| By: Brennan Heyde | Published On: 11/05/2007 |
One of the best features of the Miva Merchant shopping cart is the ability to add external modules to extend the functionality and give you more useable and customizable features. Adding modules to your Miva installation is an easy and inexpensive way to add more functionality targeted specifically to your needs. Most modules cost between $30 and $100. They are easy to install, and work exactly as described. Even though out of the box Miva Merchant has a lot of built in functionality, there is usually a need to add more depending on your needs. Just because Miva Merchant is free (with hosting) does not mean that it does not cost money. Every Miva store owner should expect to spend $300 to $500 on additional modules to customize it the way you want. Here is a list of 10 must have Miva modules for any Miva store owner.
Note: All module suggestions are for Miva Merchant 5.0
1. Category Template Manager - By Sebenza
Price: $79.95
The Category Template Manager is an essential module for any store owner. It is packed with features such as product sorting, breadcrumb display, category top sellers, and category paging. The best part about this module is that it allows you to create unlimited number of category templates, which you simply assign to your different categories. It also gives you full control of the category page layout. Learn More Here
2. Product Template Manager – By Sebenza
Price: $79.95
The Product Template Manager allows you create multiple product display templates that can then be assigned to different products. This allows you to create different page layouts specific to certain products. With this module you can also get full control over the attribute template, allowing you to control the look and feel of your product attributes. Learn More Here
3. META Master v5 by Advance Development Solutions
Price: $79.95
Meta Tags are a very important aspect of search engine optimization. Your site’s products and categories need targeted Meta tags to help rank better in the search engines. This module is easy to install and gives you full control of your Meta tags at the global level, page level, category level, and product level. A must have for any serious Miva owner. Learn More Here
4. Ultimate SEO Links™ for Miva Merchant
Price: $69.95
Hands down the best search friendly links module for Miva Merchant. If you are interested in SEO at all, this module is a must. It changes the links from this:
http://www.domain.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=abc
to this:
http://www.domain.com/widget-p-widgetcategory.html
This gives Google and the other search engines the impression that you have static.html pages which it likes much better than the standard Miva urls with all the parameters.
One caution though: This module requires you to edit your sites .htacess file. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to hire a professional to install this module for you.
Also keep in mind that if you already have urls indexed in Google, you need to do a 301 redirect on all the old urls to all the new urls. If you don’t, Google will penalize your site for duplicate content. Learn More Here
5. Ultimate Coupons™ by Sebenza
Price: $99.95
Using Coupons on a regular basis as a sales tool is essential for any Miva store owner. Coupons give the customer a reason to come back to your store and purchase again, or to purchase more than they originally intended. Coupons are also a great was to get people to sign up for your mailing list. This module is packed full of features and also gives you full reporting of your customers coupon usage. Learn More Here
6. Ultimate Order Status™ by Sebenza
Price: $199.95
As your business begins to grow you will realize you need to streamline its operations as much as possible. This module, though pricy, does that in two ways. The first is that it allows your customers to track their orders themselves. It provides you with a simple interface to update the status of your customer’s orders and also sends them out an email automatically, so they are not calling to emailing you. This frees up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
The second is that is provides an interface to connect with your shipping software. Currently supported are: UPS WorldShip, USPS Endicia w/ Galaxy Ship, DHL EasyShip, and FedEx Ship Manager. This module automatically populates your shipping software simply by entering the order id. After your shipment has been created, the tracking information is saved back to Ultimate Order Status. This saves you time from having to enter all the information in twice. Learn More Here
7. Additional Checkout Data Collection Pro - by Sebenza
Price: $59.95
This module allows you to create custom fields in your checkout screens. This is extremely helpful when you want to collect additional information from your customers such as additional instructions about their order, or where they heard about you. This is essential information that every store owner should be asking. Learn More Here
8. Tool Kit by Emporium Plus
Price: $34.95
The Tool Kit is a collection of fuctions and features, many of which are essential to any Miva Store. With all the functionality this module offers, this module is a bargain at only $34.95. Here is a detailed list of what this module offers.
Each function comes with detailed instructions for its use. You can read the full documentation here
9. Template Data Feed for Shopping Portals and Sitemap v5 by EMPORIUM PLUS
Price: $39.50
This module is a must! It has two primary functions. First, it easily creates a XML based sitemap for you that you can format and submit to Google sitemaps. This tells Google which pages you have and which ones you want them to index.
The second function is that is allows you to create feeds for all the different shopping comparison sites such as froogle, shopping,com, and shop.com. These are very important avenues for selling your products. Don’t worry if you don’t use them in the beginning, you will discover how important they are as your store begins to grow. Learn More Here
10. Power Search v5 by EMPORIUM PLUS
Price: $35.00
Search is one of the most important elements of your site. If your customers can’t find your products you have a serious problem.
Power Search extends you sites default search functionality. It your customers to narrow down searches by certain categories or by price range. Learn More Here
These pervious 10 modules are a great start for any store owner. As your store grows you will see what areas you need to expand upon and what additional modules you need to purchase.
About the Author: Brennan Heyde is an e-commerce consultant working in San Diego, Ca. He specializes in online marketing and SEO for e-commerce. Have a struggling e-commerce website? – Contact Brennan today for a site analysis.