This feature is not available in all solutions. For more information, contact your supplier point of contact.
Overview
Web plugins allow you to automatically and easily display supplier-provided content on your website: rotating offers, videos, lead capture forms, product showcases, and downloads such as white papers and case studies. With a web plugin from Zift Solutions, syndicated content adjusts automatically based on data about current website visitors. This dynamic content syndication allows you to target the interests of website visitors to deliver the most relevant content to the user. Delivering the right content at the right time greatly increases website visitor conversion rates.
Before you get started please read the following as they are intended to make this an easy step-by-step installation. Failure to adhere to these recommendations will likely result in a failed implementation.
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Important 1: You must have a WordPress administrator role in your WordPress Admin Console to complete this instruction.
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Important 2: Make sure your WordPress account is updated to the latest version before proceeding. Furthermore, make sure your WordPress theme is compatible with the latest version of WordPress
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Important 3: Verify that you do not have any redirect plugins installed and/or enabled. Permalink Redirect is one such plugin that will strip away important URL parameters and effectively cause your web plugin to only refresh the Zift Web Plugin landing page.
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Important 4: Our directions only address a standard WordPress interface. Any WordPress web admin builder tools (e.g. beaverbuilder) that reorganize the WordPress interface will require you to use our directions as a potential guide to identify and interact with the new locations of these features within your WordPress administration console.
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Important 5: If you are a WordPress Admin and do not see Plugins as a menu option then you do not have an applicable WordPress instance/plan to install third-party content and you will need to go to WordPress for more information to acquire a WordPress instance/plan that supports plugins.
How to Install a Web Plugin on WordPress
The WordPress platform does not natively support server-side inclusion (such as PHP). The following directions will prepare your WordPress instance to process PHP, which will render your Zift123 web plugin.
- To host the PHP code in a page of your WordPress site, you will need to install a plugin that processes PHP. Navigate to https://wordpress.org/plugins/ and search for “PHP code”. Review the available plugins and choose a plugin that allows you to add PHP code to your page and is compatible with your WordPress version. Contact WordPress for any questions regarding choosing the correct PHP Code plugin.
- You will need to search for your chosen PHP code plugin by navigating to Plugins > Add New from the left sidebar within your WordPress Administrator account.
- In Plugins > Add NewSearch and install the PHP code plugin by following the installation steps.
- Once installed, click the newly created menu item on the left sidebar menu in your WordPress Admin Console. Click the Add New “PHP code plugin name” You will need to name your new plugin so that you can identify it later with the Tracking Name field. Now you are prepared to insert code in this plugin. Do not close this browser tab as you will need it later.
- Open a new browser tab (Ctrl + T) and login to Zift123 either directly or through your vendor partner portal.
- If you have not yet activated your Zift Web Plugin, following the steps in How to Activate a Web Plugin. Complete the required steps to personalize your web plugin outlined in How to Personalize Web Plugins. Personalization is required to access the embed code.
- Access the Server-side - PHP Code for your Zift Web Plugin by navigating to the Advanced Options section in the Embed tab per steps outlined in How to Embed Your Web Plugin. Highlight the entire code with your mouse and copy the Server-side - PHP code.
Note: If Embed is grayed-out, then you are in the Wizard and need to complete the required actions below the action buttons before the Embed button will become available.
- Navigate back to your WordPress Administration console by clicking on your previously open tab (likely the tab directly left of your Zift123 tab). Remember that the PHP script is saved to your computer's clipboard.
- In your WordPress Admin console, your screen should be displaying the open interface of the PHP code plugin previously prepared in Steps 1-3 and you have already provided a Tracking Name name for your snippet.
- Paste the PHP code snippet into the plugin service window titled PHP code (without <?php ?>).
- Delete <?php from the first line and ?> from the last line within the service window. Click Update.
- Once installed, go to the item named for your PHP code on the left side menu in WordPress. Select this new menu item. There is now an identifier next to the Tracking Name titled Snippet Short Code. With your mouse, highlight and then copy (Ctrl + C) the entire shortcode identifier, including the brackets [ ], to your computer clipboard.
- In your WordPress Admin Console, navigate to the page where you would like the Zift Web Plugin to appear and paste (Ctrl + V) the snippet short code identifier from your computer clipboard into the Text tab of your chosen WordPress page making sure there is no other content in this box.
- Next, Publish/Update your WordPress page.
- Confirm your newly published/updated website page by navigating to it publicly in a new browser tab (Ctrl + T)
Please review the additional troubleshooting notes below to make sure that your plugin content is optimized and functioning as intended within your WordPress instance.
Additional Troubleshooting Notes
- Click through your Zift Web Plugin to verify that links resolve new content. You can verify expected content from within the Preview pane of your Web Plugin in Zift123.
- WordPress themes can adversely affect the intended look and feel of the Zift Web Plugin. Please contact Zift Support if you have concerns.
- If everything above is completed but it is still not displaying, you may have to update your jQuery to the latest version. This plugin should be able to update jQuery for you to the latest version. jQuery Updater