Testing blog modules in e-shops: Shoper.pl

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How to run a blog in a store operating on the Shoper platform and does it even make sense? Blog module test.

In the current version of the Shoper.pl administration panel, the BLOG is located in the CONTENT tab. And what is hidden in the blog module on Shoper? There is no surprise here. A relatively simple panel for adding news, which is based on four tabs: Entries, Tags and Categories, and Comments . The standard categorization system known to us from WordPress, among others, has been transferred to the BLOG module in Shoper.pl. Adding these options was not only a good move, but above all, necessary.
In principle, these four tabs are all we need to run a company blog. This is a standard without which any blog connected to the store would not exist. I cannot imagine creating a blog module without the possibility of establishing navigation based on Categories (although there are blog modules on other SaaS that do not have this option). In the Categories tab , you can add directly (after entering the Categories and Tags tabs) or while adding news. The situation is identical with Tags. Categories and tags in the Shoper.pl module have exactly the same function as in other systems of this type. Categories are designed to organize content, tags to specify it in a sense.
The appearance of the blog module in the Shoper.pl panel
We add an entry to the store's blog
After pressing the Add entry option, we move to editing the blog post. In the first fields, we can add the title of the post and the author, and also decide whether the post should be displayed on the main page or only in a given module. We can also specify whether the post should be active or not. In the next options, we assign the post to a given category and set (if necessary) tags.
Adding a Blog Entry on Shoper.pl. Administration Panel.
How do you format text?
Text formatting in articles is one of the key elements of a blog. It affects not only the aesthetic side of the content. Appropriate text formatting affects the optimization of the content. In this respect, the panel for adding all contact number list with name entries looks really good. The text processor offers a wide range of formatting options in terms of text size, typeface and font, as well as placing media, symbols, tables, source codes, anchors, etc. in the text. The text processor works in both WYSIWYG and HTML modes.
Before we add text, we can place a so-called entry icon in it. The disadvantage is that the size of this thumbnail cannot be specified from the panel. This means that you have to load thumbnails of specific sizes to the server, the panel does not scale them. Photos from entry icons are not saved to the media library. We have to load them from the computer's disk each time.
Blog Entry Formatting on Shoper.pl. Administration Panel.
Worth praising for...
an advanced text processor that facilitates formatting;
text formatted in the editor looks the same on the page;
easy, intuitive to use.
And I don't like that...
insufficient photo formatting options (you cannot set, for example, the option of having the text flow around the image from the word processor level, and there is no way to modify the spacing between the image and the text);
the function for adding the so-called entry icon has no set parameters. In addition, we have to load the photo from the computer's disk each time. .
What are the SEO options?
Each entry added to the panel can be optimized for search engines. These options can be found by clicking on the edit of a given article in the POSITIONING tab. You can set: the title of the page (if you want it to be different from the one in the text) and the META fields as well as an optional URL address. Positioning is available in a basic version, but it is sufficient for good indexing of texts in Google. Of course, it could be better... Each category has a separate POSITIONING tab. In it, you can set the TITLE, META Description, Keywords and friendly URL.
SEO options in a blog post on Shoper.pl. Administration panel.
Worth praising for...
easy to use, even for a layman, each field has an explanation;
useful shorts that make work easier;
And I don't like that...
there are no character limits specified in individual fields (which is important in terms of positioning, especially for laymen);
keywords - for the visibility of the blog in the search engine they are no longer important and can be removed.
What do I think about this module?
Shop owners on the Shoper.pl platform are probably asking me now: what is more profitable to do? Set up a blog on a separate platform (e.g. WordPress) or settle for the above-mentioned version of the news module available in the module? What will be better for me, what is more profitable?
The answer to this question really depends on the goals you set for your blog. Would the subject matter of the blog concern only and exclusively the company's activities? Would it cover broader topics? Is the blog intended to directly influence the positioning of the e-shop?

If you run a shop on Shoper.pl and do not have the time, funds and needs to invest in a blog on a separate platform, the discussed module will be enough for you. I honestly admit that this is one of the best blog modules I have seen on e-commerce platforms. It has everything necessary to edit a shop blog. Navigation and use of the BLOG tab is quite intuitive and hassle-free, which is a great advantage. There are no problems with text formatting (disappearing paragraphs, no headers or spaces displayed) and the text on the page looks exactly as it was prepared in the WYSIWYG editor. Of course, the text processor also has its minor shortcomings, such as a relatively small impact on formatting and editing media (which is important in a blog).

If I were a store owner who did not have time to set up a separate blog, I would be satisfied with such a module. A module integrated with an e-commerce platform has one advantage. Articles added to the module directly affect the positioning of a given e-store. And this is especially important for smaller companies, for which this form of positioning is the only way to fight for a higher position in the search engine.
Katarzyna Biernacka
Katarzyna Biernacka