Tag Archives: WordPress plugins

Together At Last the Way They Should Be | Features & Functionality

Zen Cart and WordPress Integration, , , , , , , , ,

(AKA The Marriage of Zen Cart & WordPress..)

WordPress has long been viewed as a useful tool in a shop-owners SEO arsenal. Because blogs are (usually) frequently updated, this can help with search engine rankings (provided the site-owner is posting RELEVANT content — nonsense content will be ignored by search engines). Blog sites and Social Media Pages are an essential part of your web presence and if eCommerce is a part of your web presence, they can help you engage new and existing customers and serve as a mechanism to drive them to your store and products. Properly used (meaning that you should be regularly creating new, compelling, & relevant content) WordPress (like Facebook) can be an AWESOME tool for driving clients to your website.

Zen Cart® for WordPress (zen4wp) & WordPress for Zen Cart® (wp4zen) makes integration of Zen Cart and WordPress easier than ever.

Why You Want These Add-Ons

  • Helps you to build backlinks to your store
    Now when you post an article, you can provide links to products in your shop for some awesome anchor text. You’re in charge of your blog, so take advantage and put those anchor text best practices to use.
  • Give people something that they can naturally link to
    Although it’s totally possible to email someone about your store and include a link, sometimes people aren’t motivated to do so unless there’s a story to go alongside it. It’s much easier and more natural for people to link to your blog post with content related to your product. And if your blog posts links to those products, then you’ve just helped your website’s SEO.
  • Encourage people to “socialize” your work
    When you regularly post to your blog, you have more content to share with your network via social media – namely, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Similarly to how people are more likely to link to your blog posts, people are also more apt to retweet you, like your Facebook post, or +1 it. It’s an easy one-click of a button – and ease is key in getting people to share your work. Once someone has shared your post, then it get shared with their network, thereby increasing its reach beyond your own personal network.
  • Increase website traffic & build a following
    If you post engaging content that presents value to your readers, then they will probably spend more time on your blog/shop and continue coming back for more. If you’re frequently linking to your products, your blog becomes a tool to drive traffic to your shop.
  • Play nice with Google’s Freshness Update
    In fall 2011, Google announced that it had altered its search algorithm to provide users with fresher, more recent search results. Dubbed the “Google Freshness Update”, the intended purpose was to place greater emphasis on returning the most up-to-date web content. Said Google:
    “Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh. Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.”
    What does this mean for bloggers? SEO experts largely agree that Google’s update means that fresh content can boost your blog or website in the SERPs for a certain period of time. Bloggers have an advantage because serious shopowners/bloggers continuously publish large amounts of fresh content.


See These in Action

Our Approach

  • Display WordPress content in Zen Cart OR display Zen Cart content in WordPress
  • Seamlessly transfer visitors to Zen Cart or WordPress
  • Minimize duplication:
    • Any change to product data should take place in Zen Cart, WordPress will simply output and display product data.
    • Any change to post/page data should take place in WordPress, Zen Cart will simply output and display blog data. 
      (having to remember to make the same changes in different places is a recipe for disaster)


Features:

Zen Cart 4 WordPress

Zen Cart® for WordPress Basic (zen4wp) is a WordPress plugin that allows shopowners to display Zen Cart content on their WordPress site via a series of widgets.

Zen Cart® for WordPress Premium (zen4wp) extends the functionality of Zen Cart® for WordPress Basic (zen4wp) by adding additional widgets and shortcodes. (including the shopping cart widget)

Here’s the features this awesome new plugin will offer:

Basic Features (Free)
Widget Shortcode Name and Short Description

x

 zen4wp_new
Displays a collection of new-products from the Zen Cart store, including the product’s name, image and price with a link back to the product’s detailed information page. You configure the total number and the number-per-row for each instance. The Zen Cart configuration controls what products are considered new.

x

 zen4wp_featured
Displays a collection of featured-products from the Zen Cart store, including the product’s name, image and price with a link back to the product’s detailed information page. You configure the total number and the number-per-row for each instance.

x

 zen4wp_specials
Displays a collection of products-on-special from the Zen Cart store, including the product’s name, image and price with a link back to the product’s detailed information page. You configure the total number and the number-per-row for each instance.

x

 zen4wp_best_sellers
Displays an ordered-list that contains the current best-sellers from the Zen Cart store, each list-item is a link back to the associated product’s detailed information page. You configure the number to display and whether the purchase-count is included.

Premium Features (Paid)

*To use the premium (paid) features, you must first install the (free) base plugin
Widget Shortcode Name and Short Description

x

 zen4wp_categories
Displays a list of top-level category links from the Zen Cart store, including each category’s name. This widget is hideCategories-aware, i.e. if a top-level category is hidden, its link will not be shown.

x

 zen4wp_manufacturers
Displays a list of links to the index-listing page for each of the manufacturers from the Zen Cart store.

x

 zen4wp_reviews
Displays a collection of product reviews from the Zen Cart store, including the review’s text and rating and the product’s image with a link back to the review. You configure the total number and the number-per-row for each instance as well as the number of characters of the reviews text to include.

x

 zen4wp_testimonials
If the testimonials_manager plugin is installed, displays a collection of testimonials from the Zen Cart store, modeled after the Testimonials sidebox. You configure the total number and the number-per-row for each instance as well as the number of characters of the testimonials text to include.

x

 zen4wp_shopping_cart
If enabled via the Zen Cart admin, this widget shows the number of items and current total amount associated with a customer’s Zen Cart shopping cart. You configure whether the Zen Cart login/logoff and the Zen Cart shopping_cart page links are shown. Requires a SQL patch and a piece of code running on the Zen Cart store.

x

 zenprod id=xx
Generates an HTML link to the specified product in the Zen Cart store, if the product ID specified is a valid product ID, using the product’s name as the anchor-text. If the ID value is not valid, the string “The product with an ID of “xx” was not found.” is output.

x

 zencat id=xx
Generates an HTML link to the specified category in the Zen Cart store, if the category ID specified is a valid category ID, using the category’s name as the anchor-text. If the ID value is not valid, the string “The category with an ID of “xx” was not found.” is output.

x

 zenmfgr id=xx
Generates an HTML link to the specified manufacturer’s index page in the Zen Cart store, if the manufacturers ID specified is a valid manufacturers ID, using the manufacturer’s name as the anchor-text. If the ID value is not valid, the string “The manufacturer with an ID of “xx” was not found.” is output.

 

WordPress 4 Zen Cart

WordPress for Zen Cart® (wp4zen) is a Zen Cart module that allows shopowners to display WordPress content on their Zen Cart site simply using sideboxes.

These admin configurable sideboxes are meant to link your WordPress blog to your Zen Cart store without having to implement complicated WordPress blog embedding solutions/add-ons. These sideboxes pull content links directly from the WordPress blog. All a store owner has to do is to style their WordPress blog to match their store (or vice versa).

Some may find these sideboxes are a LOT less troublesome than blog embedding solutions. Here’s what this module offers:

Basic Features (Free)

  • Blog Pages
  • Blog Post Categories
  • Blog Archive

Premium Features (Paid)

*To use the premium (paid) features, you must first install the (free) base module
  • Blog Calendar
  • Latest Blog Posts
  • Blog Tag Cloud
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Solutions for Better Zen Cart & WordPress Integration

Zen Cart and WordPress Integration, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why Widgets & Sideboxes are a Better Solution than Blog & Shop Embedding for Integration

…embedded blog solutions make Zen Cart/WordPress integration overly complicated mainly because they seek to solve the WRONG problem..

When I was first introduced to WordPress I wanted to try and build a WordPress site linked to a Zen Cart store.

There are “embedded blog” (WordPress on Zen Cart) solutions available which allows a shop owner to “embed” their WordPress blog within their Zen Cart store. However I often wondered why no such solution to embed Zen Cart within WordPress had never been created. When I decided to pursue a “Zen Cart on WordPress “solution (based on a client request/need), I followed the path that had already been established in the world of Zen Cart and WordPress integration solutions. So naturally I initially pursued a solution which “embedded” Zen Cart inside WordPress. After all, that’s how the WordPress on Zen Cart solutions had all worked in the past. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the opposite is what was needed for Zen Cart and WordPress integration? AKA Zen Cart on WordPress.

em·bed (emˈbed) also im·bed (imˈbed)
v. em·bed·ded also im·bed·ded, em·bed·ding also im·bed·ding, em·beds also im·beds
v.tr.

  1. To fix firmly in a surrounding mass: embed a post in concrete; fossils embedded in shale.
  2. To enclose snugly or firmly.
  3. To cause to be an integral part of a surrounding whole: “a minor accuracy embedded in a larger untruth” (Ian Jack).
  4. To assign (a journalist) to travel with a military unit during an armed conflict.
  5. Biology To enclose (a specimen) in a supporting material before sectioning for microscopic examination.

v.intr.
To become embedded: The harpoon struck but did not embed.
n.
One that is embedded, especially a journalist who is assigned to an active military unit.

As I began to explore this, I was shocked that what  I got back from most developers and Zen Cart gurus was a LOT of resistance. I was told that what I was asking for was “impossible” — “hard” — “not necessary” or simply not doable at all.. Most of the responses went something like this: “I don’t think it can be done easily as you are trying to merge two very different codesets”

Along the way I was frequently asked, “WHY are you doing this?”. My basic answer remains pretty much the same as when I first tried walking down this path two years ago. I have never been happy with the available options for WordPress e-commerce plugins. While that landscape is changing with the introduction of  The Cart Press, WooCommerce and now Ready E-Commerce, these plugins in my opinion still fall a little short in that these plugins still do not match all the features found in other standalone e-commerce frameworks such as Zen Cart, osCommerce, Presta Cart, and even Magento..

Based on my 15+ years of experience as a software solutions Business Analyst, I KNEW that Zen Cart & WordPress integration was totally attainable. However, with all the resistance I was getting whenever I would inquire about or express my interest in Zen Cart & WordPress integration, I began to ask different questions. I began to question if the traditional approach and assumptions surrounding Zen Cart & WordPress integration were indeed correct. Here’s what I found:

Upon hearing that there was an osCommerce plugin for WordPress, I was excited. Since Zen Cart is a fork of osCommerce, I took a look at this plugin to see if I could gain insight on how to accomplish the same thing with Zen Cart. The WP Online Store plugin support forum SAYS you can install any osCommerce add-on module, and upon further research I verified that yes that is true.. BUT a closer look revealed that you may need some knowledge of PHP to modify your favorite osCommerce module so that it works inside the WordPress framework.

Eventually updates to PHP, WordPress, and the version of  osCommerce used for the osCommerce for WordPress plugin KILLED the plugin.

NOTICE: As from Summer 2014 this plugin will no longer be supported.
Changes in the latest version of PHP, which was being rolled out across many servers, meant that there would have to be a major re-write to most of the files within the WP Online Store Plugin. The developers could no longer afford to update and support this free plugin.

I don’t know about you, but for the shop owners in the dubious position of having to migrate a site built around a now VERY dead plugin seems like a lot of work JUST to avoid creating matching themes/templates. Not to mention the risk of lost sales because a shopowners embedded solution is interfering with some aspect of their site. (you know interfering with something  like SALES!!)

After spending a LOT of time reviewing solutions to embedded blogs inside Zen Cart and looking at WordPress plugins to embed the osCommerce framework inside WordPress, I began to realize that many folks (including myself) walked down this “embedded blog” road simply to avoid having to deal with WordPress and Zen Cart themes/templates. There seems to be this perception that creating a WordPress theme to match one’s Zen Cart store is “hard” or “too much work” or that creating a Zen Cart template was also too much work or too hard.. I believed this too initially, but I eventually realized that blog or store embedding JUST to avoid having to create a matching theme/template was a lot of work for VERY little gain..

At the end of the day I realized what my clients REALLY needed was to be able to display Zen Cart products and a live shopping cart in their WordPress site, and vice versa without all of the headaches that go into maintaining an embedded solution.. It takes LESS time for me to create a WordPress theme and matching Zen Cart template than it does to deal with every single issue that rears it’s ugly head to make sure my embedded solution doesn’t wreak havoc on my site because it doesn’t play nice with some plugins/modules.. Plus, there are plenty of NICE template and theme options (free and commercial) for both Zen Cart and WordPress out there which makes all the fuss over themeing and templating a NON-ISSUE.

My clients know that they don’t need the WHOLE store displayed inside WordPress, but they do need their PRODUCT LISTINGS, PRODUCT CATEGORIES, and LIVE SHOPPING CART TOTALS displayed inside WordPress.. They don’t need their WHOLE blog displayed inside of Zen Cart, but they DO need links to their RECENT POSTS/PAGES, TAG CLOUD, and BLOG CATEGORIES displayed inside their Zen Cart stores.

My conclusion??

I realized that embedded solutions make Zen Cart & WordPress integration overly complicated mainly because they seek to solve the WRONG problem.

Unlike embedding plugins/modules, Zen Cart® for WordPress (zen4wp) & WordPress for Zen Cart® (wp4zen) allows siteowners to use the FULL power of WordPress and the FULL power of Zen Cart. This means that shopowners will be able to use any plugin/module for Zen Cart or WordPress without limits or conflicts (like having to implement some gnarly code just to get their Zen Cart module to work inside WordPress).

To get Zen Cart® for WordPress (zen4wp) & WordPress for Zen Cart® (wp4zen) for your site today go to  »  http://overthehillweb.com/shop/

Author: C Jones
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