After looking all over the internet for a decent wordpress car theme I have concluded that almost none exist. Most people searching for a wordpress car theme will either lose interest or give up before finding a decent one they can work with. Most of the websites are actually hosting the same themes with affiliate links. Almost all of theme are blog style, I have only found one wordpress car theme that is geared towards auto dealers. Wp1stop has the best looking one and they also have a plugin that can be used to display an auto dealer’s inventory within wordpress. Take a look at the theme below.

Having the ability to change the background and header image is something most website owners want. In the new release 3.0 wordpress will have a custom background changer built into its core functionality. This means no more extra programming to add the functionality to the backend. This feature along with other is why wordpress continues to stay on the cutting edge of true CMS development.

Previously having a wordpress custom background changer required extra programming or a plugin. The plugin does not always work as advertised which is why I am glad to see the addition of a custom background changer. Users will the option to tile the background, and change the position. A wordpress custom header can also be changed easily through the backend. Why is this a great thing? When someone wants to change the background on their website all they have to do is use the wordpress custom background changer that is built into the CMS. Wordpress 3.0 will be coming out soon and I hope everyone is as excited as I am.

Having both woomenus and a wordpress custom background changer will make changes in appearance as easy as point and click, or drag and drop. There are many other improvements that are coming to wordpress 3.0. The ability to host multiple blogs which is only available to wordpress Mu will be integrated. If you wish to read about the pro’s and con’s of wordpress 3.0 to include the custom background changer then go HERE.

Please leave your comments below and let me know what you would like to see in 3.0. The ability to drag and drop custom templates would be a great addition. One can only hope.

Wordpress Foundation was formed by “Matt Mullenweg to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open Source, GPL software.” This quote was taken directly from the front page of the foundation’s website.

One more quote from the front of the wordpress non-profit website is

“A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the WordPress non-profit Foundation will also pursue a charter to educate the public about WordPress and related open source software.”

This is great news for the open source community as a whole. It reminds me of what apple tried to do with the mac in schools. The huge difference is the wordpress non-profit is trying to use its power to empower students. The other striking difference is how this is a non-profit. One of the reasons I love wordpress is the idealogy behind it. The collective minds of many great developers are continually seeking to improve the technology and deliver it to as many people as possible free of charge. The newest project, a wordpress non-profit, is proof they will continue to push the envelop.

This being the first year that the wordpress non-profit is operating it will be nice to see how it begins to make an impact. Matt Mullenweg continues to prove that he is on the cutting edge of web development and how to make it have a bigger impact. Wordpress is going to see a dramatic rise in the amount of sites that are being powered by it. The addition of the wordpress non-profit should ensure its continued dominance as the number one CMS.

When wordpress first came out in 2003 it was purely a content publishing platform.  As the years have gone the platform has evolved into a fully functional Content Management System.  Everyone from a freelance blogger to a fortune 500 company have utilized this feature rich platform to manage their website.  Auto dealership websites have a complex set of requirements not normally found in other industries.  The ability to easily manage and edit the site content makes using wordpress for an auto dealership website the obvious choice.

Wordpress can be customized to fit any application and an auto dealer is no different.  Everyone from the used car lot to the biggest dealership in town can use wordpress to power their website.  The reason that wordpress is such a no brainer is how easy it is to maintain and update.  Someone with no prior knowledge can learn to use wordpress and begin publishing content within minutes of being shown how.  Auto dealerships change their prices, and ad campaigns about as much as our government changes its mind.  This plays right into wordpress’ strengths.  Using an image slider such as NextGen is a great way to showcase a used or new cars features with pictures.  You can easily edit the descriptions for each picture as well.  For instance if there was a picture of the interior you could add a description that would list all of the interior features present for the vehicle.  If you want to use one picture with some features you could use Wp1Stop’s auto dealership inventory plugin.  Most auto dealerships and car salesmen alike would like to sell every car on the road.  Using wordpress for an auto dealership website will allow the site to fetch rss feeds of the local car dealers.  Not only can dealerships display pictures and features but they can list cars for sale directly on the website with the addition of a third party plugin.  Shopp Plugin is the preferred solution for an automotive ecommerce website.  Even if the dealership does not plan on selling directly from the website they can still collect users information for use in marketing at a later date.  Aweber is a great way to integrate an autoresponder that will store the user’s email and name in a database.  Dealerships will then have the ability to keep that person in their sales funnel so along as they do not unsubscribe.  The automotive industry may have taken some huge setbacks recently with the bailouts and now Toyota seemingly incapable of doing anything right.  By using wordpress for an auto dealership website one can be assured that content is up to date and all of the leads are being followed.  Installing plugins to extend the functionality of wordpress is another great reason for auto dealers to turn to a wordpress platform. I am looking to build a list of the best car dealer websites that are built on wordpress so please leave a comment with any that you may have.

CLICK HERE FOR NEW BUDDYPRESS PLUGIN TUTORIAL VIDEO

So today on the developmental blog I see something about a new Buddypress plugin.  If you are not familiar with Buddypress then I encourage you to check it out here.   Previously if you were running a single installation of wordpress you would have been unable to run Buddypress without changing the theme you already had without making some adjustments to files and uploading new ones.  For users that are not very computer savy the idea of having to do either of these may seem like a monumental task.  The directions were on the Buddypress website but it was still more technical than most people would have liked.  Now that there has been a new buddypress plugin released all of the steps have been streamlined.

To install the buddypress plugin you must first install Buddypress.  After you have completed that step you will want to install the Buddypress Template Pack You may also go to add new plugins and search the depository to auto install the template pack.  Just remember that in order for the new buddypress plugin to work you must have buddypress already installed.  The plugin will walk you through the necessary steps to get buddypress up and running alongside your current theme.

We have been wanting to add a social networking layer to our existing website but have held off because we are not running wordpress mu.  Now that the new buddypress plugin has come out we can finally do this.  Hopefully in the coming months we will have a social network that will allow auto detailers to come and exchange ideas and build a community.  Wordpress continues to outdo anything that Joomla or Drupal can do.  Hopefull this new buddypress plugin will continue the trend toward obscurity that Joomla and Drupal seem destined for.  Please feel free to leave comments.  If anyone is already running buddypress then let us know so we can check out your site.

When I signed into my wordpress admin panel I noticed a new aritcle in the development blog.  For those that do not pay attention to this it is the very informative area the is immediately visible upon loggin in.  I followed the link on the site to discover some great news.  Wordpres MU would in fact become part of wordpress 3.0.  This is great news and something that I first heard in Orlando at a recent Wordcamp.

When speaking at wordcamp in Orlando Matt Mullenweg, founder of wordpress, acknowledged that future releases of wordpress would see the complete integration of wordpress mu.  Something that was asked while he was speaking was how wordpress core would handle the issue of page navigation.  Some sites use pages, others use categories and it is generally a complicated thing.  There have been a lot of great plugins to help.  Navigation plugins that come to mind are Page Links To, PageMash, Page Manageer.  All of the functionality that these plugins bring to wordpress will be integrated into the core edition.

Wordpress extended itself to Woothemes when it caught wind that Woothemes had pretty much perfected the page navigation issue.  Woothemes agreed to contribute to the core wordpress so 3.0 will have the great woothemes menu integrated.  First release is scheduled to come out sometime in May.  When users with a single install upgrade nothing shoud change, wordpress mu users may see a few different sections.  According to the wordpress website there will be a utility that will allow single install users to transfer over to a multiple installation.  New installations of wordpress will have the option of single or multisite.  I look forward to having the abillity to switch over to a multisite install.

Wordpress continues to evolve and improve on an already amazing set of core functionality.  The addition of woothemes to the mix is great and I encourage all good developers to try to contribute to the core version if you can think of anything that could be improved.

Since we last wrote about the new Wordpress auto dealership plugin we have received requests on how to set it up. I hope that this short tutorial will help you get things set up and running on your blog. First thing that needs to happen is go to wordpress and download the Get Custom Field Values plugin. The get custom field values plugin will allow wordpress to print the values entered into the auto dealership plugin.

Install this plugin and make sure to activate it. Once activated the plugin will add a new box to the page/post edit. You will notice it in this screenshot that I have highlighted. This is all that needs to be for the get custom field values plugin. This will allow it to fetch the pre-styled image and text that we will input into WP1stop’s new Auto Dealership plugin.

Remember to download and install the Wp1stop auto dealership plugin for wordpress and activate it. Once you active the plugin there will be new fields that correspond to an auto dealership. In a previous post I wanted to see if anyone could come up with any other ideas. I am sure a programmer could do this quite easily.

Now all you have to do to get the plugin to work is enter in values in the fields that you want to appear. As you can notice above I have it highlighted with arrows pointing to the different areas. After inserting the correct values in each field we are going to enter the shortcode [ cardealer ] where we want the picture and information to display. Remember that anyplace left blank will not show up in the post.

If you are having trouble getting the picture to show then maybe doublecheck the url. Make sure it is in http://websitename.com/image.jpg format or something similar and the link actually is pointing to the picture. If you copy and paste the link you are trying to use into a web browser it should take you directly to the picture and display nothing else. This is a great way to doublecheck your work. Now all you have to do is hit the publish button. This will print the values in a post much like what is seen below. Notice I have put a box around the fields and an arrow to show you how it is going to look. Like I said in a previous post this is a great plugin for auto dealerships. It allows auto dealerships to easily insert items from their inventory directly through wordpress.

This auto dealership plugin for wordpress is a great way to display vehicles for sale. If you have some programming knowledge I am sure you could figure out how to get different names for the fields. I am going to try to implement this for my auto detailing so I can show what cars received what treatment. This is the only free auto dealership plugin for wordpress that I know of. Wordpress plugins are great to use and now that there is an auto dealer plugin everyone should be happy.

Today I was browsing Twitter to see that Wp1stop has released a wordpress car dealership inventory plugin.  This plugin makes easy use of wordpress custom fields to allow users to easily enter the vehicle data directly within a post.  Having the ability for car dealers to easily add their vehicle descriptions within wordpress streamlines the process of entering vehicle data.

In the above screenshot you can see all of the fields built right into the post edit feature of wordpress.  This is a welcome step forward for the auto dealer industry.  Most wordpress auto dealership websites have had to have a programmer customize it for them.  The ability is now at everyone’s fingertips to easily manage car dealership easily from within wordpress.  Some great uses right off the top of my head is for cleaning companies, finance companies, repossession companies, and people like myself.  I plan on using this plugin to showcase the different auto detailing packages that my clients received along with a picture of the finished vehicle.  This can be used for an infinite amount of applications.

The car dealer plugin is easily inserted into any post by using the shortag [ cardealer ].  By inserting this shortcode into your post/page wordpress automatically knows to insert the code that the plugin produces.  Wp1stop could not have made this any easier.

The release of this wordpress plugin for car dealerships is a welcome step in the right direction.  Until now there have not been many plugins created for auto dealerships.  Some features we would like to see in the future are an integrated inventory system.  Maybe adding a panel in the backend that would show your current stats such as # of makes, # of models and how many of each category. Right now the plugin is simple, yet powerful and effective.  The best part about it is it’s free.  I am sure as features are added to the auto dealer plug so will price.

There are many different applications that this plugin can be modified to fit.  Not only care dealerships can benefit from this plugin. By changing the names of the custom fields it inserts a wide variety of functions can be performed.  The plugin is free and available for download directly from Wp1stop.  Click here to download the plugin and test drive it.  I highly recommend pairing this great auto dealer plugin with a premium auto dealer wordpress theme from Pohl Media.

I encourage everyone to download and test drive this plugin.  The creativity that can be used with it is endless, remember that you don’t have to be a car dealership to utilize this wordpress plugin.  This is a welcome step forward in wordpress development for auto dealerships.  Dealers should definitely look into using this automotive plugin with a wordpress based CMS.  Doing so will allow easy management of content.  If you decide to download the plugin and use it please let me know what you think of it, and provide feedback.  Gainesville Detailing always welcomes comments on the content provided.  We strive to stay on top of current wordpress trends and we wanted to be the first to let you know of this great auto dealership plugin for wordpress.  Thank you for reading.

That’s right, we are going to be giving away a free Full Detail.

Look below at how you can enter and get multiple entries.

Why are we doing this you ask?

We feel like giving something back to our fans and supporters.

What exactly is it that we are going to be giving away?

A Full Detail inside and out, complete with a shampooing of the carpets and a clay bar treatment finished off with a perfect coat of wax to bring out your vehicle’s shine.

What’s the catch?

All we are asking is that you sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date with our company blog and subcriber only discounts.

How do I enter?

Enter your email in the subscriber box below. After doing this leave a comment in the comment box letting us know.

How do I know that my email was received?

After leaving a comment we will double check our newsletter list to ensure it was received.

I don’t live in Gainesville why should I enter?

That’s easy! The free full detail is transferable to anyone of your choosing.

How will the winner be selected?

A winner will be selected at random using random.org. Each email will be assigned a numberical value and whichever number that random.org picks is the winner.

How can I get multiple entries?

Easy just re-tweet, digg, stumbleupon, facebook this and leave a comment letting us know. Each additional entry will receive a new number associated to the registered email address. This increases your chances of winning.

How often can I get multiple entries?

You may use each method of gaining entry once per day. This means you could get four entries per day.

When is the Free Detail going to be given away?

The time frame to enter as well as gain additional entries is Dec 17-Feb 27

We really hope that you enjoy getting the chance to win a free full detail from us. So what are you waiting for? Enter now for your chance to win a free full detail or use one of the other methods for additional chances. After entering don’t forget to leave your comment. Check back frequently for any updates, we may come up with new and exciting ways to gain new entries.

Today I was presented with a vehicle that was covered with hair from the family pet. The hair was of medium length about an inch and a half long. Hair in general presents a problem because of it’s ability to act like a needle and thread itself into fabric. Carpets, floor mats, headboards, and cloth seats all fall victim to embedded hair. As you can see in the picture below the hair was literally covering the floorboard.

The tool that I use and recommend is the Meguairs Gold Class Lint & Hair Extractor. I have used many different lint/hair removal tools and this one is the best. To receive optimum results use a crevice tool along with it. The tool has multiple sized rubber fingers that pick up the pet hair. Their are a few pictures taken from different looks on the brush.

Here are the steps I used to get the carpets and seats hair free. We guarantee that this help you with getting pet hair out of a car. Run the brush across the surface to be cleaned a few times. A pile of hair will begin to accumulate both on the brush and at the end of the stroke. Take the crevice tool and vacuum the pet hair from the extractor then run the vacuum across the pile of pet hair. Repeat these steps as necessary until it comes clean. There is no easy way to get pet hair up. It is going to take time and patience. This car from beginning to end took four hours and it received a full detail. Below you can see the before and after pictures.