Major Additions - Plugin Pages CMS for vBulletin 3.8

Welcome to the Plugin Pages? CMS Beta page for vBulletin 3.8. This is the start of an exciting new capability for vBulletin forum owners, and we hope that you will be able to participate. We look forward to your feedback and input.

The best way to understand Plugin Pages is to see it. A very generic demo is available at http://pluginpages.com/forum/pages.php. This same demo catalog comes with the distribution kit.

Plugin Pages is a CMS that?s designed to create catalogs. The base catalog type is an Amazon product catalog. This will be followed by a Product Review catalog, a Coupons Catalog, and an Articles Catalog (2011 deliverables). After Plugin Pages goes Gold with the four basic catalog types, more catalog features will be added, including videos, recipes, vehicles, business/website listings, pets and more.

For a more complete overview of Plugin Pages, please see the first post or our website.

Plugin Pages Beta Process

At a minimum, we will visit this thread twice a day, Monday through Friday, to answer questions and provide support. All of the documentation and FAQs are on the PluginPages.com website. When we answer a new question here on vBulletin.org we will add it to the documentation. Please help us manage our workload by reading the FAQ and documentation to see if it answers your questions. If our documentation is unclear or not accurate, please let us know so we can fix it.

On completion of Beta Phase I we will introduce Plugin Pages for vBulletin 4. Our goal is to create a single distribution for vBulletin 3.8.x/4.1.x. We have no plans to support vBulletin 3.6 or 3.7 (good chance it is compatible, but not tested) or vBulletin 4.0.x.

With Beta Phase II we will introduce Article Catalogs for how-to articles. Article Catalogs allow you to publish your community?s best how-to content in an organized fashion to help support product catalog sales. Beta Phase III will introduce the first interactive catalogs for members, including Review Catalogs and Coupon Catalogs.

Requirements

This beta is for vBulletin 3.8.x only. It has not been tested on 3.7.x or 3.6.x, however it may work. We have not tested it. This beta version will not work on 4.x.x and we will not answer question about how to make it work on 4.x.x.

You will need an Amazon AWS account and a developer?s key so that you can access the Amazon catalog API. Don?t bother installing Plugin Pages until you have your AWS account and have the developer key and secret key. The catalog will not work without it.

API access to eBay, Commission Junction and Shopzilla are optional, however, you need access to at least one of the APIs to use the shopping comparison feature in Plugin Pages. We recommend joining all of these affiliate networks.

Google Adsense is also optional. If you don?t have or can?t get Adsense, you may use another ad delivery network.

Installation

The installation process is quick and easy. Upload the distribution files, import the Product XML file, and set permissions on several folders. That?s the install process in a nutshell.

Plugin Pages adds several tables to your database for catalog storage. It does not modify any vBulletin tables or files.

After installation you will need to add your affiliate network API key information and adjust a few setting for your site. We made every effort to make installation easy to get you up and running quickly.

Our demo catalog ships with the distribution kit. We highly recommend loading this catalog before attempting to make your own. It will help you learn and become familiar with all of the features so you can be on your way building your own catalog. If you have an automotive forum, please feel free to use and modify the demo catalog as much as you like.

In this first beta implementation we have added ?meta noindex? to the header area of all templates. We believe this is the right thing to do during the initial shakeout.

Also, we do not automatically add a link to your navigation bar. Once you decide how you want to use the catalog you can add your own link where ever it makes the most sense. We may change this in the future and make it an option.

[Plugin Pete]

Reserved for additional information.

[Plugin Pete]

Plugin Pages is a catalog builder, plain and simple. Over time we will offer all sorts of catalog building capabilities. If there is a strong demand, we will support it.

Plugin Pages has the singular purpose of helping forum owners monetize their website’s search engine traffic with value-added content. The idea was born from our own experience creating and running an automotive forum with more than 60,000 members. Our unique visitor traffic was about 20% members/forum referrers and 80% search engines. This is a common traffic pattern with most forums.

Plugin Pages helps you monetize more of your search engine traffic by producing and organizing community related content that helps people make buying decisions. In other words, it helps you get in the direct flow of online commerce. In the process of doing this, your search visitor bounce rate goes down while the page views-per-visitor goes up.

The Plugin Pages product catalog offers you five ways to generate revenue from every page, including Amazon, eBay, Commission Junction, Shopzilla and Google Adsense. Plugin Pages creates an automatic shopping comparison environment and leads visitors to Amazon reviews (optional). For additional support on these networks, we have fully integrated third-party link monetization tools.

Plugin Pages is automatic and low maintenance. Every effort has been made to automate as many steps as possible without creating a bloated system. This includes all steps to import products and keep them up-to-date. A basic catalog can be created in a matter of minutes.

The Right Tool at the Right Time
According to a recent Yahoo! survey, “social networks, the mobile Web and coupon sites are transforming how consumers shop. For savvy shoppers with digital tools at their fingertips, the purchase process has become akin to playing a game.”

Yahoo concludes that “As consumers increasingly go online to evaluate their options, socialize them, and get the best possible deal, the process has become far more fun and social. Shoppers collaborate with other “players” (consumers and brands) to navigate their choices and get to the consumer “win” – finding good value for their money or discovering a great, new product.”

The Yahoo! survey isn’t news to most forum owners. Forums play a huge part in the online buying habits of consumers. With that in mind, doesn’t it make sense to formalize a process and get in the game with shoppers? We think it does, and that’s the whole idea behind Plugin Pages. When the shopper catalog components (e.g., products, coupons, reviews, and articlea) of Plugin Pages are put together, your community won’t simply let visitors and members play the game, it will be the game board.

[Manoel J?nior]

Very nice!!!

Very thanks

[Plugin Pete]

Originally Posted by Manoel J?nior

Very nice!!!

Very thanks

Thank you. Please let me know if I can assist you in getting started.

[reteep]

This looks very interesting, but why did you do it for vB 3.x and not 4.x?

Kind Regards
reteep

[MikesSite]

Looks very interesting

[Plugin Pete]

Originally Posted by reteep

This looks very interesting, but why did you do it for vB 3.x and not 4.x?

Kind Regards
reteep

I'm working on the vB 4.x version now. I want it to be compatible with both and it seemed easier to make it forward compatible rather than backward compatible.

Pete

[nascartr]

This looks great, however, I am in a state that Amazon does not allow affiliates from so this is no good. I am an Ebay affiliate so is there an option to make this primarily integrated with Ebay the way it is with Amazon?

[Plugin Pete]

Originally Posted by nascartr

This looks great, however, I am in a state that Amazon does not allow affiliates from so this is no good. I am an Ebay affiliate so is there an option to make this primarily integrated with Ebay the way it is with Amazon?

No worries. I'm in the same boat.

I made the system fully compatible with Skimlinks. You can choose to have all links or just some links running through Skimlinks. So, for instance, you can run Amazon links through Skimlinks and run eBay and Commission Junction direct.

Pete

P.S., do you have a NASCAR or diecast related community?