If you are building or managing a website for a business with several bricks-and-mortar premises, a dedicated WordPress store locator added to the site is certain to be a useful idea. This is a practical feature to include on a site to make it possible for potential visitors to easily find the closest office or store to their location. Here are a few of the most appealing features of this type of plugin:
Google Maps
Most of these plugins make use of Google Maps to get instant access to a wide range of information such as driving or walking directions to reach the intended destination in the shortest time possible. Plus, the Google Maps plugin makes it possible to view the landscape in several different views and even zoom in to inspect certain areas to make sure the specific directions are practical for the needs.
Responsive design
Any of the latest plugins should include a responsive design that easily works with the different size screens on mobiles and tablets. Many of the mobile supported maps make it possible to swipe, zoom, or pinch to get a better view of the preferred information.
Search criteria
The ability to search for a store, office or other building by GPS coordinates, city, zip code, etc. makes it a lot quicker to find the right destination. Plus, other options can include specifying a travel distance to make sure the visitor is only looking in the local area.
Detailed information
When trying to locate a particular store or office it is helpful to get easy access to other relevant information, such as the full address, phone numbers and opening hours. Plus, a further nice feature to have is a series of external links that leads to other pertinent information like customer feedback on one of the review sites.
Share any location
Adding in a few of the most popular share buttons for the social media sites can help with getting a site more noticed and driving more relevant traffic.
Whether you are in search of a fully customizable and feature rich plugin or something that is simple and easy to operate, there are plenty of WordPress store locator tools to match the specific needs. This type of extension to a website has the ability to make it a lot more user-friendly to site visitors, which helps to increase the natural interest and benefits from the regular repeat visitor.