Information for Platform Users and Third Party Agencies.
About Carcloud Web
The Carcloud web platform is built on a highly customised version of WordPress. The platform uses a shared codebase for all customers. The platform connects with several different car rental reservation systems, meaning the work of creating API connections is already done.
Due to the highly customised nature of the platform, certain limitations are in place to maintain data integrity and security. The following document outlines what is and isn’t possible on the platform. We recommend you share this document with any third party agencies you engage with to undertake work on your website so they can understand and work within the limitations of the platform.
Content Management & Creation
The platform has been designed to be self-service and while we provide support to troubleshoot, advise and provide solutions, we do not provide content management services via our support desk. Content management is the responsibility of the client. We can, however, connect you with a resource that will assist you (for a cost) with things like copy editing, image curation and management, page styling and design and other content management/creation services.
Alternatively, you can engage a third party service provider yourself. We recommend seeking out someone who specialises in Wordpress content creation and/or editing and make clear to them that they will only be able to access the Content Management System (CMS) back end. Also provide this guide to further outline what they will/won’t be able to do on the platform. This will save you time and money when engaging services.
Design & Front End Development
Due to the highly customised nature and security standards of the platform, Carcloud uses a specialised developer design tool to create and implement customer branding and designs. We have a team of in-house designers and developers who understand the platform and how the various components work together. As such, changes to the design (theme, colours, font style, size and colour) cannot be made via the CMS.
All content (text, images, embeds) however, can be managed via the CMS and some custom on-page styling can be added using HTML, CSS or the built-in Wordpress Gutenberg Editor. Third party widgets (e.g. Elfsight) can also be added to individual pages, however Carcloud cannot provide support for these services.
User Permissions
All customers are provided with Client Admin level access which allows for:
- Syncing and editing vehicles, depots, optional extras
- Creating and managing pages
- Creating and managing blog posts
- Booking widget configuration
- Site structure configuration (header, footer, pages)
- Other features per subscription level
Full admin access is only available to Carcloud staff. This includes API, payment and user configuration. FTP access is not possible.
If you require access for additional staff or would like to provide lower level access (e.g view only access) to other users, please submit a ticket via our support desk.
Plugins
Third party plugins are not supported on the platform for security purposes. In order to allow credit card bookings to be taken on the platform we are bound by strict PCI compliance requirements. Allowing third party plugins would require thorough and continual review of the plug-ins to ensure we remain PCI compliant. As such, we’ve chosen not to introduce this risk.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The platform has the following SEO fields built in to each page:
- Custom Document Title
- Page Meta Description
- Page Meta Keywords
- Page Index toggle switch
SEO plugins such as Yoast are not permitted (see Plugins section above).
Due to the secure nature of the platform, SEO suggestions made by reporting tools cannot always be implemented at the platform level. We recommend using GTM to implement these changes where possible.
Google Analytics (GA)
Carcloud has a built in Analytics tool which connects your Google Analytics account to your website. We are happy to configure this on your behalf or provide instructions for you to do it yourself. Edit access to both GA and GTM is required for analyticsadmin@carcloud.com to complete this task. By providing access to your GA account, we can monitor your website data and provide limited support for general GA queries.
Google Tag Manager (GTM)
GTM can be used to add various elements to your site including chat widgets, site pop ups, information banners, schema and CSS enhancements.
Tracking Pixels
Due to the shared nature of the platform, some tracking pixels (FKayak, Sky Scanner etc) cannot be added to the header of your site. We recommend using GTM to implement these.
Facebook, Bing and Google Sites can be configured via the Analytics tab.