**PLEASE NOTE: This site has been rebuilt and no longer uses GeoDirectory**
Vinyl Directory is a new website designed to showcase vinyl record shops and to enable the promotion of record fairs and events worldwide. It was created as an experiment to explore the possibilities of the GeoDirectory plugin system, and to see discover whether it is ‘The Best Directory Plugin for WordPress’.
Vinyl Directory Features
Features included on the site include:
- The website features the ability for record store owners and record fair owners to list their stores or events.
- Adsense integration. The website features numerous ads provided by Google to enable ad revenue through visitor clicks.
- A premium upgrade feature. Record store owners can pay £1 per month to have their store listed as a premium store, and to feature website and social media links on their page.
- Countries can have their own custom URL’s, enabling separate sites per location.
- Import listing from other sites. Record store listings can quickly be pulled from Yelp, enabling the site owner to quickly populate their directory site.
- Claim Listings: Store owners can easily claim their listing on the site and then add their own images and descriptions, enhancing their promotion possibilities and SEO.
GeoDirectory: Does it work?
Unlike most other systems on WordPress, such as Appthemes Vantage or Listify, GeoDirectory works as a series of plugins / addons rather than as features created as part of a theme. This allows you just utilise the features that you require, thereby limiting the load on your site. Addons can be purchased separately or purchased as a package.
I chose GeoDirectory specifically as I wanted to enable events as well as store listings. Appthemes Vantage used to allow this with an earlier version of theme but unfortunately this functionality has been abandoned with its latest version. The new version of Vantage does look good, and functions well so it’s a shame they dropped this feature.
The website is built upon the GeoDirectory Framework Theme, which gives you the basics of a directory site to get you up and running. A lot of CSS customisation was required to give the site a sleeker look and feel.
Overall, GeoDirectory was successful, there are a few things I would like to see differently, mostly involving design customisation via the backend, but overall it does a great job. There’s a fair amount of customisation required to get the system working as you would like but with perseverance it gets you there. I would also have liked better integration of ads into the system. Although some ads were inserted into widget areas, further work was required to get ads into the system into specific places as required.