Travelgrove Labs
- 23 Apr
WordPress “Travel Search” plugin by Travelgrove
The new WordPress plugin Travel Search by Travelgrove provides a one-step travel search engine, that allows users to search and compare airfare prices, hotel room rates, car rentals and vacation packages provided by a large scale of travel companies from the biggest providers of the market to special aggregators, travel agents and negotiators.This plugin was built for many reasons:
- for the visitors of your site: to provide a search box helping them find the best rates on flights, hotel rooms and vacation packages.
- for you: to provide you with a new source of income and to add value to your travel-related website.
- for our affiliates: to provide easy ways to implement our boxes.
- for us: to guarantee more visibility to our travel partners.
Based on the success and popularity of the current plugin, we plan to complement the Travel Search plugin with real-time airfare prices, best current deals and fare ticket history.
Table of contents:
- Installation & Requirements
- Register as an affiliate
- Default Settings
- Usage inside the WordPress Editor
- Usage outside the WordPress editor
- Traffic and Revenue Stats
- Support
- Feedback
- Further Improvements / Following releases
- Inline demo box – see the searchbox in action
- Start earning money with Travelgrove
I.) Installation & Requirements ↑
The steps are the same as for any usual WP-plugin: download the package from here or from the WordPress Plugin Directory -> Travel Search plugin, unzip it, copy it to your blog’s plugin directory, then activate it.
The plugin requires minimum WordPress 2.7 to work and was tested on up to WordPress 3.3.1
II.) Register as a Travelgrove Affiliate ↑
In order to properly track the commissions and leads generated by your site, you must register as a Travelgrove Affiliate. The searchbox will work fine for non-registered sites as well, however to get paid you must first register by following these simple steps:
1.) Read carefully our Network Rules and Regulations and accept them by clicking the checkbox at the bottom of this page, then click Sign Up.
2.) Complete the form that appears
3.) After you have successfully registered, log in here
4.) Once logged in search for your unique Travelgrove Affiliate ID (“Your Affiliate ID”):
Affiliate ID inside Travelgrove's Affiliate Interface
This is vital to track the revenue you generate with us and without this affiliate ID being present no commission will be tracked for your site.
admin menu
5.) Navigate to the plugin’s settings page. Look for the small palm tree at the bottom of your admin menu. Select “Travel Search” from the menu.
If your domain is example.com and your blog is /blog/, this should be example.com/blog/wp-admin/admin.php?page=tg_searchboxes.
6.) On the screen that appears paste your unique Affiliate ID into the first input that says ‘Your unique Travelgrove affiliate ID’ (see screenshot below at Default Settings).
III.) Set Default Settings ↑
1.) Customize the searchbox on the next admin screen by setting up the preferred date format as well as default departure and return dates:
default date settings
Departure date is always relative to the current date and is calculated based on current time (your server’s current time) + the offset you select.
Return date is calculated based on departure date and it is relative to that.
These dates will be used as flights departure/return dates, hotel check-in/check-out dates, vacation dates and car rentals pick-up/drop-off dates.
2.) Set up default ‘From’ and ‘To’ locations or leave those fields empty. Default options will be used only if no other locations will be specified while adding the box to a post (see below at usage). Just click into the input, start typing then select an airport from the suggestion list:
Setting up default airports
To ease the setup process, the same locations will be copied to empty inputs, so if you add “New York City (NYC)” as destination on the Flight tab, it will be copied automatically to hotels, car rentals and vacation tab.
color-pickers
3.) Match the colors with your blog’s look & feel and design using the color-pickers for box border color, box text color, box background color, tabs color, tabs text color and tabs border color.
You can also copy a color code from your CSS files and paste it into the right input.
IV.) Usage inside of WordPress Editor ↑
The WordPress TinyMCE editor integration is the part of this plugin we are the most proud of.
We think using our boxes via the built-in editorial interface could not be easier since it is 100% wordpress-compatible using the very same interface any blogger is using while adding an image to a post, so if you can manage to add a picture to a post you can manage Travelgrove Searchboxes as well.
Here are the steps to follow for adding a box to one of your posts:
1.) Move the cursor inside the box at the position where you want to insert the box.
2.) Click the orange palm tree editorial button on the visual interface:
Insert button on the visual interface
or hit the “Travel Search” button (orange palm tree) inside the HTML mode:
Travelgrove Searchboxes button under html mode
A very similar pop-up box (“thickbox”) will appear as the one for the media upload:
Travelgrove searchboxes in the thickbox popup
3.) On the given screen, select the desired size by simply clicking it (160×600, 300×250, 300×533, 728×90 or dynamic).
Note that “dynamic” refers to dynamic width searchbox – the one that fits all designs since it fills in the available room so no large empty areas will appear around the box.
4.) Select the tab you would like to be opened by default by simply clicking it (Flight, Hotels, Packages, Cars)
5.) Enter departure and arrival locations and select travel dates, or leave the fields empty, up to you.
6.) Hit the “Insert Box” button and done. You should see something similar inside the visual editor:
As you can see on the screenshot, an image with the same dimensions as the box will appear inside the visual editor, thus not breaking the design of your page inside the editor. No surprises will appear when you publish your post.
Editing present searchboxes in a post can be done in the same way as you edit an image – click the box and choose from the options (edit, delete).
Check below the inline demo to see a box in action.
V.) Usage outside of WordPress Editor ↑
Adding one of the search boxes anywhere on your blog — i.e. inside the header, footer, right or left sidebar, attachment pages or anything else you can think of — is as easy as copy-pasting a line into the right template file, by following these basic steps:
1.) Login to your wordpress blog
2.) Select the “Demo page” sub-menu from the “Travel Search” menu (on the left)
3.) From the Demo page copy the Shortcode from below the box you want to use:
select short-code from demo page
4.) Select Appearance -> Editor to open the built-in theme editor of wordpress.
5.) Select the file you want to edit (Header, Footer, Sidebar, Index) depending on where you want the box to appear.
6.) Paste the shortcode in the given theme template file at the position where you want to have the box. Here are a few samples for further use:
<?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?><?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?><?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?><?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?><?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?>And that’s it, you are good to go!
VI.) Traffic and Revenue Stats ↑
Access your revenue stream statistics by following these simple steps:
1.) Login to Travelgrove Affiliates: www.travelgrove.com/affiliates/
2.) Select the time period you want to see the revenue for (Yesterday, Last week, This month, Last month) or enter exact dates and hit ‘Go’
Your stats report will look like this (just not that blurry ;-) ):
Travelgrove Traffic and Revenue Stats
Please note that we are refining the monthly stats at the end of the each month, so the numbers might slightly change in both directions (usually they don’t).
At the beginning of each month you will receive your paycheck for the previous month (via actual check or paypal). You can follow your monthly payouts here (please note that checks are only sent once payment thresholds are reached).
VII.) Support ↑
Feel free to contact us for support by leaving a comment here or by sending an email to tech[at]travelgrove[dot]com, considering the following points:
1.) Please add “Travel Searchboxes WordPress Plugin” in the subject line and mention both your unique Affiliate ID and the URL of your website.
2.) Keep in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words, so please attach one or more screenshots to your bug report.
3.) Also please understand that we are programmers, engineers and managers handling our daily businesses inside the company and running many different projects in more countries and in several languages, thus we might not respond to each request in the shortest time but we take each bug report seriously, since we think quality matters.
We might not fix each reported issue one by one as they appear but collect them and fix them together in further releases and version updates.
VIII.) Feedback ↑
As usual at this company, your feedback is welcome and highly appreciated.
By publishing our affiliate media tools via wordpress plugins, we think wordpress’ forums and this blog forms a comfortable platform to communicate better with our affiliates and understand their diversified demands.
Contact us at contact[at]travelgrove[dot]com or by visiting our contact page.
IX.) Further Improvements / Following releases ↑
We have many ideas regarding how to enhance this plugin and what other travel tools we should build — maybe even too many.
Adding real-time airfare ticket prices with mileage information from ©MileBlaster, providing average prices, durations and number of stops and building a box with top cheapest flights found by our users and editorial team are just a few of them, so the principles and directions of further improvements and following plugins will be decided based mainly on your feedback and suggestions.
What we are sure about regarding the next major release is:
- a short-code generator will be added
- CSS and JS files will be minified and (g)zipped
- possibility to implement the boxes via widgets will be added
- aligning functionalities for the boxes will be added, just like for images in WordPress
X.) Inline Demo Box – see the searchbox in action ↑
See the plugin in action below, pre-filled with Las Vegas as destination, having the package tab opened as default and w/o any specific travel dates but the default ones, 4 adults in 2 rooms:
- Flights
- Hotels
- Packages
- Cars
travel search by TravelgroveShortcode for this box:
For adding it to your template files:
<?php echo do_shortcode(‘‘); ?>
XI.) Start earning money with Travelgrove today ↑
Just to recapitulate – install the plugin, register to Travelgrove and start earning money today by blogging about your favorite travel deals or travel destinations, discount cheap flights you find on the net or bargain hotel room rates. Tell your fellow travelers where and when to travel, and provide our box as the searching platform, thus making everyone satisfied.
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250+ downloads of our “Travel Search” Wordpress Plugin | Travelgrove Labs wrote on May 22, 2012:[...] are glad to announce that our “Travel Search” wordpress plugin has passed the 250 downloads mark yesterday (and counting). Considering [...]
Comments on WordPress “Travel Search” plugin by Travelgrove
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steve wrote on October 25, 2012:Hi,
Do you have an option that limits the search to just flights, as advertising car rentals and hotels will conflict with my other business interests.Thanks.
Tech wrote on October 25, 2012:Hi Stephen,
Currently we don’t have that option, but I just added to our to-do list and it will be included in the next release.
Thank you for your interest, keep in touch!
Dave wrote on October 25, 2012:Does this search tool work for UK also as in the money currency?
Deepak wrote on November 23, 2012:Is there any way where I can see buses runs on particular dates in bold.
suppose buses runs on 7,10,15,28,then I want these dates on bold in calendar.
Tech wrote on November 23, 2012:Hi Deepak,
Not sure what do you mean… we don’t really do any business related to transportation by buses, only flights.
Wendy wrote on November 28, 2012:Hi,
Is there any way that my users could actually book their own flights?
Thanks!
Tech wrote on November 28, 2012:Hi Wendy,
Of course. They just have to run a search with their criteria, select the providers they like and book their flight on the providers’ pages.
Cheers
Deepak wrote on December 8, 2012:Hi,
I want to sort the cities in ascending order in “from” drop down list,fetching from one of the database table.I am not able to identify which file I should update.Could you please help me out in this.Tech wrote on December 10, 2012:Hi @Deepak,
Unfortunately you cannot do that right now. The items in the list are sorted based on an internal best match logic + popularity.
Thomas wrote on February 21, 2013:Hi,
Is there any option to find travel buddy
Tech wrote on February 21, 2013:Hi Thomas,
I’m not sure what you mean, but if you refers to services finding you a travel buddy that’s not available at this time.
Regards
filip wrote on March 5, 2013:hi there,
is it posible to have an option in search box with flexible dates. something like “sort by price” for a period (let’s say 3 months). that means to search without input a date of arrive or departure.
best regards,
filipTech wrote on March 5, 2013:Hi Filip,
Unfortunately flexible date search is not available yet, but it just made our to-do list!
Regards
Magdy Ragab wrote on March 6, 2013:hi;
How can I use it outside wordpress site?Tech wrote on March 6, 2013:Dear Magdy Ragab,
Go to Travelgrove’s Affiliate Section -> log in -> browse Promotional Tools:
https://www.travelgrove.com/affiliates/custom_search_box.php
The boxes you will find are slightly different – we are currently working on implementing the same WordPress boxes but outside of WordPress.Cheers
Greg wrote on March 6, 2013:Hi There,
Great plugin! I was wondering if you could tell what CSS class to adjust becasue the drop down buttons are displaying slightly hidden. Can you pls take a look on the site?
Thanks
GregMagdy Ragab wrote on March 9, 2013:Thank you ; it works
Tech wrote on March 13, 2013:Hi Greg,
Sure – but please provide a URL to your domain where the box can be found!
Regards,
The Travelgrove TeamBusiness Loans wrote on March 28, 2013:This is a great plugin for my business I just wish you guys were easier to reach or provided a more active support area.
Chris wrote on March 28, 2013:I am trying to reach out to you guys I have a technical error with the display of your calendar. Can somebody please reach out to me. Thanks.
Tech wrote on March 28, 2013:Thanks Jason!
Do you have any sort of tech request or is there anything not functioning properly?Kind Regards,
The Traveltrove TeamGary Golden wrote on April 9, 2013:When I signed up I thought I read that affiliates got paid by the search, How exactly do you pay, by the search or commission on each sale. This might be a good thing to have in the affiliate control panel.
Tech wrote on April 10, 2013:Hi Gary,
Publishers are paid after the clicks their users generate.
kalido wrote on April 13, 2013:hi i was looking to use your affiliate whats the commission rate ?
Tech wrote on April 15, 2013:Dear Kalido,
The commission rates start at 50% and can go up to 90% (based on traffic level and quality).
Cheers
jackie wrote on April 18, 2013:can I add another plug-in that would allow me to search on this by price for everything?
Tech wrote on April 19, 2013:Hi Jackie,
I am not sure I understand your question – currently Travelgrove has only the given plugin.
Cheers
Kunal wrote on May 10, 2013:I am testing the plugin on my website. I see a couple of issues.
1. While using the packages and the car section in a dynamic search box, the from and to boxes dont get aligned correctly.
2. When using chrome, even if i search 3 sites for comparison, only one window opens up, while in IE, i see 3 windows open. Is this a CHrome issue or the plugin issue itself
Tech wrote on May 13, 2013:Dear Kunai,
1.) We are currently debugging this issue. Have you tried loading the boxes not from JS but normally, via HTML?
For this you have to leave the “Load Searchbox Using JavaScript” check box unchecked.2.) This is common behavior of Chrome’s pop-up blocker; unfortunately there’s nothing to do about it now.
Kind Regards,
Travelgrove Team.
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great plug in i will use it soon .I’m going to build a blog on travel and insert your search box , great job , well done.
Frank Moreno