Are you looking to integrate a blog into your Magento shopping cart ecommerce store? There are a few ways you can accomplish this, but one way that I have found is far better than any of the other possible solutions. It’s using Lazzymonks Blog Extension for Magento. Here are the specific steps for setting it up.
Setup Blog in Magento
First go to the extension page so that you can grab the extension key. If you have already tried installing the Lazzymonks Wordpress Integration extension, than you have two steps you need to take first. 1) uninstall the wordpress integration extension from your Magento Extensions manager. 2) delete the blog_setup entry in the core_resource table of your database. (trust me on this one, these two steps definitely come from experience)
Now go to your Magento Extensions manager and input the extension key to install. This will install the extension package and put files in your directory. If you are not using the default template that comes with Magento install, than you need to copy the folder ‘blog’ from app/design/frontend/default/default/template/blog to where ever your theme is. Also do the same for blog.xml from app/design/frontend/default/default/layout. If you miss this step your blog will show up as a blank page.
You will now have a new menu item in your admin called Blog where you can create categories and blog posts, very similarly to how you would in Wordpress. You will also want to go to System >> Configuration >> Blog – this is where you can customize the main blog settings such as layout etc.
If you by any chance run into any problems setting this up hit me back and I can help you out. If you follow my steps, each one step for step than you should not run into any problems at all.
What this can do for your store!
A simple easy to use blog inside your Magento ecommerce store can do wonders for your sales if you are delivering a good product. Think of all the good articles and reviews you could give on all your products each day, week, and month. One of the things many ecommerce websites lack is quality content to go along with their catalog. People seem to think that a catalog is good enough for content. This is simply not true. Adding a blog to your online store and writing quality content about your products and about your industry could increase your online sales dramatically.
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Great post, installed and added a post, but can’t get into the config, I just get an empty page. Other question is how do you show the blog link on the main site?
i get the same problem as paul. any solutions out there
After installing extensions, you usually just have to log out of your admin area then log back in. That should solve the issue!
Thanks so much for your explanation. I have the extension installed, the folders moved around and blog is on my menu in configuration however, I do not see the blog manager menu? Advice? thanks!
Hello!
I am not able to run the front end of blog using sitename.com/store/index.php/blog
Whenever I do it shows an error reporting that the blog.phtml is missing.
I am facing this issue while using the non-Default template i.e. garden theme.
When I use the default template, I face the problem.
Regards
This is one good looking, sexy theme, love it! What theme are you using?
i installed the latest magento and im using the default theme i see the blog link in the configuration but whenn i click it i get this error any ideas what im doing wrong?
Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/gazebo1/public_html/app/code/community/Monk/Blog/Model/Layouts.php on line 30
did all the steps and the blog menu item in the admin doesnt show but the System >> Configuration >> Blog shows..
any idea why the blog menu item is not showing up?
I installed the lazzymonk wordpress extension and tried to set it up correctly. But i can’t fint the blog post manager. You have any clue??
Hi I have been trying to install LazzyMonks. But first of all every time I install it, the installation creates a new folder called magento, and creates the hole structure again, instead of copying it in root/app/…. it copies the files in magento/app/…. I get a blank page when I try /blog. And the option in the admin System>> config >> doesn’t appear. I have done this installation before and ussually works. Does anyone know what’s happening?
Excactly what I´m searching for – you´re my man! I´ve tryed to setup a blog in Magento, but it was not so easy. Well thanks, no it works! Perfect.
So, in Magento version 1.1.7, I installed aw blog and it put everything into the skin folder (a simple blue skin) and put aw_blog.xml into the layout folder in the non-skin default/default/layout folder.
Can I just move the aw_blog.xml file to the same folder or do I create a layout folder?
Error was
SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found: 1146 Table
So, just moving the aw_blog.xml file did not work.
Clearly, I need to create the tables in the db.
What would keep the tables from being generated.
Failed to download magento-community/Monk_Blog within preferred state “stable”, latest release is version 0.5.9, stability “beta”, use “channel://connect.magentocommerce.com/community/Monk_Blog-0.5.9″ to install
Cannot initialize ‘channel://connect.magentocommerce.com/community/Monk_Blog’, invalid or missing package file
Install Errors
Package “channel://connect.magentocommerce.com/community/Monk_Blog” is not valid
PEAR ERROR: install failed
Nice article Chase.
@Martijn,
Open MagentoConnect settings in your admin and change preferred state from “stable” to “beta” and try installing again.
Hi
Does it support RSS.please do tell me
French update for social update (Blog+Twitter+Facebook) here: http://www.agencesolution.com/creation-de-sites-ecommerce-a-la-reunion.html
Have fun
We’ve made a minor up extension to supplement a Magento/Wordpress integration.
We’ve made it available here: http://www.sonassi.com/knowledge-base/magento-knowledge-base/simple-and-effective-wordpress-and-magento-integration/
Very nice! Thanks!