Easysite Live Guide.indd

Easy to use, easy to build
professionally designed websites in minutes
EASY START INSTRUCTIONS
www.easysitelive.com
Contents
EasySiteLive provides you with the tools to create and publish a professional website in a matter of minutes
without the need to learn html or how to use a complex html editor.
Remember that a website is different from a brochure because unlike a brochure, once published it can be
changed quickly and easily. In other words you can quickly create your web site now and publish it and in the
days ahead you can expand, develop and modify it in the light of the experience you get and the feedback you
receive from family, friends, customers or staff.
Using the EasyWizard
Logging and getting started ..................................................................................................... 2
Welcome Screen ...................................................................................................................... 2
Creating your Home Page
Choose a Theme, Style and Colour ......................................................................................... 2
Choosing the Layout ................................................................................................................ 3
Choosing the page title ........................................................................................................... 3
Content for your first page ...................................................................................................... 3
Adding pictures ........................................................................................................................ 4
Other page content ................................................................................................................. 4
The Main Menu ........................................................................................................................ 5
Edit ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Promote ...................................................................................................................................... 6
How to
Add a New Page ...................................................................................................................... 6
Adding Pictures ........................................................................................................................ 7
Change the format of a page .................................................................................................. 7
Change Theme, Style and Colour of your web site ................................................................. 8
Create a Contact Page............................................................................................................. 8
Delete a page .......................................................................................................................... 8
Edit a page............................................................................................................................... 8
Get Visitor Statistics ................................................................................................................. 8
Publish you web site ................................................................................................................ 9
Web Widgets ............................................................................................................................ 9
Tips
Keep it simple. ....................................................................................................................... 10
Think how you would view a web site. .................................................................................. 10
Theme, Style and Colour ....................................................................................................... 10
Keep words to a minimum. .................................................................................................... 11
Think about what searches your visitors may put into their search engine............................ 11
Always check your web site after building, amending or adding and publishing
your web site. ........................................................................................................................ 11
Add and amend web pages regularly. ................................................................................... 11
Use a picture instead of words if you can .............................................................................. 12
Contact Forms can materially reduce spam........................................................................... 12
Do not Publish until you are happy with the pages you can see in EasySiteLive. .................. 12
Watch who visits your web site. ............................................................................................. 12
Page 1
Using the EasyWizard
Logging and getting started
When you have installed your new EasySiteLive software,
go to Programs and click the
Welcome Screen
When you have logged in, you can immediately start building your site, access this Quick Start Guide or go to
the Main Menu to Manage, Edit or Promote existing sites.
When you have started the Wizard, click Next and make the selections you want in each screen before moving
to the next one by clicking Next again.
When you start building your website, the first thing is to choose theme, style and colour scheme and then to
create your Home page. Your Home page will be the first one that any visitor sees and is therefore the most
important. Please note that the home page is always called the index and cannot be changed unlike other
pages in your web site. It is an Internet convention that someone going to a web site, the browser will first go
to the index file (always with a lower case ‘i’ or it will not work.
Creating your Home Page
Choose a Theme, Style and Colour
Over 100 professionally designed themes are
available to choose from here. A theme will dictate
how navigation menus, banners, default colours
for your site will look so it is important to pick one
which reflects the purpose of you web site. Different
themes offer different colour scheme choices so that
you can get the best theme and style for your site.
The theme, style and colour you choose here will be
applied to any further pages than you create
Page 2
Choosing the Layout
Next you should choose the best layout you can,
given the objectives of your page and your site,
from a series of templates from straight text to all
pictures with a number of variations designed for
visitor friendliness in line with web design accepted
best practice.
Choosing the page title
The page title is important because it is displayed
as the name of the web page when open in your
browser in the computer menu bar even when
another page is being accessed. Search engines
will often display the page title of sites found in a
search, giving the searcher a quick résumé of what
to find if he follows that particular link.
Titles should be about 100 characters, telling the
potential visitor exactly who and what you are.
Content for your first page
On your first page you need to sum up the purpose
of your web site. Tell the visitor who you are, what
you do, maybe what you sell and where you or your
products have unique selling points – briefly!
Page 3
Adding pictures
If you have selected a page format including one
or more pictures, these are added through the next
screen.
To add a picture from your PC
1 Click on the image on the screen
Please note that the screen to the right is showing
a help graphic of what will come up on the next
screen of how to view pictures while browsing to
help you select the right one. The way to change to
‘thumbnail’ pictures in place of the file names has
been circled in red.
2 Click Next
3 Browse for the picture you want.
Initially you will be taken to an EasySiteLive library
of Fotolia pictures free of copyright that will fit
many occasions. For your own pictures, navigate
to the directory it is in like My Documents/My
Pictures.
If you need to source a picture elsewhere, we have included a link Get images from Fotolia.
Other page content
After inserting your picture(s) you can add more
content, probably expanding on the purpose of the
web site and what it has to offer to complete your
page and move to the following options.
Page 4
(Needs an Edit Page option here as well as on the
Preview page)
The Main Menu
•
Build a new website using EasyWizard will
replace the pages you have created so far
and, when published, replace those in your
website.
• Build a new site without EasyWizard (?????
– this starts selection but then just
disappears so am uncertain what it is
intended to do!!!)
• Continue working on your existing site
displays all pages created, the ability to
change their position, delete, edit or change
name (unless it is the index page – this is
the home page and cannot be changed
if the site is to display), change style,
preview the whole website, add new
standard or special pages and publish the
site:
Edit
The Edit Menu is the main page through which to
change or add pages. It is designed to be as
intuitive and easy as possible. However, if you need
to find out quickly how to make the changes you
want, please refer to the How to section below.
Page 5
Special pages include templates for:
• Events
• News
• Photo Gallery with or without text
• Product(s)
[- we also need a Service(s) page or the option to change Product to Service]
• Testimonial
• Examples of Work
• About us/Staff
• Story/Article
• Contact us
Promote
Having a web site is all very well but it is
important that people know that it is there.
Making sure people find it is a hard and on going
task but we have added links to a number of tools
to help with this:
• EasyMailer – this is a specialised email
program to allow you to send emails in bulk.
Most email providers will limit you volumes
in a number of ways as a protection against
spam and getting their email services
blocked by other providers. EasyMailer
is an essential if you want to launch and
email marketing campaign or simply email
everyone you know just to say you are here.
• EasyWebSubmit (needs to be added to)
Website Promotion Tool will submit your
website to a number of search engines according to the package you choose and help move you up
the search engine rankings.
• Email your site visitors [– sounds good but not sure where it is going – software to automatically email
people out of EasyMailer(?) if they complete the contact form?]
Links are also provided so that you can buy domain names,
contact us to build a professional and unique website for you or
give a copy if EasySiteLive to you friends.
How to…..
Add a New Page
1
2
3
4
Login and go to the Main Menu
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Click Add New Page
Select your preferred page layout for the standard and
special templates
5 Click Build this page
6 Enter the heading for the new page and click Next
7 Add the main text for this page and click Next
Page 6
8 Enter the name for this page as you
want it to appear in your web site
9 Click Save your changes
Adding Pictures
If you have already chosen a format for a page, you will be asked to add the pictures required by that format
as you create the page.
If you want to change the number and position of pictures on a page, please go to Change the format of a
page first. When you have changed the format
you can use the procedure below.
If you have selected a page format including one
or more pictures, these are added through the next
screen.
To add a picture from your PC
1 Click on the image on the screen
2 Please note that the screen above is
showing a help graphic of what will
come up on the next screen of how to
view pictures while browsing to help you
select the right one. The way to change
to ‘thumbnail’ pictures in place of the
file names has been circled in red.
3 Click Next
4 Browse for the picture you want. Initially
you will be taken to an EasySiteLive
library of Fotolia pictures free of
copyright that will fit many occasions.
For your own pictures, navigate to the
directory it is in like My Documents/My
Pictures.
If you need to source a picture elsewhere, we have included a link Get images from Fotolia.
Change the format of a page
If you want a different format for a page, you may find it easier to add a new page and delete the original.
Alternatively you can follow the procedure below but select Add Web Widget – see below.
If you want to move the content of a page however
1 Login and go to the Main Menu
2 Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
3 Highlight the page you wish to modify in the box at the top left
4 Click Edit Selected Page at the centre bottom
5 Select the content you wish to move, change or edit
by clicking the content
6 Click the option you want from the left menu:
· move content up the page
· move content down the page
· delete selected content
· edit text
Page 7
· change image
· move image
You can also use Change Page details to change the name of the page here and add
‘web widgets’.
Web Widgets include Layout Objects and Special Objects.
Layout Objects allow you to add a format for more content.
Special Objects offer you the ability to add logos and links to a range of useful sites like Google and PayPal.
Change Theme, Style and Colour of your web site
1
2
3
4
5
6
Login and go to the Main Menu
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Select Change Website Style from the left hand Menu
Select theme
Select colour scheme
Click Next and click Previous to get back to the Edit Menu
Create a Contact Page
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Login and go to the Main Menu
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Select Add new page
Select and click the Special Pages at the top
Browse down to the Contact form template and click it
click Build this page
Delete a page
1
2
3
4
Login and go to the Main Menu
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Select the page you wish to delete by highlighting it in the box at the top left
Click the Delete Page button to the right of the box
Edit a page
1
2
3
Login and go to the Main Menu
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Select the page you wish to edit by highlighting it in the box at the top left so that it appears in
the main box
4 Click Edit selected page
7 Select the content you wish to move, change or edit by clicking the content
8 Click the option you want from the left menu:
· move content up the page
· move content down the page
· delete selected content
· edit text
· change image
· move image
Page 8
You can also use Change Page details to change the name of the page here and add ‘web widgets’.
Web Widgets include Layout Objects and Special Objects.
Layout Objects allow you to add a format for more content.
Special Objects offer you the ability to add logos and links to a range of useful sites like Google and PayPal.
Get Visitor Statistics
1
2
3
Login and go to the Main Menu
Clcik the far right tab Promotion at the top of the page
Click the Check your website statistics button
Publish you web site
1
2
3
Login and go to the Main Menu if you are not logged in already
Select Edit or Continue working on your existing site
Click the button Publish site to the Internet found at the bottom on the left hand side
Web Widgets
Web Widgets include Layout Objects and Special Objects.
Layout Objects allow you to add a format for more content.
Special Objects offer you the ability to add logos and links to a range of useful sites like Google and PayPal.
Tips
KEEP
IT SIMPLE.
A simple web page or web site will be much more effective.
Initially only two pages are necessary: a ‘home’ or first page to say who you are and/or what your site is doing
or about and a page telling what someone interested in it can do about it, usually a contact page so that those
you have interested can get in touch with you.
As far as possible, try to keep your pages to the size of the screen. It is easier for customers to click to a new
page than to scroll down. A new page is rather like punctuation marks; it makes it easier to read.
When developing your web pages think how the visitor will see them.
THINK
HOW YOU WOULD VIEW A WEB SITE.
You will probably have a clear idea what you want to tell your visitors and what they should see. Irritatingly it
may not be exactly what even your ideal visitor will want.
Be careful to use as few words as possible. People will read something they are deeply interested in but those
only partially interested will not - and they may be the people you want to attract.
Page 9
And a picture can be worth a thousand words!
THEME, STYLE
AND
COLOUR
Selection of Theme, Style and Colour create the most important impression of you web site to the viewer and
is worth a lot of care, even though you can go back and change it.
Be clear about the purpose of your web site, whether:
family & Friends / business / group or club / CV or hobby
If a business web site, Theme and Style ought to be matched with your letterhead, business cards and other
aspects or your corporate image.
Start small, add later.
KEEP
WORDS TO A MINIMUM.
Visitors mostly prefer to click and move on to another page, rather than to read a long article. Don’t you?
Draw up a list of key words that best describe your web site and its purpose, then work especially on those
showing where you are different.
How Users Read on the Web? They don’t.
People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and
sentences. In a recent study John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen found that 79 percent of test users always scanned
any new page ..; only 16 percent read word-by-word.
THINK
ABOUT WHAT SEARCHES YOUR VISITORS MAY PUT INTO THEIR SEARCH ENGINE.
Keywords & Key phrases
Don’t be too general. General keywords will pick up everyone
Don’t be too specific. Try to limit your key phrases to terms that you yourself would use when searching for
your services
ALWAYS
SITE.
CHECK YOUR WEB SITE AFTER BUILDING, AMENDING OR ADDING AND PUBLISHING YOUR WEB
If after publishing you are still seeing the old pages, clear the cache in your browser by clicking Ctrl + F5.
Make sure that any visitor interested in your web site, products and services knows how to take things further.
There is nothing more frustrating than finding just what you want, then no being able to order it or find out
more about it.
Page 10
ADD
AND AMEND WEB PAGES REGULARLY.
Always be wary of changing Themes and Styles.
The appearance of your web site will be part of your visitors’ image of you: if it changes too much and too
often their image will be confused.
New information and pictures make a web site come ‘alive’.
USE
A PICTURE INSTEAD OF WORDS IF YOU CAN
Always use a picture instead of words if you can. Remember a picture can be worth a thousand words!
It is better to add a new page than add to a page. What is only visible with a scroll down will be missed.
Keep pictures reasonably small. A large picture will slow the time for a page to load and can drive visitors
away.
Who you are is almost as important as what you do.
CONTACT FORMS
CAN MATERIALLY REDUCE SPAM.
Spam is a major problem and if you publish an email address on the internet you will attract more spam. A
contact form reduces spam. If you do get a lot of spam:
Do not use a catchall email address ie one that receives messages to anyone@yourdomain
Get our email anti virus anti spam AVAS service
DO
NOT
PUBLISH
UNTIL YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE PAGES YOU CAN SEE IN
EASYSITELIVE.
Web pages are immediately updated when you Publish. If you cannot see the changes, you need to clear
cache!
WATCH
WHO VISITS YOUR WEB SITE.
The information will make it easier to make improvements.
Do your web pages answer the questions raised by your visitors? It not, you will be frustrating them!
Page 11