What are the Advantages of Blog Plus and Extra?

It's not a secret that an active and SEO-optimized blog drives more traffic and contributes to the overall performance of your store. A solution of choice for many, our Basic Magento 2 Blog Extension comes with a multitude of features for effective content management. Yet, as useful as they are, you can go even further.

Blog Plus and Extra plans offer you a range of advanced options that help you create a unique blog. In this article, we'll look closer at the distinctive options these plans offer. So you'll be able to choose the one for your needs.

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Custom Blog Homepage

Blog Extra edition allows you to create a custom blog homepage with Recent and Featured Posts Widgets using different templates. Thus, you can place certain info right in front of your customers' eyes and ensure the posts you share are relevant for every visitor.

22+ Templates

You can make your blog pages more attractive with the Blog Extra edition. Here, you get 22+ templates for blog index, category, and different list pages. Be sure to find a perfect option that fits your design.

Advanced URLs

Basic Blog also has permalink settings, but Blog Plus and Extra have considerably more flexible configurations. For example, you can completely get rid of the blog part from your website blog URLs and choose the pagination type for your blog list pages.

XML Sitemap Settings

Blog Plus and Extra also offer additional XML sitemap settings. Using them, you can set the priority and frequency of blog pages indexing. Besides, you can remove some pages e.g. categories from indexing.

Blog Author

The blog author in Basic Blog is the admin user. Therefore the admin's first and last names are also those of the blog author.

On the contrary, Blog Extra enables you to manage blog post authors independently from the admins. Here you can create a new author filling in all the necessary information which includes bio descriptions and the author's photo.

You can also set the author's social media links which will be displayed in the author's block on the storefront. Additionally, you can set the URL key and meta information for the author's page and the design to be applied to it.

Co-Author

Do you have two people contributing to a blog post and want to give credit to both of them? You can do it easily in the Blog Extra. Using the Co-Author functionality you can share the authorship of the publication and display multiple authors on the post view page.

Automatic 301 Redirects

 As you develop your blog, you may also need to delete or disable some of the publications. You surely don't want to get 404 error pages. Thus, you need to redirect your customers from old URLs.

The Plus and Extra editions allow you to do it automatically for the deleted and disabled blog entities. For the edited URLs, you just need to check one box and the 301 redirects will be created.

Carousel Slider

If you're looking for a way to make your related posts more engaging, there is a solution in the Blog Extra. Display related posts in a carousel slider and let readers explore more blog posts. 

Auto-Related Products and Posts

Don’t spend time arranging related products or posts manually. With Blog Plus and Extra, you can optimize the process so that related posts and products are generated and added automatically.

Related Products Rules

In addition to auto-related products, you can set the product rules. Using specific conditions, you can specify what products to display for separate posts.

This is a great step towards automation since your related products will always be relevant without constant monitoring. 

Related Posts/Products Display

Using the Basic Blog you set the related products for the blog post and vice versa. However, sometimes you might need to apply this option only partially.

Blog Plus and Extra enable you to do this with the help of two options: Display Post On Product Page or Display Product on Post Page.

Related Posts by Category/Author

Together with the related posts, you can display the latest posts from the same category under your posts. On top of that, it's possible to show posts from the same author. This way, you encourage your customers to explore your posts more thoroughly.

Posts in Category

Blog Extra enables you to assign and remove posts from a blog category on a blog category page. Besides, you can also set the position of posts in category via drag and drop.

Category management is much easier with this functionality since you don't have to assign each post to a category separately. 

Schedule Blog Posts (by time)

Want to post regularly but do not always have time to keep up with the schedule? While you can schedule posts by date in the Basic Blog, Plus and Extra plans enable you to schedule blog posts by the exact time. Before that time, blog posts won't be visible on the storefront.

Disable Posts Automatically

Except for the scheduled publication, you can specify when your blog posts should be disabled. Using the Blog Extra, you can set the End Date when creating the blog post without having to disable it manually later. Just imagine how much time you save!

Sort By End Date

The Blog Extra has additional sorting functionality. You can sort blog posts in the category by the end date — in ascending or descending order. 

Blog Pages Layout Settings

The Blog Plus and Extra editions allow you to set the layout for different blog pages. Thus, in just a few clicks you can change the layout of your page's.

Date Settings

If you need to configure the date display, Blog Plus and Extra can help you out. You can choose the date format for your posts and define if to display the date at all. You can easily change this right in the admin panel, no coding is needed.

Post Contents

Let blog readers navigate through your blog posts more easily with the blog contents widget. This feature comes with the Extra plan and allows you to create structured and easy-to-follow posts.

Featured List Image & Alt Tag

Unlike the regular featured image, the featured list image option allows you to set a post image for post lists. If this option is not set, the featured image is used by default.

Admin User Restrictions

In the Basic Blog, you can restrict certain admin users from publishing new posts. However, in Blog Plus Extra you have more options. For instance, you can restrict their right to edit already published posts.

Customer Group Restrictions

Is there any content you want to hide from certain customers? Restrict the visibility of each post or the entire blog category for a certain customer group. It's a great chance to make your content more targeted and audience-specific.

Comments Notifications

It allows you to enable comment email notifications for customers. You choose a corresponding template too. Thus, your readers will be updated should anyone reply to the comment they left earlier.

Besides, you can enable the admin email notifications for comments. This way admins know when someone comments on your posts and can respond promptly. That's a great way to keep active communication with your readers.

Disable Comments

With Blog Plus and Extra, you can choose what blog posts to disable the comments on. Thus, you have more control over the content you share and prevent unwanted spam.

Blog Search

Usually, when people search for something in your store, they get products in the search results. In Magento 2 Blog Extra edition you can integrate your blog search into the Magento 2 catalog search.

In this case, both blog posts and products will be visible in the search results. 

Blog Export

Another perk of the Blog Extra edition is that it allows you to export blog posts via the CSV file. Thus, you can edit your posts in batches, if needed, and import them right back once you finish. Just press one button and that would be it.

Blog Import

In case you were using some other platforms for blog management and decided to migrate to the Magefan blog, you can do it easily in the Blog Extra. With multiple import solutions, you only need to take a few steps in the admin panel to move your content to Magefan. 

The Extra edition allows you to import blog from: 

• CSV/XML file
• Hubspot
• Joomla
• Drupal
• Amasty M1 Blog
• Amasty M2 Blog
• Magento 1 Ecs Articles
• Magento 1 EM Blog

The rest are available in the Basic Blog.

Product and YouTube Widget

Blog Extra is equipped with advanced widgets. They allow you to promote your products in the content, and add YouTube videos to the blog posts. With such solutions, you can make your content more engaging.

As you can see, the Plus and Extra editions provide a multitude of benefits. They cover a wide range of aspects and allow you to make your blog management more efficient. 

Having a blog is a huge advantage for an online store. So why not take the most out of it?