NetSource Technologies, central Florida’s premier web design and hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of www.CenterMH.org, a web site for The Center for Mental Health, a non-profit organization that provides behavioral health services to residents of western Colorado’s Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties.

www.centermh.org

The new website features information about The Center for Mental Health’s specialized programs for children and families, adults, veterans, substance abuse, and suicide prevention. The website also provides schedules and agendas for The Center’s non-clinical programs, as well as up-to-date details on their emergency services.

NetSource Technologies is an award-winning web design, hosting, e-commerce and consulting company that has been serving Ocala and clients nationwide  since 1995. Visit their web site at www.netsourceinc.com for more information on their services and to view additional client web sites.

Every visitor to your website is a potential customer, and whether a “conversion” on your site equals a filled out Contact Us form or a completed online purchase, more conversions equals more business.  So how can you increase conversions on your website? Here are 5 suggestions to try:

1. Make It Clear.
Is your call-to-action getting lost in the clutter of your website?  Make sure that the button or link that leads customers along the path to conversion is one of the most prominent elements on your pages. Try to eliminate distracting bright colors that should be reserved for your call-to-action. Avoid clutter – white space is your friend.  Make sure your call-to-action is the boldest and most attention-grabbing element of your page design.

2. Put It Above the Fold
“Above the Fold” is a phrase that is taken from the newspaper world referring to the valuable, headline news real estate found above the fold of the newspaper.  In web-speak, this refers to the space on a web page that is viewable without having to scroll.  Keeping your call-to-action above the fold helps to ensure that everyone will see it.

3. Red Doesn’t Always Mean Stop
Conventional design wisdom says that the color red sends the message “stop” to viewers.  But Performable.com decided to test that theory on their site by changing their green call-to-action button into a red one.  Conversions on the red button were 21% higher!  That kind of increase warrants at least a test on your own site.

4. If It Moves, It Grabs Attention
This one is a little trickier, since you want to avoid overdoing the spinning, blinking lights (see item #1). However, a subtle bit of movement or animation added to your call-to-action (or somewhere close-by) can help draw your customers’ eyes.

5. Add Human Interest – with Photos of Real People
Having more photos of faces (particularly smiling) is a consistently successful way of catching your visitors’ attention and increasing conversions.  Many different sites have tried adding images of people with measurable success.  For instance, MedaliaArt.com added photos of artists in place of photos of their paintings and made double the amount of sales. CalyxFlowers.com tested images of people with their flowers.  In their test, visitors who saw images with people were 14% more likely to add something to their shopping cart.

NetSource Technologies, central Florida’s premier web design and hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of www.atlanticcoralenterprise.com, an e-commerce website that specializes in wholesale sea shells and beach supplies.

www.atlanticcoralenterprise.com

Atlantic Coral Enterprise, Inc. has been selling wholesale seashells for beach decor and collectors since 1971. They are a ‘go to’ source for wholesalers and decorators who are looking for large decorative seashells, bulk craft shells, wholesale seashell jewelry, wholesale seashell ornaments, wholesale seashell wind chimes, or other seashell novelties. They also sell wholesale beach supplies and nautical gifts, such as wholesale alligator heads, bulk starfish, and wholesale sand dollars.

Atlanticcoralenterprise.com is designed and hosted by NetSource Technologies and is powered by ProductCart, a state-of-the-art e-commerce engine from Early Impact. The site is currently open to orders only from wholesale and bulk sales customers.

NetSource Technologies is an award-winning web design, hosting, e-commerce and consulting company that has been serving Ocala and clients nationwide  since 1995. Visit their web site at www.netsourceinc.com for more information on their services and to view additional client web sites.

NetSource Technologies, central Florida’s premier web design and hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of www.thewindowman.com, a website for The Window Man, a northern Virginia company that specializes in commercial, residential and architectural windows.

www.thewindowman.com

The Window Man serves northern Virginia and the Metro DC area from three showroom locations in Fairfax, Alexandria and Chantilly. The company features commercial products from top-quality manufacturers including Mon-Ray, H Windows, Optimum Windows, Gerkin, Universal and Keystone. Their residential product line includes Soft-Lite, Mon-Ray, H-Windows, Pollard, Fiber Frame, DeVac, Optimum, Pro-Via, Lincoln and Parrett.

The redesigned website is loaded with information intended to help consumers understand the features of different window types. The site also includes an image gallery that displays some of The Window Man’s past projects, and a blog that offers helpful insights and information about windows and doors.

NetSource Technologies is an award-winning web design, hosting, e-commerce and consulting company that has been serving Ocala and clients nationwide  since 1995. Visit their web site at www.netsourceinc.com for more information on their services and to view additional client web sites.

One of the most common problems that trips up aspiring e-commerce store owners is the issue of shipping. When I’m helping a client plan their e-commerce project, one of the first questions I like to ask is: “How do you plan on getting your products into the hands of your customers?”

About half the time, I discover that they haven’t given the subject any thought at all. It doesn’t surprise me. There are so many things to consider and so many issues to address with the start-up of a new online store, that I can’t really blame folks for not going into too much detail in planning for something that may initially appear “automatic” to them.

The e-commerce engine that NetSource uses for the majority of our online storefronts is Early Impact’s ProductCart. It’s a very robust, full-featured system that includes integration capable of acquiring accurate, ‘live’ shipping cost quotes from the major carriers in North America (UPS, FedEx, US Postal Service and Canada Post).

The process of generating those live shipping quotes is an automated process — but in order to achieve that automation, some critical information has to be provided to the system by the store owner.

What’s the single, most critical piece of information the automated shipping modules require? Product weights. All of the shipping calculations are weight-based, with some modifications available for over-sized packages and for orders that require multiple packages in the same shipment. E-commerce owners who either don’t have, or cannot acquire, product weights simply can’t take advantage of the various automated shipping calculators.

In addition, the store owner will need to acquire a shippers’ account AND an online account with the shipping provider involved. Is the website an extension of a bricks-and-mortar business that already uses a standard carrier for shipping? That helps to an extent, but a specialized ‘online tools’ account generally still has to be established.

As developers, in order to integrate the shipping tools into your website, we’ll need your shipping account information from the carrier(s) you intend to use. If you plan on using either the US Postal Service or Canada Post, you’ll have to set up online shipping accounts with those services and forward the information to us.

And remember: The most important piece of information the shipping services need is the weight of all the products in the store. Without those product weights, automated shipping quotes won’t work.

E-commerce stores that either will use a drop-shipping service or will require freight shipping for heavier items are a bit more complicated and usually require some sort of custom shipping solution. That doesn’t necessarily mean the shipping setup will cost an arm and leg — but it does mean some detailed planning is required while the website project is still in its earliest stages.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in order to get started. If you’re not sure of the answers, that’s OK. Your project consultant can help you out.

• Do you currently ship products? If so, do you already have an online account with your shipping provider? You can use one or more carriers to ship products to your online customers, but your developers will need your shipping account information in order to automate shipping calculations.
• Do you have (or can you get) weight information for your products? Online shipping costs are typically calculated based on total weight.  In order to get an accurate cost from the USPS (or other carrier), and then pass that charge along to your customer, you’ll need accurate weights. Otherwise you’re likely to charge too much or too little for shipping costs.
• If you don’t plan to ship by weight, do you have a shipping table? For instance, some online retailers charge a flat rate for the first item and an additional flat rate for each additional item.  Or some retailers charge by total purchase so that shipping might be $6.95 for purchases up to $75, $7.95 for purchases between $75 and $100, and so on. This approach tends to work the best for retailers who sell products that are mostly the same size and weight.
• Does it make sense to offer free shipping? Many retailers encourage large orders by offering free shipping over a certain purchase amount like $100.
• Do you have over-sized products that will require special handling and charges?
• Do you have products that require multiple packages? For instance, perhaps you always package and mail fragile teacups separately, no matter what else a customer has ordered with it.
• Will your online shop be using drop-ship services? Will you be using more than one drop-ship location?
• Will you be shipping products that require freight shipping?

NetSource Technologies, central Florida’s premier web design and hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of www.truckpartsandserviceflorida.com, a web site for Raney’s Truck Center, an Ocala-based provider of parts and service to the heavy-duty truck industry.

truckpartsandserviceflorida.com

In business since 1957, the Raney’s Truck Center complex is located off of I-75 at Hwy 27 in Ocala, Fla. The facility has 21 service and repair bays, a specialized 4-bay spring, brake, driveline, and suspension shop, and 4 fully-stocked parts warehouses on its 7.5 acre sales lot.  The complex also includes Raney and Raney Truck Sales, which offers quality, pre-owner trucks and trailers, especially dump trucks and construction-related trucks.

The new website features in-depth information about Raney’s Truck Center’s parts and service operations, with detailed listings of services available through the company’s featured divisions: driveline, hydraulics and PTO, spring and suspension, brake and wheel end, custom fabrication, air conditioning and heating, machine shop and their mobile roadside service.

NetSource Technologies is an award-winning web design, hosting, e-commerce and consulting company that has been serving Ocala and clients nationwide  since 1995. Visit their web site at www.netsourceinc.com for more information on their services and to view additional client web sites.

Quite often when creating site content a lot of craft and care goes into your copy. Then we simply hope the user will follow the copy to our desired action with a “Click Here” or “Sign Up”. How can you strengthen this call to action? You must persuade the user to follow the set of steps you want them to. It is a difficult craft to master. After all, what is my incentive to sign up, click here, or register?

It all starts a little higher up

Your copy plays a large role in how effective your call to action is. Your copy should explain the point of your product or service quickly. People want to scan and understand. Make sure you explain your offer or incentive clearly – if the user is interested they will want to be clear before taking action. Make sure you use simple words and actionable phrases that remove any objection a user may have. Leave them with no option and in a clear path to take action. It may help you to create bullet points, as this always appears as actionable items, like a to do list.

Keep your sentences longer and your paragraphs shorter. Highlight keywords to help them stick out and with the user. It will help the reader scan and detect what information they find most useful to taking action. Remember that each user will be different, but you can craft a personal message. Try to picture your audience, but speak to the individual. Asking yourself some simple questions about your audience can tell you a lot about the individual.

• Are they familar with your company?
• Do they use the internet often?
• Is this a new product or service, will they be familiar with it?
• Will they be familiar with the type of incentive?
• Are they familar with your industry?

It may seem like answering yes to those questions makes writing the copy easier. But the no’s help you just as much. It gives you a road map for just how much information to give the user. If the answers are yes, you are likely to get away with less information about your product or service on the page, or information about your company or industry. If there are more no’s, then more information will be useful as the user doesn’t want to explore your whole site for more information. Remember: give the user no objection to taking action.

Are you selling them on taking action?

At the end of the day we are all here to make money. Your point of action may be to sell a product or service, but in reality you have to sell them on taking action first. Create an atmosphere of action – people are in a hurry, so make your action noticeable, short, and visually clear.

How to be noticed

Placing your call to action is important. You want to be near related content and placed on the page where the user will see it immediately upon page load and perhaps a little scrolling. Remember that most users will read a bit before taking action. So, where do you put this? This is going to be the fuzziest part of the process. There is no right answer, instead it will depend upon your page layout and things like the user’s window size. Look at your overall layout and identify an area that has prime location based on your copy. Some A/B testing can definitely come in handy for this. Here are some handy tips:

• People read in a “F” shape, across, then down and scan across, and down some more.
  • Use this to lead the reader’s eye to your call to action.
• People identify contrast with importance.
  • Use difference in color or shape to draw the eye to action.
• Imagery only helps as an enhancement.
  • Your action must be clear without the aid of visuals.

Keeping it simple

Your call to action should be short. Aim for five words. If you think it can’t be shortened without losing emphasis, have another set of eyes take a look at it. There is always the option to A/B test two messages. But, how engaging can you be with five words?

Use some things people enjoy to your advantage.

• Be popular, people see success in numbers.
  • “Over one billion served.”
• Provide a safety net, everyone loves a guarantee.
  • “Money back guarantee, you will love our product.”
• Just ask, your user will answer honestly.
  • “Does your golf game need improvement?”
• Be unique, are you an orignal? Showcase it.
  • “No other TV has better color reproduction.”
• New, New, New. People love the next big thing.
  • “Introducing the latest technology to save you MPG’s”
• People can handle the truth, in fact they love facts.
  • “Every week 140,000 hard drives crash in the United States.”
• Use humor.
  • “Let’s get the conversation flowing about our plumbing systems.”
• Give a command.
  • “You should follow us for great news”

Being clear

Making sure that your text is easy to understand and actionable is important. But presenting it is just as important. Creating whitespace around the area is valuable and creates that important contrast. Using colored links or creating a button shape are also great. Using an icon or associated imagery is great if it enhances the message, rather than creating confusion or distraction.  Keep it visually engaging, rather than visually interesting. We want the user to take action. Provide them with the clear path to do so.

If you find that your call to action is lacking try adding to it. The additional length may help you.

Let’s look at : “Does your golf game need improvement?”

v.s.: “Does your golf game need improvement? You should order our guide!”

The additional call to action can strengthen the original. Using A/B testing here again can help you create the perfect storm of action. Testing can help you find the best performing set of copy and action requests, and the investment in testing will reward you greatly.

If you have any questions on creating a stronger call to action, you should get in touch with us!

NetSource Technologies, central Florida’s premier web design and hosting company, is pleased to announce the launch of www.proglassware.com, a web site for Pro Glassware, a Florida-based company that specializes in providing advertising-based products to the sports bar and dining industry.

The new website promotes independent career opportunities for people interested in selling Pro Glassware’s unique advertising products. The company produces advertising-imprinted glassware and cups suitable for use in sports bars, diners and other casual dining establishments.

NetSource Technologies is an award-winning web design, hosting, e-commerce and consulting company that has been serving Ocala and clients nationwide  since 1995. Visit their web site at www.netsourceinc.com for more information on their services and to view additional client web sites.

gif, jpg, png… You may have noticed these three little letters at the end of your image files. There are a lot of different types of file formats available for images, so how do you know which one to use?

Each file format has different advantages and disadvantages. Depending on what type of image you are creating, you can pick the file format that will give you the best quality and size for your project.

Here is a handy guide to some of the most common file formats for the web:

Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)

The GIF file format is common for icons and other graphics, because they can create small file sizes that will load quickly. Because the GIF format is limited to 256 colors, it’s best for images that have blocks of solid color – such as logos or icons. Photographs saved in a GIF format will look choppy, because photos often require much more than 256 colors.

Below is an example of a photo (left) and an illustration (right) saved in a GIF format. On the left, you can see how there are not enough colors to create a smooth transition between the dark purple and the lighter purple. However, on the right you can see how the solid colors of our illustrated flower look nice and clean — even when we take a close look at the detail.

Examples of images saved as a GIF

GIFs can also be used to create transparent images on websites, however the transparency features are limited. Each pixel must be either completely transparent or completely opaque, which means the edges of transparent GIFs will not have a smooth transition into the background. I’ll explain this more in a little bit.

Finally, GIFs are the original “animation” format on the web.  You might remember those small, quaint animations of flames or flashing lights… those were simple animated GIFs. Nowadays, much more sophisticated things can be done online with Flash, Javascript, and now even HTML 5, however animated GIFs still show up in unexpected and imaginative ways every now and then.

Joint Picture Experts Group (.jpg / .jpeg)

The JPG file format is capable of saving images with millions of colors, which makes it ideal for saving photos. To reduce the file size,  JPG will use a compression algorithm that will reduce the quality and details in the photo. This means the more an image is compressed, it will have a smaller file size and lower quality appearance.

JPG is not a good file format for images that need crisp edges – like for text and logos – because the loss of quality will add artifacts and make the text blurry.

Below you can see that the photograph of the purple flower (left) looks much better than the previous GIF example. On the right, the solid colors in the blue flower look a bit fuzzy. These “artifacts” are caused by the JPG compression algorithm. By reducing the file size, the photo has lost some of the details — making the image a lower quality.

Examples of images saved as a JPG

Portable Network Graphics (.png)

PNG files have two different versions: PNG-8 and PNG-24.

8-bit PNG

PNG-8 is similar to the GIF format. It is limited to 256 colors, and has limited transparency features. In some cases the PNG-8 format can save smaller files at a higher quality than the GIF format, so it is best to compare both of these options to choose the format that works best. You can see below, that the images look very similar from the examples in the GIF section.

Examples of images saved as a PNG-8

24-bit PNG

PNG-24 can save images with much more colors, similar to JPG files. However, PNG-24 doesn’t reduce quality the way a JPG does, making the file sizes much larger. In the examples below, the PNG-24 photo of the purple flower is more than 4 times the file size of the JPG version, and the PNG-24 image of the blue flower is more than 2.5 times the size of the PNG-8 version. Smaller file sizes are ideal for websites because they will load faster, so these large PNG-8 will slow your website’s loading time.

Examples of images saved as a PNG-24

So why would you ever want to use a PNG-24? Transparency?

PNG-24 will give you the best quality for transparent images, because it allows you to have several different levels of transparency. This means that your image will have a smooth transition into the background. Below, you can see the difference this makes on our blue flower image.

On the left, is an example of a GIF image with transparency (or a PNG-8 with transparency), and on the right is the same image as a PNG-24. The image on the right has a much smoother edge, because it uses transparent pixels to transition into the white background.

Please Note: Transparency for images is a bit more complicated than how I’m presenting it here — but for the purposes of this article I’m keeping it simple. If you are interested in saving images with transparency, I highly suggest learning more about browser support for PNG-24 transparency, and how to improve the quality of transparent GIF and PNG-8 images.

Choosing a File Format

Now that you know the differences between the most common file formats, you can make a better choice when saving your images for the web. So, just to recap:

• For photographs – save your photo as a JPG
• For logos, text, and images that use solid colors – save your image as a GIF or a PNG-8
• For images with transparency – save your image as a GIF, PNG-8, or a PNG-24

To help you navigate your way through your new SiteSource Content Management System from NetSource, here is a basic guide of the terms and elements you’ll need to know.

Content Management System (CMS) – A Content Management System (CMS) is a web-based development platform that allows a website’s owner to manage their website without any programming or web design knowledge.  Typically, a CMS will allow you to add, edit, and delete pages on your site, upload photos, and add downloadable documents.  Some systems might have additional functionality, like allowing you to create and manage Flash slideshows, Blogs, Calendars, and more.

Menu or Navigation – A website’s main method of presenting and organizing the pages available for browsing is through a menu or navigation.  The menu is typically a block of buttons that spans horizontally across the top of a website or is stacked vertically down the left- or right-hand side.  A menu can also include fly-out or drop-down navigation that presents secondary pages under a main tab or button.  For the most flexibility, and so you can add as many pages as you like to your new SiteSource website, we recommend a vertical (up and down) menu.

Main Level – In reference to a website’s menu, the main level menu buttons are those visible immediately when the  website loads.  The main level can host sub-menu items in the form of fly-out or drop-down menus that appear when the main level button is hovered over.

Sub-Menu – a sub-menu is a secondary menu or pages organized under a main level page. For instance, the About Us page might be the main level menu item, while Our History, Our Locations, and Our Staff might be sub-menu pages displayed in a fly-out or drop-down menu under About Us.

Types of Pages in SiteSource

Home Page – The Home page of your site is the main or “first” page of your site found at www.yourdomain.com.  In SiteSource, the Home page can contain several specialized and/or custom features including a Flash Slideshow of photos, featured news, calendar, or blog posts, and specialized Content Boxes.  See below for more info on each of these special features.

Content Page – Content pages will likely make up the bulk of your website’s pages.  They contain text and photos presented and edited by you in a system very similar to a word processor like Microsoft Word.  You can add text, images, links, downloadable documents, formatted tables, and more to your content pages.

Photo Gallery – A SiteSource photo gallery allows you to present collections of related photos in thumbnail format that visitors can click on for enlargements.  You can add as many photo galleries as you like to your site, limited only by your hosting disc space.  You can also add introductory text and images to the Photo Gallery page through an interface similar to content pages. Each photo gallery can have either a single photo album or multiple albums. For instance, you might have an Events photo gallery that has individual albums for Holiday Dinner, Summer Picnic, and Day of Service.

Photo Albums – A photo album is the actual collection within a photo gallery of related photos presented with captions. As with the parent photo gallery, you can choose to include an introduction to your album, and you can define an “album cover” photo.

Calendar – SiteSource’s Calendar is presented in a traditional tabular format that resembles the familiar, print-style calendar grid.  Website visitors can scroll forward and backward through the months.  You can choose to have a single calendar or multiple, themed calendars that work together (for instance, each department might have its own calendar). Each calendar event shows up as a text link on the specified day’s calendar block.

Calendar Events – Clicking on each calendar event listing (displayed on the calendar grid as a text link) will bring visitors to a detailed description of that event. You can add links, formatted text, and photos to your calendar event description page.

Blog – SiteSource’s blog component is a simplified blogging system that allows you to get up and running making regular posts without having to learn a complicated system.  You can use your blog to post articles, make announcements, solicit customer feedback, post news and media, and so much more. You can add as many blogs to your site as you like.

Blog Comments – Visitors to your blog can post comments.  You can decide if comments get automatically posted to your site, or if comments require approval before being displayed.  The blog also has a SPAM filtering system to help cut down on illegitimate comment posts.

Page Elements

As you edit the content on your page, you will find the following main buttons and tools in the page editor’s toolbars.

Links – Links are the most basic element of the internet.  Clicking on a link takes you to a webpage by directing your browser to that page’s address, or URL. Links can be added to text or to images, and they can link you to other pages on the same site (interior links) or to pages on a different website (exterior links).  Every page on the internet has a unique address.  To find a page’s link address so you can link to it, simply look at the Address Bar at the top of your browser.

Blockquote – A blockquote is a section of text that is indented both on the left and the right.

Numbered List – A numbered list (also known in the web world as an ordered list) is an indented list of numbered items. SEO Tip: for better search engine ranking for your most important keywords, be sure to have the keyword you are trying to optimize for in a numbered or bulleted list.

Bulleted List – A bulleted list (also known as an unordered list) in an indented bullet point list. SEO Tip: for better search engine ranking for your most important keywords, be sure to have the keyword you are trying to optimize for in a numbered or bulleted list.

Headings – Headings are the bold headlines on your web pages that help you organize and present your content.  Headings are usually available for use from Heading 1 through Heading 6 (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6), with Heading 1 as the main headline for your page and the smaller headings used for sub-categories on the page.  SEO Tip: You can rank better for your most important keywords if they can be found in your headings, in particular your H1.

Images – Images on a web page can refer to both photos or other graphic elements like logos, promotional graphics, product diagrams, banners and more.  You can add images to Content Pages quickly and easily.  You can also upload photos to your photo albums.

Tables – Tables are a useful element for presenting data sets in a tabular format.  SiteSource has an easy tool that helps you add tables and format them (borders, shading, padding, etc.).

Horizontal Lines – Horizontal lines can be used to separate two areas of a page.  They are lines that stretch from the left to the right side of the page, and you can control the color, size, and shading.

Page Properties

Each of these items can be updated and managed by you under the “Page Properties” tab of each page.

Page URL – The term URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and refers to the “address” of a web page. For example, the URL for the Our History page on this blog is: http://www.netsourceblog.com/index.php/company/our-history/.  You can find the URL of any page by looking at the address bar located at the top center of your browser window.

Page Target – When someone clicks on a link on your site, you can decide to open a new window or tab instead of opening the new page in the same browser window.  This is a good idea when you are sending someone off of your website or linking to a PDF.  In order to acheive this effect, you would set the page target of your new link to _blank.

Menu Title – This is the text displayed on the menu button for your page.  For instance, in the interest of brevity and space use you might make the menu title “About Us” while your page title is “About XYZ Widgets in California”. Please note that your menu title will also be used as the H1 heading for your page as well.

Page Title -Your page title is usually displayed at the very top of your browser or on your browser tab.  Page titles are used for SEO purposes, and they will be displayed as your bolded link on search engine results pages. SEO Tip: Be sure the main keyword or phrase you are trying to optimize for on your page is present in your page title, at or very near the beginning. Page titles should be between 66 characters (Google limit) and 120 characters (Yahoo! limit). Finally, make sure each of your pages has a unique page title.

Meta Keywords – Meta keywords are invisible code only seen by search engines.  When you enter keywords, simply enter comma separated words and phrases.  Capitalization is not necessary.  SEO Tip: Meta keywords are ignored by Google, while Bing and Yahoo! still take them into account (sometimes).  However in all cases, your meta keywords will be useless if the words or phrases you list are not present in the actual, readable text of your page.  You should limit your meta keywords to the 6 – 10 words or phrases that are most relevant to the page you are placing them on.

Meta Description – The meta description is another invisible code on your page primarily used for search engine ranking.  However, some search engines might display your meta description as the intro paragraph for your link on search engine results pages.  Your description should be a short summary of your page’s contents.  SEO Tip: The most effective meta descriptions are 150 characters or 25 words, and they contain all or most of the keywords you are trying to optimize your page for. Your meta description should not simply be a comma separated list.

Actions

Add Page -  When you are ready to add a page to your website, click on the “Add Page” button found in the upper left-hand side of the management screen.  This will bring you to the Add Page screen.  First you’ll need to choose your Page Type from the drop-down: Content Page, Photo Gallery, Blog or Calendar. Then choose your Parent Page – if you want your new page to be on the Main Level of your menu, choose “No Parent,” if you want your new page to be part of a sub-menu, click on the radio button beside the parent page you want it to reside beneath. Then choose your Page Target (in most cases you’ll choose “Open in Same Window”). Decide if you want the new page to be shown on your menu – keep the checkbox next to Show on Menu unchecked if you want to keep the new page out of the menu. Finally, type in the Menu Title you want for you new page and click “Save Changes”.

Show on Menu – Sometimes you might not want to have a page displayed on the Main Level or even the Sub-Menus of your Navigation – perhaps you want to send a private link to a client or board members, or maybe you want to create a graphic on an existing page that links directly to the new page in order to control the flow of traffic to the page. Whatever your reason, you can click the checkbox next to “Show on Menu” during the creation of the new page. Or, you can update this setting by clicking on the “Page Properties” tab and checking or unchecking as needed.

Publish Page – New pages are not automatically published to your website, so you can have time to add, edit, and finalize your new page’s content before the rest of the world sees it.  When you are ready to make your new page available to your website visitors, click on the page’s menu title in the page tree on the left, then click on the “Publish Page” button at the bottom of the page editor window.

Unpublish Page – If you wish to remove a page from your website temporarily, you can click on the “Unpublish Page” button at the bottom of the page editor window. This action removes the page from website visitors’ view without deleting it permanently. You can choose to “Publish” the page again at a later date (handy for seasonal pages like Holiday Sales), or you can simply save the content for historical purposes.

Delete Page – If you are sure you will no longer need a page that you wish to remove from your website, you can click the “Delete Page” button found at the bottom of the page editor window.  Please note that in order to retrieve date from a deleted page, a programmer would have to manually restore your database from a previous back-up.  This is time consuming and costly, so be sure to use this button with care!

Save Changes – This is the most important button on your page editor window.  Whenever you make a change to the “Page Content” or “Page Properties” of your website’s pages, be sure to click on the “Save Changes” button near the bottom of the page screen, otherwise you will lose your changes!

Advanced Features

Photo Slideshow – SiteSource sites come with a Flash slideshow on the Home Page that displays an unlimited number of photos or graphics with stylized transitions, optional captions, and optional links.  Your lead designer will help you develop the best strategy for the size, placement, content and presentation of this element.  In order to add slides, edit captions and links, reorder slides, and delete slides entirely, simply click on the “Home” link in the Page Tree on the left-hand side of your management console.  Next, click on the “Photo Slideshow” tab at the top of the page editor window.

Site Map – A site map will be automatically generated and updated for you and will include links in a bulleted list to all of the pages on your website that are Published and are set to “Show on Menu”. Any changes you make to your menu are immediately reflected on the Site Map as soon as you “Save Changes”.

Content Box – Sometimes the display of your Home Page will be highly specialized, and instead of a single text area, you might have several block elements where text and photos can be added and edited.  In this case, you “Page Content” tab for the Home Page will have 2 or more editor boxes (one for each of the defined areas on the page).

Video – Video is an optional addition to SiteSource websites that can be customized to your needs and vision.  One popular option includes a single “Featured Video” on your Home Page.  Another option is the ability to add a video to every Content Page of your site. Yet another option creates a Video Gallery on your website, similar to the Photo Gallery page type. These additional features can be added on during website development or at any time after launch.

Site Search – Every new SiteSource site comes with the ability to add a site-wide search element. The site search will index all of your pages and files (like PDFs) on a daily basis so that site visitors can type in a keyword or phrase and get relevant page and file results.