness, but also has an impact on brand perception, making it associated with quality and professionalism.

Together with authority in your niche, you get free traffic and acquisition. The thing is that blogs are an additional source of content for search engines to index. So you can create content to rank for specific keywords to attract both customers and information seekers.

And finally, to create a good blog post, you will need to study the topic in different sources. It enlarges your scope and gives a boost to improve your products or customer service. 

Best Magento Blog Extension

Magento 2 users have a large selection of Blog plugins. If you are looking for a good Blog extension, you can try Blog for Magento 2 by Aheadworks. It is one of the best plugins on the market. The extension allows Magento 2 merchants to manage their blog effortlessly and configure it to meet their wants and needs. 

A wide range of useful features make Magento 2 Blog extension indispensable for creating a strong pillar for marketing campaigns:

  • Bulk editing options;
  • Scheduling feature;
  • Integration with DISQUS comment service;
  • Featured posts;
  • Related products to posts;
  • Advanced SEO;
  • Viewing permissions;
  • Customizable blog design;
  • Import and export options.

Find the full list of extension features on the product page.

What makes Blog for Magento 2 so functional and up-to-date is that it is constantly updated to improve user experience and help merchants to achieve their goals. And today we are happy to announce that the M2 Blog 2.14 update has been released! New features are added to the new extension version to simplify backend navigation and advance storefront.

Magento 2 Blog 2.14 New Features

1. Filter and sort post per store view

Blog post filter has been improved. Now backend blog navigation is more convenient for those who have a lot of blog posts that are specific for store views but share one category. It makes it easier to find posts related to a specific store view in the Post Grid using the filter option.

Filter and sort post per store view backend

2. Default featured image for blogs posts

Sometimes we miss such important elements of the blog post as a featured image. It may happen for different reasons: it’s an old post, the author missed it accidentally, the post is related to one group, and it’s easier to use one common banner for the group, etc. The empty space doesn’t look attractive to readers. However, looking through all the articles in search of those without featured images and filling them in can take much time.

That’s why with this update we have added a possibility to set up a default placeholder image. It will be displayed automatically on blog posts if no featured image is set or defined. 

To set a default featured image, you will need to go from Magento Admin to Stores > Configuration > Aheadworks Extensions > Blog > Post Image Placeholder. Upload a default image and add alt text to help search engines read it.

Default featured image for blogs posts

3. Link featured image on post page

The extension now allows users to link featured images to a specific website, but readers can follow the link only on the full article page. It is set in such a way because on a category page a featured image links to a blog post, and only when this post is opened it makes sense to offer another website link. In other words, a featured image can link to a certain website on a blog page level. 

You can add a link in blog post configuration: Content > Blog by Aheadworks> Posts > choose a post > Image Link On The Full Content Page.

Link featured image on post page

4. Minor improvements

Besides, in the version 2.14.0 Blog for Magento 2 extension got the updated GraphQL and Web API to make APIs fast, flexible and developer-friendly. 

 

Install Blog for Magento 2 and enjoy advanced functionality and smooth operation! Drive traffic and acquire new customers easily with a really quality plugin!