Scott Kingsley Clark

<p>Pods Alternative Cache provides optimal performance with Pods sites on hosts with no object caching or low limits. It was developed for and tested on the WPEngine platform to improve performance of cached objects generated from Pods, but it works on numerous other hosting providers.</p>
<p>Pods Alternative Cache is a great addition to a site already utilizing Object Caching, it further separates and allows Pods to utilize more consistent persistent caching without affecting other plugins and WordPress caching objects. Especially when utilizing larger configurations, this plugin improves performance by ensuring other necessary objects are not removed by the server to make room for Pods cached objects.</p>
<p>This plugin requires the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/pods/" rel="ugc">Pods Framework</a> version 2.4 or later to run.</p>
<p>For more information on how to use this plugin, see <a href="https://pods.io/2014/04/16/introducing-pods-alternative-cache/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://pods.io/2014/04/16/introducing-pods-alternative-cache/</a>.</p>
<p>Also check out the FAQ below for more details on customizing the configuration through your wp-config.php file.</p>
<h3>Contributors</h3>
<p>Check out our GitHub for a list of contributors, or search our GitHub issues to see everyone involved in adding features, fixing bugs, or reporting issues/testing.</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/pods-framework/pods-alternative-cache/graphs/contributors" rel="nofollow ugc">github.com/pods-framework/pods-alternative-cache/graphs/contributors</a></p>


Pods Alternative Cache

A site we built was totally grinding to a halt on our BlueHost shared hosting account when we started getting traffic over a few hundred sessions. Other caching options weren't working and Pods Alt Cache did the trick! After setting up the cache parameters, it very quickly resolved the issue. Great file-based solution for server configurations that don't offer customized control over object/mem caching.



Fantastic!


PODS itself is great, this looks like crap, the only thing it seems to do is prevent proper editing of "POD Pages" as the template selection and other fields are gone!


Removes Pod Page Template Field!

Pods Alternative Cache is a file-based or database-based caching solution for hosts that have limitations on object caching.

WP Engine

Steven Word

markkelnar

ryanshoover

Taylor McCaslin

Nate Gay

stephenlin

<p>WP Engine GeoTarget integrates with the variables on your WP Engine site to display content catered to the visitor’s location. With the ability to access variables from as broad as country to as specific as latitude and longitude, your website can now display geographically relevant content.</p>
<h4>Geo-Marketing</h4>
<ul>
<li>Create marketing campaigns targeted only at certain locations.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Localization</h4>
<ul>
<li>Redirect incoming traffic to content in the local language or currency.</li>
<li>Businesses with local branches can direct customers to a relevant physical location or local microsite.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Ecommerce</h4>
<ul>
<li>Filter out merchandise or services that are not available in a certain locale.</li>
<li>Display country-specific shipping, tax, or sales information.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Legal Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>Filter required legal notices from countries for whom those notices may not be relevant.</li>
</ul>
<h4>* Please Note *</h4>
<p>Customers on Premium and Enterprise plans can use this plugin at no additional cost. If you are on another plan type and would like to use GeoTarget on one of your sites, you can add it to your plan <a href="http://wpengine.com/plans/?utm_source=wpengine-geoip" rel="nofollow ugc">here</a>. This will not function outside of the WP Engine environment.</p>
<h3>Location Variable Shortcodes</h3>
<p>You can use any of the following location variable shortcodes to return the various geographic location the user is visiting your site from:</p>
<p>1) Continent: <code>[geoip-continent]</code></p>
<p>2) Country: <code>[geoip-country]</code></p>
<p>3) Region: <code>[geoip-region]</code></p>
<ul>
<li>In the US region will return States</li>
<li>In Canada region will return Provinces</li>
<li>Outside the US/CA this will return a Region number. Please note region numbers are not unique between countries</li>
</ul>
<p>4) City: <code>[geoip-city]</code></p>
<p>5) Postal Code: <code>[geoip-postalcode]</code></p>
<ul>
<li>This variable is only available in the US due to limitations with the location data GeoTarget uses</li>
</ul>
<p>6) Latitude: <code>[geoip-latitude]</code></p>
<p>7) Longitude: <code>[geoip-longitude]</code></p>
<p>8) Location: <code>[geoip-location]</code></p>
<h4>Example</h4>
<pre><code>Hi, and welcome to [geoip-city]! The place to be in [geoip-region],[geoip-country].
</code></pre>
<p>A visitor from Austin, Texas would see the following:<br />
    Hi, and welcome to Austin! The place to be in TX, US.</p>
<h3>Localized Content</h3>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="US"]Your US specific content goes here[/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p>The content shortcode allows you to hide or show specific content based on visitor geographies:</p>
<p>Below are all the supported geography options, this allows to you SHOW content for only specific locations:</p>
<ul>
<li>continent</li>
<li>country</li>
<li>areacode</li>
<li>region</li>
<li>city</li>
<li>postalcode</li>
</ul>
<p>Below are all the supported negative geography options, this allows to you HIDE content for only specific locations:</p>
<ul>
<li>not_continent</li>
<li>not_country</li>
<li>not_areacode</li>
<li>not_region</li>
<li>not_city</li>
<li>not_postalcode</li>
</ul>
<h4>Examples of the Content Shortcode</h4>
<p>This will display “Content just for US visitors” strictly for visitors viewing from the United States.</p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="US"] Content just for US visitors [/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p>This will display “Content just for everyone in Texas and California” strictly for visitors from Texas and California.</p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content region="TX, CA."] Content just for everyone in Texas and California [/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p>You can mix and match geography and negative geography options to create verbose logic in a single shortcode:</p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="US" not_city="Austin"]Content for US visitors but not for visitors in Austin[/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<h4>Limitations</h4>
<p>There is a single limitation in the logic that lets you filter content for multiple geographic areas.</p>
<p>You can progressively limit the area that content is shown in. But once your content is hidden from an area, a subset of that area can’t be added back in.</p>
<p>For example,<br />
If I limit my content to Europe, then limit my content from Great Britain, I can’t go back and show it to London.</p>
<h4>Creative Work Arounds</h4>
<h3>Limit content to some regions of a country (or some cities of a state)</h3>
<p>You want to show an offer for free shipping to every state in the US <em>but</em> Alaska and Hawaii. You may be inclined to write something like</p>
<p><strong>BAD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="US" not_state="AK, HI"]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet[/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p>Instead, show it to all other 48 states</p>
<p><strong>GOOD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content state="AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY"]Free shipping on all orders over $50![/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<h3>Duplicate location names</h3>
<p>You want to show discount airfare on a flight to Paris, France. The content should show to all of the US and France, but not Paris itself.</p>
<p><strong>BAD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="US, FR" not_city="Paris"]Fly to Paris for only $199![/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p>The problem here is that Paris, Texas will be hidden. The solution? Just have two geoip-content shortcodes.</p>
<p><strong>GOOD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content country="FR" not_city="Paris"]Fly to Paris for only $199![/geoip-content][geoip-content country="US"]Fly to Paris for only $199![/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<h3>Adding an area into an omitted region</h3>
<p>You want to show an ad written in Spanish to all of South America except for Brazil. Brasilia, however, has enough Spanish speakers that you want to include Brasilia.</p>
<p><strong>BAD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content continent="SA" not_country="BR" city="Brasilia"]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet[/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<p><strong>GOOD</strong></p>
<pre><code>[geoip-content continent="SA" not_country="BR"]Venta de la Navidad en los adaptadores USB[/geoip-content]



[geoip-content city="Brasilia"]Venta de la Navidad en los adaptadores USB[/geoip-content]
</code></pre>
<h3>Calculate distance between points</h3>
<p>You have a utility function that will calculate the distance from your provided lat/lng coordinate to the visitor’s location in either miles or kilometers. This can be useful for determining approximate distances, as results may be cached at the state or country level, depending on your configuration.</p>
<p>Example use:</p>
<pre><code>$latitude  = 30.268246;
$longitude = -97.745992;
$geo = WPEngine\GeoIp::instance();
if ( false !== $geo->distance_to( $latitude, $longitude ) ) {
    $miles_to_wp_engine = $geo->distance_to( $latitude, $longitude );
}
</code></pre>
<h3>Testing Parameters</h3>
<p>You can use the following URL parameters to test how your localized content will appear to visitors from various geographic locations. You can add any of the parameters below to any URL of a page using the GeoTarget shortcodes or API calls:</p>
<p>Spoof visitor from the state of Texas:</p>
<pre><code>yourdomain.com/?geoip&region=TX
</code></pre>
<p>Spoof visitor from the United States:</p>
<pre><code>yourdomain.com/?geoip&country=US
</code></pre>
<p>Spoof visitor from Austin, Texas</p>
<pre><code>yourdomain.com/?geoip&city=Austin
</code></pre>
<p>Spoof visitor from the U.S. zip code 78701:</p>
<pre><code>yourdomain.com/?geoip&zip=78701
</code></pre>
<p>Please note: full page redirects and TLD redirects still need to be implemented with the necessary API calls.</p>


WP Engine GeoTarget

After having spent few hours trying to work the plugin's WPEngine\GeoIp::distance_to() method I found that the code has logical bug which caused the return of wrong values.

For a product WP Engine is charging $30 / month this is not acceptable. I contacted the WP Engine support, but they said they do not offer development support, hmmm, okay!

Plugin does not work as expected

Create a personalized user experience based on location.

Pods Alternative Cache vs WP Engine GeoTarget