Which OpenCart Extensions are Essential for Content Marketing?
Let us share a few ways you can begin your content marketing strategy in OpenCart. To do that, you will need a few handy tools that can get you started with building an audience, creating content, and promoting it.
Here are 6 OpenCart extensions that can be easily used to create fresh content and use it to present the unique character of your brand.
ComingSoon
Before launching your OpenCart website, the Coming Soon page will keep your customers in anticipation for what’s about to come. The better the page - the more hype it builds up.
And nothing makes a page better than great content.
However, crafting an entire page that has to be concise and yet provide value is not the easiest of things. ComingSoon is an extension for OpenCart that lets you create a killer page effortlessly, so you can focus your creative energy into crafting the content that will trigger the growth of your subscription numbers.
Examples: 5 Beautiful Examples of Coming Soon Pages
iBlog
Blogging is one of the old but gold content marketing tactics and a leading choice for digital marketers worldwide. One of the reasons is that practically anyone can do it, even if you don’t have the most spectacular writing skills.
That’s the magic of iBlog - it lets you create a blog section in OpenCart that you can personalize and adapt to your style and design. Editing and publishing articles in iBlog is simplified for the busy store owners who want to share some knowledge and tips about their products.
The module comes with a built-in AddThis integration for easier social media sharing as well as Disqus comments for acquiring additional user-generated content - the marketer’s dream.
Examples: Ecommerce Blogging - Why and How to Start Right Now
CustomPages
If you have been looking for the menu to add a blank page in your OpenCart store - there it is. CustomPages is an extension that allows you to start from scratch and create a brand new web page in your store with whatever content you want.
What this module offers is a simplified way to start upgrading your E-Commerce website with customized content and a marketing opportunity to present individual products in landing pages.
To make it even easier, CustomPages lets you assign other modules to the page you create and use the layout system in OpenCart. This is a multi-purpose extension that can be used to create FAQ pages, featured products, video collections and everything you can think of.
Custom Pages Guide: How to Add New Pages in OpenCart
EasyNewsletterSubscription
What’s a content marketing strategy without an email list of subscribers? If you began using iBlog, you are going to need an audience to start sending your blog posts and email marketing campaigns.
EasyNewsletterSubscription adds an email subscription form to your OpenCart store that can be assigned to each of your layouts as a module.
When you build up a subscriber list, you can use the control panel of the extension to start sending bulk email, moderate your subscribers and even export them in a CSV file.
VideoPublisher
Video is the easiest way to catch a user’s attention. Nothing beats visual content in the way it speaks to customers who are eager to learn something quickly, without much effort. VideoPublisher is how you meet that demand in OpenCart.
Write and post video reviews, vlogs, and all manner of video-based content in a separate module that can be assigned to any page and layout in your E-Commerce store. VideoPublisher comes with Facebook comments integrated so customers can join the conversation easily.
Video is a powerful storytelling method that combines motion, sound, visuals and speech that lets you establish a deeper connection while the visitor is watching. The extension lets you upload videos or add them from Vimeo and YouTube, associate them with products, and customize details such as title, author, description, etc.
OrderSuccessPage
You can get the most out of your order confirmation page in OpenCart by using the OrderSuccessPage extension. It lets you easily add a more comprehensive layout to the page, adding more relevant information customers want to know immediately after they confirm an order.
Furthermore, you can promote your other products on your order confirmation page, either by selecting the products manually or automatically. To make sure the customers keep their interest in your store, give them an incentive with a special discount for next orders.
To combine this with the previous extensions, you can add an EasyNewsletterSubscription form after a customer completes an order so he get be a regular subscriber in your email list. This way, you will be able to send them iBlog posts and updates, and why not a nice landing page created with the CustomPages extension?
Guide: How to Create a Unique Order Success Page in OpenCart
Bonus
These are a couple of tools that will help your content marketing strategy succeed and grow. Mind that they are not OpenCart modules, just regular web tools.
Buffer
Buffer is an application that allows you to seamlessly schedule your social media posts at a time that works for you. You can include all of the social media platforms you are active on and schedule for multiple days and hours ahead.
MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the leading email marketing services around the web. They specialize in E-Commerce newsletters, abandoned cart campaigns and back-in-stock messaging for online stores.
Summary
We believe that this is more than enough to start implementing some of the most popular and proven content marketing tactics to increase the traffic to your online store and improve your brand awareness with unique content.