Integration with vBulletin - vHoist : Garage / Car Showroom

About:

vHoist is a new Virtual Garage plugin that allows your users to share the rides with the rest of your forum!

Our plugin fully integrates into your forum software providing seamless integration without the limits of other plugins with similar features, such as extra SQL querys added to your site.


vHoist Has:

- Multiple Garages for each user

- No Added SQL Query's

- Users Cars listed under their post info

- Full seamless integration into your forum

- Users can share their garages over multiple websites without the need to modify their profiles for each site.

- Anyone that "parks" their car on your website, will provide a backlink to your site for every other site they are on.

- Unlimited Pictures and Rides

- Many new features coming weekly! Facebook plugin, phpbb plugin both in development.

- Will be supporting MOTORCYCLES, ATV's, Boats and much much more!

Sites that are already using vHoist.com:

http://www.GenerationDub.com
http://psaclub.net/forums.php

Install Instructions

1) Download the zip file.

2) Upload vHoist.php into the root directory of your website.

3) Install the product "product_vhoist.xml" (Allow overwrite if you're upgrading) into vBulletin.
[ Plugins & Products ] -> [ Manage Products ] -> Add/Import Product.

4) Visit www.vHoist.com and Register an account. *COMPLETELY FREE*

5) Once logged in, click "Downloads", and redownload the zip file to enable the administration panel. REFRESH this page after download.

6) Add your website to vHoist.com by using the "Site Adminstrator" menu to the left, located under your Member Garage.
* Your site will not be added to vHoist.com until you upload vHoist.php and correctly add your URL to our database.

7) Save the information and Paste the passkey Generated by vHoist.com into your vBulletin vHoist settings.

[ vBulletin Options ] -> [ vBulletin Options ] -> [ vHoist Settings ] -> Website Passkey

8) Adjust your settings in vBulletin for vHoist accordingly.

After you are finished the above, visit your newly installed vHoist on your website. You will see a message saying that you do not currently have any cars parked on your site. Click on "Add / Edit vHoist" and then park your car on your site!

FAQ:

How does the benefit my site?

- There is no "Overhead" added to your site like other plugins, such as vbGarage, because everything takes place on vHoist.com

- Backlinks, an important SEO feature, come from vHoist.com to your site. For example, if one member parks his / her car on multiple websites, you will automatically be back linked from potentially thousands of sites. It's already happening.. http://forums.generationdub.com/vHoi...iew&gid=100390 - This is a VERY important feature and benefit to your site.

- Your users now only have to "Update" their ride on one site, and it propogates to all other sites they have parked too. Now if they have "forgotten" that they came to forum before but parked their ride there, it will be bumped up to the top of the list when they have an update.

- If someone comments from your forum, the user will receive an email saying that someone commented from your forum, and potentially giving you another user to come back to your site! Again, ANOTHER backlink is added on the comment. Here is an example:

http://forums.generationdub.com/vHoi...iew&gid=100000

Here's what a users garage looks like parked on 2 seperate sites!

Site 1 - http://forums.generationdub.com/vHoi...iew&gid=100000

Site 2 - http://psaclub.net/vHoist.php?do=view&gid=100000

Do you get our users information?

We save the UserID, UserName and Email address of users that "Park" a car on your website, so that the user display information will properly show up on your site. This is strictly because users will occasionally have multiple usernames across many forums. Since vHoist.com allows a user to "park" their ride on your site, we need to display their username for your site properly.


For more FAQ's like this, visit: http://www.vhoist.com/FAQ.aspx

Time to install: < 5 Minutes
Template Edits: 0
File Uploads: 1
Products: 1

Has been tested on:

3.6.7
3.6.8
3.7.1
3.8.0

Believed to work on ALL versions from 3.6.0 to 3.8.0, but would like confirmation from users currently using those sites.

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.1]
- Fixed Search not working
- Removed Sponsor Program
- Allowed importing for 3.5.7
- Disabled "member ride" listed under user's name until I can figure out the "slow down" issue
- problem with quotes in user names
- moved related rides to the left instead of right

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.2]
- Added "Random Image" table - show 1 through 10 random garages by your users
- Created a new way to add vHoist to your forum, so you can use a selection box to pick where it goes
- Added "Latest Image" table - show 1 through 10 last edited garages by your users
- Added more extensive options menu
- Added Quick Links Menu
- Fixed "Enable / Disable" Option
- Removed "Members Rides" option under user names until futher testing

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.3]
- Added sorting on title bar of search
- Added some vHoist website functionality
- View users rides from www.vhoist.com/ride/XXXXXX/ where XXX is the ride number.
- Fixed bug for not being able to remove ride

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.4]
- Added User Profiles tab
- Removed this from "beta" since it's been functioning on sites for a few months now
- Added some vHoist website functionality - analytics to be added in next release
- View users profile from www.vhoist.com/id/username/ where XXX is the username on vHoist.com

Known Issues for this release:

- None reported

Other:

This is currently a working public BETA. I will be supporting this daily (well, mostly nightly EST) in this thread and via any problems submitted by email using the contact form on the site, http://www.vhoist.com


*Attention vbGarage Users*

We have been working diligantly on a conversion tool to transfer your current vBGarage users into vHoist.com. The converter is currently in Alpha testing and is not publicly avalible yet.

It is recommend that smaller sites that are using vBGarage start off with a fresh new vHoist account, however, we understand that content is hard to come by and we are working fast to bring this converter to you! If this is stopping you from installing vHoist.com, then please use our contact forum to let us know you are waiting!

....

Cheers .... and .... here goes nothing... this is my first publicly released mod, so if I did this wrong, please forgive me!

[footose]

^^ Sounds like a good idea to me. I was thinking about adding that, but wasn't sure how I would beable to make people 'prove' their times. Maybe upload time slips? I'm not sure yet..but i can easily add it and I think its a good idea. Ill see about adding it in the next release.

[jonbaker]

sweet. yeah i have added the 1/4 info as profile fields to our forums.. it is kinda an honor system. but would like to see here. then i can eliminate it off our forums and "force" people to use your site/mod to compair.

and the Dyno sheets are usually posted..

[suodraxah]

So I have to redirect users away from my site? And then they have to register with your site?

[jonbaker]

i thought that at first as well. however, my club is more for coming together with other groups out there. and this mod will allow my members to share their photos and details to other forums that also have this mod installed.

it will bring more traffic to my site in the long run. plus, this site also lists my site on their home page. i think this is great and free advertisement. in the long run, can only be good for everyone.

[footose]

So I have to redirect users away from my site? And then they have to register with your site?

Just once for the "registration" - of if the users have an account already, all they have ot do is "park" their car on your site.

it will bring more traffic to my site in the long run. plus, this site also lists my site on their home page. i think this is great and free advertisement. in the long run, can only be good for everyone.

Exactly part of plan! Here's an example of back linking:

I come to your site, and I "park" my car there. At the MINIMUM, we now have established that my car is linked to your site, and is linked to vHoist.com - which means, for every user that signs up on your site, you get 1 back link from our site to your site. This is a bare minimum.

Now the significance of this increases exponentially as more sites begin to use vHoist.com and more users have profiles.

Check out my personal ride here - http://www.vhoist.com/ride/100000/

My car is "parked" on 11 websites, as well as on vHoist.com. Now lets say I come to your site and "park" my car there, because I'm a member and I like it.

Now your site is back linked on the above 11 "parking lots" that I'm parked in, as well as vHoist.com. That's 12 backlink's just from someone parking their car on your site on websites that are likely related to yours. You likely didn't even know some of these sites existed, and now your website is clearly stated there.

I only released vHoist.com to the public on January 1st, and on my car club website, we are already seeing an increase in traffic from back linked sites. Obviously you can't guarantee rankings from Google, and anyone that will tell you otherwise is just looking to rip you off.. but as even the most basic SEO analysis will tell you, backlinks will only help you rather then hurt you.



Multiple this by the amount of users you share on your site, and you can start to see the potential of this system. Hundreds of back links to your site, all being indexed by google.

On top of all of this, we link your site directly on vHoist.com main page after you park a certain amount of cars there (its small for now..2+ parks gets you on there).

We just need to get past the old "I want everything on my server" frame of mind. The benefits of this system are huge.

1) Your users will have a central database for updating their ride
2) Backlinks to your site increase everytime someone parks in your "parking lot"
3) This service is free, and will always be free
4) There is no extra overhead on your site
5) Fully supported plugin, and I usually answer emails within an hour or so

I'm offering a service and a plug in for your site for free, in exchange for having your users register on vHoist.com. Luckily, the user also gets a public profile on vHoist.com, so there is no reason for them not to sign up if they want to "show off their ride" - I'm also a car enthusiast and I run my own Forum, so I have a typical idea of what people will "go for" and what they won't go for - which is why this is programmed the way it is.

I know the biggest concern is that there isn't anything stored on your DB so you don't have "full control" over the data. However, this is no different then say linking your CarDomain profile to your website, except now you , as an administrator, are reaping benefits that you otherwise wouldn't get by a person just linking their cardomain profile in their Signature.

Here's something cool.

Goto Google and type in "vHoist" - we have only been open for a month and a half, and all of the sites that have vHoist installed are already ranking on Google for just the search term "vHoist" in the first 2 to 5 pages. Just by installing vHoist and having a few cars parked there, sites have already increased in traffic just because of people interested in seeing vHoist in action.

[footose]

product / vhoist.php files - [1.0.0.4]
- Added Garage list in User Profile tab
- Removed this from "beta" since it's been functioning on sites for a few months now
- Added some vHoist website functionality - analytics to be added in next release
- View users profile from www.vhoist.com/id/username/ where XXX is the username on vHoist.com


Install / Upgrade:


Same as usual goes...

If you are upgrading, you can download the above file. Drop vHoist.php into your forum directory, and install the product. Select "Overwrite" to not lose your current settings

If you are installing for the first time, you need to visit http://www.vHoist.com and use the Download tab after registering. Follow the instructions there.

[footose]

Small addition tonight:

When user add's a comment on your forum and isn't logged into vHoist, once they log in the comment is added and automatically the user is sent back to your site... was requested a few times.

No need to update if you have 1.0.0.4 since this was all a serverside operation on my end, but just thought i'd mention it

over 1000 users registered on vHoist now Probably 1 or 2 of them are on your site!

[footose]

Minor issue with 1.0.0.4. I didn't update the version number so people were getting install errors saying you had version 1.0.0.3. This should solve any issue relating this.

I will be removing the "version check" from the main site later tonight, and just upload a manual version check button.

[357Magnum]

Is there anyway to change the title of the Forum to say Motorcycle? lol

[357Magnum]

alright I installed it and everything seems to be working properly for the most part.

http://www.devil-riders.com/vb/index.php

The only thing that is not, is the making vHoist a forum..it totally jacks my entire style up.

Also, is there anyway you can make a setting to disable the random image view and the info bar?? Dunno if I will disable it or not but it would be nice to have the option; as I already have it displaying random album images.