Is it possible to build a Blog into the site?

[Dexx]

I mean the ability to blog without having to link away from the site to an external resource?

Anyone have a blog within their site that doesn't give the appearance it is an external feature?

I wonder if 3dCart's Team might put one in eventually, can't be too difficult to create?

[NMTEACO]

I use tumblr for my blog. You can set up your own domain so i have it set to "blog.nmteaco.com". then i have spent time making the layout (basically the top bar) look the same as on the home page of my site.

So if you go to www.nmteaco.com and click the "blog" link, it will take you to blog.nmteaco.com

Then from blog.nmteaco.com you can click back to the main site through various links.

Its about %90 percent seamless in my opinion.

[ontiltcasinogear]

I havent tried, but can you use an <iframe>?

[3dCartRobb]

Here is the quickest way to implement a blogger blog into your 3dcart:


What is a blog?

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it, link to it, or email you. A blog gives you your own voice on the web. It's a place to collect and share things that you find interesting— whether it's your political commentary, a personal diary, or links to web sites you want to remember. Many people use a blog just to organize their own thoughts, while others command influential, worldwide audiences of thousands. Professional and amateur journalists use blogs to publish breaking news, while personal journalers reveal inner thoughts. Blogging is about more than just putting your thoughts on the web. It's about connecting with and hearing from anyone who reads your work and cares to respond.

How can it benefit me?

Crawlable URLs - Most blog software offers uncomplicated URL structure, making it fairly easy for search engine spiders to find and crawl blog content. Linking and discussing new products in your blos creates content that the search engines can pick up on.

Inbound link magnet - One of the biggest benefits, blogs link freely to each other - much more than web sites do. Blogs are also a significant source of many posts to social news and social media web sites. Text, audio and video are all easily supported for syndication by blogs. The more media available, the more likely it will attract incoming links. Additionally, there are many widgets and plugins that make it easy to share blog content, thus encouraging links and traffic.

Fresh content - Both readers and search engines reward fresh content with repeat visits. From a search engine perspective, that means your site can be crawled more frequently, allowing your new content to become searchable more quickly. Fresh content is also indicative of a more authoritative web site.

Active community - Comments and trackback features in blog software encourage interaction. An active blog community creates the kinds of citations or signals from other sites (annotated and contextually relevant links) that search engines tend to reward in the rankings. Loyal blog readers can boost a site’s visibility through advocacy on other blogs, in forums offline at conferences as well as on their own blogs and within the comments of your blog.

Create Your Blog

1. Click here to sign up to Blogger.com, It's free, and owned by Google.
2. Enter your email address, choose a password, set the display name, click continue.
3. Choose Advanced Blog Setup.

Advanced Blog Setup

Blog Title: We suggest something like, Name of Store's Blog

Server Details

For this, you'll want to have the welcome email that we sent you, with all of your account information. If you don't have it, please contact support. Of particular importance is this section:

FTP information (Only necessary for making template changes)
server: storename.3dcartstores.com
login: USERNAME
pass: PASSWORD

In order to follow this tutorial, you MUST login to your FTP account and under the Web/ directory, create a subdirectory called blog.

1. FTP Server: Enter the information under Server:
2. Protocol: Select FTP
3. FTP Path: If you created the blog subdirectory, then it would be web/blog/
4. Blog filename: we suggest index.html
5. Blog URL: http://www.yourdomainname.com/blog/
6. FTP Username: your Login from the email
7. FTP Password: your Pass from the email

Next you will choose a template, any will do because you'll be customizing it later, so choose one that you find appealing.

Start Blogging

If you'd like to have us create a blog for you and mirror the look and feel of your shopping cart, contact professional services at 1-800-828-6650

[Mark]

I'm confused by your post. :confused:
Are you creating a blog on 3dcart or on blogger? :confused:

[Mark]

yes? no? :confused:

[3dCartRobb]

You are creating a blog, on blogger, and incorporating it into your 3dcart. This allows for ease of setup, use, and creation.

[DaveW]

I am totally missing what the FTP portion is doing?

We have the blog and use FeedBurner to show feeds from it on our home page. It is not that flexible a method and I'd love to do better, would your method help with that?

DaveW