The Store Locator Plus® SaaS platform works for any web platform or application the supports embedded JavaScript. All of the popular website tools including WordPress, Wix, Weebly, SquareSpace, Joomla, Ghost, and Django support embedded JavaScript. We’ve even seen sites running NetSuite and SalesForce embed Store Locator Plus® maps.
The WPSLP Power Add On or MySLP/Professional plan allows you to import CSV files with several options. View the information under SLP/Locations/Import . You have various options to consider when determining how to update locations that match your pre-existing locations.
Options available on how to handle duplicates: Choose to Add, Skip, and /or Update.
Included in WPSLP Power only (This feature is currently NOT available with MYSLP fully managed software as a service)
Find it under Store Locator Plus | General |APP
Enable Pages turns on the Store Pages (“Pages” or “SEO Pages”) functionality of Store Locator Plus. Once enabled a new Pages tab will appear under Store Locator Plus Admin Panel menu and the Store Locator Plus | Locations | List will have new entries under bulk actions.
Included in MySLP Enterprise and WPSLP Premier.
Find it under Settings | Results | Results Interaction
The text entered in this setting will be replaced with a long pause (,,) in the telephone dialer hyperlink when the Use Dial Link For Phone option is enabled.
included with MySLP Enterprise and/or WPSLP Premier.
Employ telephone dialer links with extension pauses by turning on the Use Dial Link For Phone option and setting the Phone Extension Delimiter option.
When both are enabled the links for phone numbers are set to the defacto tel: hyperlink and if a phone number contains the text specified by the Phone Extension Delimiter option it will insert a long pause at that point before continuing to dial.
This method uses the oft-support comma placeholder, adding two commas to extend the pause to allow for slower phone systems to catch up and wait for the extension to be entered.
This output behavior will appear on results under the map, directory landing pages, and store pages.
Location Sensor Aware available with the SLP SaaS subscription Professional level (or higher ) service plan
Location Sensor capability is also a feature with the WPSLP Plug in Power add-on.
Location sensor feature can be turned on/off with a simple check box under the SLP/General tab.
When the box is checked and a visitor to your site performs a search , SLP queries the browser and requests their current location. If the browser allows location queries it will return their geographic location which will be used to set the default search location.
Note: This will only work with most browsers if you have a secure site and/or if your site visitor “allows” their location to be visible to you.
Google may return a “No results found” if you do NOT have an HTTPS site and will stop the javascript from loading. SLP with the Power add-on will negate Location sensor settings entirely if you do not have https:// enabling your page to continue to load. If you require the location sensor functionality to work properly you must have a valid SSL certification.
Accuracy varies greatly from location to location. In some places, service providers may be able to provide a location to within a few meters. All locations returned by service providers are estimates only and we do not guarantee the accuracy of the locations provided. Your SLP settings also determine the number of locations shown nearest the site visitor. Settings for radius, number of results to return and center of map all interact to show locations nearest to the site visitor.
Changes as of June 11, 2018 will effect the WordPress Store Locator Plus (DIY) community. Google requires all sites using map services to have an API key with a billing account attached. See Google Developers console.
The Browser key is used to display the map and handle user-input addresses during a location search. The Geocoding API is used on your WordPress server to geocode locations you’ve entered via the Google “Places” box and APIs. You do not need the additional geocoding “key” unless you have added restrictions. You do however, need to have the geocoding API enabled in your Google projects library.
Google’s push for all websites to be HTTPS has been a game changer over the past few years with many companies switching from HTTP to HTTPS with some hiccups along the way. Some of the site transfer mishaps are minor, but if done incorrectly can cause your plug-ins to misbehave , and often is the case, after the transition team has left the building.
If you have never had HTTPS on your site, you will undoubtedly run into an issue with how your site assets are loaded. By assets we are referring to things like images, JavaScript, and even your CSS. Insecure assets may not stop the green padlock from showing in browsers, but it will add an exclamation point warning to your users that information is being loaded insecurely.
Occasionally we see comments from customers that Store locator Plus broke their site or is not working. When asked if they recently migrated their site they often state nothing has changed. On further investigation , or by inspecting their console we often see the “Mixed Content warnings” quite often for images or icons from older versions of Store Locator Plus. This is a sure fire clue that there was indeed a “site migration”. They started out with their site when the SLP plug-in was originally installed as HTTP and now , at least part of their site, is HTTPS. This is known as a protocol migration. If you migrate your site from HTTP to HTTPS, Google treats this as a site move with a URL change. That means you may need to obtain a new Google API key for SLP to work properly. With version SLP 4.9.15 you are allowed to add HTTP referrers now as long as you also obtain a geocode key. See info about those changes under news
A site migration is a great opportunity to address legacy issues. If you have outdated legacy add-ons this is a good time to invest in your future by planning for and including any update expenses in your overall budget. Including these costs in the project scope is the most cost-effective method to ensure your site stays relevant and on-track. When you consider that issues that may arise after going live will require additional time , resources and, yes, may even create downtime and loss of traffic to your site it is worth including the new versions in your budget.
