3d Blog VS blog software X?

[Dave_C.]

Is it better to use the 3d blog software available with the store software or use another blog software and just link back to 3d?

[cbsteven]

This question has been discussed many times in the past. There are SEO considerations, as well as ease of use and consistency of design. I decided to go with the 3DCart blog.

[Shopguy]

I also decided to stick with the 3dCart blog for the same reasons. I really don't like the interface and wish that the blog was included in the standard search function.

I don't write all my blog entries but I do all the blog 'entry'. We don't use the wysiwyg mode as it seemed to create a real mess out of the html. So I entry it as code, that's why I do it myself.

To be honest I've never used different blog software so I don't have a true comparison. That said I can't image that Wordpress, etc. have nearly as clunky of an interface.

[cbsteven]

I also decided to stick with the 3dCart blog for the same reasons. I really don't like the interface and wish that the blog was included in the standard search function.

Hmm, the search does not include blog results? is there a fix?

[Shopguy]

Not that I'm aware of but I thought I had somewhere along the line that a different search function would include the blog. I don't recall if it was a 3dCart upgrade or a 3rd party.

In a very quick search I only found this thread:
http://forums.3dcart.com/general-con...show-up-2.html
The last few posts discuss the search issue.

[cbsteven]

Yeah, I just tested it and confirmed that the site search does not return blog pages. Too mad. I can't think of a workaround for this.

[Toobusy]

I had someone today on my site tell me my blog site goes to the blog.asp page and shows the background and everything, but no posts....had to email him a link to my wordpress blog :o(

[MissHTML]

I used 3d's blog for a while, but our wordpress band blogger blogs rank way better in the search engines, so we stick with them. Also, 3dcart's blog is giving errors in the Webmaster Tools because it says there aren't title tags. So the seo in that blog is not up to par for us as of now. Using Blogger's blog has helped us gain back lost terms. I'd recommend using brand X blog vs 3dcart's but that's just my 2 cents :)

[Shopguy]

I just ran across another aspect of the 3dCart blog that I don't like.

When two blog posts are posted on the same day they are sorted by time order. This means that the first/older post is displayed above the second/newer post.

It's looking more and more like I will have to switch to a different hosting service.

[Shopguy]

Earlier this week I submitted a ticket asked about what I mentioned above. I just noticed today that they have appeared to reverse the sort order for post on the same day.

It now displays the newer/afternoon post above the older/morning post. I've asked support if this was an intentional/permanent change. Glad to see that they made the fix.

[elightbox]

Why re-invent the wheel?

Wordpress is fully developed with thousands of add-on apps and tools to make your life easier and automate SEO, Spam control, widgets, updated on a regular basis and a million other pluses.
IMHO I don't see why anyone would use a blog that is not fully developed or updated, and why would 3dcart develop their own blog in the first place instead of just figuring out a way to let us integrate Wordpress into the web site.

[jimmy3dcart]

Wordpress is fully developed with thousands of add-on apps and tools to make your life easier and automate SEO, Spam control, widgets, updated on a regular basis and a million other pluses.
IMHO I don't see why anyone would use a blog that is not fully developed or updated, and why would 3dcart develop their own blog in the first place instead of just figuring out a way to let us integrate Wordpress into the web site.

We're well aware of this, we even launched our own WP plugin and use WP for the blog.3dcart.com site. The built-in blog on the 3dcart ecommerce platform cannot compare to the functionality included with WP.

With that said, it does require learning how to use WP, logging into 2 different admin panels, setting up a subdomain, installing and maintaining WP on a hosting account, in our case having a full time blog manager, etc.

So, if you're not a full time blogger and your business doesn't revolve around your blog, then the 3dcart blog will suffice.

In regards to the features related to the blog, we're currently working on this and we'll be including many of the requests received in an upcoming update. Please continue to submit these to Feature Requests: Top (73 ideas) since these definitely help improve the 3dcart platform.

Jimmy Rodriguez

[cbsteven]

Yeah, for me the built in blog was "good enough", mostly because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of having a separate site to maintain.

[Brtp4]

We're well aware of this, we even launched our own WP plugin and use WP for the blog.3dcart.com site. The built-in blog on the 3dcart ecommerce platform cannot compare to the functionality included with WP.

With that said, it does require learning how to use WP, logging into 2 different admin panels, setting up a subdomain, installing and maintaining WP on a hosting account, in our case having a full time blog manager, etc.

So, if you're not a full time blogger and your business doesn't revolve around your blog, then the 3dcart blog will suffice.

In regards to the features related to the blog, we're currently working on this and we'll be including many of the requests received in an upcoming update. Please continue to submit these to Feature Requests: Top (73 ideas) since these definitely help improve the 3dcart platform.

Jimmy Rodriguez

IMO the 3dcart blog would be sufficient if it did not create duplicate title and meta tag issues in WMT.

BP