Attindas, an international company with offices across North America and Europe, boasting over 50 brands and $1 billion in annual sales across 20 countries, initially sought ITG’s support for a Magento upgrade. We helped them define a roadmap for efficiently upgrading all aspects of their multifaceted merchant site, including several modules and extensions. However, the Amasty Blog Pro extension, one of those needing an update, ultimately did not support Attindas’ needs.

After researching options, ITG helped Attindas migrate from Amasty Blog Pro to Mageplaza Better Blog – a solution that met their core needs with some customization. Here’s how we found and customized the right solution for Attindas.

Wanted: Multiple Store Views for Diverse Markets

Attindas operates 23 different store views representing discrete markets. Each is managed by a separate team, whose members only need access to their own store fronts. 

The new version of Amasty Blog Pro may be one of the best blog modules on the market, but it did not meet the client’s core needs. It had replaced store-level post management with the ability to translate any post into different languages. This objectively valuable feature didn’t help Attindas separately manage their content. Nor was there an opportunity to customize this access. 

The Attindas team needed to curate their store views, so we explored various options to meet their functional requirements. We quickly identified Mageplaza Better Blog as the optimal solution to provide Attindas with the necessary functionality.

A (Mageplaza) Better Blog Extension

Mageplaza Better Blog offered the core store view handling feature the client needed, as well as a range of basic functionalities we could customize to fit their operations. The first step was to migrate all of the data, including blog posts, media, category structure, and tags. 

Next, we developed convenience functionalities to match the client’s requirements. The goal was to make the new module as comfortable to use as the old one, while providing a much-needed boost in functionality. 

As part of this customization, we added features such as creating new tags, categories and topics on the blog post edit page; post preview and duplicate options; and the ability to assign related posts to each blog post. All of these features made it easy for the teams managing each store view to improve the end-user experience for Attindas customers.

Front-end adjustments to the websites allowed site managers to use widgets to promote their blog posts. These serve as an information hub for people visiting the sites, further improving the user experience. 

Customized Extensions for Specialized Needs

Posting content needed to be a simple and seamless process for the multiple site teams. That’s why we customized and implemented a WYSIWYG editor and PageBuilder for the blog posts.

This is a default feature offered by Amasty, but not part of the Better Blog Extension. Having it would allow different teams independently create content and manage their web shops without technical support. Adding back the WYSIWYG editor and PageBuilder gave the teams the ease of editing they had come to expect from their blog solution.

To further support the supervised self-management approach to content management, we recreated the custom functionality of blog revision that had been originally developed by an earlier team. This revision functionality allowed supervisors to review changes made by their teams before they were published to the website, an essential step to ensure brand consistency for a large team like Attindas. Recreating this functionality helped Attindas maintain quality while supporting independent content management. 

Successful Migration from Amasty Blog Pro to Mageplaza Better Blog

With the migration and all of the customizations in place, all that remained was testing. This overlooked and undervalued part of the development process is a point of pride for us. At ITG, we believe no migration is complete until everything is tested and verified. 

We applied a thorough and mindful testing process to make sure all the client requirements were met. First, verified that all relevant functionality provided by the old blog extension had a proper replacement. Then, we checked that all the customizations and functionalities worked flawlessly both on their own and in relation to each other. 

In the end, we were able to hand over a blog extension that fits the client’s needs and increases overall functionality. Attindas teams were able to independently manage each of the 23 different store views and offer a smooth user experience to their shoppers. 

At ITG Commerce we offer multiple ways to initiate, enhance or expand your ecommerce journey. From complex migrations to the creation of new online stores, we prioritize practical solutions tailored to your business needs. Ready to start your migration? Contact us today.