Folks:

I need help! I am looking to create a local community directory and have been researching the directory / ppc products to death (Hyperseek, PowerSeek, SmartPPC, etc.) Links SQL looks promising but is intimidating since I am a marketer, not a techie at all. I have researched as much as possible, but can't seem to find clear answers to the following questions:

1) Are stats available to automatically display the following information on the top page:
Most popular search terms
Most popular sites
Newly added sites

2) If I don't purchase the PPC engine up-front, are there still premium links available to sell for categories? If so, can the sale of the link be automatically to an online system like 2checkout.com? I am not going to have the time to manually process orders.

3) Is anyone pulling in results from Alta Vista or GigaBlast via XML to supplement the directory searches? I want to ensure that my users can do a complete internet search from my site.

4) What exactly is the relevancy formula for listings within a category? Is it using the MYSQL formula?

5) Has anyone installed a spell-checker on their query box?

Thanks in advance,

DC

Hi. Don't feel intimidated... its all pretty simple stuff :)


There is a plugin to track search terms, and show the most popular ones. Regarding popular and new links... these are part of LinksSQL. You normally access them via http://www.yourdomain.com/New/ or http://www.yourdomain.com/Popular/.


AFAIK, there is nothing to do this yet. I'm not sure what GT have included in v2.1.3, but 2.1.2 sure as heck doesn't have anything like this :( I have a PayPal run system (lets you give people different types of links, i.e basic, gold, platinum). Please let me know if you are interested in that.


I'm not sure about the ones you named, but I have a couple of plugins: Overture_Results and SearchFeed_Results. These basically grab results from Overture/SearchFeed, and show them on your site. Each time someone clicks the links, you earn a commission. GT also have a couple, I think.


There is no *amazing* formula

LinksSQL works out new/popular/top/category listings etc, by what you provide (defaults exists, in case you don't want to modify the sort order).

Example: isNew DESC, isPop DESC, Title

...etc


Don't know I'm afraid :(

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

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Hi,

1. No, but there are several globals that people have posted that do what you require, also the most popular and new are available as separate pages and could be included via ssi if needed on the main page.

2. You can implement simple premium links by just adding a field isPremium, and then changing the sort order to sort those first. PPC is much more complex and allows users to bid on links, etc.

3. We don't have plugins for those, but do have free plugins for CafeFind and BidFeed which pay you for clicks.

4. By default it's new links, then popular links, then the rest alphabetical, but this can be changed in the admin.

5. Not to my knowledge. =)

Cheers,

Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.

Hi,

Just to expand a little on this discussion, we have indeed built a payment module for 2Checkout and it will be included in the next release of Links SQL, so yes, if you go with "Premium" links instead of PPC, we can hook up payments with 2Checkout.

Jack.

Cool Any ideas on a release date yet? I'm waiting patiently, but still have a few customers breathing down my neck, asking me to find out when its being released....lol.

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

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Alex:

Thanks for the replies, I have been unable to visit the Forum for a few days or I would have responded sooner. I just thought of a follow-up question. Can I preload the directories with websites that I already have the information for? (url, description, etc.). If I do that and then invite the owners of each URL to update their entries, can they take control of their website's entry by creating a login and id to associate with it? I think that I have another links product that does this to allow you to quickly build your directory.

Thanks - Dave

I'm not sure if the default import script does this (it may work with the import function). Otherwise, its not that hard to write a script that would do the import for you.

Yogi's 'ClaimLink' plugin should do this. It allows for registered users to 'claim' links that are not owned by anyone :) (its a free plugin)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

---

Want to give me something back for my help? Please see my Amazon Wish List
GLinks ULTRA Package | GLinks ULTRA Package PRO
Links SQL Plugins | Website Design and SEO | UltraNerds | ULTRAGLobals Plugin | Pre-Made Template Sets | FREE GLinks Plugins!

Hi Dave,

We can write a custom import script for you to import all the information that you have into the database. We do this quite often and have experience with it. However, one thing that would be quite difficult would be to have users take control of their website's entry without your involvement. There is really no way for the program to determine whether that user is acting maliciously, and trying to take control of a competitor's entry in your database.

However you as the admin can easily and quickly associate a link id to a user id once you're satisfied that a signed up user is who they say they are. Doing it through the program might be a difficult proposition.

Jack.