CM Contextual Product Recommendations (CMCPR) - Getting Started - How To Use The Plugin
The Two Ways of Using The Plugin
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Quick Read
There are two main ways of using the plugin. It's possible to use both at the same time.
- Automatically at the end of certain post types. Recommendations come from words in the content
- Place of your choosing inside post types. Recommendations come from categories and, optionally, also words in the content
The plugin has two main ways of working.
TIP You Can Use Both!
Both options can work at the same time. Simply don't check "Disable the content search?" and use shortcodes.
Step-by-Step
- Start by adding a product How To - Add New Product
- Don't forget to use categories to improve organizations How To - Manage Product Categories
After you have added products to your list, it's time to add recommendations. There are two main ways to use the plugin.
Option 1) Recommendations Based on Content (Automatic)
By default, the CM Product Recommendation Widget checks the content of pages to find instances of the products names.
It then adds a widget at the end of the page This method is highly automatic.
Example
This content recommends the product Dark Side of the Moon with links...
... and the widget at the bottom of the page.
You can configure the behavior from Settings → General. The options are:
- Display items on given post types - Choose which post types will display the recommended products widgets.
The list includes both core post types, such as post and page, as well as custom post types managed by other plugins. - Only display items on single posts/pages - Disables the widget on the home page, author page and other taxonomy-related pages.
- First occurrence only - Only takes into consideration the first time an item is found on each page.
- Avoid parsing protected tags - Avoids the following tags: Script, A, H1, H2, H3, pre, Object.
Learn more about HTML tags: HTML Reference - Terms are case-sensitive - Enable to differentiate cases.
For example, "Tooltip Plugin" will be different than "tooltip plugin". - Add links to found items - Add or not links to the content when the product names appear
Learn more: CM Contextual Product Recommendations (CMCPR) - General Settings
TIP Exclude Content From Parsing
You can skip specific text from parsing. Apply the shortcode [cm_product_recommend_exclude] text [/cm_product_recommend_exclude]
Example
Skipping the text "Dark Side of the Moon":
The [cm_product_recommend_exclude]Dark Side of the Moon[/cm_product_recommend_exclude] is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973.
Configuring the Widget
You can then configure the Widget via Settings → Widget Display tab.
Learn more: CM Contextual Product Recommendations (CMCPR) - How To - Change Widget's Visual, Colors, Template
Option 2) Recommendations Based on Category (Flexible)
This method is more flexible. You can display the widget anywhere by applying shortcodes.
It's usually useful to use them to show specific categories.
Setting
Start from Settings → General. Check the option "Disable the content search?".
Display Product List
Shortcode: [cm_recommend]
Parameters:
- title - title for product list section. The default value is in the plugin option "Widget Label"
- cat - name of products category. If the attribute is not used, all categories will be considered
- limit - quantity of items. 3 by default
- template - "slider" or "default" is available. The default is "default"
- slides - quantity of slides in slider for desktops (when the device's width is bigger than 768px), 3 by default
- slide-width - slides width in px for desktops (when the device's width is bigger than 768px). The default value is in the plugin option "Slide width, px"
- text-length - how many characters the description has. The default value is in the plugin options
Example With Specific Category
In the example below, the widget is displayed in the middle of the post. We use the category "music"
Used shortcode: [cm_recommend title="We Recommend!" cat="music" limit="3" template="slider" slides="3" slide-width="230" text-length="40"]
TIP: Optimizing Placement
The best way to use the shortcode is adding it in such way that is replicated in many pages.
Check your plugin's settings for options to add content to selected pages or edit the template files.
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More information about the CM Products Recommendation WordPress Plugin Other WordPress products can be found at CreativeMinds WordPress Store |
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