Alright so I'm back to the concept of simply modding wordpress to create my "local area directory". I'm hoping I can get the job done right the FIRST time so I can use the same concept on a number of sites.
Here are my thoughts so far... would love comments/ideas/help on getting this working and... if we can... maybe it's something everyone can use. Not only that, what if we could release it as a "Directory Plugin" of our own.
Okay maybe I'm being a little ambitious... ANYways:
THEME
Most recent widget ready theme that's easily customized. A 3-column theme with content in one section, widgets like "most recent", "top rated", "calender", "weather" and stuff in sidebar one and the "business directory" in sidebar 2.
ARTICLES
Providing more value than just a directory... a category called "Articles" with any relevant sub-cats such as "things to do" would house content for the main page with the ability to show "random posts" from the various article sections. Providing a seemingly dynamic website once you've got enough articles.
I had something like this custom coded and would be willing to share it with others. You list the categories you want displayed on the main page along with a small picture and next to the "category" icon it shows the title and excerpt of a random post in that category.
For a local area directory, though, you might have seasonal articles so you don't show Golf articles during the winter and Where to find a Christmas Tree articles during the summer. I suppose in the articles category you could include sub categories like seasons, months, holidays and apply the post to all relevant categories. Then, you could change your homepage to include the category, "Winter" instead of "Fall" with the random posts script and when the season changes.... you're all set. The icon and random posts would be much more relevant.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY
The business directory would be made up of categories with each business being a post in it's designated category. Clicking on a category in the right hand sidebar would list all businesses in that category and using "excerpt" they could show only the address/contact info. Obviously, you'd want the business directory to display alphabetically.
Here is where it gets a bit tricky - selling featured listings. If you buy a featured listing that would put you at the TOP of your category list when browsing the category. Most of the "sticky" plugins don't seem to work the magic this requires. You could also create a specific template for that category using something like categoryID#.php and insert the featured business directly into the code, above the loop. Do the featured listings get shown alphabetically? First come first served? Why not sell ONE special featured listing that goes above EVERYBODY in the category, even the other featured sponsors?
Would it be possible to create a subcategory called "featured" and make another statement, above the loop saying basically, "If this post is in this category and also in featured then they display alphabetically above the loop." And of course you could set different css styles to these listings to give them things such as colored backgrounds, use "optional fields" to include a picture (using meta) with their featured listing.
Or, what if in the "manage categories" field a plugin could help you do all of this in the backend... I WISH!
SIDEBARS
Having trouble finding where you can edit the display of your sidebars within the new wordpress where widgets are included. Changing depth, listing alphabetically and so on... anyone?
Also, is it possible to change the sidebar based on the category? I suppose if you have "categoryID#.php" you could call up a custom "sidebarID#.php" to correspond to what you want... is this the easiest way to go about this?
OTHER THOUGHTS
I wrote this all spur of the moment and in one take... so it could be confusing as hell... maybe even useless. Basically, it's me thinking out loud. I'd love your views, opinions, ideas and help putting this together if you're interested in doing the same thing.
I realize the there is existing software you can buy that does these things but they seem to rigid and standard.... and WP seems so easy to mod that it could all be done much more easily not to mention beautifully. Someone mentioned using Joomla but I have no experience with it and heard it could be pretty clunky/confusing/irritating. I think WP could definitely do the trick pretty darn well.
Jerxs also mentioned a WP directory plugin but it looked like people were able to add their own links but it didn't have a whole ton of features that seemed as redeeming as customizing from the getgo and using the same idea/concept/template across multiple projects (assuming the first is successful).
Alright I am finished.
Eager to hear feedback, even from those who just want to tell me to STFU.
Here are my thoughts so far... would love comments/ideas/help on getting this working and... if we can... maybe it's something everyone can use. Not only that, what if we could release it as a "Directory Plugin" of our own.
Okay maybe I'm being a little ambitious... ANYways:
THEME
Most recent widget ready theme that's easily customized. A 3-column theme with content in one section, widgets like "most recent", "top rated", "calender", "weather" and stuff in sidebar one and the "business directory" in sidebar 2.
ARTICLES
Providing more value than just a directory... a category called "Articles" with any relevant sub-cats such as "things to do" would house content for the main page with the ability to show "random posts" from the various article sections. Providing a seemingly dynamic website once you've got enough articles.
I had something like this custom coded and would be willing to share it with others. You list the categories you want displayed on the main page along with a small picture and next to the "category" icon it shows the title and excerpt of a random post in that category.
For a local area directory, though, you might have seasonal articles so you don't show Golf articles during the winter and Where to find a Christmas Tree articles during the summer. I suppose in the articles category you could include sub categories like seasons, months, holidays and apply the post to all relevant categories. Then, you could change your homepage to include the category, "Winter" instead of "Fall" with the random posts script and when the season changes.... you're all set. The icon and random posts would be much more relevant.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY
The business directory would be made up of categories with each business being a post in it's designated category. Clicking on a category in the right hand sidebar would list all businesses in that category and using "excerpt" they could show only the address/contact info. Obviously, you'd want the business directory to display alphabetically.
Here is where it gets a bit tricky - selling featured listings. If you buy a featured listing that would put you at the TOP of your category list when browsing the category. Most of the "sticky" plugins don't seem to work the magic this requires. You could also create a specific template for that category using something like categoryID#.php and insert the featured business directly into the code, above the loop. Do the featured listings get shown alphabetically? First come first served? Why not sell ONE special featured listing that goes above EVERYBODY in the category, even the other featured sponsors?
Would it be possible to create a subcategory called "featured" and make another statement, above the loop saying basically, "If this post is in this category and also in featured then they display alphabetically above the loop." And of course you could set different css styles to these listings to give them things such as colored backgrounds, use "optional fields" to include a picture (using meta) with their featured listing.
Or, what if in the "manage categories" field a plugin could help you do all of this in the backend... I WISH!
SIDEBARS
Having trouble finding where you can edit the display of your sidebars within the new wordpress where widgets are included. Changing depth, listing alphabetically and so on... anyone?
Also, is it possible to change the sidebar based on the category? I suppose if you have "categoryID#.php" you could call up a custom "sidebarID#.php" to correspond to what you want... is this the easiest way to go about this?
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Using Google Maps API to display a map of each business location. Instead of physically putting the address into the post you could include different lines in the "optional fields" area and have the information pulled from there... otherwise your single.php for articles and business directory would probably be screwdizzled.
- Advertiser Login? What if you could give each business their own login and allow them to change their data any time they wanted to? But they would need to be restricted to changing a single post. I suppose you could give each their own blog but that seems pretty moronic to do widespread. Of course for businesses that don't have a website it could be a pretty darn good idea. Hmmmmm.
- Payment/Invoices. Obviously this would have to be manual... I would say Microsoft Excel would be the easiest way... including each advertisers data with a column for when their "featured listing" is set to expire. Sort by soonest date and you should have a list of people to contact for renewals. Accept paypal only and should be pretty simple. Wonder if paypal has a affiliate program for signing up new people?
- Google Directory. You probably read about how google will be paying people to get businesses signed up. Why not help them get signed up for this and while you're at it, link back over to your own directory like "there is a good review for this business at this site"
I wrote this all spur of the moment and in one take... so it could be confusing as hell... maybe even useless. Basically, it's me thinking out loud. I'd love your views, opinions, ideas and help putting this together if you're interested in doing the same thing.
I realize the there is existing software you can buy that does these things but they seem to rigid and standard.... and WP seems so easy to mod that it could all be done much more easily not to mention beautifully. Someone mentioned using Joomla but I have no experience with it and heard it could be pretty clunky/confusing/irritating. I think WP could definitely do the trick pretty darn well.
Jerxs also mentioned a WP directory plugin but it looked like people were able to add their own links but it didn't have a whole ton of features that seemed as redeeming as customizing from the getgo and using the same idea/concept/template across multiple projects (assuming the first is successful).
Alright I am finished.
Eager to hear feedback, even from those who just want to tell me to STFU.
