68 Classifieds Blog

Database Backup with PhpMyAdmin

Most web hosts will give you access to manage your database through a script named phpmyadmin. In this tutorial I will go through the steps to make a backup of your database.
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Modifying the default template in v4

Today one of our moderators Mike-N-Tosh posted a pdf download with instructions on modifying the default template in v4. I have read through it and I highly recommend downloading it before you dive into creating your own template.

Quoting Mike-N-Tosh

I’ve been using 68 Classifieds for over year now. It’s the best classifieds software that I’ve found anywhere and I can tell you, that I’ve looked at quite a lot of them. Now since the new version 4 is out, there has been even more people coming to the same conclusion about the software.

I am posting this document, “68c_v4_mod_template.pdf” for free to the group. It is my contribution to give back to the 68c community. It is my hope that this will help those that are new to 68 Classifieds as well as those that are upgrading from the v3.x.

This is an excerpt from an e-Book that I am working on and will be releasing in the future. This excerpt covers the basic default layout in version 4. It explains how the HTML, CSS work together and most importantly, how you can change the logo at the top to your logo as well as the footer information to your information.

I hope that you will find this useful.

Here is the link to the forum thread to download and comment: http://www.68classifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4559

Maffo Location System Mod

Maffo has created a location system mod for 68 Classifieds and I got copy to test out and give my feedback on.

Take control of the Countries, States, Towns & Cities with this easy to use, easy to install and highly efficient Location Module

About The Mod

This mod basically transforms your forms for when users are registering and modifying their account. Currently 68 Classifieds has them choose the country, state, and they enter in text for the city. This module changes this and has them choose the country then the state and finally a list of cities or towns are displayed based off the state, country choice. All wrapped together using Ajax. It also stops duplicates and if your location doesn’t exist you can still enter a new one.

Installation

The installation was really straight forward. Here is what Maffo has outlined:
Installation Time: Less than 1/2 Hr
Edition(s): 68classifieds V3.1 & V4 DEVELOPER & DESIGNER
Difficulty: Easy
File Changes: 6

I was able to install it in less time than the 1/2 hour but I imagine it should take the average users around that time.

Preview

Where to get it

To purchase this module you can do so from the links below:
Location System for 68c v4 - PRICE: £19.99
Location System for 68c v3.1 - PRICE: £19.99

v4.0.1 is now released

V4.0.1 is now released and is available from our customers section.

New Features:

• The install now sets the tables to UTF-8. This can be changed in setup/config.php to a particular charset. (This only affects new installs)
• Added new email templates that are sent when a listing is modified and you have it set to change the status.

Notes:

For the full release announcement please visit this forum thread.

If you find any bugs please post them to our bug tracker here:
68 Classifieds Issue Tracker

The download is available in our customers area:
68 Classifieds Customers Area

7 Successful Marketing Tips

Have you just started your website or need more visitors? I am sure I already know the answer and here are some tips to help spread the word about your site and drive traffic to your site.

1. Great content

The old adage is “Content is King” and this is so true in an online world. Nothing gets you to the top of the search engines faster than great content that people want to link to. Some ideas for getting links through content is guest posting on blogs related to your industry, writing tutorials for your industry, or writing article and submit to article directory type sites.

2. Start using CPC advertising

CPC advertising or Cost Per Click will allow you to immediately be at the top of search engines. You can start small with a budget of a few cents a day and spend all the way up to thousands of dollars a day. We have been using Google Adwords and Yahoo Publisher for several years now and haven’t found any other type of advertising that gets as much bang for the buck.

3. Use web directories

Submit your site to all the major directories. There are lots and lots of free directories that will link back to you without having to link to them. Keep in mind some do charge and some take FOREVER to actually approve your link (think dmoz) but I would recommend submitting early and just forgetting about it. You could drive your self crazy trying to figure out why your site isn’t approved yet.

4. Run A Competition

Lets face it, people like winning things. Some competition ideas could be for people registering at your site, joining a newsletter, posting a listing, or commenting on an article. The possibilities are really endless and you can find some cool in-expensive product to give away. I would probably find a product in your industry to give away. If you have a horse classifieds site your users probably wouldn’t want to win a toy boat.

5. Find Partners

You can find partners that are in the same niche and trade links or advertising. In this same category can also be posting in related forums and including a link to your site in the signature. When you do this add some thing relevant to post or thread or you could get banned.

6. Create Buzz

Come up with lots of wild ideas and you might find one that actually works. Look at the million dollar home page!

7. Advertise Locally

Don’t forget about car stickers, road side signs, t-shirts, or sponsoring an event. A lot of not for profit companies hold events that allow sponsorship. In our area sponsoring a small event costs a few hundred dollars.

Google AdSense On SSL Pages

Google Adsense is an excellent advertising program that allows you to get paid when people click ads on your site. Integrating Google Adsense into your 68 Classifieds site is very simple and just requires you to get their javascript code and paste it into a template file.

Although it is easy to integrate you should keep in mind that it currently does not support SSL invocation. Meaning if you place it on a page that is accessed by SSL you will get a security warning saying the page may not be secure.

Although you may place the AdSense ad code on a page using Secure Socket Layers, we do not currently offer an https version of the AdSense ad code at this time. Therefore, you may see a message asking for confirmation to load all items on the page when placing the AdSense ad code on secure https pages.

The only way to get around this is to add a Smarty if statement around the javascript code like this:

{if $smarty.server.SERVER_PORT != '443'}
//place ad code here
{/if}

What this does is check what port your website is currently on (port 443 is generally SSL) and if it is not an ssl page then display the ads. If you are not using an SSL then you do not need to make any changes and can run the ads as normal.