It would not be incorrect, if we say that there is nothing Joomla can’t do! From most powerful and popular Content Management System (CMS) to the Website Development platform, Joomla has been the preferred platform for everything. Though, it’s tough competitor - Wordpress has a much smoother process for blogging than Joomla, people still choose Joomla for blogging platform because of its maturity and list of feature-rich extensions.
Joomla has all the required features, functionalities and add-ons for a secured and comprehensive blogging portal. With a strong team of development community across the globe, there are several Joomla extensions and plug-ins which expands the capabilities of the Joomla. If you have Joomla blog and plan to improve it, but don’t know which extensions to use, then we have compiled a list of essential and effective extensions which will take your blog to the next level.
Nested Categories for Blogs
With the help of Joomla extensions available nested categories, you will be easily manage the articles from the admin backend. Using the extensions which can provide such type of nested article format, you can roll out complete blogging platform. There are several extensions available for similar process, but most of the companies are using Komento for improving their blogs. There is another extension also which is speedily gaining popularity, i.e. JComments.
Constructing Content
For improving your blogs, you also need a comprehensive content construction kit which helps in customizing and add fields as per your requirements. It is recommended to use extensions like K2, which offers an array of options to enhance and expand your blogs. From starters to experts, everyone can use this extension with basic knowledge of using Joomla. It facilitates customizable templates and categories. Moreover, K2 is available for free, so make the best use of it.
Variety of Posts
If you are planning to give a unique and creative look to your blog by adding different types of posts, including videos, graphics, infographics and more, then you need the right kind of extension because these features are unavailable in Joomla. Most preferred extensions for adding different types of media posts is Zoo extension. With the help of this extension, you can add comments based articles just by adding few clicks. There are several paid extensions available, but if you need full featured extension for free of cost then it is none other than the Zoo!
Commenting Feature
The most important feature in blogging is enabling user comments on all the blogs. It helps in understanding the reviews of your audience as well as expanding the reach of your blog. There are several extensions, but Jcomments is one of the most popular and community chosen Joomla extension. Both the extensions are compatible with the Joomla 2.5 version.
Blog Author Info
Displaying the author information on the blog is the standard function that is missing in Joomla. With the basic features in Joomla, you can just show the author’s name. This feature is provided in Wordpress, but whether you can display the author info or not depends on the type of theme you have chosen. In order to build a full-fledged blog, you need to have Joomla extensions like Author Info Blog. Using this plugin, you can add email ID, description, picture, and display name of the author. You can use paid extension for these features, but you can get Author Info Blog for free of cost.
Social Network Sharing
For expanding your blog’s reach and enabling global users to read your blog, there are many extensions in the Blog category of Joomla. The simple and fast method of increasing the reachability of the blog is by adding the social networking extension. There are many extensions available which help you in publishing your blogs on various social media sites with tags, images, description and labelling.
Bottom Line
In simple words, just like Wordpress, there are several extensions available in Joomla as well, using which you can add the functionalities as per your choice and requirements. You Joomla Blogs can be turned into a powerhouse using the right extension. Currently in the market, there are several extensions but mostly used are K2, JED and Komento.
And if you are looking for full-fledged all in one extension, then you can use K2. Configuring this extension needs some time, but it is not difficult. From categorization of blogs to social network, you can utilize K2 for all the process.
Now that you have the complete list of exciting and powerful extensions, turn your Joomla blog into a complete attractive platform. If we have missed any point or if you have any update about the extensions, then please feel free to post your comments and let us know. We will keep this blog updated with your comments and posts.
