DevHub offers an arsenal of unique tools to enterprises that are managing a high volume of template-driven sites. Companies go to market faster while ensuring conversions, security, brand compliance, and web standards are consistent across the web experience.
Our Franchise, Dealer & Multi-Location Solutions allow you to easily scale and manage 100s or 1000s or individual Location, Franchise, or Dealer websites from one centralized platform.
1. Location Site Management
Easily manage your individual locations or dealers from our Dashboard and all business and location data is stored as structured data fields.
Or sync Location data to various data sources including Google Sheets, YEXT, our 3rd party data sources.
Locations are geolocated (lat/long) making them searchable from our Location Finder product.
2. Store Locator
Our powerful Store Locator supports automatic geolocation, autocompleting address search, distances in miles or km, search within a radius, and more.
Custom fields allow for custom filtering options (products offered, location type, specialties, etc)
3. Global Brand Template Control
a) How are Templates implemented
Templates are implemented into our system in three ways
- Basic Templates - Using our built-in Style Options and Content and Image modules and built inside the Drag and Drop Site Builder
- Advanced Templates - Using custom HTML and CSS entered into our system as a custom Theme
- Static HTML - Ability to create a custom HTML that will be rendered per-page
b) Architecture of global templates to local customizations
Once you create a Template within our system, it can then be enabled as a "Master Template".
Master Templates have options to set which parts of Sites using that template will inherit from the "Master Template", versus which parts will still be customizable on a per-Site basis.
Some of these options include:
- Content - Pages & Navigation
- Style - Theme Settings and Custom CSS
- Redirects - 302, 301, and "catch-all" redirect handling
- Header Code - Code to be added within the "<head>" tag
- Footer Code - Code to be added at the bottom of the "<body>" tag
- Logo & Logo Fallback - Use the custom logo for the Site, or pull the logo from the Business details
- Plugins - Plugins to enable (i.e Google Tag Manager, etc)
c) Latest responsive design technologies
DevHub templates and our template frameworks are built using HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript. The platform is used by 50+ different brands and agencies and is constantly being updated with the latest in responsive design technologies. All while keeping backward compatibility in mind for Sites that have been build on DevHub previously.
From wireframing, creativity, and production, DevHub has resources at every level to be able to facilitate brand-approved designs, style guides, and templates into the platform.
4 - Sub-Account (Agent) Level Controls
a) Ability for Agents to edit websites directly
DevHub has a robust and flexible user permissions system. Permission can be granted to a user or class of users for anything that can be done in DevHub, both in the builder and in the dashboard.
You can set custom permission levels for different clients and end-users. eg: allow the user to change pictures on the gallery page but not the text on the home page. Or let them add a blog. Here are examples of the types of restrictions we can set.
- Can hide any module or module section in the builder
- Can hide any side menu button in the builder (themes, blog, shop, form builder, plugin, etc)
- Can hide sections and fields inside theme style controls
- Can hide fields in modal forms
- Can hide some buttons based on user permissions
b) Detailed controls on customization for text
Our "Content" module is a full rich-text editing environment allowing for inline editing of text elements within the content of pages. It includes:
- Text styling options
- Linking options (to Site's Pages, Outbound Links, Click to Call)
- Fonts
- Headlines (h1, h2)
- Source view (raw HTML)
- Macros (DevHub, (206) 441-4399, etc)
- Paste Options (Plain Text, Microsoft Word Content)
c) Detailed controls on customization for images
Our "Image", "Gallery", and "Carousel" modules give basic options for scaling images and setting alignment.
There are several ways to display images in DevHub. All of them support custom image title tags. The image tags can use structured data Macros to improve the ability to manage SEO over time.
The Gallery and Carousel modules have options regarding Type (full width vs thumbnail/lightbox galleries) and Style (slide versus fade, transition speed). All image modules are fully responsive and are usable on Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop views.
d) WYSIWYG interface
The Site Builder is fully drag and drop and WYSIWYG with tools to allow users to make changes to their Sites with little training needed.
- Dragging new modules into Row/Column placements
- Sliders to control widths of Columns
- In-line Rich-text editing
- Multi-device view to preview and edit for Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop responsive views
- Margin and Padding options for individual modules
e) Workflow integrations
All actions within the Site Builder are tracked on a per-user basis. From these logs, we could set up a way for the Brand (corporate) to be notified of all recent changes to pages.
5 - SSO Integration capabilities & documentation to allow users to log in from Corporate Dashboard
DevHub provides an OAuth SSO endpoint to allow automatic logins into the Dashboard or the Site Builder for a particular User. Documentation and code examples for our SSO API can be accessed here: https://github.com/devhub/api/blob/master/sections/single-sign-on.md
6 - Support for add-ons such as Live Chat, Click to Call, Appointment scheduling
a) Current Integrations
Current integrations include but are not limited to:
- Agendize - Scheduling, Click to Call, Appointment Scheduling
- InventorySource - Dropship supplier and Inventory Management Software
- Yext & Navads - Local Listing Management
- Mailchimp - Newsletter signup widget
- Userway - Helpful accessibility plugins that work without refactoring a website's existing code
b) New integrations
As a white-label platform, we keep our platform-agnostic to which 3rd party technologies we integrate. This allows our customers to bring their existing systems, 3rd party relationships, and workflows into the DevHub platform to make it their own.
New integrations can be developed as custom modules and widgets. Documentation around custom Site Builder modules can be found here: https://github.com/devhub/api/blob/master/guides/custom-modules.md
7 - Integration capabilities with CRM systems
a) Current Integrations
We are currently integrated with the following CRM systems:
- Hatchbuck - Small Business CRM and inbound marketing
- ACT! Cloud - Contact management and Email Marketing
b) How our technology works with these CRM systems.
These CRM integrations are set up to transmit new Lead contact information gathered from site forms into the CRM. These leads can also be tagged with attributes around the lead source and which Site generated the lead.
8 - Open API capabilities with supporting documentation.
The DevHub Dashboard is built entirely on top of our own JSON REST API. Any action you would take manually (editing content and pages, provisioning new Sites, managing users, setting configuration options, etc) can be automated via our API.
Standard Data fields - We have many standard data fields and objects for most use cases. These include:
- Business - Business name, logo, etc
- Locations - Address, Service area, Formatted Hours of Operation, etc
- Phones - Multiple phone number support. Automatic formatting based on country
- Site - URL, order ID, etc
Custom Fields - Any of our standard models can also be extended with custom fields specific to the brand. These custom fields can also be leveraged using our structured data Macros within Site Content.
Full REST JSON API Documentation can be found here: https://github.com/devhub/api/
9 - SMS capabilities with the ability to define rules
We have integrations with Twilio (https://www.twilio.com/) and RedOxygen (https://redoxygen.com/)
These integrations can be tied to events generated within our system which includes new form fills and appointment requests on Sites.
10 - Analytics and Reporting Capabilities
Some of our Agency partners create one Corporate GA profile and also one GA profile for each Site. These Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager profile IDs can be auto-populated into Sites using our Plugins.
We also have our built-in Mixpanel reporting which allows for full segmentation and report building (per site, or corporate rollup reporting) and it is what we would use to build automated reporting and dashboard views and is also available over our API.
In addition to normal analytics properties, all elements within sites published in the DevHub platform are auto-tagged for conversion events. This includes events like Form Submissions, Outbound Link Clicks, Click to Call, Video Plays, Get Directions, etc. A full list of the events that we support can be found here: https://github.com/devhub/api/blob/master/guides/list-of-events.md
11 - Optimized for Local SEO
a) On-Page SEO
In building the DevHub platform we consulted with some of the top minds in the SEO industry. Their job was to ensure that DevHub could meet the SEO challenges of today and tomorrow. DevHub lets you instantly adjust SEO settings by page, site, or network so that, whatever Google does tomorrow, your websites will be highly optimized for geo-targeted service & product keywords and perform well in the search engines.
- Dynamic content modules
- SEO optimized template structure (HTML 5)
- Microformats and schema tags for local SEO optimization
- Automatic keyword enhanced URL's
Ability to change these basic SEO elements, and many more advanced elements, such as Page Slug in several different ways:
- Through the dashboard
- In the Builder
- Via API
These elements can also leverage the structured data Macros, instead of unstructured text, for more efficient management of these elements. eg: The Meta Keyword tag “Seattle ${keyword}” could be entered as part of the Meta Description tag.
Within the builder, all site redirects (301 handlings), keywords, page titles, re-directs, and metadata can be managed through the site settings module within the builder.
b) URL/Domain Configuration Options
Registered domains for each Site
www.bestautopugetsound.com
www.bestautobayarea.com
One central domain, with many sub-directories
www.mindfinancial.com/seattle/
www.mindfinancial.com/boston/
One central domain, with many branded subdomains
anglerproseattle.oceanwaveoutboards.com
bostonmarine.oceanwaveoutboards.com
12 - Contact, Lead & Customer Data
In addition to email notifications on new leads, we have two approaches to handle the pushing of new leads to your systems
1) Webhooks - We can post lead information to an endpoint of your choice when a form is submitted on a site.
2) Custom Integration - iframe or javascript widget that can be auto-added to Sites, pre-configured with Customer IDs, etc. Documentation around custom Site Builder modules can be found here: https://github.com/devhub/api/blob/master/guides/custom-modules.md
13 - Re-platforming & Migration Capabilities
Using DevHub APIs we can pull over existing content, mapped to pages in new sites (maintain site structure and page hierarchy)
- Migrate 100s or 1000s of existing sites in bulk
- Pull over all SEO components (meta information)
- Upgrade to new brand-approved designs and templates
- Access to modules such as video, image, gallery, carousel, blog, contact info, hours of operation, Google map, etc
- Auto-create 301 redirects in needed from previous URLs
- New sites will replace the existing sites
Platform migration timeline is generally 3-6 weeks depending on complexity and variations in the original Site templates and content.
14 - Whitelabel Platform at the Core
The DevHub platform is deployed as a white-label-only platform and will be branded to your specifications. We employ strict NDAs with all of our enterprise clients regarding our exposure to end customers and exposure of the DevHub brand.
- Customize Branding
- Customize Dashboard URLs
- Customize Email Sending
- Brand-free Documentation and Training Videos
- 2nd Tier Support Processes
- Brand-free down to the source code
15 - Security, Redundancy, and Disaster Recovery Plans
a) Security to prevent attacks, SQL injections, and other malicious activity.
We benefit a lot from using the Django framework, which emphasizes security. It contains protections for Cross-site scripting (XSS), Cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and SQL injection.
All user passwords are encrypted using SHA1 or PBKDF2.
We manage all of our backend system deployments with Ansible (https://www.ansible.com/) which allows us to update system-level packages to make sure that all systems in our network are patched to the latest updates to fix vulnerabilities.
b) Redundancy and disaster plans
Backend systems - With our reverse-proxy/load balancer infrastructure allows us to mitigate downtime and maintain reliability by switching out the affected backend server at any time if there is a system-level issue affecting a single system.
Database Fail Over - In the case of an issue with the Master Database, we can flip to the read-only Slave DB to continue to serve pages.
For our databases, we are using a Master-Slave set up to have a fallback in case of outage or data loss. We have two main backup systems in place for the databases:
- Mirrored imaging of the database servers which are created both daily and once weekly.
- Exports/dumps daily are stored within the Rackspace Cloud Files environment, which features triple redundancy backups.
Guaranteed recovery times are based on the SLA which will be developed as part of a final agreement, but examples of standard recovery times are included in the SLA included in the sample agreement.
c) Ability to enable SSL on sites
We have an integration with LetsEncrypt that allows automated management of SSL certificate provisioning and renewal for domains hosted on our platform. With a simple check of a box within the Dashboard, an SSL certificate is automatically provisioned and will be live and serving traffic within 15 minutes.
16 - Speed, Uptime & SLA’s
a) Page Load Time Optimization
Our customers see average load times of less than 400ms
Multiple levels of dynamic caching via Memcached and NGINX proxy caching enables lightning-fast load times across published Sites but still allows for changes to pages and content to be reflected within minutes.
- Static asset caching (CSS, images, javascript)
- Redirect caching (301 and 302 status codes)
- API Object caching (i.e. Sites, Pages, etc)
We currently host over 100,000 published sites and landing pages across our network.
b) Uptime SLA Guarantees.
Strict enterprise-level Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is what we can guarantee our customers
- Uptime Guarantees - Standard SLA is a 99.9% uptime guarantee. In addition to our normal 99.9% guarantee. We also support some clients under a custom SLA of 99.99%, with remedies for any failures.
- Support Response Times
- Outage Resolution Processes
17 - Training & Support
We work with our current customers as Tier 2 support, and we support their Tier 1 support team with:
- Brand-free training videos
- Screenshare training
- Support articles and support ticket management powered by ZenDesk (http://support.devhub.com/hc/en-us)
- In-person training sessions if needed
19 - User Accessibility
The DevHub platform is already set up with best practices related to the accessibility of the page content. This includes proper headline tags, alt tags on images, and ARIA Landmark Roles to help meet ADA Accessibility requirements.
We also have an integration with UserWay.org which provides a plug and play widget that overlays tools over a site to help visitors access the site's content. These include:
- Keyword Navigation
- Large Cursor Size
- Contrast options to aid in readability
- Text size controls
- Desaturate
- Link highlighting
- Modify font styling for readability
- Page reading
20 - Ongoing Platform Improvements
We currently work with over 60 different brands, each with different use cases and requirements. We have continually evolved the platform over the years to meet the requirements and standards as web experience has changed over time. If it is mobile sites, responsive templates, and into the future with Google AMP pages and SSL, we at DevHub are on top of it. With the DevHub platform, your web presence is future-proofed.