Techniques for Developing Directory and Marketplace Sites with WordPress

Amir Helzer● Founder, OnTheGoSystems○ WPML, Toolset

● Heavy WordPress user● Developer (but not PHP)● Windsurfer

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What’s a Marketplace Site?

A site where some members post and others find.

Post and find what?● New and used items● Services● Work for hire● Information

Why Marketplace Sites?Marketplace sites are the basis for many businesses.● Ebay● Uber● Odesk● Airbnb● Craigslist

Marketplace are like the middleman (making money).

How Did I Become Such an Expert?

We created Toolset Classifieds - a “do it yourself” classifieds site framework.

What’s Inside Marketplace Sites?

● Content submission● Content display● Content search● Content organization

● Application logic● User accounts and payments

Content Submission

● Members submit new content.

● Members should also be able to edit their content.

● Content goes into the WordPress tables (posts, postmeta).

How Content Submission Works

You need to map form-fields to content-fields.

Remember:● Create / edit / delete● Data validation● Notifications

How to Implement Content Submission?

● General ‘form’ plugins + extensions○ GF with ‘GF + CPT’

● Dedicated front-end content-editing plugins○ CRED

● Directory themes○ Classipress, ET-Estate

Content Display

You will need to design:● Single-item pages● Item lists● Category tree● Search…Basically, all template files in a theme.

How to Display Custom Content

● API of custom field plugin○ ACF, Types

● Content-display plugins○ Loopbuddy, Views

● Find a nice theme and hack it

Content Search

Visitors need to find items by:● Custom field values

(price < 100)● Taxonomy

(category=’shirt’)● Text search (‘polo’)

How to Implement Content Search

Coding a custom search is a lot of work.

● Most ‘directory’ themes have a custom search● Views plugin allows to create custom searches

Content Organization● Set-up categories in the

WordPress admin● Put content in categories● Display a hierarchy of

categories● Display items per category

Use ‘custom taxonomy’ for categories.

How to Implement a Front-End Categories Tree

● Directory themes display nice category trees● Code the category looks in PHP○ Nested loops for top-level and child taxonomy, with posts count

● Use plugins○ WP-dTree, Custom Taxonomies Menu Widget, Views

‘Application Logic’

The ‘application logic’ is what makes each site unique.

When this happens, do that:

● “Create a PDF of recent 5 articles”● “Invite to open auctions”● “Find properties in a 30-Km radius”

How to Code Your ‘Application Logic’

● Find a ‘hook’ that runs at the right event

● Write your PHP that implements the required action

User Accounts and Payments

● WooCommerce provides both the payment processing and user-account.

● You can customize the account to include your items.

Connect WooCommerce with Forms Submission

1. Create a WooCommerce product for ‘paid ad’.

2. After submitting an ad, before it goes live, ‘sell’ the WooCommerce product.

3. Once paid, the ad goes live.

Summary

● Yes, you can create great Marketplace sites with WordPress.

● No, there isn’t one “right” way to do it. I presented the way I know, but there are other ways too.

● A good theme or framework will handle 95% of the work for you. The remaining 5% can still be a lot and often requires custom development.

Try Yourself in the Workshop

Join me and Dario at 2pm in the workshop room. All you need is a laptop connected to wifi.Build a fully functional classifieds site from scratch on discover-wp.com.

Questions?

Your turn...