Agent XSites - Support

Transcription

Agent XSites
Everything You Need to Manage Your Business Online
Agent XSites
Getting Started .............................................. 1 End User License Agreement
1 System Requirements
8 Logging In
8 My Office ...................................................... 12 Search My Office
13 XSites Network Links
13 Find a Real Estate Pro
14 Agent Community
15 Sponsoring XSites
15 Sponsoring a Mortgage XSite
15 Sponsoring an Agent XSite
16 Tracking Sponsorships
16 XSites Wizard ............................................... 18 My Theme
18 Theme Preferences
19 Site Sounds
25 Company Information
26 My Content
27 Multilingual Content
28 Organize Content
28 Creating Fly-out Menus
29 Site Footer
29 Domain Management
29 Site Summary
35 Extra Tools
35 XSites Desktop ............................................. 42 Installing XSites Desktop
43 Configuring Your Account
43 Switching User Accounts
44 Updating Your Username and Password
44 Changing Your Contact Information
44 Switching Between XSites
45 Configuring RSS Feeds
45 Outlook Contact Import
47 Using XSites Desktop
48 Chat & Collaboration
49 XSite Performance
62 Agent XSites
Performance Reminders
63 Snapshots .................................................... 66 Creating XSite Snapshots
66 Restoring XSite Snapshots
68 Creating Web Pages .................................... 70 Naming the Page
70 Other Languages
71 Adding Custom Content
71 Embedding Dynamic Content
72 Dynamic Content Options
73 Embedding Contact Forms
74 Embedding RSS/ATOM Feeds
76 Adding the Feed
76 Removing a Feed
77 Embedding Listings
77 Search Engine Optimization
77 Additional Search Engine Resources
79 Linking to Other Websites
79 Creating a Staff Directory
80 Password Protecting Pages
80 Editing & Removing Passwords
81 Blogging ....................................................... 82 Adding a Blog to Your Site ........................... 82 Blog Configuration
83 Posting to Your Blog
84 Editing Your Drafts
85 Updating Previous Posts
86 Managing Subscriptions
86 Managing Subscribers
87 Selecting a Blog Subscription Template
88 Blog Networking
88 Managing Comments
89 Commenting on Posts
89 Moderating Comments
89 Managing Previous Comments
90 Agent XSites
2/16/2010
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Agent XSites
The Content Editor ....................................... 92 Content Editor Orientation .......................... 92 Editor Views
93 Button Help
94 Find & Replace
96 Formatting Text
97 Creating Hyperlinks
98 Using Images
103 Using Tables
108 Using Multimedia Content
112 Using HTML Code
114 Using Flash Content
115 Uploading Files
115 Deleting Files
117 Listings ....................................................... 120 Managing Your Listings
120 Creating Listings
122 General Property Info
123 Detailed Property Info
123 Listing XChange
137 Creating Listings Partnerships
138 Listings Syndication
142 Importing Listings
143 Creating Listings Pages
145 Adding IDX
148 Search for a Property
150 Listing Domains & URLs
150 Listing URL
151 Listing Domain
151 IDX ............................................................. 152 First Steps
152 Agent Setup
152 Office Setup
153 MLS Setup
154 IDX Settings
155 Saved Searches
156 Agent XSites
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Agent XSites
Lead Generation......................................... 158 Creating Lead Capture Forms
158 Embedding Lead Capture Forms
159 Using Doorway Forms
160 Blocking Doorway Forms
160 Reminder Doorway Forms
161 Specialty Lead Capture Forms
162 Foreclosure.com Integration
162 Foreclosure.com as a Dedicated "Listings" Page
162 Foreclosure.com in Your Site Footer
163 Foreclosure.com as Dynamic Content in a Page
163 Reviewing Lead Capture Stats
163 Tracking Form Placement Stats
163 Tracking Form Effectiveness
164 Lead Generation Partners
164 User Management...................................... 166 Creating Accounts
166 Creating User Accounts
166 Creating E-mail Accounts
166 Creating E-mail Aliases
167 Creating a Profile
167 Granting Privileges
168 Deleting Users
168 Search Engine Tools................................... 170 Google Sitemaps
170 Yahoo Sitemaps
172 Page Submissions
172 XSites Statistics ........................................ 174 Agent XSites
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Agent XSites
CertMail ...................................................... 186 Configuring CertMail
186 Creating Accounts
189 CertMail Online
189 E-mail Clients
193 Usage Reports
195 Contacts ..................................................... 196 Creating Contacts
196 Importing Contacts
197 Exporting Contacts
199 Deleting Contacts
199 Organizing Contacts
200 Creating Contact Groups
201 Merging Contacts
202 Sharing Contacts
202 Finding Contacts
203 Printing Contact Labels
205 Contact Options
206 Scheduling ................................................. 208 Creating Appointments
209 Managing Your Schedule
210 Importing/Exporting Your Schedule
211 XSellerate................................................... 214 Getting Started
214 Configuring XSellerate
215 Organizing Contacts
217 Ad Library
217 Agent XSites
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Agent XSites
Working with Ads
219 Planning Campaigns
220 Creating Campaigns
221 Editing Campaigns
228 Unsubscribing Contacts
228 Removing Contacts from Contact Groups
229 Removing Contacts from XSellerate Campaigns
229 Tracking Your Campaigns
230 Creating Print Mailings
233 Marketing Your Listings
236 Birthday/Anniversary Marketing
237 Holiday Marketing
238 Agent XSites
2/16/2010
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Agent XSites
(REFERRED TO HEREIN AS "ALM" OR "WE"). THIS AGREEMENT
CONSTITUTES A BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ALM AND THE
AGENT XSITES MEMBER ("MEMBER" OR "YOU"). YOU MAY NOT
ACCESS AGENT XSITES UNLESS YOU FIRST REVIEW AND ACCEPT
THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT BY CLICKING
ON THE "AGREE" BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM ON THIS PAGE. AFTER
YOU REVIEW THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BELOW, PLEASE
ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR AGREEMENT BY CLICKING ON THE "AGREE"
BUTTON OR THAT YOU DECLINE THIS AGREEMENT BY CLICKING
ON THE "DISAGREE" BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
Getting Started
Your XSite is more than
just a web page or
billboard. With more and
more of your business
being conducted at your
client’s home, or on the
road, you need something
that’s available at all times
from anywhere. That’s
what your XSite does –
manage listings, e-mail,
communicate in forums and
more.
User's Guide
Attention Demo users: Certain sections of this license
agreement will not apply to you until/if you purchase the
Product. Specifically the sections not applicable to demo
users are: Fees and Payment, and Term and Termination.
As a demo user, you have no obligation to purchase this
product.
We’re happy to bring you this new technology and confident you’ll
find it an easy way to enhance your real estate business — and
maybe just have some fun doing it!
End User License Agreement
AGENT XSITES
TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO USER - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT (THE
"AGREEMENT") DETAILS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE
WEBSITE HOSTING AND E-COMMERCE SERVICES (THE
"SERVICES") PROVIDED AND ADMINISTERED BY A LA MODE, INC.
Getting Started
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
AGREEMENT UPDATE (April 2005)
17. User agrees that in the event User participates in or utilizes
Listings XChange functionality, that User provides express consent
to Listings XChange users to use, publish, promote or advertise
User's applicable listings. User acknowledges and agrees that Users
and Listings XChange users create advertising relationships and
that ALM is not a party to said relationship. Users and Listings
XChange users accept the obligation to create, manage, alter,
and/or end said relationships and participation in the Listings
XChange functionality. There is no transfer of ownership rights
associated with this functionality.
1. Fees and Payment. You shall pay the fees and other charges for
the Services as stated on Agent XSites' home page
Copyright 2009, a la mode, inc.
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Agent XSites
(http://www.Agentxsites.com) or in this Agreement. All fees are
due immediately and, except as expressly provided herein, are
non-refundable. ALM reserves the right to change its fees at any
time. You shall make all payments in U.S. currency. Your credit
card will be billed in advance for any and all fees. ALM reserves the
right to suspend or terminate your account if credit card charges
are denied. Such suspension or termination shall not relieve you of
the obligation to pay the fees due. You agree to pay ALM its
reasonable expenses, including attorneys' and collection agency
fees, incurred in enforcing its rights under this Agreement.
2. Term and Termination.
2.1 This Agreement shall become effective upon your acceptance of
the terms and conditions contained herein and shall continue for a
period of one (1) year unless sooner terminated as provided below.
2.2 If, in the first one hundred (100) days after your purchase of
this XSite, you are not satisfied for any reason with the Services,
you may cancel this Agreement and receive a full refund of all fees
paid. Notice of such cancellation shall be made by contacting ALM
at 1-800-252-6633 (1-800-alamode) and notifying the
representative that you wish to receive a refund. The notice must
be made prior to 5:00 p.m. Oklahoma time on the one hundredth
(100th) day after your purchase of this XSite.
2.3 Your License to use the Services is terminated if You violate
this Agreement. ALM may terminate this Agreement at any time as
determined by ALM in its sole discretion. If ALM terminates this
Agreement, it shall have no obligation to refund any fee paid by
Member.
2.4 Upon the termination of this Agreement for any reason, ALM
shall replace the home page of Member's website with a standard
error message at no charge to Member.
Getting Started
3. Responsibility for Member Website Development, Operation and
Maintenance. Member will be solely responsible for the
development, operation and maintenance of Member's website and
all content and materials appearing on-line including, without
limitation:
(a) the accuracy and appropriateness of content and materials
appearing on the website;
(b) ensuring that the content and materials appearing do not
violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party;
(c) ensuring that the content and materials appearing are not
libelous or otherwise illegal;
(d) the final calculation and application of shipping and sales tax
and for accepting, processing, filling and shipping any customer
orders;
(e) handling any customer inquiries or complaints arising from
customer orders; and
(f) the security of any customer credit card numbers and related
customer information that you obtain or access as a result of
conducting electronic commerce via Member's website and to keep
all such information confidential and to exercise the same degree
of care and security standard in the industry.
4. Member Communication. ALM reserves the right to send Member
service e-mails notifying Member of operational or other changes
that may affect or change the Services offered by ALM. Please note
that you cannot opt out of such service e-mails because these
service e-mails provide information critical for the operation of
Member's website.
MEMBER HEREBY GRANTS ALM EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION
TO SEND FAX AND OR EMAIL SOLICITATIONS OR
ADVERTISEMENTS, THUS SATISFYING ANY EXPRESS WRITTEN
PERMISSION REQUIREMENT.
5. Amendments/Modifications. ALM reserves the right to amend the
Service offerings and add, delete, suspend or modify the terms and
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Agent XSites
conditions of the Services at any time, and to determine whether
and when, at its sole discretion, any such changes apply to existing
or future Members.
(g) insults to other persons or businesses including, but not limited
to, material that is obscene, threatening, harassing, defamatory or
libelous.
6. Content.
6.4 You shall not use your web pages to conduct any of the
following activities:
(a) send bulk/spam e-mail;
(b) send mass/spam news postings;
(c) disclose the trade secrets of any other person or entity;
(d) use patented or trademarked materials without the prior
consent of the patent or trademark owner;
(e) rent, sell or otherwise distribute web space to third parties; or
(f) conduct any other activity that ALM determines, in its sole
discretion, to be fraudulent, illegal or an unreasonable drain on
system resources.
6.1 ALM is not responsible for the content of any web page hosted
by ALM. The opinions and views expressed in such web pages do
not necessarily reflect those of ALM. The contents of the web pages
hosted by ALM are not reviewed in any way before they appear on
the web page. As the author of web pages hosted on Agent XSites,
you take full responsibility for their contents. Do not use the web
space provided by ALM to provide material that is offensive to the
web community including, but not limited, expressions of bigotry,
racism, hatred or profanity or for promoting or providing
instructional information about illegal activities or promoting
physical harm or injury against any group or individual.
6.2 Agent XSites shall only be used for lawful purposes.
Transmission or solicitation of any material that violates any local,
state, federal or international law, order or regulation is prohibited.
6.3 Your web pages cannot contain, or provide links to, materials
that ALM, in its sole discretion, may consider illegal or offensive
including, but not limited to:
(a) copyrighted material not belonging to you -- for example,
music, images, software or video -- unless you have the prior
consent of the copyright owner;
(b) trademarked materials not belonging to you without the prior
consent of the trademark owner;
(c) pornography, nudity, sex or any other material that would
commonly be considered "indecent" or "appealing to the prurient
interest";
(d) gambling;
(e) foul language;
(f) pyramid or other illegal solicitation schemes; or
Getting Started
6.5 The financial calculators are made available to you "AS IS" for
your independent use and are not intended to provide investment
advice. We can not and do not guarantee their applicability in
regards to your individual circumstances. A LA MODE MAKES NO
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
REGARDING THE FINANCIAL CALCULATORS INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
7. Security. You agree that you will not attempt to compromise the
security on the ALM servers by any means including, but not
limited to:
(a) attempting to gain access to restricted information on the ALM
servers;
(b) attempting to disable, cripple or modify ALM servers or any
service running on an ALM server; or
(c) attempting to access information in other Agent XSites
accounts.
ALM reserves the right to prosecute any person or entity
attempting to compromise the security of the ALM servers to the
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Agent XSites
fullest extent allowed by applicable law.
8. Disclaimer of Warranties. Member understands that the Internet
and other various networking communication mediums are not
secure, unless explicitly specified as such, and may be subject to
interception or loss. ALM makes no representations or warranties of
any kind, either express, implied or statutory, concerning the data
or information available through Agents XSites or the Internet.
ALM'S SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. ALM
MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT; THAT
THE SERVICES WILL MEET MEMBER'S REQUIREMENTS OR WILL
ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY,
SECURE OR OPERATE WITHOUT ERROR; ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY
ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE;
REGARDING ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE OR SERVICES; AND/OR
ANY OBLIGATION, LIABILITY, RIGHT, CLAIM OR REMEDY IN TORT
WHETHER OR NOT ARISING FROM THE NEGLIGENCE OF ALM. TO
THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, ALM
DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL SUCH REPRESENTATIONS AND
WARRANTIES.
FOR THE SERVICE LEVEL WARRANTY SPECIFIED IN SECTION 13
HEREOF, ALM SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY OF ANY KIND OR NATURE
TO MEMBER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO MEMBER'S USE OF
OR INABILITY TO USE MEMBER'S WEBSITE. IN THE EVENT THAT
ALM IS LIABLE TO MEMBER FOR ANY LOSS ARISING OUT OF OR
RELATED TO THE SERVICES, THIS AGREEMENT OR MEMBER'S
WEBSITE, ALM'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO MEMBER WILL IN NO
EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF ANY ACTUAL MONETARY LOSS OR
DAMAGES SUFFERED UP TO, AND NOT IN EXCESS OF, THE
AGGREGATE FEES PAID, IF ANY, FOR THE SERVICES WHICH GAVE
RISE TO THE CLAIM DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD
IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE DATE THE CLAIM AROSE.
9.2 No Liability for Unauthorized Use or Access. Member is solely
responsible for ensuring that each password for Member's website
is utilized only by Member or, if applicable, by Member's authorized
employees and agents. ALM shall have no liability for any loss,
claim, damage or other liability that may arise from the
unauthorized use of a password. If a password is lost or stolen or if
you have reason to believe that your website is no longer secure
for any reason, it is your responsibility to notify ALM of such loss or
theft so that the password can be deactivated and a new password
assigned. ALM will use commercially reasonable efforts to effect
password deactivation requests promptly.
9. Limitation of Liabilities.
9.1 General. IN NO EVENT WILL ALM BE LIABLE TO MEMBER FOR
ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, INDIRECT,
SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING
DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS OR LOSS OF BUSINESS) ARISING
OUT OF OR RELATED TO (I) THE SERVICES, (II) YOUR USE OF ANY
DATA, INFORMATION OR THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE AVAILABLE
THROUGH AGENT XSITES, (III) THIS AGREEMENT OR
(IV)MEMBER'S WEBSITE REGARDLESS OF THE NATURE OR BASIS
OF THE CLAIM INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, TORT,
CONTRACT OR STRICT LIABILITY CLAIMS. IN ADDITION, EXCEPT
Getting Started
10. Member Acknowledgement. Member acknowledges and agrees
that the disclaimers of warranties, limitations of liability and
indemnification provisions set forth in this Agreement reflect a
mutually agreed upon allocation of risk and form a fundamental
part of the basis of the bargain hereunder, without which ALM
would not have entered into this Agreement.
11. Domain Name. If Member wishes to register a custom domain
name ("Domain Name") for the Member's website, ALM will
cooperate with Member in registering the Domain Name with the
appropriate entity. As between Member and ALM, Member shall
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Agent XSites
own all right, title and interest in and to the Domain Name.
Member shall be solely responsible for tracking and ensuring that
all required renewals for Member Domain Names are made in a
timely manner. ALM will cooperate with Member to renew Domain
Names. ALM makes no representation or warranty of any kind
concerning the registration of a Domain Name for Member, or
concerning the automatic renewal of Domain Names on behalf of
Member and under no circumstances shall ALM be liable to Member
or any other person or entity in the event that any Domain Name is
either not registered or renewed in a timely manner.
As part of the Services provided under this Agreement, ALM will
provide reasonable domain name server ("DNS") assistance. If
Member arranges for a third party to provide DNS and/or e-mail
service, Member shall hold ALM harmless from and against any
errors made as a result of the third party's management of
Member's DNS and/or e-mail service. If a third party provides DNS
and/or e-mail service for Member, and Member requests additional
services from ALM concerning Member's DNS and/or e-mail
service, such additional services will be provided at ALM's then
current hourly rate.
12. Acceptable Use Policy. You shall comply at all times with the
terms of the Agent XSites Acceptable Use Policy, a copy of which
may be found at http://www.alamode.com/xsites/aup. ALM may
change the Acceptable Use Policy at any time without notice, at
ALM's sole discretion. ALM may terminate this Agreement if you
violate the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy. The determination
of whether the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy have been
violated will be made solely by ALM.
13. Service Level. If, due to the fault of ALM, Member's website is
not accessible to users for eighty-five percent (85%) or more of
the hours in any particular month following the month in which this
Agreement becomes effective, then Member shall be entitled to a
pro rata refund of the fees paid for such hosting in such month (in
proportion to the percentage of the total hours of the month in
Getting Started
which the website is not accessible). ALM will not be responsible for
refunding any other fees paid by Member.
14. Intellectual Property. Member acknowledges and agrees that
Agent XSites is a valuable commercial product of ALM, the
development of which has involved expenditure by ALM of
substantial time and money. Member acknowledges and agrees
that Member has no ownership rights in Agents XSites. Member
further acknowledges and agrees that the name and mark "Agents
XSites" and all associated names, marks and logos (collectively,
the "Marks") are the trademarks and/or service marks of ALM or its
affiliates, and that any trade dress, trademark, service mark or
designs related to Agent XSites and/or the Marks are the
intellectual property of ALM and are protected by United States
copyright laws, trademark laws, trade secret laws, international
treaties and applicable laws of the states and jurisdictions where
they are used. This Agreement does not grant to Member any
ownership right in the Marks or in any other intellectual property of
ALM. All material on Agents XSites including, but not limited to,
images, illustrations and musical compositions is protected by
copyrights that are owned or controlled by ALM or by other parties
that have licensed their material to ALM. Except as otherwise
provided in the following sentence, all right, title and interest in
and to the Marks and any other intellectual property of ALM shall
remain with ALM. ALM grants a non-exclusive, revocable, nontransferable license to Member to use solely during the term of this
Agreement the graphics, text, musical compositions, tools and
modules provided by ALM through Agents XSites; provided,
however, that such graphics, text, musical compositions, tools, and
modules may be used by Member only on ALM's server. Such
license shall terminate upon the termination of this Agreement.
Member shall not, under any circumstances, resell, distribute or
allow any other entity or person to use any of ALM's products,
modules, tools, scripts, graphics, text, database/programming code
or object or source codes without ALM's prior written consent. As
between Member and ALM, the parties agree that ALM shall own
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Agent XSites
and retain all intellectual property rights, copyrights, patents and
all rights, title and interest in and to all of the products, modules,
tools, scripts, graphics, text, database/programming code and
object or source codes provided or supplied by ALM that are
displayed on Member's website or used in the development or the
maintenance of Member's website.
Access to Agent XSites does not grant to Member the right to
reproduce, copy or distribute (except as permitted by ALM on web
pages hosted by ALM) by any means, method or process
whatsoever, now known or hereafter developed, any of the musical
compositions made available by ALM through Agents XSites
including, without limitation, transferring or downloading them to a
computer hard drive, or otherwise copying them onto any other
storage medium. In addition, access to Agents XSites does not
grant to Member the right to perform publicly, by any means,
method or process whatsoever, now known or hereafter developed,
any of the musical compositions made available by ALM through
Agents XSites including, without limitation, any transmission,
retransmission, or further transmission of them. All musical
compositions made available by ALM through Agents XSites are
protected by copyrights that are owned by the individual
composers thereof or other parties and all such musical
compositions have been licensed by Shockwave-Sound.com for use
only on web pages hosted by ALM.
damages caused or alleged to have been caused by the use of or
reliance on any content from any such linked website.
15. Links to Other Websites. As a convenience to Member, ALM
provides links to websites owned and operated by third parties not
affiliated with ALM. Member's use of the services and products
offered via any such linked website shall be at Member's own risk
and ALM assumes no responsibility for the products and services
offered via any such linked website, regardless of whether ALM
receives a referral fee for Member's use of the linked website.
Member acknowledges and agrees that ALM shall not be held
responsible for the legality, accuracy or inappropriate nature of any
content, advertising, products, services or information located on
or through any of the linked websites, nor for any losses or
16.4 Severability; Waiver. If any provision of this Agreement is
held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining
provisions will continue in full force without being impaired or
invalidated in any way. The parties agree to replace any invalid
provision with a valid provision that most closely approximates the
intent and economic effect of the invalid provision. The waiver by
either party of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not
operate or be interpreted as a waiver of any other or subsequent
breach.
Getting Started
16. General Provisions.
16.1 Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed, construed
and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of
Oklahoma, without giving effect to its conflict of laws principles.
16.2 Force Majeure. ALM shall not be liable for nonperformance,
delay, errors, data loss or other loss caused by any event
reasonably beyond ALM's control including, but not limited to, acts
of God, war, terrorism, hostilities, revolution, civil disorder,
national emergency, strikes, lockouts, unavailability of supplies,
epidemics, fire, flood, earthquake, force of nature, explosion,
embargo or any law, proclamation, regulation, ordinance or other
act or order of any court, government or governmental agency.
16.3 Legal Expenses. The prevailing party in any arbitration
proceeding or other legal action brought by one party against the
other and arising out of this Agreement shall be entitled, in
addition to any other rights and remedies it may have, to
reimbursement for its expenses, including court costs and
reasonable attorneys' fees.
16.5 Assignment. Member may not assign this Agreement or any of
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Agent XSites
its rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent
of ALM. ALM's rights and obligations hereunder will bind and inure
to the benefit of its successors and assigns.
or suppliers for any damages, whether direct, indirect, or
consequential, arising from the use of the Microsoft software
services.
16.6 Independent Contractors. The parties to this Agreement are
independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture
or employee-employer relationship is intended or created by this
Agreement. Neither party shall have the power to obligate or bind
the other party.
ALM will provide product support for the software services covered
under this Agreement, unless otherwise indicated.
16.7 Indemnification; you agree to indemnify and hold ALM
harmless from any and all claims and demands, including, but not
limited to reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due
to or arising out of any information, including, but not limited to,
information provided by ALM. The information, software, products,
and services may include inaccuracies or typographical errors.
Changes are periodically added to the information herein. ALM, its
affiliates and/or its respective suppliers may make improvements
and/or changes in this site at any time. In no event shall ALM be
liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special,
consequential damages or any damages whatsoever including,
without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profits, arising
out of or in any way connected with the use or performance of ALM
services and software.
16.8 Entire Agreement. This Agreement sets forth the entire
understanding and agreement of the parties and supersedes any
and all oral or written agreements or understandings between the
parties as to the subject matter of this Agreement. ALM reserves
the right in its sole discretion to change or modify this Agreement
in whole or in part at any time or from time to time.
Microsoft Notice to USER
In an effort to improve the flow of email from you to your intended
recipients, ALM may, from time to time, provide you with feedback
from third parties. In the event that your email is deemed SPAM,
and you fail to remove the recipient from your lists, ALM may, in its
sole discretion, suspend or disconnect your service. In cases where
feedback is provided by Microsoft, you shall treat the feedback and
all information contained in such feedback as confidential
information that is owned by Microsoft, and shall not share such
feedback with any third parties.
BY CLICKING ON THE "AGREE" BUTTON BELOW, YOU
ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, THAT
YOU UNDERSTAND IT AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS
TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT
THIS AGREEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN YOU AND ALM AND SUPERSEDES ANY PROPOSAL OR
PRIOR AGREEMENT, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN US RELATING TO THE SUBJECT
MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT. YOU ALSO AGREE THAT ALL THE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT APPLY TO YOUR
USE OF AGENTS XSITES SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED WITH
THE USE OF AGENT XSITES. FINALLY, IF MEMBER IS AN ENTITY
OF ANY KIND, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE AN OFFICER OR
OTHER AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL FOR MEMBER WHO HAS THE
AUTHORITY TO AUTHORIZE THE PAYMENT FOR THE SERVICES
CONTEMPLATED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT.
Microsoft disclaims to the extent permitted by applicable law, all
warranties by Microsoft and any liability by Microsoft, its affiliates
Getting Started
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Agent XSites
http://www.baytownproperties.biz/admin
System Requirements
Hint: You can also add a link directly to your login page at the
To use the administration area of your site, your PC will need to
meet some basic system requirements.
•
Operating System: Windows XP or newer
•
Display: 800x600 (Minimum), 1024x768 or higher
(Recommended)
•
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
•
Adobe Flash 9 or higher
bottom of your XSite pages by including it in your Site Footer.
2. Enter your site Username and Password and click Login.
You may need to turn off your firewall program or other desktop
Internet security features if you encounter unexpected errors while
managing your site. Alternative web browsers, such as Mozilla,
Opera, Netscape and Firefox, are not currently supported when
managing your site. Please limit yourself to the use of a Windowsbased PC running Internet Explorer 6 or higher when accessing the
administrative areas of your site.
Logging In
Forgotten Passwords
Immediately following your site purchase, you’re sent an e-mail
that tells you how to log into your site for the first time. You’ll
receive the link to your site setup start page as well as the
username and password that were created at the time you placed
your order.
If you've forgotten your site's username or password, you can
reset your credentials through the login area of your site. To reset
your login credentials...
1. In your browser, type your site’s URL, followed by “/admin”.
For example:
Note: You can change your password at any time using the
User Management functions of your site.
http://www.baytownrealestate.biz/admin
To log into your site...
1. In your browser, type your site’s URL, followed by “/admin”.
For example:
Getting Started
2. In the login screen that appears, click the Forgot Password?
link.
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Agent XSites
3. In the box that appears, you're prompted for your login e-mail
address. Enter it and click Continue.
o
o
If you've set up a security question for your account Answer the security question you set up in your account and
click Continue. Your site automatically generates a new
password for your account. Write down the new password
and return to your site to log in again. Remember to visit
your site's User Management area and update your account
with a more memorable password once you've successfully
logged in.
If you haven't set up a security question for your
account - To protect your account and the information
stored in your site, we must verify that you are the account
holder before issuing you new login credentials. You're
prompted for either the last 4 digits of the credit card
you've used recently on your account or for the invoice
number of a recent purchase with a la mode. Enter either
into the boxes provided and click Continue. You're
prompted for a new login password and a security question
for you to answer as verification of your identity in the
future. Fill out your desired login credentials and click
Continue to update your account with your new username
and password.
a number of security features surrounding your account and
password.
One such feature is the Password Lockout system, which
prevents any access to your site for 10 minutes in the event that 5
unsuccessful attempts are made to log in. In addition to locking
the account, an e-mail message is sent, notifying you of the
potential attack.
This feature protects your account from someone trying to guess
your password based on personal information they know about
you. It also thwarts the use of a computer-based dictionary attack
tool. Such tools are designed to rapidly and continuously try single
words - as well as combinations of words - that can be found in
English or other language dictionaries. By locking the account after
5 tries, the system effectively limits the number of guesses per
hour that can be attempted, thus increasing the time required to
guess a password to hundreds or thousands of years.
Once your password has been updated, return to the admin login
area for your site and log in with your new credentials.
Password Lockouts
The username and password combination you use to access your
site is the key to a wealth of personal and client information. If a
criminal or other malicious user were to steal your password, they
would gain full access to your online products - and possibly the
private data of your customers. To minimize this threat, there are
Getting Started
If you receive an e-mail notification indicating that your account
has been locked out, contact our Support department immediately
at (800) 211-4514. If you were having a problem accessing your
account, one of our tech support engineers can walk you through
the process of resetting your password. If this was an un-
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Agent XSites
authorized attempt to access your site, we’ll attempt to identify the
source of the attack, so you can take appropriate measures.
•
One or multiple firewall programs - Windows XP and later
versions now come complete with a built-in firewall program,
but it's common to have another firewall program installed on
your computer. It's also possible and common for large
networked companies to have a network firewall installed.
While it is good practice to have at least one of these, it can
become frustrating if you have several of these working in
tandem. Again, we recommend configuring your security
software if you're experiencing difficulties logging in.
•
Other forms of system maintenance or anti-malware
software - There are a variety of other programs that you can
install on your computer to run routine maintenance on your
computer or protect yourself from various other types of
malware. Whether a routine maintenance program is deleting a
file your site needs to access, like a cookie, or whether another
anti-malware program is falsely identifying your site as
malware, you may need to find and configure these other
programs to ensure that they do not interfere with your site.
If you have additional questions about the security of your site or
the data it contains, please contact us at [email protected].
Other Login Problems
With the number of different forms of malware rampant on the
Internet these days, it's common to have at least one if not many
different variations of security software installed on your computer.
While these are intended to protect your computer, they can also
interrupt your work on Internet-based applications if they are not
configured to ignore the work you do within those applications.
While we in no way recommend uninstalling your security
software's and exposing your computer to the Internet, we do
recommend that you configure your security software to ignore
trusted Internet programs like your a la mode site. If you are
experiencing difficulties logging into your site, it's possible that one
or more of the following are interfering with your login attempts:
•
One or multiple pop-up blockers - Pop up blockers are
programs that are intended to stop or suppress pop-up
advertisements. In order to do this effectively, they must
assume that every pop-up you haven't marked as safe is really
a pop-up advertisement. While it is true that the most common
type of pop-up on the Internet is an advertisement, there are
several valid uses of the pop-up inside of various websites like
your a la mode site. Depending on your system, a pop-up
blocker may be built into your web browser, accompany a 3rd
party toolbar like the Google toolbar, come packaged with other
3rd party security software, or a combination of these. We
recommend that you add your a la mode site to the list of
trusted sites in your pop-up blocker.
Getting Started
For more detailed information on the login problems caused by
improperly configured security software, along with steps to
address the problem, see our Tech Doc on the matter.
Page 10
Agent XSites
My Office
The My Office screen is your portal to all of the administrative
functions of your XSite. From here you can:
•
Manage user accounts,
•
Edit the look and feel of your XSite,
•
Add or modify content,
•
Manage your contacts,
•
Schedule appointments,
•
And so much more...
All of these operations are accessed from the pull down menus at
the top of the screen. As you hover your mouse over each option,
a drop-down menu appears, presenting additional options.
But the My Office page is even more than that. It's also a
business management screen. At a glance, you get valuable
information about your business. For example, how many
messages are waiting in your e-mail inbox. Or click the Today's
Schedule tab and see what you have on tap for the day.
My Office
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Agent XSites
4. Checking the Completed box displays past appointments, as
well as those in the future.
Search My Office
One of the handy tools found in My Office is the ability to quickly
find a contact or appointment.
To find help...
1. Click the Search Help option in the Search My Office panel.
2. In the pop-out menu, type a search phrase and click Search.
3. Then, review the topics and Tech Docs listed in the search
results until you find the assistance you need.
XSites Network Links
To find a contact...
1. Click the Search Contacts option in the Search My Office
panel.
2. In the pop-out menu, type the information you'd like to search
for in the Look for field.
3. From the Search drop-down menu, select which Contact field
you'd like to look in: first name, last name, company, etc.
The XSites Network is an online resource with a wealth of
information available. Use it to find a fellow real estate professional
- agents, appraisers, inspectors, mortgage brokers, title companies
- anywhere in the nation. Plus, as a member of the XSites Network,
your colleagues can find you as well.
Or, use these tools to find a property from the listings inventories
of fellow Agent XSite users throughout the country. Click the
Search for a Property link to initiate a new search.
4. Click Search and your results appear in a new window.
To find an appointment...
1. Click the Search My Schedule option in the Search My Office
panel.
2. In the pop-out menu, select a date range to search, using the
calendar tools.
3. Now, type a keyword or other item into the Look for text box
and click Search. Any appointments in your calendar within
that date range and containing the text you entered are
displayed in a new window.
My Office
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Agent XSites
contract appraisers to protect their investments. Inspectors assure
the parties that the property is sound. Since a la mode provides
software in each of these markets, we've been able to build a
nationwide network of real estate professionals which you can
search to find someone outside your usual contact group.
1. From the My Office screen, click the Find a Real Estate
Professional link in the XSites Network pane.
Whenever an agent adds a property located in your area to their
XSite's listings, it is immediately displayed in the New Properties
section of this window, so you can keep up with the latest listings
in your area right from the My Office screen.
This panel also allows you to use the XSites Network to set up and
manage the listing partnerships through the XSite's Listings
XChange.
2. In the pop up menu, enter as much information as you have
into the text boxes. Obviously, the more data you can enter,
the more refined your search will be.
3. Click the check box or boxes on the right to indicate what kind
of company you'd like to find. You can select as many as are
applicable.
4. Click Search and your results are displayed in a new window.
Jot down the contact information, or click the URL to visit the
company web site. Click OK to close the window.
Find a Real Estate Pro
Real estate is an industry that thrives on the relationships built
between the various market participants. Agents work with
mortgage brokers to give their customers the best rates. Brokers
My Office
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Agent XSites
services at the bottom of the sponsored site. In addition, you're
given the opportunity to place a "Search for Homes" button on
the sponsored site that links back to a page of your own site.
Agent Community
The Agent Community tools are designed to help you keep in
touch with your fellow real estate professionals and the industry as
a whole.
•
Marketing - Access to a wealth of marketing tips and tricks to
get the most out of your XSite marketing.
•
Resources - Access to extensive documentation, training, and
support.
•
Release History - We're constantly adding new features,
themes and content to XSites. This link lets you keep an eye on
what's new.
•
Sponsor an XSite - Create a free XSite for an associate who
needs a site. If they buy because of your sponsorship, you get
referral credit.
2. If you're sponsoring another Agent XSite, a Listings XChange
partnership is automatically established between each site,
allowing you to share listings with each other freely.
3. If your associates decide to upgrade their XSites to our full
versions, you're automatically credited with a $50 referral off of
your next renewal.
To access your XSite's sponsorship and sponsorship tracking
functions, log into your site's admin, hover over My Office, and
click XSites Sponsorship in the toolbar that appears.
Sponsoring a Mortgage XSite
To sponsor a Mortgage XSite...
1. Log into your site's admin, hover over My Office, and click
XSites Sponsorship in the toolbar that appears.
2. Click Sponsor a Mortgage XSite in the Sponsorship pane on
the left.
3. In the screen that appears, you can sponsor the site through
our own invitation engine or send your own e-mail invitation.
o
Sponsoring the XSite through our invitation engine Click Send an Invitation, type an e-mail address and
invitation message into the boxes provided, and click Send.
Optionally, you can check the Send a Copy To box and
specific an e-mail address if you'd like to include another email address in the invitation.
o
Sponsoring the XSite through your own e-mail - If
you'd prefer to send your own e-mail inviting someone to
sign up for a free XSite and partner with you, just copy the
Sponsoring XSites
Your XSite gives you the ability to create one of our free XSites for
a business associate. By sponsoring a free XSite for your associate
you automatically gain several benefits.
1. Since our free XSites are ad-supported, if you're sponsoring a
Mortgage XSite, we automatically place an ad for your agent
My Office
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Agent XSites
provided link at the bottom of the Send an Invitation box
and paste it into your e-mail.
provided link at the bottom of the Send an Invitation box
and paste it into your e-mail.
4. Once a partnership is established, a link back to your site will
appear on the sponsoree's new site. In the Sponsorship
Settings section at the bottom of the screen, select the page
of your site to which you want the sponsoree's "Search for
Homes" button to link using the drop-down menu provided.
4. When finished, click Save Settings.
The sponsoree is sent an e-mail offering a free XSite. If the
sponsoree signs up for a site, the sponsorship becomes active
along with an automatic Listings XChange partnership.
5. When finished, click Save Settings.
The sponsoree is sent an e-mail offering a free XSite. If the
sponsoree signs up for a site, the sponsorship becomes active
along with the ad and link to your site.
Sponsoring an Agent XSite
As you continue to sponsor XSites, you can track the effectiveness
of XSite sponsorship as a marketing tactic through the XSites
Sponsorship section of your XSite. To track the traffic to your site
through XSites sponsorships...
To sponsor an Agent XSite...
2. Click Sponsor an Agent XSite in the Sponsorship pane on
the left.
3. In the screen that appears, you can sponsor the site through
our own invitation engine or send your own e-mail invitation.
o
Sponsoring the XSite through our invitation engine Click Send an Invitation, type an e-mail address and
optionally customize the invitation message using the boxes
provided. Then, click Send. If desired, you can check the
Send a Copy To box and specific an e-mail address if you'd
like to include another e-mail address in the invitation.
o
Sponsoring the XSite through your own e-mail - If
you'd prefer to send your own e-mail inviting someone to
sign up for a free XSite and partner with you, just copy the
My Office
Tracking Sponsorships
2. Click My Sponsorships in the Sponsorship pane on the left.
You're taken to an overview of your sponsorship activity. For
Mortgage XSites you've sponsored, you see a report of all traffic to
your site driven through the sponsored site. For Agent XSites, you
see a total number of listings views resulting from your automatic
Listings XChange partnership.
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Agent XSites
bottom window. Click a sub-category heading to narrow the
selections. Click any of the thumbnail images to get a larger
view of that theme.
XSites Wizard
The XSites Wizard is where you actually create your company's
website. We've designed our interface so that you don't need to
know complex HTML programming to create a top notch website
that not only looks good, but also "does something" like generate
leads and improve your customer service.
Don't let the easy interface fool you though. There's serious
technology behind your XSite - that's what makes it possible to
change your entire look with just a couple of clicks or enable online
ordering by just checking a box. To get started with our easy
wizard, click the XSite button at the top of the screen.
•
Animated themes are denoted with the movie reel. These
typically have a moving graphic in the header and rollover
animation when your mouse goes over the links for your main
content.
•
All the colors and graphics in your theme are customizable.
(That's the next step in the wizard.)
Note: As you move through the XSite Wizard, your changes are
made "live" whenever you click Save or when you simply go to
another step. This requires a little forethought before going and
changing things, but it certainly spares you the hassle of
making sure you uploaded all the images for a page.
To see the effects of your changes at any time, simply click the My
XSite button from the XSite drop-down menu and a new window
opens to show you your XSite.
My Theme
The My Theme step of the XSites Wizard controls the general
"look" of your site, including the header image, layout, colors and
more.
•
Themes are broken up into categories and sub-categories.
Scroll through the list on the left to select a primary category.
The first 10 themes in that category are displayed in the
XSites Wizard
Once you've decided on a theme:
1. Click the image for the desired Theme.
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Agent XSites
2. Click the Choose this theme button to lock in your choice.
3. Click the Save button to lock in your selection, or click the
Next button to save it and move to step 2 of the wizard.
Theme Preferences
While themes provide a means of specifying an overall look and
feel for your site, they're really just the beginning. In the Theme
Prefs of the XSites Wizard, you can completely alter your selected
theme to add your own photos, logos, and colors.
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
Hint: To insert a line break in your company name, press
Adding Your Company Name
Shift+Enter.
Including a text header is a lot easier than creating a custom
header image or formatting your logo and still gives you several
options for highlighting your company name.
3. Above the text box, you'll find several options for modifying the
text. These should be familiar to anybody who's used a word
processor.
4. Turn on Bold, Italics or Underline by clicking the appropriate
button.
5. Select the font color by clicking the colored box and choosing a
shade from the palette. Note that on dark backgrounds you
may want to use white or some other light-colored text. If
necessary, the background of the text box will change so you
can still see the text.
6. Choose the font style and size you desire from the appropriate
drop-down menu.
Note: Your font choices are limited to those standard to
Microsoft Windows; that way, your company name appears as
intended on nearly all computers.
7. On the sample screen above, you'll see how your text looks on
your XSite's header. Simply use your mouse to position your
company name exactly where you want it.
To add your company name to the header of your XSite...
1. In the Theme Prefs step of the XSites Wizard, ensure that the
Include my company name check box is checked.
2. Type your company name in the large text box. This
information is pre-loaded with the company name you provided
when you signed up for your Agent XSite, but you can change it
here.
XSites Wizard
8. Enter your Secondary header text. This is the slogan that
appears in your site header and one of the first things people
see on your site.
9. Above the text box, there are several options for modifying the
text. As necessary, turn on Bold, Italics or Underline by clicking
the corresponding button.
10. Select the font color by clicking the colored box and choosing a
shade from the palette. Keep in mind that on dark backgrounds
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Agent XSites
you may want to use white or some other light-colored text. If
necessary, the background of the text box changes so you can
still see the text.
Note: Your logo will look the best when its background matches
that of your header image or site background. You'll also want
to make sure it fits our recommended size of 240x80 pixels so it
11. Choose the font style and size you desire from the appropriate
drop-down menu.
If you're using a custom logo file with your company name in it,
you can turn off the text by simply un-checking the Include my
company name box. See the section on Animating the Site
Header to learn how to animate your site header.
"fits" on your site.
To include your logo on your XSite...
1. In the Theme Prefs step of the XSites Wizard, click the Include
my logo check box
2. Next, click the Upload your logo link.
3. Browse to the graphic file on your PC that contains your logo,
select it and click Open.
Adding a Company Logo
Many organizations already have a customized company logo, or
perhaps your brokerage or franchisor supplies you with one. You
can include this logo on your XSite if you have access to the logo in
one of the common, web graphic formats, such as .gif, .png, .bmp
or .jpg. If these formats are unfamiliar to you, or your logo is in a
different format, you may need to consult a web-savvy graphics
designer to get your logo ready for use.
4. Finally, click Upload.
5. You'll now see your logo in your site preview to the left. Use
your mouse to drag it to the desired area of your site header.
To remove your logo at any time, simply un-check the Include my
logo check box. If you desire, you can also remove the logo image
from the wizard by clicking the Remove your logo link.
Adding a Photo
If you have a picture of you or your team, it's a nice personal touch
to have it on your site. It's also a good way to reinforce your image
in the market. Some agents add additional "flair" to their sites by
using an action photo or even a picture of a company pet or
mascot. The point is that you can use whatever image best suits
your purpose.
To include a photo on your
XSite...
1. In the Theme Prefs step of
the XSites Wizard, click the
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
Include my photo check box.
2. Now, click the Upload your photo link
3. Browse to the photo on your PC. You can use any standard
graphic format, such as .gif, .png, .bmp, or .jpg. Select the file
and choose Open.
4. Finally, click Upload.
Your photo should now be included on your site. To remove your
photo at any time, simply uncheck the Include my photo check
box. If you desire, you can also remove the photo from the wizard
by clicking the Remove your photo link.
Hint: When you upload a photo, your XSite scales the image to
fit in the space allotted, based on the theme you've chosen. At
times, this may cause your image to appear blurry or jagged.
Instead, we recommend that you create a copy of your photo
that is as close to the "optimum" image size as possible. You'll
find the best size for your photo - 120 x 160 pixels, for example
- listed at the bottom of the My Photo section of the Theme
Prefs page.
3. Select one of the provided backgrounds, a color, or click Select
an Image and browse out to the background you want to use
on your site.
Changing the Background
4. When finished, click Save and Close to update your Theme
Prefs.
To change the background image or color behind your site...
1. In the Theme Prefs step of the XSites Wizard, click the Change
Your Background link.
2. From the options provided, choose to use one of the Provided
Background images, Solid Colors, or to Upload Your Own
background image.
XSites Wizard
Customizing the Header Image
The header image is the graphic in your XSite header. This default
image can be changed to one of several included with your XSite,
or to a custom image you've created yourself that is more in line
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Agent XSites
with your company style or that reinforces your company's
marketing image.
Note: Creating a header requires more than basic PC skills and
is something you may have fun creating with a photo editor or
Note: Some Themes do not allow you to change this item. If
by paying a graphic artist - just like you paid someone to do
the Header Image section of the page is not displayed, then this
your logo. Also, make sure the size of your image is under 50K
feature is not available for the Theme you have chosen.
so visitors won't have to wait too long for your website to load.
Hint: This is the single, largest image on your XSite. It is most
likely to get noticed by your visitors, and so you should pay
particular attention to what the image portrays. Also, each XSite
Theme has a slightly different image size. Below the Header
Image links is a note providing the best image size for the
theme you've chosen. Make note of this size before you create
your graphic.
Animating the Header
Changes to your site header don't stop with step 2. Under the
Extra Tools menu pane located on the left side of the wizard
screen, we've provided additional features to give your otherwise
"static" company name more pizzazz as your site loads.
To change the header image on
your XSite...
Note: Header animations only work with text company names.
If you're using a logo file to display your company name, you
1. In the Theme Prefs step of
the XSites Wizard, click the
Change your image link.
won't be able to use this feature to animate it.
2. The Upload Your Header Image window opens, and includes
two tabs: The first lets you choose a new header from the
collection provided with your XSite. The other lets you upload
one from your local PC.
3. To use a Provided Header graphic, first single-click on the file
names in the list to see a preview. Once you find the one you
want, click Upload. Notice some of these are from other
themes. So, if you don't like the layout of one theme, you can
still use its graphic.
To animate your header...
1. In the XSite Wizard, click the Header Animation link found in
the Extra Tools menu.
2. The company name text box is displayed in the Header
Animation box. If you haven't already edited your company
name by changing the font color, style or size, you can do it
here using the controls located above the text box.
4. To use a graphic you've created, click the Upload a Header
tab.
5. Browse to the saved image on your PC and click Open, then
Upload.
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
chosen will look, click the Preview Animation button to see it
in action.
8. Once you've decided on the animation, just click Save.
If you want to turn off the Header Animation, just return to this
part of the wizard and select None for the animation type.
3. The Header Animation feature affects the entire company
name, so you don't have to highlight any one part of it.
4. Now, under the Animation Settings section, select the various
options for the type of animation, target, direction, effect, and
timing.
5. As you choose an animation tool, additional options appear
below. For example, if you choose the Fly animation, a box
appears allowing you to select which area of the screen you
want the text to "Fly in" from.
6. For a Target, you can choose either the Entire Word, which
animates your company name as one block, or Each Letter,
which animates each letter separately.
7. Naturally, you'll want to experiment with all the options to find
the effect that's right for you. To see how the options you've
XSites Wizard
Color Options
In the Theme Prefs step of the XSites Wizard, you'll find several
color schemes that match the default background. You can choose
one of these schemes from the drop-down list under Color
Options. If you want a color scheme that is all your own, you can
change the various border, navigation and text colors as well.
•
When setting custom colors, you can see which part you are
actually changing by hovering your mouse pointer over the
description, such as Top Border Background or Background
Graphic. The corresponding area of your preview to the left
will flash as you move across the link.
•
To change the color, click the colored box to the left of the
description and then choose the desired color from the palette.
If you're a graphic guru, or your company requires a particular
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Agent XSites
shade of a certain color, you can also type in the "HEX" number
of the color at the top of the color palette.
Site Sounds
Just as retail stores have background music, you can have some on
your site to help set you apart from the crowd. To add music or
button sounds to your XSite...
Button Font Options
If necessary you can completely change the style, color, and size of
the fonts that appear on the buttons in your XSite. To do so...
1. In the Theme Prefs step of the XSites Wizard, use the
formatting buttons in the Button Font Options section to
specifying your font, color, size, and formatting for your Top
Navigation buttons. As the name implies "top" navigation
buttons are those buttons that appear across the top of your
XSite.
1. In the Site Sounds step of the XSites Wizard, select
background music that you want to play when someone is
viewing one of your site's pages. To sample a song, select it
and then click Play.
2. Now, choose sounds for your buttons. This sound plays anytime
a site visitor's mouse moves over them.
2. Use the formatting buttons in the Button Font Options
section to specify your font, color, size, and formatting for your
Secondary Navigation buttons. "Secondary" navigation
buttons are those buttons that appear down the left or right
side of your XSite.
Hint: If you enable sounds on your XSite, an On/Off "toggle
link" is automatically placed at the top of your pages so site
visitors can turn the music off. The button sounds, however, will
continue to be in effect.
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
Company Information
In the Company Information step of the XSites Wizard, you
should provide as many methods as possible to contact you, and
make sure everything is up to date. The information you enter here
gets merged into other areas of your site.
•
Whenever you change something in this screen, you
immediately have the ability to run a Search and Replace to
update every page of your site with your new information.
•
Use the Site Footer tools to add these contact methods to the
bottom of every page on your XSite.
•
The My Content list has a Contact Us page that automatically
includes this information.
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
This step of the wizard is divided into 5 sections:
My Content
Your XSite allows you to include as much information on your
website as you desire. We've included a number of pre-written
documents to get you started. Also, there are mortgage calculators
and professionally developed videos to keep your visitors
interested. But beyond that, you can create as many Custom
pages or Listing pages as you feel are appropriate to your site.
Just use the tools provided in the My Content step of the XSites
Wizard to fill your site with industry relevant content for your
prospects to read.
•
Provided - over 100 professionally-written pages of content to
educate visitors on the ins and outs of buying and selling
homes.
•
Calculators - 17 different mortgage calculators to help your
clients understand the financial options available to them.
•
Videos - informative and engaging videos provide your site
with a sophisticated edge.
•
Custom - create as many custom pages as you like to provide
localized information, link pages or whatever you need.
•
Listing - the heart and soul of your real estate web site, you
can create listings pages for any group of properties in your
portfolio.
•
Local Content - over 40 professionally-written pages of
content specific to more than 20 major cities across the nation.
Note: See the Content Editor section for more information on
editing the content of any of these pages.
From here you can:
XSites Wizard
•
Include a page on your site by checking the box beside it
•
Edit a page by clicking its title or click the pencil icon to its right
•
Password protect a page by clicking the lock icon beside it and
type in a password for your visitors to enter before viewing it
•
Delete a page by clicking the red delete circle to its right
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Multilingual Content
The provided content pages have been hand-translated into
Spanish and French. You can enable these by marking the box
next to the language.
•
When you have multilingual content, you also have a dropdown in the HTML editor where you can switch between the
English, French and Spanish version of the page. You may
have a totally different "message" for visitors speaking Spanish.
•
Likewise, your visitors have a link in the secondary navigation
area where they can change the language of your site when
your XSite's multi-lingual features are enabled.
Custom pages you've created naturally aren't translated. However,
you can create Spanish and English versions of these pages
yourself if you wish.
Organize Content
The Organize Content step of the XSites Wizard is where you
decide how links to the content on your site are organized. Simply
drag and drop the links into the order in which you want them to
appear on your site. Just click a page and - while holding down the
mouse button - drag it up or down. Then let go and it will go into
place.
XSites Wizard
•
The Primary Navigation items should be your most important
links - the ones you want people to see first.
•
Your Secondary Navigation should have some organization
regarding the content of the links. For example, group the links
pertaining to Home Buyers, Sellers or other topics.
•
Use the button separator item to add space between buttons
and segment items so they aren't all run together
•
You can create groups within your Secondary Navigation by
clicking the arrows to indent particular button names.
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Agent XSites
box in the Site Navigation section. Then, click Customize,
check the box beside each page of your site that you wish to
include in your footer, and then click Save. For best results,
limit the boxes you check to just the MOST important pages of
your site.
Creating Fly-out Menus
It's easy to create fly out menus within your secondary navigation
bar that appear when users move their mouse over a particular
item. This is a great way to enhance your site by providing a lot of
relevant information for your clients without cluttering your site
with too many buttons. To create fly out menus...
1. Click and drag one button item on top of another button item in
the Secondary Navigation area.
2. When the Secondary Navigation button that you want to turn
into a fly out menu turns dark blue, drop the button item and it
automatically creates a fly out menu.
3. To view the items in your fly out menu, simply click the +
symbol and the menu items within it are displayed below that
button item.
5. To include a convenient link to your site administrator login
page at the footer of your site, check the Include a Link in My
Footer Called "Admin Login" box in the Other Prefs section.
6. To include a foreclosure search tool at the bottom of every
page of your site so your prospects can search for foreclosures
on foreclosure.com and contact you with questions, check the
Include the "Foreclosure Listings" Footer box in the Other
Prefs section.
7. When finished, click Save to save your changes or click Next
to save your changes and move to the next step in the Wizard.
Site Footer
Today most websites contain key information inside the footer of
every page on the site. Whether it's your contact information, logos
and affiliations, or links to the main sections of your site, you
should customize your site footer to provide convenient access to
the relevant information on your site. To customize your site
footer...
1. From the XSite Wizard, click Site Footer in the Content menu
on the left.
2. Check the boxes beside each piece of contact information
(taken from the Company Information step) you wish to include
in your footer.
3. If you want to provide links to the important pages of your site
in the footer, check the Include Navigation as Text Links
XSites Wizard
4. To create your own custom footer, check the Include a
Custom Footer box in the Build Your Own Site Footer
section. Then, click Customize, use the Content Editor to
design your custom footer, and click Update to save it.
Domain Management
Your a la mode site comes with your own new domain name or
website address. In the manage domains step of the XSites
Wizard, you can choose your new address so people to use to
access your site. As you mull over this critical decision, keep these
pointers in mind:
•
It needs to be easy to remember. If it's hard to remember, it's
unlikely that a visitor will come back to your site again.
•
It should be easy to spell. When it's easy to spell, you can
advertise it over your voicemail in addition to your business
cards, marketing materials, and any online marketing you do.
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Agent XSites
•
Likewise, avoid punctuation such as dashes and underlines if at
all possible.
•
Pick something that is pertinent to your business, brand, or
location.
•
Keep it short. The longer your domain name is, the harder it is
to spell/remember and the more frustrating it is to type it into
an address bar to get back to your site.
•
Make sure it does not create unintended phrases. Since most
domains are written in lower-case and without punctuation (like
spaces), it's easy to inadvertently create unintended phrases
out of your full domain.
•
When entering a web address, most people use the default
".COM" by habit. While there are other extensions available
(.NET, .ORG, .BIZ for example) be careful picking a domain
name for one of these if your competitor has the .COM version
of that address.
When the registration is complete, your new domain name will
function as the "primary" domain for your website unless you
decide to switch to another website address for use with your a la
mode site. From here, you have several options:
•
Register another new domain name
•
Attach a domain you already own to your site
•
Switch the primary domain to another one you've attached to
your site
purchased from other registrars. To register a new domain name
through your XSite...
Registering Your First Domain
1. When you're ready to register your first domain, visit the
Manage Domains step of the XSites Wizard. To jump straight to
the Manage Domains step of the Wizard, click the XSite
button at the top of the screen and then click Manage
Domains in the Content pane on the left.
2. In the screen that appears, type the domain name(s) you wish
to register and click Check Availability.
3. If the name you picked is not available, your XSite will prompt
you. Just click OK and try another domain.
4. Once you find a domain name that is available, your XSite will
prompt you about registering it. Just click OK to register your
new domain and then click Continue to return to the domain
management screen.
Registering New Domains
At some point, you may decide to purchase additional domains for
your XSite. Since we do not limit the number of domains you can
attach to your XSite, you're welcome to purchase as many domains
as you like and mix those in with domains you've already
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Registering Additional Domains
1. Click Manage Domains in the Content pane on the left.
2. Click Manage and Purchase Domains in the screen that
appears and then click Add More Domains.
3. In order to purchase domains through your XSite, you first
need to purchase domain credits. To do so, click Purchase
Domain Credits, click Checkout, fill out your credit card
information and click Charge Card. Once your domain credit
purchase completes, close the window to return to your XSite's
domain registration tools.
4. Type the domain names you wish to register into the provided
boxes and then click Check Availability beside each to verify
that the domains are available for purchase.
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appears.
3. At the bottom of the screen that appears, click Add Existing
Domain.
4. Type your existing domain name into the box provided and
then click Submit Domain for Hosting.
5. Once the transfer initiation is complete, your XSite will provide
you with the most specific instructions available for your
registrar and the current settings for your domain.
o
To complete the process and attach your domain Follow the provided instructions to change the settings on
your domain to our servers.
o
To send the instructions to your technical contact Type the e-mail address of your technical contact into the
E-mail Address box provided. Then, click Send
Instructions by E-mail.
o
To view instructions for a different registrar - Just
choose the appropriate registrar from the Transfer
Instructions For drop-down.
5. Once your XSite has verified the availability of each domain,
check the Available box beside each.
6. When finished, click Register Selected Domains to register
the domains and attach them to your XSite.
Once the registration is complete, your domain name may take 24
to 48 hours to become publicly available through the Internet as is
typical with all new domain names. Once that period has passed,
your domain will direct customers to your XSite without any
additional effort on your part.
Attaching Other Domain Names
If you already own one or more website addresses that you want
to use with your XSite, you can easily attach them to your XSite
using the domain manager in your site for free. To attach a domain
that you already own to your XSite...
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Agent XSites
to 48 hours for the changes to take effect. To keep you up to date
about the status of your domain, your XSite provides a simple
domain status area. To access it...
appears.
3. At the bottom of the screen that appears, click Add Existing
Domain.
4. Scroll down to the Your XSite Domain Pool section and click
the Click Here link inside the XSite notification.
Once you make the necessary changes to your domain, your XSite
will take care of the rest. Keep in mind that any setting changes
you make to your domain may take between 24 and 48 hours to
complete as those changes have to make their way across the
entire Internet. This "down time" cannot be avoided either through
XSites OR through any other website provider so be sure to
account for a website and e-mail outage for any websites or e-mail
attached to that web address.
5. In the screen that appears, your XSite lists all pending domain
attachments and their current status. From here, you can:
o
View the instructions for your registrar again -Just
click the Status link beside your domain.
o
Cancel the attachment process for a domain - Click the
Cancel link beside that domain.
o
Attach another existing domain to your site - Click Add
Existing Domain and follow the steps above.
Checking Status on Submitted Domains
Once you've submitted a domain for attachment to your XSite and
made the appropriate changes to your domain, it can still take up
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Agent XSites
Switching Primary Domains
If you've attached several domain names to your XSite, you may
decide to switch the "primary" domain to another domain you've
attached. For instance, if you had attached both
"realestateservices.net" and "realestateservices.com," you might
decide that you want to make "realestateservices.com" the primary
domain for your site. By doing this, you also migrate all of your
CertMail e-mail boxes to the new primary domain name that you
pick. To switch the primary domain on your XSite (and the e-mail
addresses associated with it)...
appears
3. In the Your Domain Accounts section, click Upgrade Your
Account.
4. In the screen that appears, check the box beside each website
address to which you need to add e-mail storage space or
additional e-mail addresses. Then, click Continue.
5. Click Checkout, enter your payment information, and then
click Charge Card to complete the upgrade.
appears.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the Change link
beside the Your Primary Domain Is label.
4. Select the domain you wish to use as your primary from the list
provided and then click Continue.
Note: Remember that if you're using CertMail this will change
your e-mail addresses and XSite login address as well.
If you need to attach one of your domain names directly to a
specific page of your site, you can do so through your site's domain
manager. To attach a domain name to a page of your site...
2. Click the Manage and Purchase Domains link.
3. In the window that appears, scroll down to the Your XSite
Domain Pool section and find the domain you wish to attach
to a page of your site. If the domain isn't listed, first attach the
domain to your XSite. Then, click the Select Page link beside
the domain you wish to associate with a page.
Adding E-mail Space & Accounts
By default, your XSite comes with between 1 and 10 user/e-mail
accounts and 100 MB of storage space depending on the package
you purchased. If you need to buy additional user/e-mail accounts
or additional storage space, you can do so through your XSite's
domain manager. To buy e-mail accounts or storage space...
XSites Wizard
Attaching Domains to Pages
4. Mark the Point this Domain to a Page option. Then use the
Active and Inactive options beside the Content and Listings
options to find the page you wish to associate with the domain
in the list on the right.
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Agent XSites
2. Click the Manage and Purchase Domains link.
3. In the window that appears, scroll down to the Your XSite
Domain Pool section and find the domain you wish to attach
to a page of your site. If the domain isn't listed, first attach the
domain to your XSite. Then, click the Select Page link beside
the domain you wish to associate with a page.
4. Mark the Park this Domain option and click Continue.
To unpark the domain at a later time, just attach the domain to a
page of your site.
Site Summary
The Site Summary step of the XSites Wizard, provides a simple
overview of key information about your site. For convenience, it
includes a Launch My XSite button that you can use to view the
current design of your site and some basic information about how
you can view and log into your XSite.
Note: You do not need to click the Launch My XSite button to
5. When you find the appropriate page or listing to associate with
your domain, click to select it in the list on the right and click
Continue.
officially launch your website. The changes you apply to your
site take effect immediately as you make them. This button
simply provides a convenient way to view the sum total of your
design changes through the XSites Wizard.
Parking Domains
If you have multiple domains attached to your site and you need to
park any one of those domains so that your site is inaccessible
through it, you can do so through your site's domain manager. To
park a domain in your XSite...
XSites Wizard
Extra Tools
This collection of tools can help you manage your domain names,
animate your site headers, search and replace text throughout
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Agent XSites
your site and manage the documents, graphics and other files you
have uploaded.
My Intro
Intros are often used on web sites to introduce visitors to your
business, or to highlight a new service offering. Your XSite lets you
create a dazzling intro based on Adobe's Flash software without
having to learn any programming languages. In the Extra Tools
menu of your XSites Wizard (located on the left side of the screen)
click My Intro. You have three options for your site's intro:
•
Disable your site intro - This means visitors to your site will
go straight to your home page.
•
Use basic intro options - We've got several intros already built.
Just take a minute or two to pick one, customize the colors and
enter text. It's fast and easy.
XSites Wizard
•
Use advanced intro options - The Presentation Builder lets
you put together a whole slide show that plays when someone
visits your home page. You get to pick the images, timing,
text, and animation.
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Agent XSites
Basic Intros
To implement a Basic Intro...
3. Select the music you'd like to have accompany your intro from
the list on the right. To hear a sample, click Play.
1. In the My Intro tool, click Use basic intro options.
2. Click a template in the list on the left. To see a preview of the
template, click Preview.
4. Enter the 5 messages you want to "fly" in during your intro.
5. Choose a background color by clicking the color button and
choosing one from the palette.
6. To see how your intro looks, click Preview My Intro.
Presentation Builder
The XSites Presentation Builder is used to create Advanced
Intros for your site, as well as Virtual Tours for your listings. It lets
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Agent XSites
you build a slide show full of your own images, text, timings and
animation - all without prior knowledge of Flash programming or
anything beyond basic computer skills.
Note: If you're creating a Virtual Tour for your listings,
skip to step 4.
1. First, gather together the images you wish to use and have
some idea of the text you want with each image. If possible,
save all of the images in one directory on your computer's hard
drive.
3. Click Add New Intro to open the XSite Presentation
Builder. This is a simple 5-step wizard that leads you through
the creation process. To move through the wizard, just
complete each screen and click Next. At any time, you can
click Back to return to the previous step.
4. The first step is to name the presentation. This is only for your
internal use, so you can call it whatever you like.
5. Next, choose a background color. We give you choices that
match your site, but you can pick anything you want by clicking
the color swatch on the right for Pick a new color.
6. Choose your background music. To hear a sample first, click
Play.
2. Then, in the XSites Wizard, click My Intro in the Extra Tools
menu. Mark the Use advanced intro options option. You'll
see a grid with any previously created intros. (If this is your
first time for your site, the grid will be empty.)
7. Now, add a slide for the first of your images. Click Upload
Image, then, click Browse to find and select the image on
your system and click Upload. Repeat this process to upload all
of the images you'd like to use in your presentation. Once the
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Agent XSites
images are loaded, continue with the following steps for each
image.
8. First, decide how long you want the image displayed by
changing the number of seconds next to Display Time. Be
sure to add time in for any animation for the image and text.
9. Now, enter the Caption to go with the image. After typing the
caption, you can drag it to another location on that slide. Just
click on the caption text in the slide preview and move it.
10. To customize
your caption
further, click
Advanced
Options.
o
o
12. While choosing the transition for the slide, you also choose an
additional effect to be used on the image as it comes into view.
o
To sample the different effects and transitions, just choose
one and click Preview.
o
If you want to use the same transition and effect for all
slides, just mark the box at the top of the Slide Transition
dialog for Use for all slides.
o
Click OK when you've chosen your slide transition.
13. Click Next when you are through adding slides. You can now
choose to preview the presentation, go back to a particular
piece of the presentation or click Save & Close to go back to
the XSites Wizard, or return to your listings Virtual Tours page,
where you can click Save and Close to enable your new Virtual
Tour.
You can
select a
new font
for the
caption
and how
you want
its presentation animated - i.e. fade in, fly in, etc.
When you are through building your presentation for an Advanced
Intro, be sure to select it from the list. Then click Save to make it
live, or just click Next to save the changes and move on to the
next step in the wizard.
You can customize the animation, deciding if it affects
individual words or letters and what happens to each word
or letter.
o
Click Preview once you've selected your options. While
getting familiar with the intro builder, you'll certainly want
to try the all the options to see what you like the most.
o
Click OK to save the options for that particular slide's
caption.
11. In the slide preview at the bottom of the window, you'll see a
button with Fade on it. A fade-in is the default animation for
XSites Wizard
your slide, but you can click the button and choose a different
transition for the slide.
File Library
This is where you can see and manage files, such as digital photos
or online documents that have been saved to your site. You can
also add other files from here - making it easy to add hyperlinks to
them when you are editing pages on your site. To add a file to
your File Library.
1. From the XSite Wizard, click File Library in the Extra Tools
pane.
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Agent XSites
2. Click Add New File. Then, click Browse.
1. Click Search & Replace under the Extra Tools section of the
XSites Wizard.
2. Enter the phrase you want to replace.
3. Now, type what you want it replaced with.
4. Select the pages on which you want your new text. You can
use Select All to mark everything. There's no "undo" on the
Search and Replace so you'll want to be sure about your new
text.
5. Click the Search & Replace button.
Like all XSite functions, your changes are "live" instantly.
3. Locate the file on your PC - this may be a PDF, JPG, MP3 or
anything you wish to have accessible on your XSite - highlight
it, and click Open.
4. Repeat this process for any additional files you wish to upload
and then click Upload Files to add them to your file library.
Once the upload process is complete you can preview any file
you've uploaded by clicking the filename and then clicking
Preview Selected File.
Search & Replace
XSites contain a great feature that can run a search and replace on
multiple pages at one time. This is useful for replacing generic
phrasing in our provided content with something more personal.
XSites Wizard
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Agent XSites
XSites Desktop
As you continue to use your XSite's many tools to manage your
business, logging into your XSite can become a daily process. And
to help simplify that process, XSites Desktop brings access to many
of your XSite's most powerful features to your desktop so you can
manage your e-mail, shuffle through your contacts, or plan your
marketing efforts while XSites Desktop monitors your XSite in the
background.
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Agent XSites
Installing XSites Desktop
Before you can leverage the tools in XSites Desktop, there are a
few things you must complete.
1. Create a User Account - XSites Desktop relies on your XSite
user account for much of its operation so if you don't already
have an XSite user account, have your XSite administrator
create one for you. For exact details on this process, see the
User Management section of this user's guide.
2. Install XSites Desktop - Visit http://www.xsitesdesktop.com/
and click the Download button to download and install XSites
Desktop.
Once you successfully installed XSites Desktop on your computer,
it automatically launches and prompts you to enter your XSite
Username and Password to log into XSites Desktop for the first
time.
2. To maximize XSites Desktop so that you can work with its builtin XSites tools, just double-click the a la mode icon in the lower
right corner of your screen.
1. Type your Username and Password into the boxes provided
and click Login. After you supply your Username and
Password, you never have to log into XSites Desktop again.
When you start Windows it automatically starts itself in your
Windows task tray.
Configuring Your Account
XSites Desktop provides quick access to the details of your XSite
user account so you can update your account information without
even opening your XSite. Instead, you just open your XSites
Desktop account configuration and make the changes there.
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Agent XSites
Switching User Accounts
If you need to log into XSites Desktop under a different user
account than your default, you can easily switch profiles. To do
so...
1. In XSites Desktop, click Menu, Account Configuration.
2. Click Login as Other User, enter your alternate username and
password, and then click OK to switch accounts.
4. Click OK to update your XSite with your new login information
and update XSites Desktop at the same time.
Note: When you update your Username and Password in
XSites Desktop, it updates your XSite with the new login
information at the same time. After applying a login information
Updating Your Username and Password
change in XSites Desktop, remember to use the new
Username and Password any time you log into your XSite
While you can always log into your XSite to update your XSite
username and password, you can also conveniently update it right
from XSites Desktop.
directly in the future.
2. Click Change Password.
3. Enter your Old Password in the field provided and then type in
your new Username and Password.
Changing Your Contact Information
To change your user account's contact information through XSites
Desktop...
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Agent XSites
2. Use the contact fields at the bottom of the screen to update
your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and any
other contact information as necessary.
3. When finished, click OK to update your XSite user account with
the new information.
Switching Between XSites
If you have multiple XSites you can easily switch between them
using the drop-down menu at the bottom of XSites Desktop. To
switch between your XSites...
1. Click the drop-down arrow at the bottom of the screen.
2. Choose the XSite to which you want to switch from the menu
that appears.
XSites Desktop immediately logs you into your alternate XSite.
Configuring RSS Feeds
Using XSite Desktop's built-in RSS reader, you can easily keep in
touch with all of the latest news in the industry. Simply put, RSS is
a live news feed from a website of your choice and an RSS reader
allows you to collect several news feeds into one continuous
stream of news that you can monitor with ease. As each news site
posts updates, your XSites Desktop RSS reader, fetches the new
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Agent XSites
articles and flips through them so you can decide which ones you
want to read. Before you can start watching inbound RSS feeds,
you first need to find the RSS feeds you want to watch. While the
notation for RSS varies from one website to the next, most sites
denote their RSS feeds with an orange icon labeled "RSS" or "XML"
that you can click to view the site's RSS. Once you find an RSS
feed, you can easily add it to XSites Desktop. To do so...
1. In XSites Desktop, click Menu, Configure News.
5. Finally, use the drop-down menus to indicate how often you
want XSites Desktop to check for new articles and how fast you
want it to rotate through the day's articles.
6. When finished, click OK to save your changes.
XSites Desktop immediately starts monitoring each of your RSS
subscriptions for new articles. As those new articles appear, XSites
Desktop downloads them and rotates through them at the bottom
of the XSites Desktop screen.
2. In the screen that appears, click Add.
3. Type or paste the RSS feed's address into the field provided
and then click OK to add it to your subscription list.
4. Repeat this process for as many news feeds as you wish to add.
If necessary, click an existing RSS feed and click Edit to update
the address of the feed or click Remove to remove it from your
subscription list.
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Agent XSites
Outlook Contact Import
Since contacts are a crucial part of managing and marketing your
business, XSites Desktop provides a simple way to keep your XSite
contacts in-sync with your Outlook contacts by automatically
importing your contacts directly from your full Microsoft Outlook
installation. To set up automatic contact imports from Microsoft
Outlook into your XSite contact manager...
1. In XSites Desktop, click Menu, Contacts from Outlook.
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Agent XSites
2. In the screen that appears, mark an option to indicate whether
you want to upload contacts in Outlook that are not already in
your XSite or also update contacts in your XSite with the
information from your Outlook contacts.
opens automatically when you start your computer to assist
with this, but if you have disabled the automatic startup, you
will need to open XSites Desktop regularly to take advantage of
automatically scheduled updates.
3. Mark Public or Private to indicate whether you want your
Outlook contacts to go into your personal XSite address book or
into your site's global address book so that your staff can
access the contacts as well.
4. In order to keep your address book clean, you may want to
limit contacts in your upload to just those that have enough
contact information. Mark All Selected or Any One of the
Selected to indicate whether your Outlook contacts must have
all of the checked contact information or just some of the
checked contact information to qualify for upload. Then, check
E-mail Address, Phone Number, and/or Mailing Address to
indicate which contact information is necessary.
Using XSites Desktop
One of the most useful features of XSites Desktop is its one-click
access tools that allow you to log into your XSite and jump to any
major section of your site at the click of a button. Each of the oneclick access buttons appears across the top of XSites Desktop and
correlates directly to the icons available in your XSites
administration area.
5. If you want to assign your contacts into a specific XSite contact
group when you upload them, choose the appropriate contact
group from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen.
6. If you want XSites Desktop to keep uploading new and updated
contacts to your XSite on a regular basis, check the box to
Automate Contact Updates and then specific the frequency
of the upload by selecting Days, Weeks, or Months from the
drop-down menu at the top and typing the number of
days/weeks/months between uploads.
7. To force an immediate upload of your Outlook contacts, click
Update Now at the top of the window.
8. When finished, click Save to save your settings and/or schedule
the regular uploads of your contacts.
Note: In order for XSites Desktop to regularly upload your new
and updated contacts to your XSite, it must be open around the
scheduled times of the update. By default, XSites Desktop
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Agent XSites
XSite Wizard - Launches the XSite Wizard so
you can alter the design of your site
CertMail - Logs into your e-mail box so you can
manage your messages
Listings - Launches the listings manager in your
XSite
Contacts - Launches your XSite's contact
manager
Tasks - Launches your XSite's task manager
Schedule - Opens your XSite calendar to you can
review or schedule new events
XSellerate - Launches the XSellerate marketing
engine so you can build print and e-mail
campaigns to market your services
Chat & Collaboration
These items include:
My Office - Logs into the back end of your XSite
XSites Desktop
XSites Desktop's Collaborator plugin provides simple tools to help
you share files with other real estate professionals and chat with
people on your website in real time. Using XSite Desktop's
Collaborator plugin you can:
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Agent XSites
•
Chat with team members in your XSite
•
Chat with other XSite owners throughout the nation
•
Proactively chat with people on your website
•
Request contact information from site visitors or direct them to
key information in your site
•
Share files with your colleagues
•
And more...
To access XSite Desktop's Collaborator plugin, just open XSites
Desktop.
XSites Desktop
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Enabling Chat
By default, XSites Desktop Collaborator always allows you to
communicate with other members of your XSite and other XSite
owners, but you may also decide that you want to chat with people
who visit your website in real time. By enabling the online chat
portion of XSites Desktop Collaborator, you will always know when
someone is visiting your website and can contact them directly
through your chat tools or simply provide a way for them to initiate
chat on their own. If you want to interact with your site visitors in
this way, you first need to enable and configure the chat tools on
your XSite. To do so...
1. From the XSites Wizard, click Online Chat in the Extra Tools
pane on the left.
2. Check the Enable Online Chat on My XSite box.
3. From the Style options, select a chat picture to include on your
website as an invitation to your visitors to chat.
4. Using the Chat Available and Chat Not Available text boxes,
enter the messages you want to include on your chat picture to
indicate whether someone is available for chat.
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5. As necessary, apply bolding, italics, underlining, color, or font
changes to your Chat Available and Chat Not Available
labels by using the Customize Text tools.
multiple different visitors on your site. If the list is empty, there
are no active visitors on your site.
•
My XSite Users - Any other user accounts in your XSite are
automatically added to this contact list. The colored balloon
icon beside each contact's name indicates that contact's online
status.
•
My Colleagues - You can add any XSite user into your My
Colleagues list. The colored balloon icon beside each contact's
name indicates that contact's online status.
6. From the Color Options section, select a pre-defined color
arrangement from the drop-down menu provided or use the
color selectors below to create your own custom color variation.
7. As necessary, upload your own personal photo for the chat
prompt. Just check the Use Custom Image box in the Image
section. Then, click Upload Custom Image to browse to and
upload your photo. If necessary, you can remove it later by
clicking Remove Custom Image.
8. Finally, select one of your custom forms from the drop-down
box at the bottom of the screen. When you're not online and
available to chat through your website, XSites will automatically
redirect your site visitors to the form you select to request their
information.
Conversations
To chat with any online contact in your chat list...
9. When finished, click Save to apply your changes and enable
chat on your site.
Using Chat
XSites Desktop Collaborator works much like the other instant
messenger clients available on the Internet, but with the added
benefit that it's specifically targeted to help you interact with
visitors on your website and with other associates in your team or
throughout the industry. As other XSite users, friends in real
estate, or site visitors become available online, XSites Desktop
displays them in your contacts list. Those contacts are broken
across three different sections as follows:
•
My Website Visitors - This displays a list of guests that are
currently on your site along with an indication of their
geographical location. Multiple "guests" in this list mean
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1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, double-click the contact.
5. When you're finished chatting/collaborating with the contact,
just close the window to end the conversation.
Managing Chat Contacts
With XSites Desktop Collaborator you can maintain a "favorites" list
of contacts with whom you want to chat. Any other users in your
own XSite are added to XSites Desktop Collaborator automatically,
but you're free to add any other XSite owner into your chat
favorites list or remove them from the list at any time.
Note: If you have multiple XSites, each XSite account has a
separate set of chat contacts so you can keep your favorites list
for each aspect of your business separate.
Adding Contacts
2. In the message window that appears, type a message you wish
to send to the contact and click Send.
3. The contact receives an instant message with your message
and can reply to it as necessary.
To add another XSite user into your XSites Desktop favorites list...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, click the Add Colleague
button to the upper right of the contacts list.
4. In addition to a continuing conversation, there are several other
things you can do with your chat contacts:
o
Share files with other XSite owners
o
Request contact information from website visitors
o
Redirect a website visitor to another page in your website
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2. In the confirmation screen that appears, click Yes to confirm
that you want to delete the contact.
2. In the screen that appears, enter the XSite user's website
address and click Lookup.
3. A list of all users for that site appear in the box below. Select
the contact you want to add into your contact list and click Add
Colleague.
Handling Contact Invitations
Just as you can invite others into your contact list, other XSites
Desktop Collaborator users can invite you to their favorites list. If
you click Accept, they're able to determine when you're available
for chat and you can add them to your own contact list to do the
same. If you click Decline, they will not be able to see when you
are online or chat with you.
Deleting Contacts
To remove a contact from your XSites Desktop Collaborator
favorites list...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, click Menu, Collaborator,
Delete Colleague from the main menu.
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3. In the screen that appears, drag the files you want to share
directly into the shared files box or click Add File and browse
out to a file on your computer.
Sharing Files
If you regularly have to collaborate with other associates, it's likely
that you have to swap files periodically to make sure the whole
group is in tune. Typically, that means sending files back and forth
through e-mail, but that quickly clutters your Inbox and can mean
that you'll have several copies of the same file in your Inbox at
varying stages in its lifetime. By moving that concept into XSites
Desktop Collaborator, you can avoid those hassles by instantly
sharing files with any online contact.
4. If the contact is online, the files you share are instantly sent to
your contact. If the contact is offline, the file is saved until
he/she next signs in and then the file is sent upon login.
5. Once you've shared files, they remain in-sync. If you edit the
file, your contact receives the updates. If your contact edits the
file, you receive the updates. You always have the latest copy
of the file in your sharing folder.
Sending Files
To share a file with a contact...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, click to select the contact
with whom you wish to share files.
2. Then, click the Share Files button to the upper right of the
contacts list.
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3. A list of shared files appears. Find and manage your file as
necessary. You can edit, delete, or view it in the same ways
you would inside a folder in Windows. When finished, click the
X in the upper right corner of the screen to close the window.
Deleting Files
If you no longer need a file in your folder share, you can delete it
to clear up space in your share. To do so...
with whom you wish to share files.
contacts list.
Receiving Files
When someone shares a file with you, you're immediately notified
by a small notification that briefly appears in the lower right corner
of your screen. From that point, you can open it, edit it, or delete it
as necessary and XSites Desktop will automatically pass your
changes through to your associate. To access files that have been
shared...
who sent you the file.
contacts list.
XSites Desktop
3. Click to select the file you wish to delete.
4. Then, hit the Delete key on your keyboard and click Yes in
confirmation that appears.
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Agent XSites
users will be able to see your status and should be less
likely to attempt to contact you.
Changing Online Status
XSites Desktop Collaborator gives you the flexibility to remain
online but "hide" from other XSites Desktop Collaborator users or
website visitors when you need to keep "heads down." Of course,
XSites Desktop automates status changes wherever appropriate,
but you're free to change status as needed. To change your online
status...
o
Away - Choose this status to indicate that you are online,
but are going to leave your computer. As a convenience,
XSites Desktop automatically selects this status for you
when you're idle on your computer for more than 5
minutes. When you start working with your computer again,
it restores your previous status.
o
Appear Offline - Choose this status to hide from all
website visitors and other XSites Desktop users.
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, click the Status menu to the
upper left of your contacts list.
Adding a Motto to Your Status
XSites Desktop lets you personalize your listing on the XSites
Desktop chat network by adding a motto. If you want a short
motto to appear to the right of your name in another XSite Desktop
user's chat window...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, click the Status menu to the
upper left of your contacts list.
2. From the drop-down that appears, select an appropriate online
status. Status items include:
o
Available - If you want to appear online for other XSites
Desktop users, but do not want to accept online chat
requests from website visitors, select this status.
o
Available to Web Visitors - If you want to appear online
both to XSites Desktop users and to website visitors, select
this status.
o
Busy - If you want to appear online, but are currently
working on other things, mark this option. Chat requests
will still come through to you, but other XSites Desktop
XSites Desktop
2. From the drop-down that appears, select Change my status
message.
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3. In the box provided, type a Personal Status Message and
click Save to apply it to your chat listing.
Note: This motto only appears to other XSites Desktop users.
Web visitors will not see your motto.
Chatting with Visitors
With XSites Desktop Collaborator you can easily talk with any
visitor that drops by your website. Whenever a visitor appears on
your site, a new Guest listing appears in XSites Desktop's My Web
Visitors list and the geographical location of the visitor is
displayed to the right of that listing. Depending on your business
model, you can either proactively contact the visitor to offer your
help or simply sit back and wait for the visitor to contact you.
Note: Depending on your visitors' browser settings, the chat
window may open in a separate tab instead of a new window.
This is a feature of many modern web browsers and beyond the
control of a la mode.
3.
4. Once a chat session has begun, you can message each other as
much as necessary. In addition to basic messaging, though,
you can also:
Contacting Web Visitors
o
Request the visitor's contact information - Since there's no
way to determine visitor identities solely based off of their
choice to visit your site, XSites Desktop Collaborator
provides you with a basic tool to request this information
from the visitor for future follow-up.
o
Redirect the visitor to another page of your site - As you
chat with visitors on your site, questions may arise that are
best answered by another page that is already on your site.
For these situations, you can redirect visitors to the
appropriate page on your site.
If you want to proactively contact a web visitor...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, double-click the Guest
listing in the My Website Visitors section.
2. An offer of live assistance will appear on the visitor's screen and
prompt them to accept or decline the assistance. Wait for
acknowledgement from the visitor. If the visitor accepts, a chat
session begins. If the visitor declines, you receive notice and
the chat session closes.
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Agent XSites
Desktop for you to address. If there are several team members
from your XSite that are all accepting web visitor chat requests,
the message from the visitor is sent in a "round-robin" fashion
to the next available team member.
Note: Depending on your visitors' browser settings, the chat
window may open in a separate tab instead of a new window.
This is a feature of many modern web browsers and beyond the
control of a la mode.
3.
4. Once a chat session has begun, you can message each other as
much as necessary. In addition to basic messaging, though,
you can also:
5. To end the chat session, simply close your chat window. If the
visitor terminates the chat session, you're notified and the
Guest listing disappears from the My Website Visitors
section.
o
Request the visitor's contact information - Since there's no
way to determine visitor identities solely based off of their
choice to visit your site, XSites Desktop Collaborator
provides you with a basic tool to request this information
from the visitor for future follow-up.
o
Redirect the visitor to another page of your site - As you
chat with visitors on your site, questions may arise that are
best answered by another page that is already on your site.
For these situations, you can redirect visitors to the
appropriate page on your site.
Web Visitors Contacting You
If you've enabled the chat tools on your XSite, web visitors can
contact you directly through your website. Here's how web visitors
contact you.
1. A visitor clicks the chat icon on your XSite and types a
message. When ready, the visitor hits Enter on the keyboard
to submit the message to you.
5. If the visitor terminates the chat session, you're notified and
the Guest listing disappears from the My Website Visitors
section. To end the chat session yourself, simply close your
chat window.
2. If you are the only member of your XSite that is currently
available for web visitor chat, the message pops up in XSites
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Agent XSites
or type a short message directing him/her to fill out the form
and click the Save My Contact Info button.
Requesting Contact Info
Currently, there's no automatic way to determine the identity of
someone viewing your website. But given how valuable that
information can be when "courting" a potential customer XSites
Desktop Collaborator provides a simple tool you can use to request
that information. To request contact information from a visitor on
your site...
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, start a chat session with the
web visitor.
2. Once an active chat session has begun, click Ask for Contact
at the top of the chat window.
3. A contact form appears on the visitor's chat window with a
Save My Contact Info button to submit the information. Wait
for the visitor to automatically submit the contact information
XSites Desktop
4. Once the visitor clicks Save My Contact Info, the info is
submitted to you through the chat window. In addition, the
contact information is also stored in your XSite's contact
manager automatically.
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Note: If your site visitor closes your website at any time
during the chat process, chat will still continue, but you will lose
Redirecting Visitors
the ability to redirect them to another page of your site in this
Sometimes the easiest way to explain a topic to a website visitor is
to simply direct the visitor to the pre-written answer on your site.
To redirect a visitor to another page on your XSite...
way. As an alternative, you can still send them the link to the
page of your site by typing it into the chat window.
1. From XSites Desktop Collaborator, start a chat session with the
web visitor.
2. Once an active chat session has begun, click Remote Control
at the top of the chat window.
3. From the pop-up that appears, select a Content Page from the
provided menu. Only content pages you selected in the My
Content step of the Wizard are available for redirect.
4. Finally, click Redirect to send the guest to the selected page of
your site.
Collaborator Options
XSites Desktop Collaborator regularly notifies you when various
things occur. Whether a new website visitor logs onto your site or
someone sends you a chat message, you have the freedom to
enable and personalize each notification you receive. To customize
your collaborator notifications...
1. In XSites Desktop Collaborator, click Menu, Collaborator,
Options.
2. In the screen that appears, review the list of notifications that
you will receive. As desired, check the box beside a notification
to enable it or uncheck it to disable it.
XSites Desktop
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Agent XSites
XSite Performance
Website marketing is a vital part of a comprehensive marketing
plan for today's real estate professionals, but it's often a daunting
task to keep up with the latest trends in search engine marketing
and "website social networking." For that very reason, XSites
Desktop includes XSites Energizer which evaluates your XSite and
reports areas that need to improvement to increase your overall
XSite traffic or the effectiveness of your site once visitors arrive.
For example, if you haven't customized your home page or added
new content to your site recently then both your search engine
ranking and your home page's impact on site visitors are both
hampered. Whenever your XSite needs improvement in a key area,
Energizer notifies you and offers assistance so you can alleviate the
problem. To use XSites Energizer...
1. Open XSites Desktop and click the Performance tab.
3. If desired you can replace the default sound that occurs for
each type of notification with your own personalized sound. Just
click Browse next to any notification, browse out to and select
the desired sound file, and click Open to replace the default
notification sound for an event to a custom sound on your
computer.
Note: Custom notifications sounds must be in .WAV format.
4.
2. Then from the list of things you can do to improve your site's
performance, address each of the listed performance
suggestions. At a minimum, address the critical items. Items
are categorized as follows:
5. When finished, click Save to apply your changes.
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Agent XSites
o
Critical Items
o
Warnings
o
Recommendations
Note: The XSites Desktop Performance score gauges the
effectiveness of your site based on the whether you've enabled
certain tools in your XSite AND based on how frequently you
update or use portions of it. When you address each item, keep
3. Click each item you wish to address and click the respective
links that appear to learn how to improve your XSite or to
actually perform the improvement.
an eye towards the quality of what you do. For example,
posting a new article to your blog will improve your
performance score, but if the article doesn't reflect anything
pertinent to the real estate industry, it's unlikely that it will
have a real world impact on your site's performance.
Performance Reminders
4. As you make your changes, take note of the red score at the
top of the screen. The red score indicates your current XSite
performance score. Similar to a FICO score, the maximum
score your XSite can achieve is 850, so a score of 125 isn't a
very strong score. After you make a change on your site, click
your score to recalculate it.
5. Finally, for additional ideas of things you can do to improve the
overall performance of your XSite, click the Top XSN Score
link in the upper right corner. When you do, XSites Desktop will
open the XSite that currently holds the high ranking score. By
reviewing the top ranking XSite, you may glean some new
ideas for ways to improve your site above and beyond our
recommendations.
XSites Desktop
Since staying active on your XSite is a vital part of maintaining
strong performance with your site, XSites Desktop periodically
reminds you when it's time to address any of the critical factors
that impact your site. To address and/or reschedule a reminder...
1. Open XSites Desktop and click the Performance tab.
2. When a reminder appears...
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Agent XSites
o
Click the Show me how link to watch a short video on how
to address the item.
o
Click Yes to immediately address the problem.
o
Click No to dismiss the reminder. If you want to disable the
reminder entirely, be sure to check the Don't show me
this again box first.
o
To simply reschedule the reminder, select a time for the
next reminder from the Snooze menu and then click
Snooze.
XSites Desktop
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Agent XSites
Snapshots
Your XSite includes a convenient backup and restore tool, called
SnapShot, that you can use to archive copies of your site's content
and design as you make changes. Whether you simply want to
create site backups as a precaution before you make significant
changes to your site or as a way to test different site designs and
content, SnapShot is the perfect fit. Some of the common uses of
SnapShot include:
•
Backup
•
Testing various search engine marketing efforts through
different Snapshots
•
Creating copies of your site for each holiday in the year or time
of season
•
Preparing for an entire website makeover by saving a copy of
your current site before you begin experimenting
•
Publishing a short term message for a promotion and then
reverting back to your standard content
To access your XSite's SnapShot tools hover over the XSite button
at the top of the screen and click Snapshot in the drop-down
menu that appears.
Creating XSite Snapshots
Depending on the type of restore point you want to create,
Snapshot offers two choices: Quick and Advanced.
Quick Snapshots
Quick Snapshots capture the entire framework for your site so that
you don't need to worry about all the details of what to include in
the Snapshot. Using "basic mode" you can create Snapshots
containing every aspect of your current site theme OR save copies
of all of the pages on your site. To create a new XSites Snapshot
restore point...
1. From the XSites SnapShot tool, mark the Quick Mode option.
2. Type a name for your restore point into the Name This
Snapshot box.
3. Check each of the items you want to include in the backup or
click the top check box to select all items in each category.
Snapshots
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Agent XSites
With Quick Mode, there are only two options: backing up
everything about the visual appearance of your site and
backing up all your site's content.
•
Theme Color Settings - The color you've selected to use on
your XSite
•
Header Animation - Any animation effect you've added to your
company name in the header of your XSite
•
Company Name - The company name you've entered into the
header of your XSite
•
Secondary Header Text - Your chosen text, font family, font
size and font style in the "Secondary Header Text" section of
the "Theme Prefs" step of your XSite Wizard.
4. Lastly, click Save Snapshot.
At any later time, you can return to the Snapshot area of your
XSite to restore your XSite to any Snapshot you've created, review
the list of Snapshots you have, create additional restore point
Snapshots, or delete a Snapshot.
Advanced Snapshots
Advanced Snapshots give you the freedom to choose what you
want to back up and what you want to restore. For instance, you
might want to back up your theme choice, colors, and header, but
leave out the intro and site sounds. As the name implies, though,
you should take care when using the Advanced Mode for creating
XSite Snapshots. Since many of the items you can back up depend
on one another to completely compose the design of your site, you
may experience adverse effects if you back up or restore only a
portion of your theme or content. For best results, use Advanced
Mode to back up every aspect of your site. Then, when you restore,
you can select the few items you need to recover instead of
restoring everything about your site. For a full list of items you can
include in your backup along with their relationships to each other,
refer to the list below.
Visual Appearance
My Theme
•
•
Theme Selection - Your active XSite theme from the My Theme
step of the Wizard
Other Visual Items
•
Logo - Your active logo as defined in the Theme Preferences
step of the Wizard
•
Theme-integrated Personal Photo - The photo you've selected
to use in the side navigation of your XSite
•
Animated Intro - Your currently selected site intro movie
•
Sound Settings - The music and button sound settings you've
selected in the Wizard
Content Options
Navigation/Selections/Order
•
Primary Navigation Selections / Order - The ordering of the
pages you've listed in the header navigation area of your site
•
Secondary Navigation Selections / Order - The ordering of the
pages you've listed in the secondary navigation area of your
site.
Other Settings
Theme Background Image - The header image you've selected
in the Theme Preferences step of the Wizard
Snapshots
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Agent XSites
•
Footer Settings - The custom content, contact info settings,
page links, and other options you've selected to include in the
footer of your XSite
To create a new Advanced XSites Snapshot restore point...
1. From the XSites SnapShot tool, mark the Advanced Mode
option.
2. Type a name for your restore point into the Name This
Snapshot box.
3. Mark each of the items you wish to include in your backup.
With Advanced Mode, you can check each individual item you
want to back up. Check each of the items you want to include
in the backup or click the top check box to select all items in
each category.
4. Lastly, click Save Snapshot to save your XSite Snapshot.
At any later time, you can return to the Snapshot area of your
XSite to restore your XSite to any Snapshot you've created, review
the list of Snapshots you have, create additional restore point
Snapshots, or delete a Snapshot.
Snapshots
Restoring XSite Snapshots
Using XSites Snapshot, you can easily create restore points so that
you can restore your XSite to a previous state at any point in time.
To restore a previously saved Snapshot of your XSite...
1. From the XSites SnapShot tool, find the Snapshot you want to
restore in the list of previously saved Snapshots. To review the
contents of any saved Snapshot, just click the Settings link.
2. When you find the Snapshot you want to restore, click the
Restore link beside it.
3. In the prompt that appears, click Continue Restore and then
select all of the content items you wish to restore using the
provided list of check boxes.
4. You're prompted to select the items you wish to restore.
Depending on whether this is an Advanced or Quick Snapshot,
different options will appear. Quick Mode limits you to restoring
the entire visual appearance of your site, all of the content of
your site, or both. Advanced mode offers you the full list of
items you included in your Snapshot. For best results, when
restoring an Advanced Snapshot, be sure to restore all items
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Agent XSites
related to those that you check. Here's a list of all of the items
you can restore grouped by their relationships to each other.
Navigation/Selections/Order
o
Primary Navigation Selections / Order - The ordering of the
pages you've listed in the header navigation area of your
site
o
Secondary Navigation Selections / Order - The ordering of
the pages you've listed in the secondary navigation area of
your site.
Visual Appearance
My Theme
o
Theme Selection - Your active XSite theme from the My
Theme step of the Wizard
o
Theme Background Image - The header image you've
selected in the Theme Preferences step of the Wizard
o
Theme Color Settings - The color you've selected to use on
your XSite
o
Header Animation - Any animation effect you've added to
your company name in the header of your XSite
o
Company Name - The company name you've entered into
the header of your XSite
o
Secondary Header Text - Your chosen text, font family, font
size and font style in the "Secondary Header Text" section
of the "Theme Prefs" step of your XSite Wizard.
Other Settings
o
Footer Settings - The custom content, contact info settings,
page links, and other options you've selected to include in
the footer of your XSite
5. Finally, click Restore this Snapshot to begin the restoration
process. Once the restoration process is complete, click Close.
Other Visual Items
o
Logo - Your active logo as defined in the Theme Preferences
step of the Wizard
o
Theme-integrated Personal Photo - The photo you've
selected to use in the side navigation of your XSite
o
Animated Intro - Your currently selected site intro movie
o
Sound Settings - The music and button sound settings
you've selected in the Wizard
Content Options
Snapshots
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Agent XSites
Naming the Page
Creating Web Pages
In addition to the wealth of provided content pages that come with
your XSite, you can also create your own custom pages and even
edit the provided content so that it's tailored to your business. To
create or edit a page of your XSite...
1. You can either create a new page on your site or edit one of the
existing pages.
o
To create a new page - Click the Custom tab and then
click the Add New Page button near the bottom.
o
To edit an existing page - Click the page's title to open it
for editing.
2. In the editor, enter or update the information in each of the
four sections. Sections include:
o
Page Information - Name your page and give it a web
address.
o
Page Content - Edit the wording and content of your page.
You can either create the page from scratch or copy and
paste it from an existing source.
o
Other Page Options - Add Dynamic content, a Lead
Generation form, Listings, a Client Data Capture form, or an
RSS/ATOM news feed to the page to engage your visitors.
o
Search Engine Tools - Optimize your page for search
engines.
Each page of your website must have its own unique name and
web address. These two items help your visitors get to the page
either by clicking a labeled button (Button Name) or by directly
accessing the page via a link (Web Address). For best results, keep
both the Button Name and Web Address short, simple, and as
similar as possible. Remember, though, that web addresses cannot
contain punctuation or spaces. To name (or rename) a page of
your site...
1. Open the page you wish to edit in the page editor.
2. In the top section, type a Button Name and Web Address
into the provided fields.
o
Button Name - Enter the text you'd like to have appear on
the button in your site's navigation menus.
o
Web Address - Type the rest of the web address (or DOT
COM) that you want to use for the page. The link you create
can be used to directly access this page on your site in case
you'd like to use the link in your other marketing efforts.
3. If desired, write any custom content you want in your page.
3. Click Save when your page is complete.
4. In the list of pages in My Content, check the box next to your
page to turn it on and then click Save.
4. If desired, add any dynamic content tools, contact forms,
listings, or RSS/ATOM feeds to your page.
5. Tweak your search engine settings for the page.
6. When finished, click Save and Close to save the page.
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Then, be sure to check the page and click Save in the My Content
step to active the page on your website.
4. Then, use the tools in the Content Editor to create your custom
page content. Here are some keys to successful page content.
o
Avoid talking about yourself or your company Instead of using words like "me," "my," "I," "we," "our," and
"us," talk to your customers. Use the words "you" and
"your" frequently. The one page of your site where you can
AND should talk about yourself and your company is in your
staff directory or an About Us page.
o
Talk about your target customers' problems and your
solutions - Try to relate what you say back to its
significance to your target customer. This forces you to
think of and provide good reasons for someone to contact
you once they get to your site. By doing this, you also prove
that you understand your customers' needs and concerns.
o
Reword any provided content - While the stock content
provided with XSites is good, it lacks certain specifics about
your business that only you can add. Whenever you use a
page of our stock content on your site, first comb through it
and reword it to include specifics about your business and
your language style. Not only will this dramatically improve
your search engine exposure, but it also tends to improve
your lead generation efforts.
o
For "entry" pages on your site, be sure to work in
some keywords - If the page you're editing is one you
intend to use as a marketing tool (to be found in search
engines), read through the page and look for places where
you can substitute words or sentences with keywords or
phrases that someone might use to find you online. This
improves your search engine rank and as long as you use
these keywords and phrases naturally in the page (avoiding
long lists of words), you can expect a better return for your
time invested.
o
Focus your page - Each page should have a clear purpose
whether it is to lead your visitors deeper into your site,
Other Languages
Just as you can edit the content of each page in your site in any of
the languages your site supports, you can also define custom web
addresses and button names for your page in each of those
languages. Once you've defined your Button Name and Web
Address in English (and saved the page), you can change those
items in other languages by editing the page, selecting the
language you wish to edit from the options below the Button
Name field, creating the Button Name and Web Address in that
language, and saving the page.
Adding Custom Content
Custom content is a vital part of a successful real estate website.
In addition to its benefit to your search engine marketing efforts,
custom content tends to have a more significant impact on your
site visitors as well since it is more pertinent to your business and,
ideally, also more pertinent to their real estate problems. To add
custom content to your site...
1. Open the page you wish to edit in the page editor.
2. Be sure to name the page if you have not already done so.
3. Scroll down to the Page Content section of the editor and
select the appropriate language from the drop-down menu to
the upper left.
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educate them, or prompt them to contact you. If you can't
identify the purpose of the page on your site, it's probably
best that you don't offer it. In the pages that you do offer,
remember to keep each page "laser-focused." Diverging into
too many different topics in one page makes it more difficult
for your visitors to identify the purpose of the page or what
you want them to do.
o
Include a call to action - Once you know the purpose of a
page on your site, you can include a "call-to-action." In
other words, once you know what purpose the page fills,
you know what you can ask your visitor to do. For instance,
in a page written to first time home buyers, you might offer
a way for them to sign up for tips or a report on buying
your first home. Just be sure that the call-to-action is very
specific. Rather than something like "contact me," for
example, you might say "click here to e-mail me."
1. Open the page on which you would like to add Dynamic
Content.
2. Scroll down to the Other Content Options section and check
the Include Dynamic Content box.
3. Click the Customize button that appears to the right of the
Include Dynamic Content box.
4. A new window appears and shows you a list of the available
dynamic tools. To include any dynamic tool, just check the box
beside each tool that you want. You can also click the tab for
each item to adjust each tool's settings. For a brief overview of
all of the available tools, see the Dynamic Content Options
section below.
5. Once you've selected all the tools you need, scroll down and
click Customize Positioning to reorder their order of
appearance in the page from top to bottom. In the window that
appears, click and drag any element to place it in the list. Then,
click Save.
Embedding Dynamic Content
Once of the best ways to encourage your visitors to contact you is
to offer them relevant information and engaging content. To help
you with this, XSites include a set of built-in "Dynamic Content"
items you can add to the right side of any page in your site. And if
desired, you can even create your own custom "Dynamic Content"
in that same right hand sidebar. To add Dynamic Content to any
page in your site...
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6. Click Save Changes to add these Dynamic Content options to
your page.
1. For this tool to work, select the user account to which you
want to route any contact information from the drop-down
list.
2. Check the box to create an automatic response. This is sent
to the visitor's e-mail account immediately.
Dynamic Content Options
•
•
Foreclosure Listings - Our partnership with foreclosure.com
allows you to offer your visitors access to preforeclosure,
foreclosure, bankruptcy, For Sale By Owner (FSBO) and tax lien
listings right on your site. All you have to do to provide search
tools on your site that integrate directly with foreclosure.com is
enable them on your site and you can start generating leads
from those prospects interested in foreclosures. Check this box
to enable the forecloseure.com integration on this page and
check Include Clickable Map if you'd like to add a map of the
US that your visitors can click to search for foreclosures in
addition to the standard search options.
News Feed - Add the latest real estate news headlines to your
XSite. Choose one of the pre-provided news feeds or use your
own custom feed. RSS, or news, feeds are live streams of news
from an online news site or magazine. Most online news and
magazine sites provide them free of charge. If you prefer to
use a custom RSS (news) feed, choose the Enter Custom RSS
Feed URL option, type a Feed Description and Feed URL,
and be sure to leave a Copyright Notice at the bottom to
clarify that the content is from another provider.
•
Mortgage Calculator - Allow visitors to calculate a monthly
payment amount, based on loan amount, interest rate and term
of the loan.
•
Mobile Notification - Visitors can send a text message
straight to your cellular phone or mobile device by simply filling
out the form supplied by this tool. Of course, you must have
Text Messaging with your cellular service provider or e-mail on
your mobile device to utilize this tool.
Creating Web Pages
3. Click one of the icons to select the visual look you'd like to
use.
•
Lead Capture Forms - Use this tool to place a button leading
to any of your Lead Generation Forms in the Dynamic Content.
When visitors click this button, the form opens in a new
window.
1. Check the box for the forms you'd like to use. After you
select a box, an image of the button appears. Click this to
preview your form.
2. For each selected item, activate and edit the Auto Response
item, if desired.
•
Dynamic Listings - This option lets you showcase any of your
listings in a graphic, thumbnail view.
1. Click the Filter Listings button to bring up the Listings Page
Editor, which allows you to filter your listing to control which
are displayed in the Dynamic Content.
2. Click the Mini-Browser Style check box to use the
alternate listing display.
3. Use the drop-down menu at the bottom to select the
maximum number of photos per listing to display in the
window. Any listing that has fewer photos than this will still
display as many as they have.
•
National Rates - Displays the current 30-year fixed, 15-year
fixed and 1-year adjustable interest rates from Freddie Mac,
updated daily.
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•
Custom Content - This option can be used to create any
additional Dynamic Content items you wish. You can use this to
add simple text messages. Or, if you have a greater knowledge
of web development languages, you can create your own
custom buttons, graphics and other tools.
1. The content window is a mini-version of our complete
Content Editor. Click the Show Editing Toolbar button to pop
up the useful toolbars.
2. At the bottom of the window, click the
the native HTML mode.
o
by embedding contact forms into the pages of your site. To add a
contact form to your site...
1. In the My Content step of the XSite Wizard, find and click the
page you wish to edit.
2. When the Content Editor appears, scroll down the page to the
Other Content Options section below the main editor.
3. Check the Lead Capture box.
icon to switch to
Important Links - This option allows you to include links to
specific pages on your XSite, or to other sites, in the Dynamic
Content.
1. Click the Related Links text and replace it with a different
header, if desired.
2. To the right of the New Link, use the Click Here link to
create a new item. Give it a Link Name and then select
whether you'd like it to point to a page on your XSite (A site
page), or an external web site (a custom URL). For internal
links, just select the page from the drop down list. For
external links, type the complete URL for that site (i.e.
www.baytownproperties.biz).
3. External links open in a new window, while internal links
open in the existing window.
4. Use the buttons at the bottom to switch between a Tree
View for your links, and a Simple Bulleted list.
Embedding Contact Forms
Effective websites always provide an easy way for a visitor to make
contact. Whether it's a simple contact form, "Got a Question?"
form, or some kind of enticing offer, you can accomplish this easily
Creating Web Pages
4. Click Customize to the right of the Lead Capture check box.
5. Select any of the forms that you created from the first dropdown list.
6. If you want your form to attach an auto-responder to your
form, check the Automatically respond box and click
Customize below it to customize your response.
7. Type a message and/or signature line into the box provided or
choose a previously written auto-responder template from the
drop-down menu. If you write a new auto-responder that you
want to use amongst several forms on your site, click Save
response as a template to add it to your auto-responder
template list.
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8. Then, indicate whether you want to use a custom signature line
that you've type into the message box or whether you want
your XSite to attach one when the message is sent. If you want
your XSite to attach a signature automatically on your behalf,
indicate which contact information you'd like to include by
checking the boxes beside each type of contact information you
want.
9. Click Save and Activate to save and enable your autoresponder.
10. Once you've returned to the lead capture form options, pick the
Contact Group in which you'd like to place the contact
information from respondents.
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11. When finished, click Save to add your form to the page.
2. Scroll down the page to the Other Page Options section below
the main editor.
Embedding RSS/ATOM Feeds
Simply put, RSS (and ATOM, the competing format) is a means by
which news sites and other content publishers can offer live feeds
to their latest articles and posts. Subscribers can then configure
their website or an "RSS reader" to point to these files using a
simple website address (i.e.
http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/topstories) and any new articles
will show up in their RSS reader as they are published. XSites
include a designated RSS Feeds feature that makes it a snap to
include any RSS Feed on any XSite page.
3. Check the RSS Feeds box.
4. Click Customize to the right of the RSS Feeds box.
5. Type a name for the RSS feeds section of your page into the
box provided. Then, click Add Feed.
6. Type or paste the URL to the RSS feed into the provided box
and then click Save to add the feed into your page.
Hint: All you need to link your site with an RSS Feed is the URL
for the RSS file. If the specific URL is not listed, look for an XML,
RSS, or ATOM button on the publisher’s website. In many
cases, you can spot this icon on their sites by looking for an
orange icon that's often accompanied with a symbol that
resembles a broadcast. Right-click this image and choose Copy
Shortcut. You can then paste that URL into the RSS Feed box on
your XSite.
Once you've added an RSS feed to a page of your site, your
visitors will see the latest news articles from that feed on that page
automatically as they return to your site over and over again. For
more detailed information about RSS and its value in driving traffic
to your XSite, see Tech Doc 7008.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have added all of the RSS feeds
you want into your page.
8. Click Save to add your feeds into the page and then click Save
Changes in the Content Editor to update the page.
Your RSS feeds are immediately available on your page.
Adding the Feed
To embed an RSS/ATOM feed in a page of your website...
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Removing a Feed
To remove an existing RSS/ATOM feed from a page of your site...
1. In the My Content step of the XSites Wizard, click the page
containing the RSS feed you wish to remove.
2. Scroll down to the Other Page Options section of the Content
Editor and click the Customize button beside the RSS Feeds
check box.
3. Click the Delete link beside each feed you want to remove
from your page.
4. When finished, click Save in the RSS Feeds editor and then
click Save Changes in the Content Editor to update your page.
3. Then, click Customize to the right of Listings.
4. Select from the options presented to filter out just those
properties you want displayed on this page.
Embedding Listings
5. Click Save to lock in your options.
If you want to embed a set of listings into a page (homes priced
over $400,000 into a high-end homes page on your site, for
instance), you can do so in any page of your site. To add listings to
a page from the My Content page in the XSite Wizard...
2. Scroll down to the Other Page Options section and check the
Listings box.
Repeat these steps for any other pages on which you'd like
property listings to appear.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of altering your
web pages to comply with the factors that major search engines
consider when they rank your website. While your XSite comes
complete with an entire set of Search Engine Tools to help you
influence your SEO rank positively, some of the most useful tools
are those provided inside each individual page of your site. To
optimize a page of your site for search engines...
1. With the page you wish to edit open in the page editor.
2. Be sure to name the page if you have not already done so.
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than in the earlier years of the Internet and you should
not spend too much time or effort altering them. Just put
a few search phrases that you expect someone might use
to find the page you're editing (NOT your whole business
or website. JUST this page of your site). Try not to
exceed 3 or 4 lines of keywords in the editor as most
search engines will actually penalize you for putting too
many keywords into your site (Keyword Stuffing).
3. Rewrite the body of the page so that it relates to your business.
As you rewrite the page, keep these items in mind.
o
If at all possible, include phrases you expect your customers
to use as "keywords" when they search for your services.
o
Avoid using our stock content without significant changes
that tie it more closely to your business.
o
Avoid writing as if you're trying to influence search engine
rankings. In particular, long lists of words that are beyond
what you might call "practical" for a human to read in your
page are a form of keyword stuffing and can have
drastically negative effects on your search engine rank.

5. In the Search Engine Tools section at the bottom of the page,
update each of the following items:

Page Title - The page title appears at the very top of
your visitors' web browser (not as part of your website) to
explain the content of the page. Since it is also what
virtually all search engine use as the title for your search
listing, make sure it's short, to-the-point, and relevant to
the content of the page on your site (NOT to your whole
business or website. JUST to the single page you're
editing). Since most real estate services are also local,
including one or two of the most well known cities or
counties you service is also a good idea.
6. Check the boxes to the right side of the Search Engine Tools
section to tell search engines about the existence of the page.
Options include:
o
Submit your page to search engines - Actively submit
the page to search engines. DO NOT do this more than
once. Most modern search engines penalize you for
repeatedly "submitting" your site pages in this manner.
o
Add this to your Google/Yahoo Site Map - Google and
Yahoo both use "sitemaps" the modern form of "submitting"
a page to search engines. Think of this as a "don't call us,
we'll call you" approach to submitting your site to search
engines. It IS something you should do for all important
Page Keywords - Your page keywords influence the
phrases that someone can search for inside of a search
engine to find you. Today, they hold FAR less significance
Creating Web Pages
Page Description - The page description is another
significant contributing factor to your page rank. For many
search engines, it's also what your visitors will see listed
below your page title in a list of search results. The most
important thing to make clear in your page description is
what you do and where you do it as it pertains to JUST
this page of your site (NOT your whole business or
website).
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pages of your site once you've activated your Google
Sitemap and Yahoo Sitemap.
o
o
Add this page to XSites Site Map - The XSites sitemap is
a generic form of a Google/Yahoo sitemap that all search
engines can read. It IS something you should check for all
important pages of your site.
Create a link to this page in your XSite Footer - Add a
convenient link to this page to the footer of your website.
While this IS something you should do for the MOST
important pages of your site, it is NOT something you
should do for more than around 10 pages. It does have an
impact on your search engine ranking, but too many pages
(more than 10) in the footer can also make it more
complicated for a human to use your site.
button in your site's navigation menus that just links to another
website. To create a button that links to another website in your
site's navigation...
1. From the My Content step of the XSites Wizard, click the
Custom tab.
2. Click the Link to External Page button to the bottom right of
the tabs.
3. Name the page/button.
4. Type the URL (web address) for the website with which you
want to link.
Hint: You can copy the URL from the Address bar of your web
browser with the page open by highlighting the entire entry
after the http:// portion of the URL, and then selecting Edit on
the menu bar and choosing Copy. Once you have copied the
URL, right-click in the URL field of the Content Editor window
and select Paste from the menu that appears.
5.
Additional Search Engine Resources
Search Engine Optimization is much more of an art form than a
science. If you want to learn more about how to optimize your
website for search engines, the following resources.
•
Our search engine resources site
•
The Driving Traffic recorded webinar
6. Choose from the available options described below to determine
how this website will open the external website. You have
several options to choose from when linking to external web
pages from your XSite. These include the following:
o
Open in Current Window replaces your entire XSite
"shell" with the contents of the new page.
o
Open in a New Window launches a new browser window
and puts your XSite in the background.
o
Open in a Frame keeps your header and colors, but loads
the content below it.
o
Open in an iFrame keeps your XSite header and
navigation panes and loads the content in a small, scrollable
window.
Linking to Other Websites
While you can always link to another website from the content of
any page in your site, sometimes it's necessary to have an entire
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8. Click Save and Close when finished to save the page. Then, be
sure to check the page and click Save in the My Content step
to active the button on your website.
5. In the main content area of the page editor, type a company
profile that will appear by default when someone accesses your
staff directory.
6. When you're done arranging your staff directory, click Save to
apply your changes and be sure to check the box for your staff
directory page so that it appears on your website.
Creating a Staff Directory
To build a staff directory you can publish on your site...
Password Protecting Pages
1. Create user accounts for each staff member in your site's User
Manager. Remember to check the Show this User Info on My
Staff Profiles Content Page and Display This User's
Address Information with Their Profile boxes as you fill out
the user account.
2. Visit the My Content step of the XSites Wizard and click the
Staff Profiles page in the Provided tab to edit it.
3. In the window that appears, type a name for your staff
directory. By default, it's named "Staff Profiles," but you can
title it however you wish.
4. Scroll down to the list of the users you chose to include in your
staff directory and use the up
and down
arrows to control
the order of the staff profiles in your directory. To hide any of
the profiles from the directory, just uncheck the box beside it.
If you ever need to provide a page on your XSite to one specific
client or need to keep a page of your site closed off to the general
public, you can easily password protect the page to ensure that
only people you authorize can access that page. To do so...
1. In the My Content step of the XSites Wizard, find the page you
want to password protect.
2. Click the lock key icon to the right of the page.
o
Gray locks indicate that the page is not yet password
protected and is available for password protection.
o
Yellow locks indicate that the page is currently password
protected, but you can still change the password applied to
it.
3. Then, type the desired password into the box provided and click
Submit.
Now, the desired page is locked by a password. Whenever
someone attempts to view the page, they're prompted for the
password. If they do not have the password, they're provided with
a way to request it from you. When you receive their request by email, you can simply reply to them with the password if you want
to give them access.
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Editing & Removing Passwords
If you ever need to change or remove a password from any page of
your site, you can do so just as easily.
1. In the My Content step of the XSites Wizard, find the page you
want to password protect.
2. Click the yellow lockblack key icon to the right of the page.
3. In the box that appears, do one of the following:
o
To change the password, type the new password into the
provided box and click Submit to apply it.
o
To remove the password, click Remove Password.
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Blogging
Blogging, which is essentially an interactive online newsletter, has
quickly become one of the most effective ways to market your
business online. While there are several elements that contribute
to this, some of the most significant are drastic improvements in
search engine marketing, the ability to develop a readership, and
an online way of networking with your readers as you establish
your expertise in a subject. While your XSite comes equipped with
everything you need to run an online blog, there are a few things
you must adhere to in order to make your blog successful.
1. Post frequently. The most important aspect of a blog's
success is regularity. It's far more important that you post
often than that you post well-written, long, or eloquent articles.
While frequency can vary a bit from one market to the next,
typically you should expect to post once or twice a week if you
intend to generate some online influence.
5. Post at all. Many real estate professionals avoid blogging
because they "don't have time" or "don't write well". Many of
the most successful bloggers in the world fall into both of those
categories. It's not about writing long articles or eloquent soapbox speeches. It's only important that you post frequently
about a certain set of topics and keep your point clear. Your
post could be just a few lines with some thoughts that crossed
your mind about the industry, a question, a paragraph, or even
a full page article. Just get started and stick to it.
Adding a Blog to Your Site
To add a blog to your web site...
1. Hover over XSite in the top toolbar and click Blogging in the
toolbar that drops down.
2. Post professionally. Your readers are far more interested in
what you have to say as it relates to their real estate problems
than what's occurred in your life. Stick to real estate problems
and relate what you say back to your primary audience.
3. Focus your posts. Pick a few topics in your industry and stick
to those. Blog studies have shown that blogs that vary too
much from post to post lose the audience's interest. If you are
a specialist, post about things that interest your specialty
clients.
4. Relate the posts back to your services. As a real estate
professional, the reason you're blogging is to attract clients to
your real estate services. As you post, try to relate the posts to
your audience but with ties back to your own business.
Whether that's as occasionally posting about appraisal
discounts, new listings, or mortgage rate reductions.
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Market Your Blog wizard to help you set up a simple blog
marketing campaign.
Blog Configuration
Before you can start blogging, you first need to set up your blog.
To do so...
2. From the Blogging pane on the left, click the Settings option.
3. At a minimum, fill out a Blog Title, Button Name, and Web
Address to communicate the topic of your blog to your
audience and provide a direct link to your blog on your website.
For best results, name the blog something more indicative of
your target topic than "my blog". Something like "Mortgage
Blog" or "Chicago Blog" more clearly describes the content of
the blog than "My Blog".
2. From the Blogging pane on the left, click the Settings option.
3. Check the Activate blog on website box.
4. Scroll down and click Save.
Note: When you post your first blog article, if you own our
XSellerate marketing tool, you'll also be taken through the
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update your blog regularly, click the check box to turn this
feature on. Then, select an interval from the drop-down list.
o
Display sites that link... - Just as you can create links to
other XSite Blogs, those owners can create links to yours.
Whenever that happens, you're notified via e-mail. Click the
check box to add a list of those sites to your Blog page.
o
Moderate Comments - Readers of your Blog have the
ability to post comments to any of your posts. If you'd like
to preview those comments before they're posted live on
your website, then turn on this feature. Once enabled, you'll
have to visit the Moderate section of your Blogging tools to
either approve or delete any comments.
o
Search Engine Tools - These settings are used to help
search engines know how to categorize your Blog page.
Consult the Page Search Engine Tools section of this guide
for more information on these settings.
4. Check the Activate Blog on Website box.
6. When finished, click Save.
5. If desired, adjust any of the remaining preferences. Other
preferences include:
o
Show ## posts... - From the drop down menu, select the
number of posts you'd like to have displayed on your blog
page. Once you've exceeded this number, any older posts
are automatically added to the Archive list, so users can
always find them.
Posting to Your Blog
Hint: The number of posts you include on your page should be
dictated by the length of your posts. If you tend to post long
Adding posts to your blog is as simple as word processing with the
familiar XSite Content Editor. To post to your blog...
items, you may want to limit the number displayed to keep your
page from getting too long.
o
o
Remind me to post... - The success of any Blog can be
measured by the frequency with which it is updated. If
you'd like to have a reminder e-mail sent to ensure that you
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2. Click New Post in the Blogging pane on the left.
3. In the screen that appears, type a Subject for your new post.
This text appears on your blog page separating each entry. The
date and time of your post are added automatically.
Hint: The subject and date items are listed on your blog page
using the same color scheme as your "Left" or "Secondary"
navigation settings, depending upon the Theme you choose. To
change these colors, just edit your Theme Preferences.
4.
5. Click to place your cursor in the main Content Editor section
and write your post.
6. When you're done, click Save as Draft to save your work and
return to post it later OR click Submit Post to place the post
on your live blog immediately.
Editing Your Drafts
If you saved your work as a draft, you can go back and edit it at
any time. To edit a draft on your blog...
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click Submit Post to submit the update to your live blog
OR click Save as Draft to remove this post from your live
blog and place it back in the Drafts section.
2. Click Drafts in the Blogging pane on the left.
3. Then, do one of the following:
o
o
o
To edit your draft - Click the Edit icon to the right of the
draft which you wish to modify. In the Content Editor, write
your post and then click Submit Post to post it to your live
blog OR click Save as Draft to simply update your draft.
To delete your draft - Click the Delete icon
of that draft.
o
To delete the post - Click the Delete icon for any
previous post to delete it completely from your site.
o
To edit the comments on the post - Click the Comments
link to edit the any of the comments your readers may have
left on your site.
to the right
Hint: If the post you need to edit is not displayed, look in the
Archive section at the bottom of the screen for items you may
have posted in the past.
To post your draft - Click Post to the right of the draft
you'd like to submit to your live blog.
Managing Subscriptions
Updating Previous Posts
At times, you may find that you've posted a comment to your blog
that you'd like to change. All of your entries are kept and can be
modified at any time.
2. Click Previous Posts in the Blogging pane on the left.
o
As you continue to post to your blog, over time you may establish
a readership. If you own a copy of our XSellerate marketing tool
which couples with your XSite, you can offer a way for those
readers to subscribe to your blog by e-mail. When someone
subscribes to your blog, you receive their valid contact information
in exchange for an automatic e-mail any time you post to your blog
again.
The process is simple.
1. When customers read your blog, a Subscribe to this blog link
appears beneath each post.
2. When they click this link a form appears, where they can fill out
their contact information. While only their Name and E-mail
address are required, they can provide additional information
as well.
To edit the post - Click the Edit icon to the right of the
post which you wish to modify. Make your changes and then
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2. Click Subscribers in the Blogging pane on the left.
o
3. Once they click Submit their information is placed in your
XSite's Contacts database and they receive a confirmation email message. From that point forward, each time you post to
your blog, XSellerate sends them an e-mail notification, with a
brief summary of the post and a link back to your blog for the
full post.
To add a subscriber - Select the contact in the Available
Recipients list on the left and click the green arrow to
add them to the Selected Recipients list, or just doubleclick that contact.
Hint: In addition to individual contacts, you can also add entire
Groups and contact types to your Blog subscription. Click the
Groups or Type of Contact headers in the Available
Recipients list to display these contacts. For more information
on creating Groups, consult the Contacts section of this guide.
o
o
Managing Subscribers
While the subscription feature in your blog is primarily an opt-in
tool, you are also free to enroll (or remove) contacts you select
from your XSite address book. To do so...
To remove a subscriber - Select the subscriber in the
Selected Recipients list on the right and then click the
blue arrow to remove them from your blog subscription
service.
4. Then, scroll down and click Save.
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6. Click Save to lock in your changes.
Selecting a Blog Subscription Template
While your blog subscription tool uses a default e-mail template
whenever someone subscribes to your blog, you should take a
moment to customize the template to your business. To customize
your blog subscriber e-mail template...
Blog Networking
2. Click Subscribers in the Blogging pane on the left.
One of the benefits of blogging is that you can network with other
bloggers by linking your blogs. By doing this, you can not only
provide your readers with other topics of interests relevant to your
industry, but typically you also increase the exposure and traffic on
both sites. To link your blog to another blog on the XSites
Network...
3. Scroll down to the Select Template section of the screen and
click the desired template style to select it.
2. Click Links in the Blogging pane on the left.
3. Click Create a blog link to add a new site link.
4. Click Customize Template to open the XSellerate Content
Editor. From here, you can add your own touches to the
standard message.
5. Click Preview to see how your Blog notification will appear to
your subscribers.
4. To find another XSite blogger, type any known information in
the search fields and click Search. If you don't have a
particular XSite owner in mind, click the Browse button and
click the map to drill down to any county in the country and
display a list of XSite owners in that area who have active
blogs.
5. Scroll through the list to find the desired blogger. If necessary,
use the numbered icons at the top of the list to see more sites.
When you find a site with which you want to create a link, just
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click the Add Blog link for that site. The site owner receives an
e-mail letting them know you've linked to their blog.
At any later time, if you wish to dissolve the link between your
blogs, simply return to this section of your site and click the
Delete icon to the right of the blog you wish to remove.
Managing Comments
If you've enabled comments in your blog configuration, your
readers will be able to interact with you on your blog by posting
their own personalized comments and at the same time, you gain
their contact information when they do comment. In many cases,
these comments can benefit both your search engine exposure
AND also act as a form of impromptu referral. Ironically, even
negative comments can work to your benefit when they're handled
carefully and professionally. But ultimately, YOU are in control of
what comments are and are not posted to your blog. If you wish to
suppress any potentially sensitive or damaging comments from
appearing publicly on your blog, you can moderate them and
approve them individually. And as comments come in, you can also
reply in the comments to your readers' questions and comments to
stimulate an ongoing conversation through your blog.
3. Click Submit.
Once submitted, this comment is either posted to your blog page
immediately or - if you have Moderate Comments turned on in
your Blog Settings - it is placed in your Moderate list until you
either approve or delete the comment. Either way, an e-mail is
sent, notifying you of this new contact.
As the blog owner, you can respond to those comments yourself
through your XSite administrator. To do so...
3. The number of comments submitted on each post is listed in
the Comments column of the Previous Posts list. Click this
number to view those comments.
4. Scroll down below any existing comments to display the
Submit Comment field.
5. Enter your comment here and click Submit.
Moderating Comments
Commenting on Posts
Once you post an "article" to your blog, your readers can comment
on the post by following this simple process.
1. While reading the posts on your blog page, click the
Comments link below the post.
If you have comment moderation turned on, any comment left on
your blog page is first posted to the Moderate section of your
Blogging tools page. To review and approve or decline those
comments...
2. Complete the contact information and then add any feedback in
the Comment field.
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2. Click Moderate in the Blogging pane on the left.
3. The number of comments submitted on each post is listed in
the Comments column of the Previous Posts list. Click this
number to view those comments.
4. Scroll through the list of Comments to read them.
1. To approve a comment - Click Approve beside it.
2. To delete a comment - Click Delete beside it.
3. To ban the commentor from posting future comments
- Click Ban beside it.
3. Scroll through the list of comments users have left. For each
one, click:
o
Approve - Immediately posts that comment to your Blog
page.
o
Delete - Removes that comment from your site.
o
Ban - Removes that comment from your site, and prohibits
that person from submitting future comments, It also
deletes all previous comments from that person.
Managing Previous Comments
Once a comment has been approved, or if you have Moderate
Comments turned off, you can still delete it - or ban that poster at any time.
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each tool.
The Content Editor
To edit the content pages of your site, your site footer, or many
other tools, the same Content Editor is used. The Content Editor
is basically a word processor, where you can enter, lay out and
format any content you'd like to appear on your website. As with
any word processor, you'll find tools to cut, copy, paste, change
fonts, insert pictures, lay out tables, create hyperlinks, and many
other features.
•
While HTML is designed to be a tool-independent language, the
reality is that many web content tools (including Microsoft
Word) use codes and formatting that can cause undesired
results when pasted into your HTML ads or pages. Fortunately,
your site comes equipped with functions specifically designed to
help you paste in content from other applications with minimal
formatting conflicts. Look for the special buttons in the tool
bars to use these features.
•
The top toolbar at the bottom of the screen allows you to
change the current view of the page to full screen, view or edit
the raw HTML, change the zoom level of the page, spell check
it, review the word count etc.
•
The bottom two toolbars at the bottom of the screen present
you with an overview of the selected HTML element's properties
and a HTML element tree. If you're not altogether familiar with
HTML editing, you may at least find that you do not have to
right-click to change the properties of an image or other item
as often since they appear at the bottom of the screen. If
you're an HTML guru, you may be familiar with both of these
tools as they are excellent ways to quickly edit HTML in
WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) mode.
To open a web page in the Content Editor...
1. When the XSite Wizard loads, click the My Content button in
the Content pane on the left.
2. In the list of pages that appears, find the page you wish to edit.
Remember that there are several tabs that list different types
of pages.
3. Click the name of the page or the pencil icon
page in the Content Editor.
to open that
Content Editor Orientation
Here are some items to keep in mind as you're editing your
content:
•
At any time, you can revert to the pre-written content supplied
with your XSite by clicking the Revert button.
•
To start from a clean slate, click the Blank Page button.
•
Above the text editor are rows of buttons, each with its own
function. These are very similar to the buttons found in most
popular word processors. To learn what a certain button does,
just hover your mouse over it, or click here for a description of
The Content Editor
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editor's tools.
•
•
If you're editing one of your XSite's content pages, and have
enabled the multilingual features of your XSites, the drop-down
menu in the upper left allows you to select which language
you're going to edit.
Likewise, for XSite content pages, you can choose a "template"
for the page by selecting one from the Pre-written content
drop-down menu. Several of our provided pages have a choice
of pre-defined layouts and text to choose from.
HTML mode - This switches the display to show
you the raw, HTML code that makes up your page
content and design. If you're familiar with HTML
programming, this can give you an additional level
of control over the appearance of your page and
how it functions.
Preview mode - If you want to see how your page
will appear on the internet, click this button. In this
mode you cannot edit any of the text or other
elements.
Full Screen mode - While in Design Mode, if you
feel a bit constrained and would like to have a
more space on-screen to edit your page, click this
button (located to the right)
Show/Hide Border - Shows or hides borders
around tables in the content area.
Zoom Level - While in Design Mode, you can
adjust your display to show more of the page at
once, or have it zoom in to show more detail. Click
the drop down menu and select the desired zoom
level.
Module Manager - Activates /Deactivates
modules from a drop-down list of available
modules. Turning off some of the modules will give
you a bit more screen space in which to edit your
content.
Editor Views
The editor toolbar normally located at the bottom of the page
includes five buttons that allow you to change the current view of
the page.
Toggle Docking - Docks all floating toolbars to
their respective docking areas.
Design mode - This is the default view, allowing
you to modify your content and use any of the
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Button Help
All of the toolbars in the editor can be positioned at either the top,
bottom, right or left side of the screen, or it can be "floated" on top
of your text. Just click on the end any toolbar (looks like 4 dots)
and drag it to the desired position.
GENERAL BUTTONS
Spell button - Launches the
spellchecker.
-
Undo button - Undoes the last
action.
Ctrl+Z
Redo button - Redoes/Repeats the
last action, which has been undone.
Ctrl+Y
FORMAT BUTTONS
Bold button - Applies bold
formatting to selected text.
Ctrl+B
Italic button - Applies italic
Ctrl+I
Underline button - Applies underline
Ctrl+U
Print button - Prints the contents of
the editor or the whole web page.
Ctrl+P
Find and Replace - Find (and
replaces) text in the editor's content
area.
Ctrl+F
Cut button - Cuts the selected
content and copies it to the
clipboard.
Ctrl+X
Strikethrough button - Applies
strikethrough formatting to selected
text.
Copy button - Copies the selected
content to the clipboard.
Ctrl+C
Align Left button - Aligns the
selected paragraph to the left.
Paste button - Pastes the copied
content from the clipboard into the
editor.
Ctrl+V
Center button - Aligns the selected
paragraph to the center.
Align Right button - Aligns the
selected paragraph to the right.
Paste from Word button - Pastes
content copied from Word and
removes the web-unfriendly tags.
Justify button - Justifies the selected
paragraph.
Paste Plain Text button - Pastes
plain text (no formatting) into the
editor.
Paste as HTML button - Pastes HTML
code in the content area and keeps
all the HTML tags.
Outdent button - Indents
paragraphs to the left.
Indent button - Indents paragraphs
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to the right.
Format Stripper button - Removes
custom or all formatting from
selected text.
Numbered List button - Creates a
numbered list from the selection.
Bulleted List button - Creates a
bulleted list from the selection.
OTHER BUTTONS
Convert the text of the current
selection to upper case, preserving
the non-text elements such as
images and tables.
Superscript button - Makes a text
superscript.
Subscript button - Makes a text
subscript.
Convert the text of the current
selection to lower case, preserving
the non-text elements such as
images and tables.
Insert New Paragraph button Inserts new paragraph.
Text Color (foreground) button Changes the foreground color of the
selected text.
Insert Table button - Inserts a
table.
Text Color (background) button Changes the background color of
the selected text.
Insert horizontal line button Inserts a horizontal line at the
cursor position.
Font Select button - Sets the font
typeface.
Insert Special Character dropdown Inserts a special character (€ ®, ©,
±, etc.)
Font Size button - Sets the font
size.
Insert Date button - Inserts current
date.
Custom Styles dropdown - Applies
custom, predefined styles to the
selected text.
Insert Time button - Inserts current
time.
Custom Links dropdown - Inserts a
link to any content page from your
XSite.
INSERT CONTENT
Image Manager button - Inserts an
image from a predefined image
folder(s).
Paragraph Style Dropdown button Applies standard text styles to
selected text.
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area.
Flash Manager button - Inserts a
Flash animation and lets you set its
properties.
Windows Media Manager button Inserts a Windows media object
(AVI, MPEG, WAV, etc.) and lets you
set its properties.
Document Manager - Inserts a link
to a document on the server (PDF,
DOC, etc.)
Zoom - Changes the level of text
magnification.
-
Toggle Docking - Docks all floating
toolbars to their respective docking
areas.
-
Repeat Last Command - A short-cut
to repeat the last action performed.
-
OTHER KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Hyperlink Manager button - Makes
the selected text or image a
hyperlink.
Remove Hyperlink button Removes the hyperlink from the
selected text or image.
-
Selects all text, images and tables
in the editor.
Ctrl+A
-
Finds a string of text or numbers in
the page.
Ctrl+F
-
Closes the active window.
Ctrl+W
-
Closes the active application.
Ctrl+F4
Help - Launches Help content.
VIEW BUTTONS
Find & Replace
Design button - Switches the editor
into Design Mode.
-
HTML button - Switches the editor
into HTML Mode.
-
The Content Editor has its own, built-in Find and Replace feature
that lets you change any content within a specific page. This should
not be confused with the site-wide Search and Replace feature
found in the XSites Wizard.
Preview button - Switches the editor
into Preview Mode.
-
•
Toggle Screen Mode - Switches the
editor into Full Screen Mode.
-
Show/Hide Border - Shows or hides
borders around tables in the content
-
In the Content Editor, click the Find and Replace icon in the
toolbar.
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•
To Find certain text on your page, click the Find tab and then
type the desired text in the File text box. Choose your Search
Options and then click OK.
•
To Replace certain text on your page with different text, click
the Replace tab. Type the original text in the Find text box
and then the new text in the Replace with box. Set your
Search Options and then click:
o
Find Next to locate the next instance of the original text.
Once found, click Replace to replace it.
o
Replace to find and replace the first instance of the text.
o
Replace All to search the entire document and replace all
instances of the text with the new item.
o
OK to accept your changes.
o
Hint: The Find and Replace feature is particularly powerful
when used in the HTML view of your content. While the toolbar
is not visible in this mode, you can press Ctrl + F to bring up
the tool.
Formatting Text
In the Content Editor, text can be edited as you would in a word
processor. Just begin typing, and use the formatting buttons found
in the toolbars to enhance your text. For help with any of the
buttons, just hover your mouse over it and a description appears.
Or consult the Button Help page of this guide.
•
Cancel to terminate the process and undo your changes.
To modify text you've already typed, first select it and then
click any of the buttons to apply the format to that text.
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•
•
To insert "special characters (such as © or ¾), click the button
that looks like the copyright symbol. Then, select the desired
symbol from the list.
The font list pull down menu is limited to certain standard
"web" fonts that the vast majority of internet users have
installed by default on their systems. This keeps you from using
a font that would not display properly on a computer that
doesn't have a particular font installed.
There are several types of hyperlinks that you can add to your
page's content, including.
•
Links to other pages in your site
•
Links to other web pages
•
Links to files in your File Library
•
Links to anchors you've placed in a page
•
Links to an e-mail address
Note: This section shows you how to create links within your
content. If, instead, you want to create a button in your XSite's
menus that links to an external web page or other content, see
the Creating Links to Other Websites section of this guide.
•
The editor also comes equipped with a few custom paragraph
and text styles that you can apply to your content. Just select
the desired text and choose a format from the drop-down list.
Note: While this feature uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS),
you are currently limited to the styles included with the editor.
Linking to Other XSite Pages
If you need to add or create a hyperlink in your web page to
another page in your website, you can do so via the Custom Links
drop-down menu in the Content Editor.
1. In the Content Editor, select the text (or image) you want the
user to click.
Creating Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are a great way to give readers a place to find
additional information. Using your site's Hyperlink Manager, you
can add a link into an image or text that's already in your page or
just insert a new link (text and all) into your page.
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2. Click the Custom Links drop-down menu in the main toolbar.
Linking to Other Web Pages
Linking to other pages outside of your website is simple with your
site's Hyperlink Manager.
Note: This process creates a link within your content. If,
instead, you want to create a button in your XSite's menus that
links to an external web page, see the Creating Links to Other
Websites section of this guide.
3. Click My Selected Content to expand the list of active pages
on your site
1. In the Content Editor, place your cursor where you'd like to
insert the link. Alternately, if you want to turn some existing
text or an image into a hyperlink, select the text (or image) you
want the user to click.
2. Click the Hyperlink Manager icon (the one that looks like a
globe with two enclosed chain links.
-ORClick Non Selected Content to expand the list of content
pages available on your site, but that are currently inactive.
4. Browse the list of available pages to find the page to which you
want to link. When you find that page, click it to insert the
hyperlink into your page, text, or image.
3. In the screen that appears, type or paste the URL (web
address) of the page to which you wish to link into the URL
field.
Note: If you do not select text or an image in your page, the
XSite Custom Links menu simply inserts the name of the page
you want to link to as the hyperlink text in your page.
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o
IFrame - Opens the web page in a frame - keeping just
your site header and side navigation intact.
Hint: If you're linking to another website, it's usually best to
avoid opening the link in the Same Window. By doing so, your
website disappears and is replaced with the site to which you've
linked. This frequently means that you lost your customer to
that site.
7. Finally, type a brief description of the link into the Tooltip field.
This description then pops up whenever someone hovers the
cursor over the link and provides search engines with one other
piece of information they can use to rank your site.
8. Click OK to add your link to the page.
4. If you did not select text or an image in your page to turn into
a link in the previous steps, type some text to use as the
clickable link into the Link Text box. If you type nothing into
the Link Text box, the Hyperlink Manager simply inserts the
URL (web address) into your page as a link.
5. Choose a type of link to insert. In most cases, the default
option of http:// will suffice. All other options available are
more advanced and require some knowledge of website
technology.
6. Choose a Target from the drop-down menu provided. Options
are:
o
New Window - Opens the web page in a new window
o
Same Window - Opens the web page in the main window
o
Frame - Opens the web page in a frame - keeping just your
site header intact.
Linking to Documents
Your File Library can contain any kind of document you desire,
including images, word processor documents, spreadsheets, PDF
documents and more. You can then provide links to these
documents in any of your site's content pages so your clients can
easily download them. To add a link to a document in your file
library, you must first upload it from either the File Library
function, or from the Content Editor's File Manager. To insert a link
to a document...
insert the link to the document. Alternately, if you want to turn
some existing text or an image into a link to a document, select
the text (or image) you want the user to click.
2. Click the Document Manager icon (the one that looks like a
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3. In the screen that appears, select the desired document from
your File Library, or click on the Upload Document tab to upload
a new one.
o
site header intact.
o
IFrame - Opens the web page in a frame - keeping just
6. When finished, click Insert to place the link to your document
into your web page.
Linking to Page Anchors
Page anchors are electronic bookmarks within a page. If you have
a web page divided into sections, you can provide a menu at the
top of the page containing links to each section. Now, your site
visitors won't have to scroll down the entire page to get to the
sections drawing their interest.
Adding links to page anchors in your web page is a two step
process:
•
First, insert the page anchors or bookmarks on your page.
•
Next, create links to these anchors from another location in
your page (like the top).
Inserting Page Anchors
4. Type a brief description of the document into the Tooltip field.
This description then pops up whenever someone hovers the
cursor over the link and provides search engines with one other
piece of information they can use to rank your site.
1. Place your cursor where you want the page anchor to reside on
your page and then click the Hyperlink Manager icon (the one
that looks like a globe with two enclosed chain links.
5. Finally, choose a Target from the drop-down menu provided.
Options are:
o
o
2. In the screen that appears, click the Anchor tab and type a
name for the anchor you're inserting. If, for instance, you
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placed this anchor at the top of the page, you might name it
"Top." Just make sure to give it a meaningful name.
is inserted into the page as the Link Text.
5.
6. Click OK to insert your anchor link.
Linking to E-mail Addresses
3. Finally, click OK to insert the anchor into your page.
While nothing may appear to happen in your page, an anchor is
created and added to the list of available anchors so that you can
link to it.
Linking to Page Anchor
Inserting a link to an e-mail address makes it quick and easy for
your site visitors to communicate with you. When viewers click the
link, their default e-mail program appears, opens a new e-mail
message and inserts the e-mail address you specify into the To
line. To add a link to an e-mail address into your web page...
Hint: While rare, it is possible that some people won't have
their system configured properly to take advantage of these
links. Therefore, we recommend using your actual e-mail
address as the link text. That way, even if viewers don't have
their system configured, they can still see your address and e-
3. Find the anchor you created in the Existing Anchor drop-down
menu and click to select it.
mail you manually.
4. Finally, type some Link Text into the available field if it is not
already filled out and type a description of this link into the
Tooltip field to give your viewers a better understanding of
what will happen when they click the link
Note: If you leave the Link Text field blank, the anchor name
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3. In the screen that appears, click the E-mail tab.
4. Type the destination e-mail address in the Address field and, if
necessary, some Link Text (if that field is not already filled
out). In the Subject field, enter a default subject for the
message. Of course, users can change this text when they
create the message.
5. Finally, click OK to insert your link into your web page.
Using Images
A graphic element on a page adds balance and makes it eye
catching. Your site comes stock with a library of images and "jelly
buttons" that you can use, but you can also add your own images
via the File Library. To add your own image to your content...
1. In the Content Editor, click the image icon
in your toolbar.
2. You're presented with a list of files (if any) that you've
uploaded to your site. Click the file you want to insert into your
page.
3. If you need to upload an image to your site, click the Upload
Image tab to do so.
4. A preview of the image appears in the box on the right. Verify
that the image is indeed the one you want to insert. If you
need to adjust the image preview so that it's smaller or larger,
you can use the zoom buttons above the image preview. If
you're unsure which button is which, just hover your cursor
over each button for a description of how it zooms. Options
are:
o
Best Fit
o
Actual Size
o
Zoom In
o
Zoom Out
5. Type a short description of the image into the Image Alt Text
field. This description appears whenever viewers hover their
cursor over the image and can improve your search engine
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ranking (when combined with other techniques in your site) as
search engines can read this text.
6. Finally, click Insert to place the image into your page.
Once an image is in your web page, of course, you may also want
to do some of the following things:
•
Click the Hyperlink Manager icon to add a link into the image.
•
Click an image and then press DEL on your keyboard to delete
it.
•
Click one of the image handles and drag it across the screen to
resize the image as it appears in your page.
•
Create a thumbnail (miniature version of the image) for the
image by clicking the Image Manager icon and using the
Thumbnail button.
Resizing Images
To resize an image you've added to your web page...
1. In the Content Editor, click the image you want to resize and
note the "handles" that appear on its sides and corners.
2. Click one of the handles in the area where you want to begin
resizing and drag the image handle in the direction you want to
enlarge or shrink the image. For example, to make the image
wider, "grab" the handle on the right side or left side of the
image and "pull" it so that it "stretches" or resizes into a wider
image.
Hint: While clicking and dragging is the easiest method of
resizing an image, there is the possibility that you'll skew or
scrunch your image while you're dragging. To ensure that the
image is scaled properly in both dimensions, use the Image
Properties tool instead.
Note: This process lets you shrink images so they appear
smaller on screen. However, it does not decrease the actual file
size. To decrease an image's file size, you need an image
editing program and may need the assistance of a professional
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you're finished.
image designer.
Here's a brief description of your options:
•
Border Width - To add a border to your image, type a number
into the Border Width text box (or use the plus and minus
buttons). The higher the number, the thicker the border. Enter
a 0 to ensure that your image has no border.
•
Border Color - If you have selected a Border Width of at least
1, you can also change the color of the border. Just select the
desired color from the drop-down menu.
•
Image Alt Text- Enter text here that you would like displayed
whenever users hover their mouse pointer over the image. It
can be a caption, a description, or (if the image is used as a
hyperlink) instructions on what to do.
Image Properties
There are several options available to change how your images are
treated on a page. For instance, you can force the text to flow
around your images or add a border to them. To change an
image's display properties:
1. In the Content Editor, click on the image to select it. A panel
appears at the bottom of the editing window, allowing you to
set certain features.
2. Click the Set Image Properties button for more options,
or rightclick the
image
and
choose
Set
Image
Properti
es.
3. Change
any of
the
options
to create
the
desired
effect
and click
OK when
In addition, this text appears in those rare instances when a
user's browser doesn't display images (on a mobile device, for
example).
•
Long Description - Enter text here that you would like
displayed whenever a user views your pages using a "handicap
enabled" browser. These browsers will "read" the text to the
site visitor.
•
Image Align - The Image Align feature allows you to control
how the Image interacts with surrounding text on your web
page. Select the Left or Right option to move the image to one
side or the other and wrap the text around the image. Clicking
the Top, Center or Bottom option places the image in line
with your text, and positions any text to the left or right at the
top, center or bottom of the image.
•
Image Src - This option displays the URL pointing to the
source file for the image. Since XSites host all your image files,
you won't need to use this tool.
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•
Spacing - Horizontal and Vertical Spacing allow you to add
empty space around your images so that any text does not
display flush against the image. As you increase the number,
the space gets larger. Clear the fields or enter a 0 to eliminate
any space.
•
Size & Constrain - Use the Width and Height text boxes to
change the size of your image. Enter the desired dimensions in
pixels. To ensure that your images don't get skewed or
scrunched, use the Constrain tool. If the chain link is
connected, when you change one dimension, the other changes
proportionally. Click the chain link to switch between
constrained and unconstrained dimensions. Of course, you can
also resize an image by clicking and dragging it.
4. The preview is replaced by the Create Thumbnail screen
asking for details about your new image. A suggested file
name appears in the New Image Name field. If you're
satisfied with this name, continue filling out the details of your
thumbnail (or resized) image. If not, type in a new file name
for your scaled image. Keep in mind that if you're resizing an
existing image, you can either create a new file sized to fit your
specifications or you can overwrite the existing file in your File
Library by changing the file name to the same name as the
original file.
Image Thumbnails
Thumbnails are miniature versions of an image you've made
available on your site. In most cases, they're used in image
galleries as a means of making the page load more quickly as
smaller image files do not take as long to load. The idea of the
image gallery is that your viewers click the images in which they
are interested to see the larger versions. If you decide to build an
image gallery in your site, need to create an image thumbnail for
another reason, or just need to resize an image (file size and all),
you can use your site's built-in thumbnail creation tool to do the
job. To create an image thumbnail or resize an image...
1. In the Content Editor, click the Image Manager icon
your toolbar.
in
2. You're presented with a list of files that you've uploaded to your
site. Click the file you want to resize or turn into a thumbnail.
3. In the toolbar above the image preview, click the Create
Thumbnail button to the far right.
5. Decide whether you want to scale your image by percent of its
current size or by its pixel width and height. Once you've
decided, choose the appropriate option from the Dimension
Unit drop-down menu.
6. If you want to ensure that you do not stretch or skew the
image so that it appears distorted, check the Constrain
Proportions box.
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7. If you want to ensure that any existing file with the file name
you specified earlier are overwritten by the new file, check the
Overwrite if File with Such Name Exists box.
2. When the Image Map Editor appears, decide which type of
image section will better suit your needs and mark the
corresponding choice - Rectangle or Circle.
8. Finally, type the width and/or height to which you wish to scale
the image. As you do this, keep in mind whether you're scaling
by percentage or by pixel width/height.
9. When finished, click Create to create the image.
The scaled image or thumbnail is automatically added to your File
Library. At this point, since the Image Manager remains open, you
can continue to insert the new scaled image into your page or
continue creating thumbnails as you see fit.
Image Maps
Image Maps are handy tools that you can create to break down an
image into multiple sections, linking each section to something else
in your site. One illustration of an image map is a picture of the
United States on a website. If you wanted to create an image map
out of the full image of the US and link each state to a page about
that state, you'd break the image down into sections (states in this
case), and link each section (or state), to a page about that site.
Before you begin working on your image map, you need to collect
several resources, including:
•
An image to use as an image map
•
A list of links you want to insert into your image map
•
An idea or list of areas in the image into which you want to
embed your links.
1. In the Content Editor, right-click the image into which you wish
to embed links and select Image Map Editor from the menu
that appears.
3. Now, click the image where you'd like to begin drawing and
drag a rectangle or circle (depending on your choice) around
the section you wish to break into a link.
4. Once you're satisfied with the size of the circle or rectangle,
release your click and then click the blue area that appears to
move it to exactly the location on your image where you want
it. If you need to work with great precision, you can move the
area by increasing or decreasing its distance from the Left and
Top of the image using the corresponding fields on the right.
5. If you need to adjust the size of the area, click the red square
attached to the area and drag it until the area is the size you
desire. You can fine tune this sizing process by typing the
exact Width and Height into the corresponding fields on the
right.
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6. Once you're satisfied with the size and placement of your image
section, type the URL (or web address) with which you want it
to link into the URL field provided.
1. In the Content Editor, click the File Manager icon to view and
place clip art into your page.
7. Pick a Target from the menu provided to determine how you
want the link to open. Options are:
o
o
o
site header intact.
o
iFrame - Opens the web page in a frame - keeping just
2. In the screen that appears, click each clip art item's file name
to view a live preview of it in the Image Preview box on the
right.
8. Type a short Comment in the available field to indicate what
this link does.
9. When finished, click Update Area to apply your change to the
area you've created.
10. Continue creating new areas by repeating steps 6 - 13 until
you've completed your image map. If you need to remove an
area from your image map, click it and then click Remove
Area. If you need to remove all areas from your image map so
you can start over, just click Remove All.
11. When finished with your image map, click OK to apply it to
your web page.
Using Clip Art Content
Your site includes a stock set of provided clip art that you can use
in your web page. If you want to add some flare to your site and
you don't already have the fancy buttons or clip art images you
need, consider using some of the provided clip art. To insert clip
art into your web page...
3. When you find a piece of clip art that will suit your needs, click
it and then click Insert to place it in your page.
Using Tables
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Tables are a valuable element when laying
out a web page. The can be used to:
•
Build columns of numbers or data
•
Control how text flows around an image
•
Place text or images in specific places on
a page
There are two ways to add a table while in
the Content Editor:
The Basic Mode allows you to drag and
select rows and columns. Just click the table
icon in the tool palette and then drag your
mouse to select the number of rows and
columns you'd like to include in your table.
You can now enter data into any of the cells in your table. To
modify the design of the table, right click anywhere in the table
and choose from the options displayed.
The Table Wizard gives you more control over the initial creation
of your rows and columns. Click the table icon in the tool palette
and then choose the Table Wizard item at the bottom of the
menu.
•
Use the - and + buttons next to the Columns and Rows labels
to add or remove columns from your table.
•
Use the column or row span + button to make a particular
column or row span others. For example, you may wish to
have the top row of a table "span" all the other rows to center a
header in that cell.
•
Click the Table Properties tab to specify the overall look of the
table - size, background color, border size, cell spacing.
•
The Cell Properties tab allows you to specify size, background
color and alignment for each cell.
•
The Accessibility tab allows you to enter information about
your table that will be read to viewers using a handicapenabled browser.
When you are through with the Table Wizard, click Insert and
your table will be drawn on your web page.
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•
Hint: You can create a new table inside the cell of an existing
table. This can be particularly useful in laying out complex
information on a web page. Just place your cursor in any cell of
a table, then use either method described above to insert that
table.
Hint: Rather than creating a table from scratch in the editor,
you can also copy and paste tables from Microsoft Excel or
Word. Most of the formatting will be preserved, including
borders, text, numbers and cell color. Formulas, however, will
not be pasted.
Modifying Tables
Once tables are on a page, you can add information by clicking in
any cell and typing. Or, you can further modify your tables using
any of these tools:
•
Click any gridline on a table to select it and then drag the
handles to resize the entire table. You cannot drag individual
cell lines.
•
Right-click any selected table and choose Set Table
Properties to further modify it.
•
To remove a table completely, select the table, right-click and
choose Delete Table from the popup menu.
Note: As you work with your table, note the grey area at the
bottom of the editor. This displays several options for modifying
Hint: By default, a new table has its border width set to 0. You
your table without opening the Table Properties dialog box.
can see the table in the editor with each cell outlined with
dotted, grey lines. You can turn these lines on or off by clicking
the Show/Hide Border button at the bottom of the editor.
•
Click in any cell, then right click to display a pop-up menu
which allows you to:
o
Insert columns or rows
o
Merge cells together (you must select two or more cells
first)
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o
Split cells to add additional rows or columns
o
Delete a row, column or cell
o
Open the Table or Cell Properties dialog
o
Turn cell borders on or off
Cell Properties
The Cell properties dialog box allows you to adjust how each
individual cell - or group of cells - will appear. Click in the cell you
wish to modify, or click and drag to select multiple cells, then right
click and choose the Set Cell Properties item from the pop up
menu.
•
Content Alignment - From the drop down menu, select how
you'd like the text in your cell to line up. You can select any
combination of the top, middle, bottom, left or right.
•
Background color or image - Each cell can have its own
background color. Just select the desired shade from the drop
down menu.
The Background Image option is not supported on XSites.
•
Dimensions - Set the desired Height and Width for this cell.
You can enter the amount in Pixels or as a percentage of the
total size of the table. To enter a percentage, just type the
percent sign (%) after the amount (i.e. 25%).
•
No Wrapping - This turns text wrapping on or off. If this box
is checked, text entered into a cell will cause the cell to grow,
rather than wrapping to a new line.
•
ID & CSS Class - These options are used for advance table
editing and are not supported on XSites.
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down menu.
Table Properties
The Background Image option is not supported on XSites.
The Table Properties dialog allows you to adjust settings that affect
the entire table, rather than just a few cells. Click anywhere in a
table, then right-click and choose Set Table Properties from the
pop up menu. If you need to adjust the number of rows or columns
- or change the cell spanning - use the Table Design area which
first appears. Or, click the Table Properties tab to make additional
changes.
•
Alignment - From the drop down menu, select how you'd like
the text in your table to line up. You can select any combination
of the left, center or right. You can further modify this option on
a cell-by-cell basis.
•
Cell Spacing - This refers to the amount of space between the
borders of the cells. Use the + and - buttons, or type a number
in the text field to set this dimension in pixels.
•
Cell Padding - This refers to the amount of space between the
border of the cells and the text contained in it. Use the + and buttons, or type a number in the text field to set this dimension
in pixels.
•
Borders - Use the Border tool to set the width and color of the
border lines. First, select a color from the drop down menus.
Then, use the + and - keys to set the border width, in pixels.
Now, click any of the border buttons on the top, left or bottom
side of the screen to choose which border line you wish to
apply. Notice that all borders must be the same color.
•
ID and CSS Class - These options are used for advance table
editing and are not supported on XSites.
Using Multimedia Content
•
•
Table Dimensions - Set the desired Height and Width for the
table. You can enter the amount in Pixels or as a percentage of
the total size of the page. To enter a percentage, just type the
percent sign (%) after the amount (i.e. 25%).
Background color or image - A table can have its own
background color. Just select the desired shade from the drop
Multi-media files like videos and music can add a rich dimension to
your site. Visitors can view or listen to these items while browsing
through your site, increasing the chances that they'll spend more
time learning about your business.
The Content Editor allows you to upload these types of files and
then create links to them within your pages.
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1. In the Content Editor, click the Insert Media button in the
toolbar.
the Media Manager, select the file and make your changes.
o
Width/Height - Specify how many pixels wide and high
the media file should display. If these entries are different
from the native size of the media file, then the image will be
expanded or compressed when visitors view the page.
2. In the Media Manager screen, select the media file you wish
to insert into your page or click on the Upload Media tab to
upload a new file.
Hint: If you're inserting an audio file into your page, there will
be no video area to display, of course. You can have the audio
play without showing anything on screen by setting both the
Width and Height to zero.
o
However, if you want users to have control over starting,
stopping and rewinding the audio, you should still display at
least the media control panel, but setting the Width to 200
and the Height to 40.
o
Align - This setting controls where the media file is placed
on the page and how text is wrapped around it. For
example, choosing Right from the drop down menu places
your media image on the far, right side of the page, and
wraps any text on the page to its left.
o
Properties - There are a number of properties that control
how your media file is treated when it's loaded on a page.
Depending upon the property chosen, additional fields are
displayed below the Properties drop down menu. In
addition, text describing each property and how it's used is
displayed. Here are some Properties that might be
particularly useful in placing media files on your site:
The remaining options pertain to how the media file is displayed
and functions on the page. At any time, click the Switch to
Preview Mode check box to view or listen to your media file.
Note: These settings are applied to the media file in your File
Library, not to the current web page. Thus, once set for a

AutoStart - Set this to Yes and your media file will start
playing as soon as the page is loaded.

ClickToPlay - If you'd prefer to have visitors click on
the media file to start playing, set this property to Yes.
particular media file, these options will apply whenever that file
is inserted into a page. Likewise, to modify the settings for a
media file already inserted into one or more pages, simply open
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ShowControls - This property lets you specify whether
the start, stop, pause, fast forward and rewind tools are
displayed for your media file.

Volume - Use this to adjust the initial volume of media
file.
3. When you're satisfied with your options, click Insert to embed
the media file into your web page.
AVI
•
MOV
•
MPG
•
MPEG
•
WMV
•
MP3
•
WAV
1. In the Content Editor, click the
bottom to switch to HTML Mode.
button in the toolbar at the
2. In the page content from your old site, select the content or
HTML you wish to copy.
The Media Manager supports many popular media formats,
including:
•
if you need it. In addition, if you owned another website prior to
purchasing your XSite and you want to carry some of the content
from that site into your new XSite you can do so by copying and
pasting the HTML from your previous site into the Content Editor.
To do so...
3. Copy the "source code" of your existing web page to your
clipboard. One easy way to do this once you've selected the
content you wish to copy is to use Ctrl + C on your keyboard.
4. Go back to the XSite editor, click in the area for editing the
HTML and press Ctrl + V to paste in the source from your old
page.
5. Make any changes you need to make to your HTML code and
click the
button to see how it looks on your site.
6. From here, edit the page as you would any other. Be sure to
click Save when you are through. If your previous page had
images, you may need to copy those over separately and relink them
Some formats that are not currently supported by the Media
Manager are:
•
MP4
•
M4A
•
DIVX
Copying Data from Microsoft Word
•
XVID
•
FLV
Some web page editors, like Microsoft Word, add extraneous codes
and tags to your web pages. While these normally don't cause a
problem in displaying the pages on their own, they can cause some
odd results when they're pasted into existing HTML content pages.
To handle this, the editor has a few buttons that can help.
Using HTML Code
Your site gives you the freedom to edit the HTML code of any page
or ad directly so you can have complete control over your content
Paste from Word- This option pastes any content copied
from Word into the editor, but first strips out any
extraneous codes or tags.
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Paste Plain Text - Often the safest option, this tool
pastes in just the text you've copied. Any codes or
graphics are left out.
Paste HTML - This option pastes the actual HTML code
into the editor. It is rarely used.
Using Flash Content
Using the Content Editor you can insert a Flash (SWF) file into your
web page, allowing you to make anything from fancy forms, to
videos, to special effects. After all, your XSite itself is designed
using Flash technology.
Note: Creating Flash files is beyond the scope of this user's
guide and our support staff. If you believe that custom Flash
content will add value to your site, consult a web design
professional for assistance designing and implementing this
content.
1. In the Content Editor, click the Insert Flash button in the
toolbar.
3. Using the fields provided specify the Width and Height of the
Flash player in your page. In addition, you can specify
alignment, "video" quality, background color, and other
behaviors of the Flash file.
4. To preview your Flash file before inserting it into your site,
check the Switch to Preview Mode box.
5. When you're satisfied with the placement and characteristics of
your Flash file, click Insert to place it in your page.
2. From the Flash Manager screen, select the Flash file you wish
to insert into your page. If you need to upload a flash file, click
the Upload Flash tab to do so.
Uploading Files
Your site's Content Editor has an additional built in File Manager
that provides some special functionality for you as you edit your
content. While you can always upload and manage the files in your
site's file library from the File Library tool in your site, there are
several benefits to using the File Managers in the Content Editor
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like the ability to upload files on-the-fly so that you don't have to
remember to upload them before you use them in your content.
To upload a file or files to your site's File Library from the Content
Editor.
1. In the Content Editor, click any of the file management buttons
that pertaining to the type of file(s) you wish to manage.
Note: While you can use any of these managers to upload all
types of files, you can only view those files from their respective
managers. For instance, if you're uploading image files, you
could upload them from the Media Manager, but you would not
be able to view them unless you opened the Image Manager.
2.
4. Click Browse to select a file to upload.
5. Browse to the file you wish to upload and click Open.
6. Repeat this process for any additional files you wish to upload.
7. Once you've selected all the files you want to upload, click
Upload Files.
8. If the files you're uploading are images, your site evaluates the
size of each image file before adding the images to your file
library. If the images exceed the optimal size for your web
page, a warning appears asking you about how you want to
handle the large images. Mark your preferred option and click
Continue to upload your files. Options include:
3. In the screen that appears, click the Upload tab. The exact
tab name varies depending on the type of file manager you
selected. For instance, in the Image Manager, the tab is labeled
"Upload Image."
o
Automatic Image Optimization - If you want your site to
automatically optimize your images for viewing on the web,
mark the first option. If you don't want your site to prompt
you about the file size of your images again, check the
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Always use this selection box to force your site to
optimize every image you upload automatically.
o
Note: Depending on the limitations of your Internet Service
Provider (ISP), it is possible that this process may time out.
Uploading without Optimization - If you want to
continue uploading your photos despite their files sizes,
mark the second option to continue without optimization.
For best results, you should not use unoptimized images in
your site as large image files can slow down the page
loading process for your site visitors.
Generally, this occurs whenever you choose to upload too much
information at one time. To address this problem you need to
adjust the total file size of your upload. If you attempted to
upload multiple files, try uploading again with fewer files. If you
attempted to upload one file and its size caused a timeout, try
reducing the file's size. Otherwise, you may need to try
uploading the file from a computer with a faster connection or
with an alternate ISP.
Deleting Files
Once you've uploaded files to your site, you can remove them from
your File Library:
Hint: If you want to manually optimize your images, there are
a variety of image editing programs you can use to do so. For a
full description of the process you must use to optimize your
images for use on your website, see Tech Doc 7006.
•
Visit your XSite's File Library tool, select, and delete them
individually. For more information about this process, see the
File Library section of this user's guide.
•
Use your Content Editor's deletion tools to remove the files.
To use the Content Editor's deletion tools to remove files
from your File Library...
1. In the Content Editor, click the file management button that
pertains to the type of file(s) you wish to delete.
The Content Editor immediately begins uploading your files to your
site and a progress bar appears to show you the progress of the
upload.
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2. In the screen that appears, click to select the file you wish to
delete.
Note: If you don't see the file you wish to delete, you may have
chosen the wrong file manager. For instance, you won't see
image files in the media manager as that manager handles
music and movie files.
3. Click the trash can icon at the top of the files list to delete the
file you've selected.
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Listings
Listings are the crown jewel of any real estate
web site. The primary reason most people are
going to visit – and stay – on your website is to
view your property listings. In addition to those
visitors looking for a new home, your home
sellers - and prospective listers - will want to see
how well you present their property. The listings
features of XSites are designed to present your
listed properties in the best possible light.
Some features include:
•
The ability to link a virtual tour, videos and
audio files to your listings.
•
Personalized listings brochures, which you
can print and distribute.
•
Dynamic maps and 3-D views of the
properties.
1. Log into your site admin tools.
2. Click the Listings button in the toolbar at the top of the
screen.
Managing Your Listings
From the My Listings page, click Manage Listings under the My
Listings menu on the left.
A customizable layout, including animation
and unlimited photos.
•
To access the Listings Management features of your site...
The grid displays all of the property listings you've created on your
site. If more listings are in your database than can be shown on
one screen, you can browse through them by clicking the Page X
of Y link at the top of the page, or the numbered links at the
bottom of the page.
But creating listings is only part of the picture. Your XSites tools
also include the ability to:
•
Syndicate your listings across several national real estate sites
•
Share your listings with other agents in your area
•
Use XSellerate to send out custom marketing campaigns
highlighting the property.
•
Include your listings in your Blog
Listings
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that allow you to change how your listings are displayed. Click
the corresponding button to view the listings in a grid, as
thumbnails or in a text list.
•
To edit any existing listing, click the Edit Details link or the
icon displayed with that listing, or simply click the
photograph.
•
To add a new listing, click the Create a Listing Manually link
at the top of the page. Or, you can begin a new listing by
importing it from your local MLS or Top Producer 7i.
Listings Admin Preferences
From the My Listings page, click Admin Preferences under the
Display Prefs menu to control how your listings appear in your
Listings Management page. You have the option of viewing your
listings pages in one of three formats:
•
Grid View
•
Image View
Hint: Click Search for a Listing to quickly find any listing in
your database using criteria such as city, price, or MLS number.
•
A pair of drop down lists at the top of the page allow you to
sort your listings. For example, to have listings sorted by the
city they are in, select City from the first menu, then select
whether you'd like your listings sorted in Ascending (1-9, a-z)
or Descending (z-a, 9-1) order.
•
To the right of the Sorting menus are three buttons
Listings
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For either the Grid View or the Images View, you can
select an animation setting. This controls how the listings
pages are “built” when you open the Listings Management
page.
o
3. Click Save Settings to save your work.
Creating Listings
Hint: You can save time and energy by importing your listings
from either Top Producer 7i or from selected MLS services. For
more information, see the Importing Listings section of this
manual.
•
List View
To create a new listing from scratch:
1. From the My Listings page, click Manage Listings in the My
Listings menu on the left.
2. Click the Create a Listing Manually link.
3. Decide if this listing should be a “Featured Listing” by clicking
the Make this property a Featured Listing check box.
1. From the drop-down menu, choose the Default view for
Admin page to select the initial style you'd like to use while
managing your listings.
2. Next, click the tab for the View type you’d like to modify.
Depending upon the view, there are a few options:
o
o
Listings
4. Now, go through each tab and type the information requested.
You can enter as much or as little information as you desire. At
a minimum, you must complete the following fields in the
General Property Info tab.
•
Address
•
State
•
Country
•
City
•
Zip
•
List Date
For any view, select the number of listings you’d like
displayed.
•
Expires
On
•
Price
Note: Pay particular attention to List Date and the Expires On
If you're editing the Grid View, choose a listings template
from the drop-down menu. This controls how the listings
are laid out on the screen.
fields. Listings will only appear on your site if today's date falls
within that range. Once the Expires On date passes, for
example, the listing will no longer show up until you change
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name of the area and click Add Neighborhood. Once you
have neighborhoods entered for your Zip codes, you can simply
select them from the drop-down menus.
that date. Likewise, if you "post date" a listing by putting a
future date in the List Date field, it won't appear until that
date.
At any time, click the Save and Continue button to save your
work, but leave this listing open for additional changes. You should
do this from time to time to ensure that your information is saved
and won't be lost if you experience an internet service interruption.
Or, click Save and Close to save your changes and close the
Listing Editor.
•
You can select the Property Type from the drop-down menu.
When you create your listings pages, you can use this field to
filter the properties to be shown. If the desired property type is
not listed, select Add a Property Type from the top of the
menu, type the name – “Waterfront,” for instance – and click
Add Property Type .
•
Likewise, the List Status item allows you to set the status of
the property. Again, if a particular status you wish to use is not
listed, select Add a Status from the top of the drop-down
menu. Type the new status type – “Under Contract,” for
instance – and click Add Listings Status .
•
The Listing Agent drop down menu lets you assign this listing
to an agent in your office. Once assigned, their specific contact
information is displayed along with the listing, rather than the
general company information. To add an Agent account to your
system, or edit their information, click use the User
Management option in the My Office toolbar .
•
From the Seller drop-down menu, select the contact
information for the individual whose property you're listing. This
information will not display on your site, but it will appear in the
header of the Listing Editor, making it easier to find their
contact information while you're editing the listing. Only
contacts from your database that are flagged as "Seller" will
appear in this list. To add a contact, or edit their information,
click the Contacts button on the XSites toolbar.
General Property Info
•
In order to protect the integrity of your listings database, the
location fields have been designed to load valid information into
the drop-down menus. When you select the United States for
the Country, for example, only US states and Territories are
listed in the State menu. This is also true of the State menu,
which loads the City drop-down menu with valid Cities, the
City menu, which loads both the Zip menu and the County
menu, and the County menu, which loads Neighborhoods.
Hint: Your last selections for Country and State are
remembered and loaded by default. So the City menu should
already be loaded with appropriate options.
•
•
To speed entry in these fields you can either select from the
menus with your mouse, or type the first few letters of a valid
entry. For example, if you begin typing in the City drop-down
menu, the first city that matches what you type is entered in
the field when you press Tab or Enter. You can also press
Alt+Down Arrow to open the drop-down menu.
Once you select a Zip (or Postal) code, you have the option of
creating Neighborhoods in that area. Click the Neighborhoods
drop-down menu and click Add a neighborhood. Type the
Listings
Detailed Property Info
•
All information on this page is optional. If you don't complete a
field, it will not display on your listing.
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•
The Content Editor section lets you build a custom description
of the property. You have all of the editing features available,
including fonts, colors, lists, and even multimedia links for
graphics. For specific help with these functions, consult The
Content Editor section of this manual.
•
The Short Description field is used in the Grid display on your
Listings Pages.
•
Most of the menus on this tab contain drop-down menus
containing common responses. However, you can simply type
your own text into these fields as well.
Listings Images
Visual images are often the most powerful feature of your listing.
Since your listings manager doesn’t limit the number of photos you
can use on each listing, make sure you use as many as needed to
convey the strengths of the property. To add photos into an image
tour of your listing...
2. Click Add Photo to the left of the screen to begin uploading
the photos you wish to assign to this listing.
1. Open any existing listing for editing - or create a new one - and
click the Media tab, then click Manage Images.
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5. Click Upload Files. Your files begin uploading to your site and
a progress bar appears to show you the progress of the upload.
Note: If any of your image files is larger than 100k, the built-in
Image Optimizer tool appears to help you resize them.
6.
7. Once you have several photos inserted for this listing:
o
Pick a showcase photo by clicking it and marking the
Showcase Photo box.
o
Drag the photos to order them from left to right in the order
you want them to appear in your slideshow.
o
Select each photo and then enter a Short title and
Description for it. These are displayed for each image
when site visitors view the "Image Tour" for that listing.
o
Use Preview Slideshow to see what the Image Tour will
look like.
o
Click Delete to remove a photo
Note: If you experience difficulty uploading your pictures, you
may want to ensure that your images aren't too large. In
addition to causing you frustration while you’re trying to update
your listings, an overly large file size will likely slow the speed
of your website for your site visitors. Generally, file sizes of 300
KB or more can negatively affect your site’s performance. For
more information on resizing your photos, consult tech doc
number 7006 - Resizing Your Images.
3. Click Browse and navigate to the folder or device that contains
your photos.
4. Select one or more files in the list and click Open.
Listings
8.
9. Once you are through creating your visual masterpiece, click
Save and Close to return to the listing details.
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Optimize Images
Whenever you upload images, your listings manager checks the file
sizes of those images. Because the size of photos can have a
significant impact on the time it takes to open a web page, your
site will perform much better if the images you select are scaled to
the proper size.
If any image you try to upload to your site is over 100 kilobytes, a
special Image Optimizer appears to help you trim the excess.
The optimizer has two options:
1. Let my XSite optimize images after upload - This option
invokes your site's built-in image optimizer to modify your
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images after they've been uploaded to the site. This is the
preferred option, since the tool knows the best settings for
display in your listings presentation. In order to streamline this
process in the future, click the Always use this selection
check box. Now all images you upload over 100k will be
automatically optimized.
2. Click Upload Video File, then click Browse and navigate to
the folder or device that contains your video.
Note: There is a 20 megabyte limit on the size of each
Note: Optimizing an image may include reducing its physical
individual video file. And your site is limited to a total of 100
dimensions (width and height) and also its color depth.
megabytes.
However, since the Optimizer knows the optimum settings to
display on your listings, you will notice NO difference in the
quality of the photos when they're displayed.
2.
3. Continue without optimizing my images - This option
bypasses the optimizer and continues to upload the images in
their native size. Since the optimizer only affects images over
100k, which will greatly reduce the responsiveness of your
listings presentations, this is NOT RECOMMENDED.
You actually have a third option as well. You can click the Cancel
button to abort the current upload. Then, use your own image
optimization tools to adjust the size of your files. Click here for
some additional information on image editing tools.
Video Tours
Videos are a popular method for really showing off the assets of
your listings. Whether you create them yourself with a video
camera, or hire a professional firm to develop them, you can attach
video files to any of your listings.
5. When your video file appears, type a Title and Description in
the designated fields.
6. Click Save and Close when you're done.
click the Media tab, then click Manage Videos.
Listings
Hint: For help in creating your video files, consult the Creating
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Media Files section of this manual.
o
3. Click Save and Close to activate your tour.
Virtual Tours
Virtual tours are a must for today's real estate listings. XSites give
you four different options for adding a tour to your listings.
To add a Virtual Tour to your site:
click the Media tab, then click Manage Tours.
2. Select the tour type you'd like from the list.
o
XSite Virtual Tour - Use the images assigned to your
listing to build a tour on-the-fly. Click here for more
information about branded/unbranded tours.
o
Use a Davinci Floorplan Tour - Use the floorplan you
created in DaVinci to build your tour. Click here for more
information.
o
I already have a tour - Type the link to your 3rd party
virtual tour into the field provided.
o
Build your own Virtual Tour - Use the XSite's
Presentation Builder to create a multimedia tour out of any
set of images. Select this option and then click Build my
virtual tour to open the Presentation Builder. Click here for
instruction on using the Builder.
Hint: When using the Presentation Builder, any Images you've
uploaded are included in the initial presentation by default. You
can delete any unwanted images, or upload additional images
using the Presentation Builder. Also, the property address is
included as the default name of presentation.
Listings
Virtual Tours - Branded and Unbranded
Your XSite virtual tour already contains all the great images and
descriptions taken from your listing details. It automatically
provides a professional presentation which adds that extra "wow
factor" for buyers and prospective listers. But what good is a
virtual tour if nobody is looking at it?
This is a question that many agents deal with everyday: "How do I
get people to view my virtual tours?" The answer with a
competitive edge: Your XSite provides some great ways for you to
put your tour "out there" on the web - getting more face time than
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it would by appearing only on your XSite. One of these ways is
through the use of branded and unbranded virtual tours.
When you are ready to set your virtual tour free, here's
what you need to know:
Branded Tours:
A branded tour is your complete virtual tour as you would see it on
your own XSite. However, it is in a format that can be loaded into
any other website. When visitors view the tour, they will see your
contact info and your portrait (if you've set one up.) It will be
loaded from your XSite so that it comes directly from your domain
name- providing even more visibility for your website. These virtual
tours are appropriate for most privately owned websites, and even
most corporate websites.
To add your branded XSite virtual tour to another site:
2. In the section titled Use Your XSite Virtual Tour you will see
With branding/contact info, under which you will find a URL
for your branded virtual tour. Highlight and copy that URL so
that you can send it (usually via email) to whomever manages
the site where you want your tour to appear. Once that person
has the link, they have the option of putting it on their site
however they like. This link can be placed on as many sites as
you want; in fact, the more, the better!
Unbranded tours have been developed specifically for use on the
MLS, although they may have other applications. Often, the MLS
allows virtual tour links for your listings, but require you to use an
‘unbranded’ virtual tour to prevent direct traffic to the listing
agent’s website. Your XSite unbranded virtual tour accomodates
this by providing an unbranded tour that contains no contact
information about you or your company. In fact, even the URL for
the tour is completely generic so it works nicely with the MLS too!
The process is very similar to the branded tour. Here's what to
do:
To add your unbranded XSite virtual tour to another site or
the MLS:
2. In the section titled Use Your XSite Virtual Tour you will see
Without branding/contact info, under which you will find a
URL for your unbranded virtual tour. Highlight and copy that
URL so that you can send it (usually via email) to whomever
manages the site where you want your tour to appear. Or, if
you are entering a listing into the MLS, there should be a field
where you can paste the URL for your virtual tour. If you need
help finding out where to put this URL, contact your MLS.
Hint: If you want to see what your branded or unbranded tour
looks like, you can simply click on either of the links in the Use
Unbranded Tours:
Listings
Your XSite Virtual Tour section. A new window will pop up
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with your tour in it.
Audio Tours
While not as appealing as Videos, audio tours are a great way to
add appeal to your listings. They're easier to make than videos,
and still provide a multimedia experience for your site visitors.
click the Media tab, then click Manage Audio.
2. Click Upload Audio File, then click Browse and navigate to
the folder or device that contains your video.
Note: There is a 20 megabyte limit on the size of each
individual video file. And your site is limited to a total of 100
megabytes.
5.
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6. When your audio file appears, type a Title and Description in
the designated fields.
7. Click Save and Close when you're done.
Hint: For help in creating your video files, consult the Creating
Media Files section of this manual.
2. Complete the Podcast listing items. The Title and Description
fields are displayed whenever a client receives this Podcast
through iTunes. Make sure you include Keywords that users
might search for when looking for real estate Podcasts, such as
“Property” “Real Estate” and your local area. Some of these are
included automatically.
3. Select the audio or video files you'd like to deliver with this
podcast by clicking the check box for that item. If you select
more than one file, they'll be merged together into one
continuous file when they're delivered to your subscriber.
Podcasting
4. Click Save and Close.
Your listings pages are designed to entice your site visitors to
spend more time browsing through your properties. But today’s
home buyer doesn’t always have the time to spend in front of the
computer. Now, with the advent of Podcasting, your clients can
watch your videos or listen to audio tours with them on their Apple
iPod or other compatible MP3 player. (Click here for a more
complete history of Podcasting.)
Another advantage of Podcasting is that customers can subscribe
to the service using the free iTunes tool from Apple, or any number
of other tools. Any time you upload an new video or audio file, it's
delivered right to their desktop. They can watch it there or transfer
it to their mobile device and take it with them. For you, this means
that you can create audio and video files describing in glowing
detail the features of your listings. Instead of flat text, the listings
come alive with your enthusiasm and energy.
Note: Before you can enable Podcasting, you must upload at
least one Audio or Video file.
To add podcasting to your listing:
Podcasting technology is rapidly taking the Internet by storm. Put
simply, Podcasting allows web site owners to package and publish
audio (and video) content. Site visitors can then either download
the content to their portable device, or even subscribe to the feed,
getting updates on a regular basis. (Click here for a more complete
history of Podcasting.)
For you, this means that you can create audio and video files
describing in glowing detail the features of your listings. Instead of
flat text, the listings come alive with your enthusiasm and energy.
You can create a Podcast entry for any, or all, of your listings. Site
visitors can use the free iTunes tool from Apple to subscribe to
your Podcasts. Now, whenever you add a Podcast-enriched listing,
they’ll receive new audio files automatically.
Podcasting a Listing
click the Media tab, then click Manage Podcasts.
Listings
What is Podcasting?
To add Podcasting audio to any of your listings...
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1. From your Listings admin, click the Edit Details icon for the
listing you’d like to modify. Or, click New to add a new listing.
2. When your listing detail screen appears, click the Podcast this
listing link.
3. Now complete the Podcast listing items. The Title and
Description fields are displayed whenever a client receives this
Podcast through iTunes. Make sure you include keywords that
users might search for when looking for real estate Podcasts,
such as “Property” “Real Estate” and your local area. Some of
these are included automatically.
Listening to a Podcast
Once you’ve added an audio or video file to your listings, visitors to
your sites will have two options to listen to the content.
1. They can simply listen to the tour online by clicking the relevant
link, or
2. They can subscribe to your Podcasts and receive any new audio
property descriptions you add to this property automatically.
Both of these options are available when a customer opens any
listing to which you’ve added an audio feature.
Subscribing to a Podcast
If your customer clicks on the Subscribe to Podcast link, they’re
presented with a simple contact form, asking for their name, phone
and email address. Naturally, these items are automatically
inserted in your Contacts database.
4. Now, click the Browse button for either the Audio or Video
option. Navigate to the MP3, MP4 or M4V media file you created
and saved on your computer. Select it and click Open.
5. Click Save to add the Podcast audio to your listing.
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After completing this form, the customer is presented with a dialog
box explaining the steps they need to take to subscribe to your
Podcasts through Apple’s iTunes application or other service.
They’re also given the option of downloading the audio or video file
directly to any media device they may have attached to their
system.
file.
Also, remember to keep it short. Your customers are looking at
a large number of properties and their time is valuable. As a
rule of thumb, let the price of the home be your guide. On a
mid-range or starter home, a 30 second piece is probably ideal.
If your listing is a luxury property, you can be a bit more
verbose. In any case, try to keep the length under 2 minutes.
2. Now, launch your audio or video creation software and open a
new file. If you don't have a software application that can
create the appropriate file, you can use a combination of tools such as the Microsoft Windows Sound Recorder and Apple's
iTunes - to create one. Whatever you use, make sure you have
a nice quiet place to work and keep a glass of water handy.
3. When you're all ready, launch into the description of the
property. Remember to infuse your voice with the same
enthusiasm, energy and charm you would if you were talking to
a person face-to-face.
4. Finally, save your media file on your computer.
Using Sound Recorder & iTunes
Creating Media Files
To create a Podcast listing, you must first create an audio or video
file which can be attached. At this point, the audio must be in the
MP3 format created by most audio tools. Video files can be in
either MP4 or M4V format. Click here for a list of some tools that
will help you create your own files. In addition, you’ll need a simple
microphone attached to your PC. Once you have these items, just
follow these simple steps:
While Microsoft Windows does ship with a Sound Recorder utility, it
will not save files in the MP3 format. You can use this tool to record
your audio, but you’ll have to then convert the file into an MP3.
Apple's iTunes program can help you do this.
1. Write a script. Don’t try to “wing it” while you’re recording.
Spend a few minutes and build a story that truly describes your
listing in the terms you'd like home buyers to hear. Now, read
through your script several times to get familiar with it. You
don't want to sound like you’re reading when you create the
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Here are the steps for using this combination to create your MP3
files.
1. The first step is to record your audio using Sound Recorder.
Click the Start menu and run the Sound Recorder applet. It's
normally found in the Entertainment program group.
2. Record your audio tour using some of the hints given above.
When you're done, click File, Properties and then click
Convert Now. From the Name drop-down menu, choose CD
Quality and click OK twice.
3. Now, click File and then Save. Give you audio file a name and
store it on your hard drive.
Next, you need to import your audio clip into Apple's iTunes
application, and then convert it to MP3 format.
1. Launch your iTunes application and then choose Edit,
Preferences from the menus. Click the Advanced tab and,
from the Import Using drop-down menu, choose. MP3
Encoder. Click OK.
2. Now, import your audio file by either dragging and dropping it
into your iTunes library, or clicking File, Add file to library
and then selecting the file from your hard drive.
3. Right-click the audio file in the iTunes Library list and choose
Convert Selection to MP3. Right-click it again and choose
Copy.
4. Finally, paste the file in an easy to find directory on your hard
drive.
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minimize download times. The following recommendations should
provide CD-quality audio files.
Advanced Audio Editing
While the combination of the Windows Sound Recorder and iTunes
will allow you to create the MP3 files necessary for Podcasting your
listings, you can create higher-quality, professional sounding audio
using a number of dedicated audio editing tools. These applications
allow you to clean your audio files up a bit before you publish
them. For example, you can clip out any bad pauses. Or, if you
like, you can even add a musical back-track. (Just make sure you
have publishing rights to the music.)
Recommendation
Channels
Stereo
Sample Rate
44,100 Hz
Resolution
16-bit
Bit Rate
128 kbps
Listings Brochures
Audio Tools
Here are some tools you might consider if you don’t already have
software to create audio files.
Tool
Website
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audio Edit Magic
http://www.mp3editmagic.com/
AVS Audio Editor
http://www.avsmedia.com/AudioEditor
Any Sound
Recorder
http://www.any-sound-recorder.com/
WavePad
http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/
Listings brochures are created automatically based on the
information you enter for your listing. Customers visiting your site
can click the Print Listings button to output the brochure.
click the Media tab, then click Manage Brochures .
2. From the options, indicate whether you don't want to use a
brochure, want to select a brochure template, or upload your
own brochure.
Recommended Audio Settings
When creating your audio files, you’ll have the choice of setting
your recording options to various quality settings. Of course, as
with most things, the more quality you put into the audio file, the
larger the download file will be. While it is true that virtually every
individual using Podcasting has a high-speed connection to the
Internet, it’s also polite to minimize file sizes whenever possible to
Listings
Setting
3. If you indicate that you want to use one of the provided
brochure templates, choose one of the provided brochures. If
you want to preview the brochure before selecting it, click
Preview. Then use the check boxes to Include the Property
Address or Include a Custom Footer in the brochure and
use the editor to build your custom brochure footer if desired.
4. If you indicate that you want to upload your own brochure, click
Upload File, select the brochure you want from your File
Manager. Then, click OK to select the brochure. To preview the
brochure, click Preview Brochure. To remove the brochure,
click Reset Brochure.
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3. Or, select the Use my own map option, then type in the URL
provided by your mapping service.
5. Click Save and Close when finished to attach the brochure to
your listing.
Listings Display
This section gives you complete control over how each listing page
looks. To assign a custom URL or domain name to a listing:
Property Maps
If you'd like to include a map to your property in your listing, you
have two different options. You can use a high-quality, aerial map
from Google Earth, or simply insert a link to the mapping source of
your choice.
To add a map to your listing:
click the Presentation Settings tab.
2. Scroll down to the Listing Details section and select one of the
three display options. See below for specific information on
each.
click the Media tab, then click Manage Maps .
2. If you'd like to use the Google Earth map, just click that check
box, and then indicate whether you'd like the property address
included on the map.
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page. For assistance in using this tool, consult the Content
Editor section of this manual.
My listing has its own website - If you've developed a web
page for your listing on a third party system, you can enter that
URL here. When a client clicks on the link to open this listing,
the site you designate is opened within your listings page.
•
Hint: Since the size of the listing page is constrained, make
sure the page you reference will fit in that display area.
Listing XChange
One of the most powerful features in your listings manager is the
ability to share listings with other agents. Whether you’re building
a network with other agents in your own office, or a group of
colleagues around your area, you can instantly have access to each
other’s listings by setting up a sharing relationship. This feature is
particularly useful to brokers or agent teams that want to
aggregate their listings on each site yet maintain control over their
individual listings and leads.
•
•
Use one of our provided listing templates - There are
several templates from which to choose that control how your
listing will appear when a site visitor opens it. Select the a
template from the drop-down list and click the Preview link to
see how your listing will look.
Build my own listing detail page - If you'd prefer to build
your own page from scratch select this option and click the Edit
my custom listing page button. The standard XSite Content
Editor window appears, in which you can begin designing your
Listings
To share your listings via Listing XChange:
click the Listing XChange tab.
Listing XChange offers two options:
o
Share this listing with my Listing XChange Partners - If
you've set up any partnerships through the Listings XChange
program, this option publishes this listing to all of your
partners. Click the Manage Partnerships link to view your
existing partnerships or set up new ones.
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o
Share this listing with my Broker's XSite - If you have an
Agent XSite that is connected to a Broker XSite, this option
lets you control which of your listings are shared with all
other Agent XSites connected to that Broker XSite.
2. Select the desired options and click Save and Close.
Note: At this time, in order to share listings, all agents must
have an Agent XSite, Broker XSite, or Listings XPress.
Creating Listings Partnerships
To create your own listings network, from the My Office toolbar,
click the Listings XChange option in the Listings drop down
menu.
This opens the tool that helps you identify and sign up other agents
to be part of your group.
The process involves three simple steps:
Step 1: Locate and invite another agent to share their listings with
you.
Step 2: The other agent is notified via e-mail of your request and
can then enter their site to either accept or decline your invitation.
Step 3: Once they’ve accepted, their listings are automatically
included along with yours for use on any of your site's listings
pages. For help with setting up custom listings pages, see the
Creating New Listings Pages section of this manual.
Inviting Other Agents to Share
To invite other agents to share listings with you...
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1. From the Listings XChange screen, click the Create a
Partnership button to open the Search XSites Network
window.
2. To find a specific agent in your area, enter any data you know
about them in the Name, Domain, E-mail, City or State field,
then click Search. You can be as specific or general as you
wish.
4. Continue through the list to identify as many agents as desired,
then click the Next button.
5. A dialog box appears warning you that you’re about to send an
e-mail notification to each of the agents you selected. To edit
the specific message that is going to be sent, click the link in
this dialog box.
6. Our familiar Page Content Editor opens with a default message
inserted. You can edit this message using any of the rich HTMLbased commands found in the menu bar. Make sure you put
your best foot forward, as you may need to “sell” the benefit of
sharing leads with another agent.
7. Click Save to keep your changes, then click Send in the
Invitation E-mail dialog box.
You can repeat the above steps to invite as many agents as you
like to join your group.
If you’re not sure which agents in your area are using XSites or
Listings XPress, you can also scan through a complete list by
clicking the Browse button. A new window opens and displays a
map of the United States and Canada. Click on your country, then
the state or province in which you wish to look. When your county
is displayed, click it to display the list of all XSite and Listings
XPress owners in that county. Now, follow steps 3-7 above to invite
the desired agents to join your group.
3. Your site looks for any other Agent XSite, Broker XSite, and
Listings XPress users that match your criteria and displays
them in a list. Scroll through this list to find the agent you wish
to invite and click the check box next to their name. You can
click on their web site address to view their current site, if
needed. Also, the right-most columns display the number of
listings this agent has on their site, and the number that
they’re willing to share via Listings XChange.
Listings
Current Partnerships
At the bottom of the Listings XChange window, under Your
Partnerships is the list of all the agents with whom you have a
relationship.
•
You can quickly enable or disable the listings from another
agent’s site by clicking the check box next to their name.
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•
If you wish to end your partnership with a particular agent,
click the Stop Sharing link for that agent. This deletes your
partnership and notifies the other agent via e-mail.
2. In the screen that appears, mark your desired options. Options
include:
o
Hide From Searches – If you would like to participate in a
Listings XChange partnership with only a specific group of
people, you can remove your site from any partnership
search. Now, if someone searches for your name, domain
name, city or state, or browses the directory of your area,
your site will not be displayed in the results. People can,
however, invite you to establish a partnership by searching
for your specific e-mail address. Click the check box next to
the first option to enable this setting.
o
Disable Listings XChange Invitations – If you would
prefer to not accept any invitations at all, click the check
box for this option.
XChange Preferences
Of course not everybody will wish to participate in the Listings
XChange system. Using the Preferences screen, you can control
how you appear in the network. To do so...
1. From the Listings screen, choose Preferences from the
XChange menu.
Note: Even though you will not get any invitations, you can still
invite other agents to share with you.
o
Block specific sites – It may be that you’re happy to
entertain invitations from most agents, but there are some
that you would prefer not to interact with. In that case, you
can add them to your list of blocked sites. Once added,
nobody from that domain can invite you to partner with
them. Click the Add a site button to create your list of
blocked domains. Use the Search or Browse functions to
find the appropriate agents, and click the check box next to
their name. Click Next to add the names to your list.
Pending Partnerships
Once you’ve sent your invitations, the request is listed on the
Listings XChange window under Pending Partnerships. If you
have received any invitations from other agents, those appear in
Listings
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this area as well.
To add listings shared through Listings XChange to any Listing
Page:
•
Use the XSites Wizard and open the My Content page. Then
click the Listing Pages tab.
- OR -
•
From the list of Pending Partnerships, there are several things you
can do:
•
•
•
Accepting and Declining Invitations – To accept an
invitation from another agent, simply click the Accept link next
to their name. Or, click Decline to refuse the invitation. As with
the search pages, you can see how many listings this agent has
and is willing to share in the right-most columns. Or, click on
their domain name to browse their site and see for yourself.
Resending Invitations – If you’ve not gotten a response from
an invitation you’ve sent before (either positive or negative),
you can resend that invitation by clicking the Resend
Invitation link next to the desired name.
Deleting Invitations – If an agent you’ve invited has not
responded to your request, you can delete them from your list
at any time. Just click the check box next to their name in the
Pending Partnerships list and then click the Delete
Invitation button.
Adding Shared Listings to Your XSite
Listings shared through Listings XChange or as part of a connection
to a broker's XSite can be included on any of your XSite's Listing
Pages.
Listings
Click the My Listing Pages option on the My Listings page.
1. Click the name of the Listing Page you want to edit.
2. Scroll down and make sure the Include listings shared
through Listings XChange and Include listings shared
through my Brokerage (if applicable) options are checked.
You can also add shared listings to the Dynamic Content displayed
on any page.
1. Open the page on which you would like to add Dynamic Content
in the Editing Window.
2. In the Page Editing Window, scroll down to the Other Content
Options section and check the Include Dynamic Content
check box.
3. Next, click the Customize button that appears to the right of
the Include Dynamic Content check box, then click the
Dynamic Listings tab.
4. Click the Filter Listings button and ensure that the Include
listings shared through Listings XChange and Include
listings shared through my Brokerage (if applicable)
options are checked.
5. Click Save at the bottom of the screen, then Save Changes at
the bottom of the next screen. Finally, click Save and Close in
the Content Editor.
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click the Syndication tab.
Listings Syndication
In real estate, it's all about Location, Location, Location. In
marketing your listings, it's all about Exposure, Exposure,
Exposure. Setting your listings apart from the competition is the
first step. Then, make sure you're exposing those listings to the
widest possible audience. Through its Syndication partners, your
XSite can help you expose your listings to some of the top real
estate directories in the nation. outlets will be added on a regular
basis. Additional outlets are being added all the time.
2. Check the box for each of the services you wish to use.
o
XSites Network - This makes your listing available to
every other Listings XPress and XSite owner through the
XSites Network.
o
CityCribs - CityCribs is an independent real estate search
engine. Check http://www.citycribs.com/ for a list of cities
and details about their service.
o
CLRSearch.com - An independent real estate search
engine that includes community characteristics and other
market data inline with each property. Check
http://www.clrsearch.com/ for a list of cities and details
about their service.
Note: While sharing your listings with the Listings
Syndication partners is largely a matter of clicking a
check box, there are several issues you should keep in
mind before you share your listings:
•
Before you share any listings with third-party sites,
check with your Broker or local MLS to ensure you're
not violating any pre-existing listing agreements.
o
hotpads.com - hotpads.com is an independent real estate
search engine. Check http://www.hotpads.com/ for a list of
cities and details about their service.
•
For each listing you want to share, make sure your
List Status is set to "For Sale" and that today's date
falls within the range specified in your List Date and
Expires On fields. (See Creating & Editing Listings.)
o
Google Base - Google Base is Google's own items-for-sale
search engine. One of its primary uses, though, is to list
homes for sale online. To create your account and learn
more about Google Base check base.google.com.
•
Not all Listings Syndication partners have coverage in
every part of the nation. Check with the publisher to
ensure they cover your area before you publish your
listings.
o
•
Listings are sent to the publishers every night, and
can take anywhere from a few hours to a week or so
to appear on their site.
Oodle - Oodle is an online classifieds site. Properties you
choose are posted the next day provided they fall within a
30-60 mile radius of Oodle's metro coverage areas. Check
http://www.oodle.com/ for a list of cities and details about
their service.
o
Trulia - Trulia is an independent real estate search engine.
Properties you choose are posted the next day provided
they fall within Trulia's coverage areas (currently CA and
NY, but soon expanding). Check http://www.trulia.com/ for
a list of cities and details about their service.
•
Any additional restrictions for each Listings
Syndication partners are included below.
To share your listings on national directories:
Listings
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o
o
o
Vast - Vast is an independent real estate search engine.
Properties you choose are posted within one week provided
they fall within Vast's coverage areas. Check
http://www.vast.com/ for a list of cities and details about
their service.
VideoHomes - VideoHomes specializes in helping agents
expose their listings through Photo and Video advertising.
They do so through a series of "localized" portals. Check
http://www.videohomes.com/ for a list of available portals.
Yahoo! Classifieds - One of the best-known names in
online directories, Yahoo! provides unparalleled coverage for
homes nationwide. Check realestate.yahoo.com for more
information.
Importing Listings
Entering listings into your XSite is simple using the Listings Editor.
However, you can get a leg up on this data entry if your listing is
already created and stored on your MLS service, or in Top Producer
7i. Currently we only support direct MLS integration with the
following MLS systems.
•
Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (Broker Only)
•
Pinellas REALTOR® Organization
•
Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC (MRED)
•
Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors®
•
North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc. (NTREIS)
Importing from MLS
If you've already entered your listing information on your MLS, you
may be able to import that data directly into your listings manager.
To import listings from your MLS...
1. From your Listings admin, click Manage Listings in the My
Listings menu.
2. Click the Import a listing from the MLS link.
3. First, select your local MLS from the drop-down menu.
Depending on your MLS, you may be prompted to fill out and
send in a signed agreement before proceeding. This is entirely
up to your MLS, so simply follow the instructions provided in
your XSite before proceeding. Once this is complete, you will
not have to do it again.
4. Then enter the Agent ID and Office ID supplied by your local
MLS. Click Continue.
5. If you're importing listings for the first time, you're prompted to
download, sign, and send an agreement to your local MLS. Until
this is complete, you will not be able to import from MLS.
6. If you've previously handled the MLS agreement, you have two
options. Select your desired options and click Preview. Options
are:
o
Show all of my listings - Display all of your listings in the
MLS so you can browse them and selectively import them.
o
Show these specific MLS numbers -Show just the
listings you enter (by comma separated MLS numbers) and
then select them from the preview list.
While we strive to provide direct integration with as many MLS's as
possible, ultimately it is up to each MLS to offer or deny this kind of
integration.
Listings
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10. Once the import is complete, click Close to close the window
and return to the listings manager or repeat these steps to
import another batch of listings.
Once your listings are imported, don't forget to edit them and add
important details like the Listing Date, the Expiration Date and
which Publishing options you prefer to use.
Importing from Top Producer 7i®
To import your listings from your Top Producer 7i database into
your listings manager...
1. Open your web browser and point it to
https://www.topproduceronline.com/default.htm
2. Enter your Top Producer Username and Password into the
appropriate fields and click Login.
3. Click Setup on the menu bar and select Listing upload setup.
4. On the Setup websites for listing screen, click Add a
Website.
Note: Remember that just because the listings are there does
not mean you necessarily have the right to import them into
5. On the Add website screen enter your website name into the
Website name field.
your listings manager. If the listings are not yours make sure
you have permission from the listing owner before adding it.
7.
8. Flip through the listings that appear and select listings you want
to import. As necessary, you can click Back and Next at the
bottom of the screen to flip through pages of listings. To select
the entire list of listings that your XSite finds, click the All link
above the grid. To select just the listings currently on screen,
click the Displayed link above the grid.
9. Click Import to start the import process.
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9. Under the Upload method heading, select Upload listing
using HTTP-POST.
10. Click OK to save your settings.
11. Once you have completed the setup, you can
upload your listings directly from Top
Producer by clicking Listings on the menu
bar and choosing Current Listings out of
the drop-down menu that appears.
12. Click an individual listing that you would like
to upload to your listings manager and then click the View or
edit listing link in the menu pane on the left.
6. In the HTTP-POST URL field, enter the web address to which
your data should be posted.
o
For example, if you have a domain the entry would be
appear like this (substituting your domain name for
mydomain.com, of course.):
http://www.mydomain.com/listings/tppost.aspx
o
13. When the listing information appears, click the Upload listing
to web sites link in the menu pane on the left to upload the
listing to your listings manager.
14. Finally, when the warning appears indicating that this process
will upload the listing data to all websites you’ve configured in
Top Producer, click OK to proceed with the upload.
After a few moments, the listing information is loaded into your
listings manager. To further manage the listing’s data from within
your site see the Listings section of this manual.
If you do not have a domain name, your entry should
appear like this (again, substituting the appropriate site
name):
Note: As this process is performed entirely through Top
Producer, should you experience any difficulties uploading
listings with this method, please contact Top Producer.
http://sitename.agentxsites.com/listings/tppost.asp
x
7. In the Username field, enter the username you setup for your
site.
8. In the Password field, enter the password you created for your
site.
Listings
Creating Listings Pages
You can create pages to display your listings from one of two
places:
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Agent XSites
•
Use the XSites Wizard and open the My Content page. Then
click the Listing Pages tab.
- OR -
•
o
By My Agents – Select any of the agents in your office.
The specific agent is assigned to the listing when you enter
that listing in the database.
o
Include listings shared through Listings XChange –
Select this option to display any properties supplied by your
Listings XChange partners that might meet your criteria.
o
Include listings shared through my Brokerage - If your
XSite is connected to a Broker XSite, either through XSites
Connect or because it was generated from that Broker site,
you have the option of including listings from other agents
affiliated with the same broker on your page.
o
Listing Sort Options - Select an option from the drop
down menus to indicate how you'd like the listings on this
page sorted by default. Of course, site visitors can always
re-sort them as they see fit.
o
Display Preferences - Use the Listing Page Preferences
options to control how the listings should appear on this
page.
Click the My Listing Pages option on the My Listings page.
From either place the process for creating listings pages is the
same.
To create a new listing page...
1. Click the Add Listings Page button.
2. First, give your listings page a name by entering it in the
Button Name text box. Remember, this is the text that shows
up in your site’s menus. Make sure you enter a similar name in
the Web Page Address, so you can give people a simple URL
to view this page directly.
3. Next, complete the selection options to indicate which listings
should appear on this page, and how they're displayed:
Filters include:
o
Featured Listings - Check the box to limit your page to
featured listings.
o
By Price – Select any price range.
o
By List Date – Enter a beginning and ending date.
o
By City, State or Zip – Select from these three drop-down
lists to display listings in a certain geographical area.
o
By Status – Filter the list by the status of the listing: For
Sale, For Rent, Sold, etc.
o
By Property Type – Select from the list of several property
types, including those you may have created yourself.
Listings
4. Complete the Search Engine Tools section of the page options,
if desired.
5. When you’re done, click Save and Close.
Note: To add your new listing page to your site, make sure you
click the check box for that page in the Listings Pages panel.
Listing Page Preferences
On the My Listings page, click on the Listing Pages Prefs link to
specify how you'd like to display properties on your Listing Pages.
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Agent XSites
Display Settings
Next, you can modify how the properties are shown on each of
your listings pages.
•
Click the Show Estimated Monthly Payment check box to
have your site automatically calculate and display an estimated
payment for all of your listed properties. This figure is based on
the asking price you enter for each listing, as well as an
assumed down payment percentage.
1. From the drop-down menu, select the page whose settings
you'd like to change. All of the pages on your site which contain
listings - either as a standalone page, or as an option on
another page, such as your home page - appear in this list.
•
In the Assumed down payment amount text box, enter the
desired amount from 0 to 99%.
2. If you'd like to change the settings of all of your listings pages
at once, first make the changes using the options below and
then scroll down and click the Apply these settings to all my
listings pages link.
•
The Enable "My Notes" option allows site visitors to create an
account on your system, and then enter notes for any of the
properties you have listed.
3. Visitors to your site have the option of viewing your listings
pages in one of three formats: Grid, Image or List. Click the
tab for the View type you’d like to modify.
•
If you would like your Featured properties to be shown with a
special icon in any of the graphic lists in which it appears and
then click the check box for Highlight Featured Listings.
With this selected, whenever visitors view one of your listings
pages in either the Grid or Image formats, each of the
properties you’ve marked as “featured” will have an additional
graphic highlighting it.
•
Like the My Notes tool, Enable Favorites allows site visitors to
create an account, and then create lists of their favorite
properties.
•
The final global option allows you to enable or disable the
property search feature. If you would prefer to not allow
visitors to search your online listings, turn this option off.
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4. From the drop-down menu, select the Default view for this
page. The user will still have the option to change views.
5. Select the number of listings you’d like displayed on each page.
Remember that the more listings you have displayed, the
slower the page will come up when a user opens it.
6. If you're editing the Grid View, choose a listings template from
the drop-down menu. This controls how the listings are laid out
on the screen.
7. For either the Grid View or the Images View, you can select
an animation setting. This controls how the Listings Page is
“built” when a user opens it. Animation settings add a lot of
pizzazz to your listings!
8. Click Save Settings to save your work.
Adding IDX
IDX (Internet Data Exchange) or Broker Reciprocity is an
agreement between brokers that allows agents to display listings
that are not their own on a website. It’s not the whole MLS – just
listings from those brokers that opt in to participate. Even though
these are other people’s listings for which your commission is
smaller, having IDX on your site means you’re a one stop shop.
Plus, unlike other online real estate listings, like Realtor.com or
Yahoo Real Estate, IDX listings do not have contact information for
the listing agents – they contact you for details.
The IDX protocol defines a means by which a software provider can
tie into an IDX solution using a web URL. These tools are often
provided by your local MLS, but there could also be other IDX
providers in your area with whom you can subscribe. Signing up for
IDX is something you must do through your MLS or IDX Provider,
outside of XSites.
Before enabling this feature, you need to check with your IDX
provider for the web address of your IDX tool, how it should be
framed and whether any special agreements are required. Consult
tech doc 5946 - Implementing IDX for a complete check sheet of
things you may need to obtain.
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Note: If you have any problems or questions with IDX, contact
[email protected]. If you have any specific questions
about your IDX setup, such as what's your "IDX URL Link" or
"Unique ID", please direct them to your IDX provider.
To add IDX to your site...
1. From the XSite Admin tools, click the IDX option in the
Listings drop down menu.
2. If you’ve already created an IDX link and wish to add another,
click the Add an IDX Page button.
Note: You can include more than one IDX link on your XSite.
boards and MLS providers in that state, scroll through the list to
select the board that is providing you with IDX data.
5. Once a board or MLS is selected, a third drop-down menu
displays the specific IDX tools you may wish to use. Select a
vendor from this list, and follow the instructions presented by
that tool vendor. If your provider is not listed, simply enter
your IDX URL (provided by your IDX vendor) and other
information in the appropriate fields. Or try one of these
options:
o
Contact Us - This is the most likely option for you. Just
send the information about your board to us at
[email protected] and we'll take care of the rest.
o
Choose an iHomeFinder Provided Solution iHomeFinder is a 3rd party service with which you can
subscribe to have listings information available on your
XSite. iHomeFinder does charge a fee for their services, but
there is no extra fee from a la mode to integrate with their
service. If you're board doesn't have an IDX solution or if
you're looking for an alternative to what they provide,
iHomeFinder may be an option.
This is particularly helpful for those agents who operate in an
area that is served by more than one MLS.
3.
6. Next, scroll down and enter a Button Name, such as “All area
listings” or something that indicates to a consumer these are
not all yours, but is a bigger list.
7. Enter a Page Title that matches your button name.
8. Now, select a frame type from the Window Options drop
down menu:
3. From the first drop-down menu, select your state, or the state
in which your MLS board is based.
4. Once you’ve selected a state in the first box, the second dropdown menu is populated with the names of the real estate
Listings
o
Open a new window – opens a new browser window to
display your IDX information. Your XSite remains open, but
is pushed to the background.
o
Open in current window – this option replaces your XSite
with the IDX information. Since there’s no way for the site
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visitor to return to your XSite without using the Back
button, this link is not recommended.
o
Open in an iFrame (Recommended for IDX links) – this is
the recommended format for an IDX link. It retains the site
navigation panels from your XSite, but places the IDX
information in a scrollable window within that frame. This
gives site visitors the feeling that they’re still doing business
with you.
o
Open in a frame – similar to an iFrame, the simple frame
retains the top navigation bar, but eliminates your
secondary navigation tools. Use this option if your IDX
information doesn’t fit well in an iFrame screen.
9. When everything is configured, click the Save button to
activate the IDX tool on your XSite. Now, open the XSites
Wizard and use the My Content and Organize Content tools to
place your IDX listings on your site.
Search for a Property
Agents around the country are adding listings to their XSites every
day. This is creating a nationwide listings database which you can
use to locate properties - and agents - for buyers moving outside
your area. When you locate a desirable property, you simply click
the e-mail link and get right in touch with the listing agent.
1. From the My Office screen, click the Search for Property
option.
2. Complete as many fields as applicable, and then click Search.
3. A new window opens showing the listings on the XSite Network
that match your criteria. Click the View Details link to find
more info about any property, and contact the listing agent
directly.
Listing Domains & URLs
This Presentation Settings section of the Listings Manager lets you
control how your listing can be referenced in your marketing
material. To assign a custom URL or domain name to a listing:
click the Presentation Settings tab.
2. Complete the information in either the Listing URL or Listing
Domain sections, or use both. See below for specific
information.
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4. If that name is not available, click the Try Another button and
enter a different name. If it is available, simply click Register
This Domain.
Listing URL
Enter a Listing URL in the field provided. This allows you to use a
simple web site address on all of your marketing materials for that
property. For example, you might enter their address (without
spaces) in this field.
5. Unless you have pre-purchased additional domain names, you'll
be prompted to enter your credit card information to pay for
the new domain name. Enter the required numbers and click
OK.
Now, to direct visitors to this specific listing, give them the URL:
http://www.baytownproperties.biz/1564Elm
The name is registered and assigned to your listing. It is also
added to your Domain Pool, and can be reassigned to other listings
in the future.
Listing Domain
In addition to the simple listing URL, you have the option of
assigning a specific "domain name" to your listing. This can be an
domain you've already created in with your XSite, or one you've
purchased from a third party domain registrar like eNom or
GoDaddy, and had re-assigned to your XSite. (For more
information on creating domains or transferring existing domains,
consult the Domain Management section of this manual.) Or, you
can create a new domain name for this property on the fly.
To assign a domain from your pool:
1. Click the Select a domain name from my domain pool
option.
2. Select the desired domain from the drop-down menu.
To create a new domain name for this listing:
1. Click the Register a new domain option.
2. Type the desired domain name in the text box. For example,
you might use the property address, without any spaces.
3. Click Check Availability.
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4. Fill out the paperwork provided as you added your MLS to your
IDX account and fax it back to us so we can send it to your MLS
for approval.
IDX
IDX is about more than just a live feed of listings from the MLS.
It's more than just a listings search screen. When coupled with the
right technology and the right presentation, your IDX feed provides
that professional appeal you need on your website that proves
you're serious about selling real estate. And with an entire MLS full
of potential inventory, your prospective buyers will have all the
listings they need to find that perfect home. And the best part is
that you get the lead.
Your XSite is capable of coupling with most forms of IDX.
•
If you'd prefer to use your local MLS's IDX tool, click here to
get started.
•
If you own an XSites IDX account and you'd prefer to use it so
you can wield more control over what occurs in your IDX setup,
click here to get started.
5. Once the MLS approves your paperwork, add your IDX links to
your website.
Agent Setup
In order to set up integration with your MLS, you must first provide
some information about yourself. To set up your agent account...
1. In your site admin, click IDX in the top toolbar.
First Steps
In order to get started with IDX, there are several quick steps
involved.
1. Set up your Agent Info to set your IDX username, password,
contact information, and MLS Agent ID.
2. Set up your Office Info to specify your office contact
information and MLS Office ID.
3. Add your MLS to the list of integrated MLS's in your IDX
account. You will need your MLS Agent ID and MLS Office ID in
order to complete this step.
IDX
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7. When finished, click Save to create or update your account.
2. Click Agent Info in the Staff pane on the left.
Office Setup
In order to set up integration with your MLS, you must first provide
some information about your office. To set up your office account...
2. Click Office Info in the Staff pane on the left.
3. Type in your e-mail address, a strong account password, and a
security question/answer into the provided fields.
4. Enter your first and last name, address, phone number, and
MLS Agent ID at a minimum.
5. Then, fill in any other relevant contact information, turn on TXT
notifications, set your time zone, or adjust for daylight savings
time as needed.
6. For best results with IDX, click the Change link beside
Portrait, Browse out to and select a picture of yourself on
your computer, click Open, and then Upload to attach the
photo to your IDX profile.
IDX
3. Fill out your MLS Office ID, office name, office address, office
phone number, and office website at a minimum.
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3. Click the Configure MLS link on the right side of the screen.
4. As needed, fill out any other contact info for your office.
5. For best results with IDX, click the Change link beside Office
Logo, Browse out to and select your office logo on your
computer, click Open, and then Upload to attach the logo to
your office IDX profile.
MLS Setup
To add an MLS to your IDX site...
2. Click Configure MLS in the Configure pane on the left.
4. In the box that appears, select a State, Board, and MLS from
the drop-down menus. Then, enter your MLS Agent ID and
MLS Office ID and click Add to submit the MLS to your site.
5. Once you've added an MLS, you will need to fill out some
paperwork for your MLS in order to begin using IDX with your
local MLS. Click the Paperwork Needed icon beside the MLS
you've added, print the paperwork, fill it out, and fax it back to
us at 866-313-5601.
Once the paperwork has been approved by your MLS, we
automatically enable the integration so you can begin using your
IDX. If you need to update your Agent ID or Office ID at any later
time, just return to this screen, click the Modify link beside the
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MLS you need to update, enter the new Agent ID and Office ID,
and click Update to submit it back into your site.
IDX Settings
Once you've set up your MLS, you can add three different types of
IDX search links into your site:
•
All Available Listings - A searchable window into your entire
MLS
•
Agent Listings - A searchable window into just your specific
listings in the MLS
•
Office Listings - A searchable window into just your office's
listings in the MLS
To add these links to a 3rd party site...
2. Click IDX Settings in the Configure pane on the left.
3. Copy each of the various links in the IDX Links section and
paste them into the desired places in your 3rd party site. For
best results, we recommend embedding these IDX pages inside
iFrames on your website.
To add these links to your XSite...
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3. Click Create a new Custom Search in the upper right corner
of the screen.
2. Click IDX Settings in the Configure pane on the left.
3. Find the links you wish to add to your site in the IDX Links
section and click the Add This Page to My XSite link below
the link you wish to add.
4. Type a name for your IDX page and then click Add to add it to
your site.
If you need to remove the page from your site at any future time,
just click the Remove link below the type of IDX you wish to
remove from your site.
4. In the screen that appears, type a name for your new search
and click Next.
5. Type a city, state, or zip code to limit your search results into
the provided box and click Next.
6. Select a property type and any pertinent search restrictions
(e.g. price, # beds, # baths) and click Next.
7. Lastly, type in a description of the search you've created.
8. If you want to use the link on your website, you have three
options:
o
Saved searches allow you to set up a very specific list of properties
to display on your site. For instance, you might want to limit the
properties that appear on your site to a certain price range or room
counts. To create a saved search to display on your IDX site for
your clients...
To use the link anwhere - Click Copy Link to copy the
link to your clipboard so that you can paste it into a page of
your site, e-mail, or anywhere else you want to link to your
custom search.
o
To use the link on a website - Click Copy HTML to copy
the code you need to display a link to your custom search
on ANY website into your clipboard.
o
To use the search in your XSite navigation - If you
have an XSite and want to include the saved search as a
button in your site's main menus, check the Add to My
XSite box.
Saved Searches
2. Click Search Manager in the Configure panel on the left.
9. When finished, click Save Search to save the search and/or
add the link to your XSite navigation.
If you need to edit or delete the saved search at a later time, just
return to your Saved Searches list and click the pencil icon beside
the search to edit it or click the red X icon and confirm that you
want to delete the saved search to delete it.
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1. From your site's lead capture tools, click Form Manager in the
Lead Tools pane on the left.
Lead Generation
2. In the Lead Capture Form Manager, click Create a Form.
While websites are effective for many areas of your business, one
of the most common and significant ways you can use it is as a
means of generating qualified leads that you can pursue in
business. And to be successful generating leads online, you need
three things:
3. In the screen that appears, type a name for the form into the
top field - "Customer Survey," for example.
1. Tactics - You can't generate leads without a plan to do so. The
tools alone cannot do the tactical work for you.
2. Forms - A way to collect information from qualified prospects.
3. E-mail Campaigns - Since statistically, most leads are NOT
ready for transaction immediately, you will need a way to keep
in touch with the prospect over the course of time.
Your site provides both the forms and the e-mail campaigns (if you
own XSellerate). While tactics vary depending on the purpose of
your business, you should consult our training archives at
www.alamode.com/training if you need some assistance
determining the proper tactics for your business.
When you are ready to begin building forms and attaching them to
your website to generate leads, your site's lead capture tools will
assist you with that process. To access your site's lead capture
tools...
Hover over XSite in the top toolbar and click Lead Capture from
the menu that appears.
Creating Lead Capture Forms
To create a new lead capture form...
Lead Generation
4. In the field below that, type any instructions or notes you'd like
to provide your prospect.
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Hint: Explanations about why you need specific information to
serve your client and guarantees that you will respect the
prospect's privacy have proven to boost lead capture form
effectiveness.
5.
6. Below the instructions field, you can ask as many questions as
you like. There are two items you can add to your forms:
groups and fields.
o
Groups - Use groups to mix like questions into sections on
your form. To add a group, click one of the Add a Group
links. Then, type a title for your group into the box
provided.
o
Fields - Use fields to ask the questions. To add a field, click
one of the Add a Field links. Then, type your question or
field label into the box provided.
7. As necessary, toggle your fields between short, one-line
responses and longer, multi-line responses by clicking the
single line
and multi-line
icons to the right of each field.
Embedding Lead Capture Forms
To embed a lead capture form into the body of one of your web
pages...
1. First, be sure that you've created the form you wish to embed
into a page of your site.
2. Then, from your site's Lead Capture tools, click PowerView in
the Lead Tools menu on the left.
3. From the PowerView, find the page into which you wish to
embed your form. As necessary, use the options at the top to
filter the pages listed in the PowerView so you can find the
page you need more quickly. Options include:
o
Filtering by State - To filter the pages by whether you've
activated them on your site by checking them in My
Content, choose Show Active Pages option to limit the
pages to just activated pages. Otherwise, choose Show All
Pages.
o
Filtering by Page Type -To filter the list of pages by the
page category (e.g. listings pages, provided pages, custom
pages) in My Content, choose an option from the Show the
Following XSite Pages drop-down list.
o
Filtering by Form - If you're using the same form on
multiple pages on your site, you can filter list of pages by
those that use a particular form. Just choose the form from
the Show Pages that Use this Form menu.
o
Filtering by Contact Group -To filter the list of pages by
the contact group into which you're enrolling new leads,
choose the contact group from the Show Pages Where
Leads Are Added to this Group menu.
8. To flag a field as "required" so that the prospect is forced to fill
it out to submit a form, check the box beside the field.
9. Rearrange your groups and fields into the desired order by
using the green up and down arrows beside each group and
field.
10. If necessary, delete a group or field using the delete icon
its right.
to
11. When finished creating your form, click Save.
To add a lead capture form to a page in your XSite, see the
Embedding Lead Capture Forms section of this user guide.
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Blocking Doorway Forms
Blocking doorway forms allow you to prevent access to a specific
page of your site OR to further access to your site by requiring the
visitor to supply a password OR fill out a form before continuing
through your site. To set up a blocking form that "prevents" access
to a specific page of your site...
4. When you find the page into which you wish to embed a lead
capture form, click the Edit Settings link beside its title.
5. Choose the form you wish to embed from the Embedded Form
menu.
6. Choose a Contact Group into which you want to enroll the
leads that contact you through the form.
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click PowerView in the
Lead Tools menu on the left.
2. Find the page you wish to block in the list provided. As
necessary, use the options at the top to filter the pages listed in
the PowerView so you can find the page you need more quickly.
Options include:
o
Filtering by State - To filter the pages by whether you've
activated them on your site by checking them in My
Content, choose Show Active Pages option to limit the
pages to just activated pages. Otherwise, choose Show All
Pages.
o
Filtering by Page Type -To filter the list of pages by the
page category (e.g. listings pages, provided pages, custom
pages) in My Content, choose an option from the Show the
Following XSite Pages drop-down list.
o
Filtering by Form - If you're using the same form on
multiple pages on your site, you can filter list of pages by
those that use a particular form. Just choose the form from
the Show Pages that Use this Form menu.
o
Filtering by Contact Group -To filter the list of pages by
the contact group into which you're enrolling new leads,
choose the contact group from the Show Pages Where
Leads Are Added to this Group menu.
7. Then, click Save to save your changes.
Using Doorway Forms
While embedding contact forms into the pages of your site in
various ways is an excellent tactic to generate leads, sometimes
you may want to use a form as a "doorway" that blocks access to a
page of your site unless your visitor fills it out. And still in other
times, you might just want to periodically remind your prospects
that they can contact you for assistance on your site. Both of these
tactics form the basis of your site's doorway forms tools.
3. When you find the page you wish to block with a lead capture
form, you can either password protect the page to generate
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leads through password requests OR select a specific doorway
form to block the page.
o
o
Password Protecting Pages - To password protect the
page, click the lock icon by the Password Protection
section for your page. In the box that appears, type a page
password and then click Submit to save it.
Blocking Pages with Specific Forms - To select a specific
form with which to block the page, click the Edit Settings
link beside its title. Then, choose the form you want to use
to block the page from the Doorway Form menu and
select a Contact Group into which to enroll the contact
from the Contact Group menu. By default, the form is
optional for your visitors, but if you also want to use your
blocking form to force the visitor to provide certain
information, check the Required box on the right. Then,
click Save to apply your changes.
Note: Doorway forms and, in particular, required doorway
forms are effective lead generation tools when used properly.
But if you use them excessively or require too much
information, they're often more frustrating to your visitors than
blocking forms by capping the number of pages a visitor can view
on your site without providing contact information. To set up a
reminder form on your site...
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click Global Settings in
the Lead Tools menu on the left.
2. In the screen that appears, check the Activate the Page
Counter Trigger box and specify the number of pages that
you will allow visitors to view on your site before "reminding"
them with a form.
3. From the drop-down menus on the right, select a form to use
as your reminder form and a contact group into which to save
the leads from the reminder form.
4. To use the reminder form as a blocking form that prevents your
visitors from browsing through your site until they fill it out,
check the Require the visitor to complete the form box.
5. If you're not using the reminder form as a blocking form, you
can specify a maximum number of times to show the form to
your visitor by checking the Until the visitor fills out this
form, show it a maximum of box and specifying a maximum
number of times to show the form.
6. To tell your site which pages to "count" as a gauge for how
often to show your reminder form, check the boxes in the
Pages to Count section. Options include:
you're offering in exchange for the visitors' contact information.
they are useful. For best results, use doorway forms sparingly,
and only in places where you've justified the value of what
o
Include Content Pages in Count -Content pages are all
of the pages of your site with the exception of those pages
that display a list of your listings. Check this box if you want
to show your reminder form even while your visitors are
casually browsing your site.
o
Include Listing Pages in Page Count - Listing pages are
pages that display a full list of the listings you're providing
through your site. Check this box if you want to display the
Reminder Doorway Forms
Reminder forms are forms that periodically pop up to prompt the
visitor for information. Unlike traditional blocking forms, they aren't
attached to any specific page of your site. Instead you specify how
often the forms should appear as the visitor browses your site to
control when it appears. You can also use reminder forms as
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reminder form as your visitors browse through the different
types of listings you're providing on your site.
7. If you want to use a reminder form as your clients are browsing
the full listing details for various listings on your site, check the
Activate the Listing Detail Trigger box and repeat steps 4
and 5 for the Listing Detail Trigger.
Specialty Lead Capture Forms
Your site includes a number of pre-designed lead capture pages
intended for very specific purposes. Specialty lead capture pages
include:
•
Home Price Index -An automated CMA tool based on home
values provided by Freddie Mac. To enable the Home Price
Index on your site so you can generate additional seller leads...
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click Home Price
Index in the Lead Tools pane on the left.
Foreclosure.com Integration
Our partnership with foreclosure.com allows you to offer your
visitors access to preforeclosure, foreclosure, bankruptcy, For Sale
By Owner (FSBO) and tax lien listings right on your site. All you
have to do to provide search tools on your site that integrate
directly with foreclosure.com is enable them on your site and you
can start generating leads from those prospects interested in
foreclosures. You can enable foreclosure.com integration on your
site in one or all of three ways:
1. As a dedicated "listings" page on your site
2. As a custom footer in your site
3. As dynamic content in a page of your site
2. In the screen that appears, check the Activate this Page
box to add it to your site.
•
check the boxes beside each page of your site that you want
to offer as a "free report," and then click Save and Close at
the bottom of the screen.
Industry Reports - A way to offer any active page of your
website to your site visitors in the form of a "free report" in
exchange for contact information. To activate the Industry
Reports page...
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click Industry Reports.
2. In the screen that appears, check the Activate this Page
box.
Foreclosure.com as a Dedicated "Listings" Page
To enable a dedicated search page on your XSite that integrates
with foreclosure.com...
1. In your site's lead capture tools, click Foreclosure Listings in
the Lead Tools pane on the left.
2. In the foreclosure.com page, check the Foreclosure Listings
Content Page box.
3. Then, click the Click here link at the bottom. In the page
editor, type any instructions for your visitors into the Page
Content section, scroll to the Available Content section,
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1. Edit any page of your site.
2. Check the box to Include Dynamic Content and then click
Customize in the Other Page Options section.
3. Check the Foreclosure Listings box.
4. If you'd like to include a clickable US map as a search tool in
addition to the basic search options, check the Include
Clickable Map box.
5. Click Save Changes and then click Save and Close to save
the page.
Reviewing Lead Capture Stats
Strong lead capture forms are often developed over time and
tested in different strategic places on a site for the "best" place to
put them. As you work with your site, if you want to track the
effectiveness of a particular form or the placement of a form, you
can do so through your site's lead capture tools.
Foreclosure.com in Your Site Footer
To enable a foreclosure.com search form in the footer of your
site...
Tracking Form Placement Stats
1. In your site's lead capture tools, click Foreclosure Listings in
the Lead Tools pane on the left.
To track the effectiveness of where you've placed a particular
form...
2. In the foreclosure.com page, check the Foreclosure Listings
Content Footer box.
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click PowerView in the
2. Check the Show Lead Capture Stats by Page box in the
upper right corner.
Foreclosure.com as Dynamic Content in a Page
To enable a foreclosure.com search form in any page of your site
as dynamic content...
Lead Generation
3. Scroll down to a page containing the form you wish to track
(regardless of whether the form is embedded or a doorway
form). Below the page setup details, you will see an overview of
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the number of leads acquired through the form attached to
your page.
Password into the boxes provided. Then, click Save to
complete the setup.
Tracking Form Effectiveness
To track the effectiveness of a particular form regardless of its
placement...
1. From your site's lead capture tools, click Form Manager in the
2. Review the stats beside each form in your site to determine
how many pages include the form and how many leads have
come through that form in the history of your site.
Lead Generation Partners
To help you leverage leads from as many sources as possible your
site directly integrates with both BuyerLink and LandVoice lead
generation services. If you subscribe to BuyerLink or LandVoice,
you can easily integrate those accounts with your site.
•
BuyerLink - To sign up and integrate with BuyerLink, from
your site's lead capture tools, click BuyerLink in the Lead
Tools pane on the left. Fill out the sign up form and click
Submit. Then, when the BuyerLink representative contacts
you, complete your sign up.
•
LandVoice - From your site's lead capture tools, click FSBO
Tools in the Lead Tools pane on the left. If you need to sign
up for LandVoice, click the Enroll Now button and complete
your sign up on LandVoice's website. If you are already a
LandVoice customer, type your LandVoice Username and
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1. In your site's user manager, click Add User on the left side of
the screen. Choose to use either your current 3rd party e-mail
address or use one of your branded e-mail accounts as the
login for your site.
User Management
Your site's user manager gives you complete control to who can
access your site's back end administrator, create branded e-mail
accounts, and build profiles for your staff directory all at the same
time. To access your site's user manager...
Note: Whenever your mark the CertMail option for your login
1. Hover your cursor over the My Office button in the toolbar.
CertMail relevant details for your account described in the
account, your site automatically creates a CertMail account for
you when you save the profile. Just be sure to fill out the
Creating CertMail Accounts section below.
2. Then, click User Management in the toolbar that appears.
3. Then...
o
Click an account in the Site Users pane to edit it.
o
Click Add User to create a new account.
2.
3. Then, type in your preferred e-mail address, a strong account
password, and a security question/answer.
4. Enter your first and last name in the fields provided.
5. Then, fill in any other relevant contact information, create an
account profile, or apply user privileges as needed.
6. When finished, click Save to create or update your account.
Creating Accounts
Your site's user accounts are directly tied to your site's CertMail
accounts (if you own any). Whenever you create an account in
your site's user manager, you also have the option to create a
branded e-mail address for the new site user and can also
optionally create a profile for the user in your site's staff directory.
Creating User Accounts
To create a user account in your site...
User Management
Creating E-mail Accounts
Whenever you select CertMail as your preferred e-mail service so
that you can brand your e-mail with your company's dotcom, your
site automatically creates a new e-mail account attached to your
web address when you save your profile. To take full advantage of
your new e-mail account, you should also take a moment to apply
the correct time zone, an e-mail friendly name, and any e-mail
appropriate e-mail aliases to your account. To do so...
1. While editing your user account, type an E-mail Friendly
Name into the box provided. E-mail "friendly names" are the
labels that appear in a recipient's e-mail box whenever you
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send an e-mail through your CertMail account. For example, an
e-mail from [email protected] would state that it's
from [email protected] without an e-mail friendly
name. But with the e-mail friendly name of "Joel Baker," the
same e-mail would state that it's from "Joel Baker" when it
reaches the recipients' inbox.
2. Select your Time Zone from the provided box so that the email you receive is stamped with the appropriate time for your
area of the country.
3. Then, as necessary, create any CertMail e-mail aliases you wish
to use with this account and click Save to apply your changes.
3. Click Add to add the new e-mail alias.
Creating E-mail Aliases
With your CertMail e-mail alias tool, you can create "pseudo" email accounts that people can use to contact you. Effective e-mail
aliases can help you ensure that you still receive e-mail sent to
common misspellings of your name or a handful of other generic email addresses you want to use for your business. To create e-mail
aliases for one of your CertMail accounts...
1. From User Management, click to open the account in the Site
Users pane for which you want create e-mail aliases.
2. In the Login & E-mail section, click the Add an E-mail Alias
link and type a new alias into the box that appears.
4. Repeat this process until you have all the e-mail aliases you
need (up to 10) and click Done when finished.
5. Make any other changes you need to the open user profile and
click Save when finished to save your changes.
Creating a Profile
To create a profile for yourself that you can place into your site's
staff directory...
1. Open your user account and then scroll down to the User
Information section.
2. At a minimum fill out the First Name and Last Name fields.
3. Complete the name, address and phone number fields, as
desired.
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4. If you'd like to include this user in your Staff Profiles page,
check the box at the top of the form.
5. To attach a personal photo to your profile, click the Change
link by Portrait. Then, click Add New File, Browse, and
select an image file from your hard drive. Click Open, then
Upload to add this image to your File Library. Then, select
the file and click OK to place the image.
6. To write a biography for your profile, click Change next to Bio
Text. Then, use the word-processor-like content editor to
create your bio. When finished, just click OK to add it to your
profile.
XSellerate permissions from another user account in order
to grant it to the current user.
o
User Management - By default, users can only manage
their own user accounts and profiles. By checking this box
you flag the user as an administrative user who can access
and update all user accounts and profiles.
o
Listings - When checked, this gives the user permission to
edit the listings on your site.
3. When finished assigning and revoking privileges, click Save to
update the profile.
7. When finished with your profile, remember to click Save.
Deleting Users
If you ever need to delete an account from your site or delete a
CertMail account...
Granting Privileges
As you create new user accounts and profiles for the members of
your staff to use in your site, you should give great care to
distributing access rights inside your site. By limiting access rights
to just those members of your team that absolutely need them,
you secure your website against both accidental and intentional
damage. To grant or limit access privileges for any user account in
your site...
1. Open a user account and then scroll down to the User
Privileges section.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Delete this user.
3. Click OK in the warning that appears to delete the account.
1. Open a user account and then scroll down to the User
Privileges section.
2. Check the box beside each permission to grant access to each
feature or remove the check beside a box to revoke access.
Permissions include:
o
Wizard - When checked, this gives the user permission to
edit the look, feel, and content of your site.
o
XSellerate - If you own a copy of our XSellerate marketing
system, checking this box flags this user as your dedicated
marketing coordinator. By checking this box, you remove
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important step in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process.
Your XSite makes submitting and maintaining your sitemap easy leaving you free to concentrate on keeping your site content fresh
and relevant. Here's how you do it:
Search Engine Tools
For many XSite owners, search engines are an integral part of
advertising their businesses online. And while search engine
ranking algorithms constantly change to meet the demands of
today's users, there are several things you can do to increase your
search engine exposure and ranking. Your XSite provides several
search engine tools you can use to boost your online visibility. To
maximize your search engine exposure...
2. Click the Google Sitemaps link in the SEM Tools pane on the
left.
1. Sign up for Google's free sitemap service and connect your
XSite with your Google account.
4. If you already have a Google account, you can use it to log in
here, or create a new free account to use with your XSite.
2. Sign up for Yahoo's free sitemap service and connect your XSite
with your Yahoo account.
5. In Google Webmaster Tools, click the Add a site... button, and
enter your full domain name - for example: www.alamode.com.
Then click Continue.
3. Enable Site Navigation section of your Site Footer and include
links to the most important pages of your site only.
1. Hover your cursor over XSite in the toolbar at the top and click
Search Engine Tools in the toolbar that appears below.
3. Click here, or on the link in step 1 to open Google Webmaster
Tools.
4. Activate your blog and begin blogging regularly. Over time,
blogging dramatically improves your online exposure.
5. Rewrite each important page of your website to include the
specifics for your business and use your language. Be sure to
update the page title, description, and keywords for each page
you choose to rewrite.
There's much much more you can do to improve your search
engine rank. To learn more, be sure to watch the recorded session
of our Driving Traffic webinar or join us for a live session when
available.
6. Now, on the Verify Ownership page, for Verification
Method choose Meta tag from the drop-down menu.
Google Sitemaps
When you submit your sitemap to Google, you are providing a
detailed map of the pages that Google will crawl, so it's an
Search Engine Tools
7. Select the meta tag that appears in the box, including the <
and > at the beginning and end, and copy it.
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11. Click Submit a Sitemap on the bottom right of the page.
8. Return to the Google Sitemaps page in your XSite admin, and
paste what you just copied into the field in step 5.
9. Click the Save button.
10. Now, back in Google Webmaster Tools, click the Verify button.
Once Google has completed verification, you should see the
Dashboard page.
12. On the next page, click + Submit a Sitemap. In the field that
appears, type siteMapRSS.xml then click Submit Sitemap.
That's it! Now, Google knows which of your pages to crawl so
they can index all of your content. That way, your pages can be
served as results for people who are searching for the services
you provide. You're now one step closer to driving traffic to
your website from Google!
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10. Type or paste the META tag from the previous step into the
Verification Meta Tag field in the Yahoo Sitemaps step of
your XSite and click Save when finished.
Yahoo Sitemaps
Yahoo Sitemaps provide an easy way for you to submit all your
URL's to the Yahoo index and get detailed reports about the
visibility of your pages on Yahoo. With Yahoo Sitemaps you can
automatically keep Yahoo informed of all your web pages, and
when you make changes to these pages, they automatically help
improve your coverage in the Yahoo crawl. To enable Yahoo
Sitemaps...
11. Finally, return to the authentication page you left open in step 9
and click Ready to Authenticate below the META tag section.
Your Yahoo Sitemaps are now enabled. Once Yahoo verifies that
your sitemap is active, it will automatically update its information
with the latest content you post to your site.
Search Engine Tools in the toolbar that appears.
2. Click the Yahoo Sitemaps link in the SEM Tools page on the
left.
3. Write down the Sitemap URL listed in the box half way down
the page.
4. Go to the https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit.
5. Log in using your Yahoo Account Username and Password or
create a new free account to use with your XSite.
6. In the screen that appears, type the Sitemap URL you wrote
down in step 3 into the Submit Site Feed box. Leave the
Submit a Website or Webpage box blank.
7. Click Submit Feed.
8. Once Yahoo accepts your sitemap feed, click Authenticate in
the upper right corner of the screen.
9. Scroll down to the section about authenticating with META tags
and find the entry that looks something like <META
name="y_key" content="89e977e20f8b757d" />. Write
the META tag you see down or copy it to your clipboard. Be
sure to leave this screen open as you will return to it in a
moment.
Search Engine Tools
Page Submissions
The page submission tools that come with your XSite can be a
great way to ensure that major search engines are aware of the
latest changes you've made to any page on your XSite. To submit
a page to search engines:
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Search Engine Tools in the toolbar that appears.
2. Click Page Submission in the SEM Tools pane on the left.
3. When the list of pages you've included on your site appears,
mark any pages you wish to submit to search engines and click
Submit.
Note: Submitting your site pages to search engines too
frequently can actually cause search engines to disregard your
efforts and dock your placement in search results. For best
results, limit yourself to submitting new pages to search
engines once a month.
Search Engine Tools
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were. For most, the home page will probably be the top entry
page, followed by order management.
XSites Statistics
Your XSite actively tracks the visitors that come to your site so that
you know which pages of your site receive the most traffic, where
your visitors are coming from, and how many of them are
returning visitors. This kind of statistical information provides a
window into the effectiveness of your site that you can use to
tweak the content, keywords, and ad campaigns you're using to
market your business. To access your XSite's statistics...
•
First time and returning visitors - Whenever someone visits
your website, their IP address and other information is logged
on our servers. (Did you know that YOUR information is also
sent to all the websites you visit?) So, we know if they've been
to your site before and give you statistics here.
•
Referring URLs - Another piece of information sent to a web
server when a computer browses to a site is the last website
you were viewing before reaching the server. Some of this
information may be meaningless to you, but if you see a lot of
"hits" that have Google or Yahoo! in them or maybe a news site
where you posted an article, you'll know from where it is people
are hearing about your site.
•
Common Search Phrases - We analyze your referring URL's
and pick out which ones are from search engines and also the
text that led someone to find you there.
•
Listings - This shows which of your listings is getting the most
traffic.
1. Log into your XSite, hover your cursor over XSite in the top
toolbar, and click Stats in the toolbar that drops down.
2. Once the XSite stats page loads, you can filter and sort your
results in a variety of ways to clarify the picture of traffic to
your site.
o
o
o
Enter a date range into any of the provided fields and click
Submit to filter the statistics to a specific date range.
Click the total above any column in your stats page to sort
the results for that section by the column you clicked.
In the returning visitors vs first time visitors section, click a
time range link to see IP addresses for each visitor and a
total number of pages visited by each person.
If you're serious about web "hits", consider tracking the
information we display here in a spreadsheet so you can get
additional running totals and truly measure the success of your
marketing efforts.
Here's a brief description of each of the sections.
•
Page Views - This shows a list of your top pages and how
many views they're getting. Your home page is usually your
top page, but isn't it interesting to know what other content
visitors are reading.
•
Entry pages - An Entry Page is the first page somebody hit
when they entered your site. If you publish articles or list
URL's other than your domain, this shows how effective they
XSites Statistics
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4. Select your time zone and daylight savings adjustment from
the drop-down menus.
CertMail
CertMail is a la mode's high-end e-mail service - designed to
accompany our XSites. You can access it either through a desktop
e-mail program or through our powerful online e-mail tools. Just as
XSites are more than mere web hosting CertMail goes way beyond
simple e-mail messaging. Some added features include:
5. As desired, add your e-mail signature block, mail forwarding
settings, anti-spam preferences, or set up an Out of Office
notice.
Enabling SPAM Filters
•
Server-side virus protection and spam filtering
To configure your CertMail SPAM blocker...
•
SureReceipts feature that sends a guaranteed receipt no matter
what e-mail client the recipient has.
1. From CertMail, click Options in the top toolbar.
•
E-mail forwarding for each e-mail address
•
A web interface, so you can access your e-mail from any
Internet PC without installing software (as long as you have
your password)
•
Support for POP3, SMTP and IMAP protocols for use in Outlook
or other e-mail clients.
•
A web-based calendar and address book that are compatible
with Outlook and many other real estate specific applications.
2. Scroll down to the Manage Your SPAM Settings section.
3. Select Yes from the Enable SPAM Filtering drop-down menu.
Configuring CertMail
When you log into CertMail, can control the way CertMail on the
web behaves. To set your CertMail options...
1. From CertMail, click the Options icon
4. Select your SPAM filtering preference from the When Blocked
Senders Send E-mail drop-down menu. Options are:
o
If you want to reject e-mail from any sender you've
blocked, but also send a notice of the rejection, select the
Reject E-mail option.
o
If you want to simply want to delete e-mail sent from
senders you've blocked, select the Permanently Delete
option.
in top toolbar.
2. Choose the number of messages to display on-screen using the
drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
3. Indicate whether you want to view the message "preview" pane
to view e-mail messages without opening them.
CertMail
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o
If you'd prefer to have SPAM sent to a specific SPAM folder
where you can sift through the messages later to ensure
that no messages were incorrectly marked as SPAM, mark
Move E-mail to SPAM Folder option.
5. When finished, click Save (at the top of the screen) to apply
your changes.
Note: When you enable spam filtering for CertMail, CertMail
automatically deletes any messages that are flagged as spam
within 5 days after they are received.
Whitelisting & Blacklisting
CertMail's SPAM filtering tools provide you with a way to block all
e-mail from a particular domain or e-mail address. Of course, if
you need to ensure that e-mail from your associates always makes
it through, you also have access to a "whitelist" you can edit. To
add someone to your safe or blocked sender list...
1. From CertMail, click Options in the top toolbar.
4. Type the specific e-mail or domain name you want to permit in
the Safe Sender box. If you enter an e-mail address
([email protected]), any mail received from that specific
address will be permitted. If you add a domain name
(myfriends.com) then e-mail from anybody using that domain
name is permitted. Then, click Add to put it into the list and
repeat these steps for any other e-mails you need to permit.
5. When finished, click Save (at the top of the screen) to apply
your changes.
2. Scroll down to the Manage Your SPAM Settings section.
3. Type the specific e-mail or domain name you want to block in
the Blocked Sender box. If you enter an e-mail address
([email protected]), any mail received from that
specific address will be blocked. If you add a domain name
(spamsender.com) then e-mail from anybody using that
domain name is blocked. Then, click Add to put it into the list
and repeat these steps for any other e-mails you need to block.
Forwarding E-mail
Each of your CertMail accounts can have a list of other e-mail
addresses to which it can forward a copy of its messages. This is
handy in cases where your e-mail client is already setup to read
mail from one service and you don't wish reconfigure it. To setup
e-mail forwarding through CertMail...
CertMail
in the toolbar.
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2. Scroll down to the Mail Forwarding Options section of the
page.
2. Scroll down to the E-mail Forwarding Options section of the
page.
3. Click the address you wish to remove, then click Remove.
4. Repeat this for other addresses that may be listed.
5. Click Save (at the top of the screen) when you are through.
E-mail Signatures
3. In the Forward to box, type an e-mail address to which you
want to forward your CertMail messages and click Add.
4. Repeat step 3 for other e-mail addresses you want to receive
your forwarded messages.
5. Mark whether or not you want a copy of the forwarded
messages saved on the CertMail server. If you don't plan on
accessing your CertMail account directly from the web client or
tying CertMail into your e-mail program, be sure want to mark
this option.
Instead of having to type your name and other information at the
bottom of each message, you can setup a default "footer".
in top toolbar.
2. In the Configure Your E-mail Signature section, set the
Append Signature to New Messages option to Yes.
3. Then, in the Signature field, type your desired e-mail
signature. Commonly, this is your name, title, etc.
6. Then, click Save (at the top of the screen) when you are
through.
Note: When you enable e-mail forwarding inside CertMail,
CertMail automatically enables your e-mail spam filter and
deletes any messages within 14 days after they are forwarded.
Removing Forwarding Addresses
If you no longer wish to have messages automatically forwarded to
any or all of the accounts you previously entered, you can easily
remove e-mail forwarding. To remove e-mail forwarding...
1. In CertMail, click the Options icon
CertMail
4. Click Save (at the top of the screen) when finished to apply
your changes.
in the toolbar.
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Out of Office Notices
If you're planning a vacation or road trip that will take you away
from your business for some period of time, you can set CertMail
up to automatically respond to any e-mail you receive with an out
of office notice. To do so...
in the toolbar.
expect in your desktop e-mail program. In addition, CertMail online
comes with direct integration into your XSellerate automated
marketing system and an advanced spam blocker that can prevent
spam from ever making it into your mailbox. You can access
CertMail Online in a few different ways:
•
Set up your CertMail account inside of Outlook or another email program.
•
Click the CertMail button in the top toolbar of your XSite
admin.
•
Go to http://www.certmail.com/ and log in manually with your
CertMail e-mail address and Password. Then, click Login.
2. Scroll down to the Out of Office Configuration section.
3. Type the body of the message you want to use as your out-ofoffice notification into the Text to include box.
4. Type or select Start and End dates and then set the Enable
Out of Office Auto Response setting to Yes.
5. Click Save (at the top of the screen) when finished to apply
your changes.
Composing Messages
Creating Accounts
Initially, your CertMail service has one account created based on
the contact information in your administrator account. Depending
upon the level and type of XSite you purchased, you may have
several more accounts available. Since CertMail accounts are
directly tied to user accounts, you need only create a new user
account to create a new CertMail account as well. For specific
details about creating user accounts, see the User Management
section of this user's guide.
To send an e-mail from CertMail on the web...
1. In CertMail, click Compose.
2. Enter the recipient in the "To" field. You can separate multiple
recipients with a semi-colon.
3. Enter any e-mail addresses you want to "carbon copy" (CC) or
"blind carbon copy" (BCC).
4. Type a subject line for your e-mail.
5. If you need to attach a file, click Add File. Then, click Browse
and find the file you wish to attach to the message and click
OK.
CertMail Online
CertMail's interactive online service allows you create and manage
your e-mail messages with the same functions you've come to
CertMail
Note: To ensure the speed, reliability and security of CertMail,
we do limit your message to 25 MB in total size. Typically if you
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need to transfer a file of more significant size, you would need
to find an alternate method then e-mail anyways as your
recipients may not be able to receive a file of such magnitude.
6.
7. Type your message using the word processor style interface
provided. If you don't have time to finish the message, click
Save to Drafts to place it in your CertMail Drafts folder.
Sending Individual Ads
If you have the XSellerate Marketing system, you have the ability
to send a standalone ad from your Ad Library through WebMail. To
send a standalone ad...
1. From CertMail, click Compose in the toolbar.
2. Add a subject line and recipients as usual.
3. Click the User XSellerate Content link above the main Body
text box.
4. When the Ad Library appears, find the ad you wish to send.
Note: For more information about how to find and filter ads,
see the Ad Library section of your XSellerate user guide.
8. If necessary, use the Importance drop-down menu to indicate
the significance of the message.
9. Click Send when finished to deliver your e-mail.
CertMail
5.
6. Click to select it and click Add to mail message to insert the
ad into the body of your e-mail.
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7. Add any additional text or information as necessary and click
Send when finished to deliver your ad.
Message View Tips
Managing Folders & Messages
The CertMail WebMail client offers much of the functionality you'd
find in a standard desktop e-mail client. You can have as many
folders as you like with nested subfolders. Categorizing messages
into folders makes them easier to find and helps.
•
You can sort your list by clicking a column heading.
•
When selecting messages to move or copy to another folder,
you can select a block of messages by clicking the first one in
the block and then using Shift + Click to get the last one in
the block. All messages in between those will be selected.
•
Select multiple non-sequential messages with Ctrl + Click.
This means highlighted messages remain selected when you
click others.
•
The Refresh button above your message list checks for new
messages sent since you first logged into your mailbox.
•
Instead of reading messages in the preview pane, you can
double click them and reveal functions such as printing and a
quick way to add the sender to your address book.
Flagging SPAM
Creating Folders
1. In CertMail, click the "parent" of the folder. For example, if you
wanted the folder to be a subfolder of your Inbox, click
Inbox. If you want it on the same level as your Inbox, click
the item for "Mailbox" followed by your account name.
CertMail's SPAM filtering tools offer a dual layer of protection to
help safeguard your mailbox from the increasing volleys of SPAM
on the Internet. In order to use these measures, you must first
enable our server-side SPAM filtering system on your account.
Once you've done that, there are two ways to combat spam:
•
Flagging individual messages as spam
•
Whitelisting and blacklisting e-mail addresses
2. Click New.
3. Type the name for the folder.
4. Then, click Save.
CertMail
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Flagging Individual Messages
Spammers regularly adapt their techniques to maximize the
amount of junk e-mail they can get into your mailbox. Because of
this, it's difficult to block all of the spam that comes to your inbox
through traditional whitelisting and blacklisting. But in the last few
years, anti-spam techniques have also evolved, allowing us to
provide you with the most effective anti-spam technology to date.
As you use CertMail, you have the ability to flag any message as
spam. And every time you mark a message as spam, it's flagged in
our global spam database so that similar spam messages do not
make it to any CertMail inbox again. As more and more CertMail
users begin flagging spam, less and less spam actually makes it
through to all CertMail accounts. To flag a message as a spam
message...
1. From the CertMail Online, click to select the message you wish
to flag as spam.
2. Click the Spam link above the message grid to flag the
message as spam and send it to your Spam box.
Using SureReceipts
SureReceipts allows you to get a true delivery receipt for messages
you send through WebMail. Unlike receipts built into programs like
Microsoft Outlook, SureReceipts doesn't depend on the recipient
using Outlook or confirming that they want to send your receipt.
As an added bonus, the delivery mechanism built into SureReceipts
overcomes common file-size limitations with attachments, so you
can send any size files you want. To send a message via
SureReceipts...
1. From CertMail Online, click Compose.
Whitelisting & Blacklisting E-mail Addresses
2. Fill out the recipient's e-mail, the subject line and everything
else as you normally would.
1. From the CertMail Online, right-click a message from the
safe/blocked sender.
2. From the menu that appears, click Add to Blocked Senders
List or Add to Safe Senders List.
3. Add attachments if needed as well.
4. Now, click the option for Deliver using SureReceipts.
5. Then, click Send.
For you, it's like sending a regular e-mail message. However, your
recipient sees something a little different when your message
arrives. They won't see your text or attachments. Instead, they
get a notification that a message is waiting for them and a
CertMail
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hyperlink to click. Once they click the link, they are taken to a
message pickup area on our CertMail server. And you are sent a
"receipt" back in e-mail. Then, the page they see has your
message on it in addition to individual links for each of the
attachments. When the recipient clicks each of the attachments
you receive additional delivery receipts indicating that they have
received each of your attachments.
Automatic E-mail Client Setup
To set up your CertMail account in Outlook automatically.
1. In CertMail, click Options.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the Mail
Client Configuration Wizard link.
E-mail Clients
Note: If you're using a dial-up Internet connection, you will
need the name of that connection before you continue. To
Our CertMail servers are just as powerful, if not more powerful
than what your ISP would provide - especially considering we prescan your e-mail for viruses. In addition, CertMail supports both
POP3 and IMAP configurations in your e-mail client. Here are some
advantages to using IMAP over POP3 for connecting to CertMail.
•
•
With POP3, your messages are downloaded and typically erased
from our server. That means that two computers shouldn't
access the same account, and if something should happen to a
PC downloading the messages, they would all be gone. Of
course, if you configure your POP3 setup via our specifications,
you need not worry about this as we recommend that you leave
a copy of each e-mail message on our servers as a backup.
The more modern IMAP saves the messages on our server you can access them from multiple PC's or use our web
interface. You can even add and manage folders for your
messages on the server. This is often important for real estate
professionals who are often on the go and using multiple
computers.
Depending on your e-mail client, there are different settings for
configuring it for CertMail via IMAP and POP3. To facilitate this
process, we have developed an account configuration wizard that
will automatically setup your Outlook account for you, but you can
also set up your account manually if you wish.
CertMail
determine the name of your dial-up Internet connection, click
Start, Control Panel (or Start, Settings, Control Panel if
you don't find it in the main menu.). Then, find and click
Network Connections to view a list of connections on your
computer. Just find your dial-up connection in the list and write
down the name of that connection.
3. When the Mail Client Configuration Wizard appears, mark the
option that corresponds with how you connect to the Internet.
Options are:
o
Local Area Network (LAN) - Use this option if you have a
high speed Internet connection like a cable or DSL modem.
o
Use Phone Line - Use this option if you dial up to the
Internet.
o
Use Internet Explorer's Dialer - Some dial-up Internet
providers require you to connect to their services via
Internet Explorer rather than the typical Windows dial up
connection. While this is less common, if you know this is
the case with your provider, you should mark this option.
o
Use Phone Line if LAN Unavailable - This option is best
suited for those who have a laptop as their primary
computer and are frequently on-the-go. Specifically, if you
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speed connections and has a broader set of features and
functionality that POP3. A POP3 setup was designed for dial up
Internet connections, but due to its age, it often proves to be
the more stable of the two technologies. If you're using a
laptop and are frequently on-the-go or if you have a dial-up or
satellite Internet connection, this is your best option. If you
have a high speed connection and have experienced problems
using IMAP, POP3 may alleviate some of those problems.
usually have a high speed Internet connection (like at the
office) and you dial up to the Internet whenever you're
away from that connection (like at home) you'd want to
mark this option.
4. Next, choose the version of Outlook you want to configure for
CertMail. If you are unsure which version of Outlook you are
using, you can always open Outlook and click Help, About to
find the version information. If you do not have a full version
of Outlook, choose Outlook Express as it is the free version
that comes with every copy of Windows.
6. Click Create to create your e-mail account setup file.
7. Click OK in the message that appears.
8. If you chose Outlook Express, you will be prompted about
whether you want to Run or Save the file. Click Run and then
click Yes to verify that you want to add the information to the
registry. If you chose any other version of Outlook you will be
prompted about whether you want to Open or Save the file.
Click Open and then click OK to continue.
Note: As Windows may handle the Run/Open function
differently depending on your Windows version and current
update, it may not work properly for all users. If you
experience difficulties with the Run/Open option, choose Save
instead of Run/Open in the step above and save the file to a
familiar location like your Desktop. You can then run the file
from there, by just double-clicking it.
9.
10. If you chose Outlook Express, additional messages may also
appear, just click OK to continue.
5. Finally, mark the option for either an IMAP setup or POP3
setup. An IMAP setup is ideal for those who always use a high
speed connection to the Internet. It was designed for high
CertMail
11. When the final message has been confirmed, your Outlook
setup is complete. Just close the small window with setup
information and open your copy of Outlook to access your
CertMail.
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Manual E-mail Client Setup
If you'd prefer to set up Outlook by hand, we have a document
that will assist you in making the right setup choices for your needs
and help walk you through the setup for your version of Outlook.
Just visit the link below and select your preferred setup method
and your version of Outlook.
1. In the More Info report, review the details of your account. In
addition to the basic overview of your account, you can do a
variety of other things. Options are:
http://help.alamode.com/docs/certmail/
Usage Reports
The Mailbox Details pane shows you, at a glance, how much
space you're using. To use it..
o
Purchase additional CertMail storage space by clicking the
icon to order more.
o
Purchase additional CertMail accounts by clicking the
to order additional CertMail accounts.
1. In CertMail Online, look for the Mailbox Details pane on the
left side of your mailbox.
icon
2. Each section in this pane should outline how much space you're
currently using or currently have remaining in your CertMail
account. For a full report of your account details and ways to
purchase additional CertMail accounts or storage space, click
More Info.
CertMail
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Contacts
Your XSite comes complete with a full-featured contact manager.
Since it, like your XSite, is completely web-based, you have access
to your full address book regardless of whether you're at your
computer or in the field with only a mobile phone. Just click
Contacts in the toolbar at the top of your site's administrative
tools to access your online contact manager.
o
Contact Information - Basic information about the
individual.
o
Birthday and Anniversaries - The contact's
birthday/anniversary of becoming a client. See the
Birthday/Anniversary Marketing section for more detail.
o
Type of Contact - The contact's function or role.
o
Phone Numbers - Various types of contact numbers.
o
Street Addresses
o
Online Addresses - Various contact e-mail addresses.
o
Licenses and Certification - Any relevant
license/certification information you need to store in the
contact.
o
Groups - Custom contact groups. See the Creating Contact
Groups section of this user's guide for more details.
o
Notes - Room for any important information you want to
store about your contact.
Creating Contacts
Having an address book naturally keeps you from having to retype
e-mail addresses. Plus, the contacts you add integrate with our
other products and features that rely on an address book. To add
a contact...
1. In the contact manager, click Add and then click Add Contact
in the menu.
2. Expand each section of the contact details by clicking the arrow
to the right of each header. Available sections are:
Contacts
3. Then, enter any necessary information into the fields provided.
Depending on which contact information you edit, you may
have other options presented to you.
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o
In the Contact Information section, you can create and
edit new company contacts by clicking New or Edit beside
the Company drop-down menu.
so you should consult your software's user's guide for exact
instructions. For convenience, though, we've outlined the correct
processes for the following programs.
o
In the Street Addresses section, you can set the address
you enter to double as the mailing address by checking the
box for that option.
•
Outlook
•
Outlook Express
•
Top Producer 7i
•
ACT 6
o
o
In the Online Addresses section, make sure to designate
which e-mail account you plan to use to correspond with the
contact by default. Just mark Primary option beside the
desired default contact address.
In the Groups section, click Add to create a new group or
click Manage Groups to call up the group manager.
o
In the Notes section, click Add or Edit to outline important
notes about the contact. In order to use this feature, you
must first save the contact.
o
In the License and Certification section, click Add or Edit
to enter additional license/certification information about
your new contact. In order to use this feature, you must
first save the contact.
Once you've generated the CSV export file from your contact
management software, you can import it directly into your contact
manager. To do so...
1. In the contact manager, click Tools, Contact Import.
4. When you're finished editing your contact, click Save to apply
your changes.
2. In the screen that appears, indicate the source of your
contacts. Options are.
Importing Contacts
Importing your contacts from your existing contact manager or email program saves you time from typing these into contacts
manually. Most people should probably only need to run the
import one time when they initially get started with their contacts
database. In order to use the contact import tool, you must first
export your contacts from your local contact management system
into a .CSV file. The exact process for your contact management
application may vary from our documentation on these processes
Contacts
o
Outlook
o
Top Producer 7i
o
Excel Comma Separated File (.CSV)
Note: If your contact program is not listed, you'll need to
create a .CSV file containing your contacts using your contact
management program and then make some adjustments to that
file in order to import it. For details on this process, see the
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o
3. Click Browse and browse out to the location of your contacts
.CSV file. When you find it, click Open to open it.
You do not have to use ALL of the following column
headings. In fact, your .CSV file may not have all of the
information described by the headings below.
o
4. Finally, click Import to import your contacts. When the
process is complete, you receive a list of all contacts which
were successfully imported. Just click Close to close the
window.
There may be columns in your .CSV file that don't match
any of the following headings. Your contact manager's
import tool won't be able to import data in those columns so
leave those headings as they are.
o
The order in which the headings appear in the .CSV file
doesn't matter. If the column headings in your .CSV file
appear in a different order than that listed below, leave
them in the order in which they appear.
Importing CSV Files section of this user's guide.
If you want to import additional contacts, repeat the steps above.
Once you've imported the contacts, you may want to go back and
edit each contact, update their information and assign them to
additional groups.
Importing CSV Files
The Contact Import tool can import contacts from any application
that can export information to a "Comma Separated Value" (CSV)
file. This includes most e-mail applications, contact managers and
a host of other programs. The exact process may vary dramatically
from one program to the next, but the general process is as
follows.
1. Export your contacts from your preferred contact management
software program into a Comma Separated Value (.CSV)
format.
2. Edit that .CSV file and change the column headings for the data
you wish to import to one of those contained in the following
list. Most programs name their column headings in a similar
fashion so just choose the best option from the provided list
below to match to each column heading. As you edit your .CSV
file, keep the following items in mind.
Contacts
The column headings and contact information types that your
contact import tool can currently accept are.
•
FirstName
•
BusinessState
•
LastName
•
Fax
•
MiddleName
•
BusinessZip
•
JobTitle
•
BusinessCountry
•
Company
•
HomeEmail
•
Suffix
•
HomeEmailDisplayName
•
Title
•
BusinessEmail
•
HomeAddress1
•
BusinessEmailDisplayName
•
HomeAddress2
•
MobileDeviceEmail
•
HomeCity
•
MobileDeviceEmailDisplayName
•
HomeState
•
HomePhone
•
HomeZip
•
BusinessPhone
•
HomeCountry
•
CellPhone
•
BusinessAddress1
•
Notes
•
BusinessAddress2
•
BirthDate
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•
4. Your site creates a file in the format you requested and offers it
to you to Open or Save. Save the file to a folder on your
computer. For ease of access, you might consider saving the
file to your desktop.
BusinessCity
Exporting Contacts
As you might suspect, exporting contacts works just the reverse of
importing them.
Once you have a copy of the exported file on your computer, you
can readily import it into any other local contact manager. For
exact details on that process, refer to the manual included with
that software package.
1. In the contact manager, click Tools, Contact Export from the
menus.
Deleting Contacts
To delete contacts from your database...
1. In the contact manager, check the box beside each contact you
wish to delete
2. Click Delete in the toolbar, to delete your contacts.
Permanently Deleting Contacts
2. From the list provided indicate which program you intend to use
to import this contact data once you've created an export file
from your contact manager. Options are.
When you delete a contact using this method, it's actually placed
into a "holding area." This allows you to retrieve deleted contacts
in case you make a mistake. To permanently remove a contact
from your database...
1. In the contact manager, click the View menu and then select
Deleted Contacts.
o
Outlook Express
o
Outlook 2000
o
Outlook XP (2002)
2. Select the contacts you want to purge from your database and
click Delete.
o
Outlook 2003
Restoring Deleted Contacts
o
Outlook 2007
To restore any contacts you've mistakenly deleted...
o
Top Producer 7i
o
Excel Comma Separated File (.CSV)
1. In the contact manager, click the View menu and select
Deleted Contacts.
3. Click Export to create the export file.
Contacts
2. Select any contact from the list.
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o
Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click each of
the contacts you want to restore
o
Or, hold down the Shift key and click the top and bottom
contact in a sequential range to select the entire group of
contacts in between.
2. Click Edit in the toolbar.
3. Click Undelete to restore your contacts.
Organizing Contacts
At times you may find it necessary to update an entire batch of
contacts at once. For just such occasions, we've added a tool in
your contact manager that allows you to modify a group of
contacts you specify. To apply changes to a batch of contacts...
1. In the contact manager, select the contacts you wish to edit by
checking the box beside each.
3. Then, in the Edit Contacts window, apply the changes you
want to make across the selected contacts. Options are:
Contacts
o
Assign Contact(s) to a Company - Changes the company
listed for each of the selected contacts to the one you
choose.
o
Update Contact(s) As - Allows you to flag the contacts as
either public or private.
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o
Assign Contacts to Groups - Allows you to add the
selected contacts into a series of custom groups. To create
additional custom groups, click Manage Groups.
o
Assign Your Contacts to Contact Types -Allows you to
add the selected contacts into the series of pre-defined
contact types that came with your site.
o
Delete a group by clicking it and then clicking Delete.
4. Click Save when finished to apply your changes.
Creating Contact Groups
When you enter or edit a contact, you're able to assign that contact
to groups. This allows you to direct your future marketing
campaigns to a whole group of contacts that meet certain criteria.
A contact can be a member of several groups, allowing you to finetune your marketing efforts for maximum impact. For more details
about leveraging groups in your marketing efforts, see the
XSellerate section of this user's guide. To build and manage your
groups...
1. In the contact manager, click Tools.
2. Then, click Group Management. From here you can...
o
o
Click New and type a name for your group to create a new
group.
3. Click Close when finished to return to the contact manager.
Change a group name by clicking it, typing a new name into
the Edit Group Name box, and clicking Save.
Note: Unlike contacts, groups cannot be made public, if you
wish to filter your contacts by group using the Groups dropdown menu in the Contacts view, you first need to switch to
the My Contacts view as outlined in the Finding Contacts
section of this user guide.
Contacts
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Each of the contacts you've marked is consolidated into the main
contact which you left blank. Repeat this process until you've
consolidated all of your duplicate contacts.
Merging Contacts
As you continue to add and manage contacts through your site,
you may occasionally find that you've entered the same contact
more than once. To keep a clean list of contact information, your
contact manager comes equipped with a contact consolidation tool
that you can use to merge the contact data from all of your
duplicate contacts into individual contacts. To use it...
1. In the contact manager, click View, Duplicate Contacts.
2. Click to select a contact that you wish consolidate with its
duplicates.
3. Click Consolidate in the toolbar.
4. A list of all the possible duplicates of that contact appears.
Check the box beside each contact you wish to consolidate into
the contact you selected.
5. Click Save to apply the consolidation.
Contacts
Sharing Contacts
Your contact manager gives you the ability to share any of your
private contacts with other users in your account. If you need to
share contact information from your private contacts list with
another user...
1. In the contact manager, click View, My Contacts in the
toolbar.
2. Check the contact(s) that you want to share with another user.
3. Click Tools, Move/Copy Contact(s) in the toolbar.
4. When the Move/Copy Contacts screen appears, verify that all
of the contacts you wish to share are shown in the list.
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Finding Contacts
As you add contacts to your contact manager, it quickly becomes
important to have a variety of ways you can use to find the right
contact at the right time. The contact manager provides several
ways you can use to find the contacts you need.
Searching for Contacts
To search through your contacts...
1. In the contact manager, type a search term in the Search For
box.
2. Select an item to search through from the drop-down menu
beside the Search For box. For instance, if you typed the last
name into the Search For box, you would select Last Name
from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Find to search your contacts for the typed phrase.
Filtering Contacts
5. If you want to give complete control over these contacts to the
new owner, mark the Move Contact(s) option. If you just
want to share your current contact information with the other
user, mark Copy Contact(s).
To filter your contacts to those that meet certain criteria...
1. In the contact manager, decide how you want to filter your
contacts. Options are:
6. Finally, select the user you with whom you intend to share/give
these contacts from the To New Owner drop-down list.
o
By Name
o
By Type
7. Click Save to apply your changes.
o
By Group
2. To apply a Type or Group filter, just select the Group or Type
you want to work with from the appropriate Filters list to the
Contacts
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entered them manually, or their data was captured from
your site. How long a contact appears as "new" is controlled
in the Options.
upper right of your contact manager. To apply a name filter,
just click the letter of the contact's last name (or company
name if you're working in company view) in the top toolbar.
3. When you're finished working with the current filtered set of
contacts, return to your full contact list by clicking View All
Contacts in the Contacts toolbar at the top of the screen.
o
Deleted Contacts and Deleted Companies show you just
that - contacts and companies that have been flagged to
delete.
Applying Contact Views
o
The last way you can find contacts is by applying contact views.
While contact views are similar to contact filters in that they limit
the list of contacts to those that fit certain criteria, they also
provide additional functionality that is unavailable in other contact
views. To apply a contact view...
Unsubscribed Contacts shows you a list of contacts that
have indicated they want to unsubscribe from your mailing
lists.
o
If you are the administrator of your site, you can see a
fourth view option. The Lead Management view shows all
of the new contacts that are included in any of your users'
databases. This allows you to manage new contacts as your
employees enter them to ensure that they're being followed
up on properly.
o
Duplicate Contacts shows you a list of all contacts for
which there are probable finds duplicates. You can use this
tool to ensure that you don't have unnecessary data in your
contacts list.
1. In the contact manager, decide which contact view you want to
apply. Options are:
o
The My Contacts view shows all of your contacts in
alphabetical order, including their Last name, First name,
Company, E-mail address and phone number. You can
use the Options button to select which phone number is
displayed in this view.
o
The My Companies view shows all of your contacts
grouped by the name of their company. Companies that
have entries will have a plus sign (+) next them. Click the
plus sign (+) to expand the company and see contacts
associated with it.
o
All Public Contacts shows all contacts that are marked as
Public contacts whether they are contacts in your account
or other accounts on your website.
o
All Public Companies shows all companies marked as
Public companies whether they are your companies or
companies in other accounts on your website.
o
The New Contacts view only shows those contacts that
have been recently added to your database, whether you
Contacts
2. Once you've selected an appropriate view, click the View menu
and select your desired contact view.
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2. Check the box beside each contact for which you wish to print
labels.
3. When finished selecting contacts, click Tools, Print Labels.
3. Any additional functions that apply to the current view appear
in the Tools menu. Use those functions or apply changes as
necessary.
4. When finished, return to the "All Contacts" view by clicking
View All Contacts in the Contacts toolbar at the top of the
screen.
Printing Contact Labels
Your contact manager is equipped with a variety of tools to help
you find, manage, and use the contacts you store. The print labels
tool built into your contact manager can help you quickly and easily
create mailing labels for a basic print mailing. To print contact
labels...
1. In the contact manager, find the contact or contacts for which
you wish to print labels. To speed up the process you use to
find your contacts, consider using your contact manager's
filtering and searching features.
Contacts
4. In the Print Labels window, you can:
o
Choose the type of Avery® labels on which you want to
print using the drop-down menu.
o
Require that the contact contains a full mailing address to
print a label for it so that you don't print labels you can't
use for mailings.
o
Print a custom label instead of labels from contacts
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o
Force the label printer to print a full sheet of your custom
labels
o
Choose the starting label on your label sheet by clicking the
corresponding cell in the preview page above the Preview
Labels button.
1. In the contact manager, click Tools, Options from the menus.
5. When you're ready to print your labels, just click the Print icon
in the Label Preview pane to send them to the printer.
Contact Options
Your contact manager comes with a built-in option control that can
help you tailor your contact management experience to your
needs. To use it...
Contacts
2. In the list of options provided, mark your preferences. Options
are:
o
Mark contacts entered within the last # days as
"new" - Use this option to define your view of what
constitutes a new contact based on the length of time in
days that it has been in your contact manager.
o
Show # records at a time - Use this setting to control
how many contacts appear on screen at one time as you
work in your contact manager. The default is 25 contacts
per page.
o
Display the contact's --- phone number in the grid The contact manager readily stores several different contact
phone numbers to help you keep track of the often
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numerous ways you can get in touch with your contact. This
setting allows you to set a "preferred" phone number in the
contact overview screen so that you do not have to open
each contact to see the phone numbers you need.
o
Contact details expanded by default - When you edit a
contact, the editing area is divided up into several sections.
By default, only the basic contact information is visible,
requiring you to click and expand sections that contain
other information. If you want to simplify the process of
editing contacts, you can eliminate the section-expansion
step by checking the box beside each section you want to
be open by default.
Contacts
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Scheduling
The schedule and calendar in your site provide an online
appointment manager that you can easily access anywhere there's
an Internet connection. Instead of having to use a separate
program to track these items, you can do it all through your online
scheduling tools and tie in with appointment related features in our
XSites and desktop applications.
You can access your schedule in two areas:
•
My Office - Allows you quick access to today's pending tasks
and appointments only.
•
Schedule - Allows you full access to your schedule including all
tasks and activities for the day, week, month, and so on.
To access your schedule...
•
Click the Today's Schedule tab in My Office to access your
schedule for today alone.
Scheduling
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•
Click Schedule in the top toolbar to access your full calendar.
3. Enter your Start and End times using the fields provided and
indicate whether this is an All Day Event using the box to the
right.
4. Indicate whether you wish to receive an E-mail or Cell Phone
reminder and indicate how much lead time you want prior to
the event using the Reminder Time drop-down box.
Note: Cell Phone reminders require that you've supplied your
cell phone number and provider in your user profile. See the
User Management section of this user guide for more
information.
5.
6. Choose an activity type from the Show Time As drop-down
menu.
7. If necessary, type any notes that apply to your new
appointment in the available Description box.
Creating Appointments
You can easily add appointments and activities such as inspections,
showings, client meetings, and due dates through your site. To
schedule a new appointment...
1. From your schedule, click New Appointment in the top
toolbar.
2. Type a name for your appointment in the Subject field.
Scheduling
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11. Click Save when finished to save your new appointment.
Managing Your Schedule
8. If you need to send e-mail reminders to other parties as well as
to yourself, click the Advanced Options link at the bottom of
the screen and check the Notify others by e-mail box.
From the full view of your schedule, you can find appointments and
schedule new appointments easily.
•
9. Type the e-mail address(es) of the individuals you wish to send
reminders to using the box provided.
To switch to a daily, weekly, work weekly, or monthly view,
click the tabs above the calendar.
•
10. Alternately, if you have the contacts in your database, just click
their names in the list at the bottom and click the right arrow to
add their contact to the appointment.
You can switch to the next month (or week or week or day)
using the horizontal arrows at the top of the calendars to the
left.
•
Create a new appointment by clicking New Appointment in
the top toolbar.
Scheduling
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"Tasks" are more like a To-Do list with a due date and
schedule. XSites scheduling presently handles activities and
tasks in the same manner.
4. Click the drop-down menu and choose the program from which
you are importing. Depending on the program you choose,
different instructions will appear in the "Help" part of the screen
to assist you with specifics.
5. Click Get Data and the possible entries are first displayed on
the right. Mark the ones you wish to copy into your online
schedule (or use Select All) and then click Import.
Note: If you're using Microsoft Outlook 2003, you may be
Importing/Exporting Your Schedule
warned that a program is trying to access your e-mail
addresses. This is, of course, what the import function is doing.
If you've been keeping a schedule in a different application, you
can transfer appointments and tasks to and from your online
schedule. Here's how to import appointments:
To continue, click the Allow access for check box, then select
10 minutes from the drop-down menu and click Yes.
1. In the contact manager, and then click Tools, Schedule
Import / Export.
Exporting activities from your online schedule works in reverse of
importing.
2. Select the Import method and either Activity or Task for your
type.
1. After clicking Import/Export, mark the Export option.
3. In most programs, "Activities" are like appointments with a
definite start/stop time and often a way to mark you as busy.
Scheduling
2. Change the type to Activity.
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3. You should be presented with the Activities in your schedule.
Mark the ones you wish to copy to your 3rd party scheduling
program.
4. Then, click Export. All the items you marked are then copied
directly into your other scheduler.
If you use a 3rd party contacts program not directly supported our
online scheduling tools, try using the Excel option as your
Destination format. It is likely that your program includes
features to read from this common format.
Scheduling
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•
And more...
XSellerate
Regular, targeted marketing is essential in building relationships
with new prospects and strengthening ties with existing clients.
But, how do you find time in your busy schedule to keep in touch?
Most of us have enough to do already!
The solution is XSellerate, a tool that automates client
communications. You just pick the recipients, decide which
messages they should receive, set the timing and off they go! And
if even if all you need is some help printing contact labels for a
warmer print mailing campaign, XSellerate can help you get the
job done.
Whether you need to automate your marketing efforts by setting
up e-mail campaigns or whether you just need some assistance
organizing your print mailer, XSellerate can help you achieve your
marketing goals. XSellerate includes a variety of tools to help you
build and track your marketing efforts including:
•
An e-mail campaign manager
•
A print campaign manager
•
An extensive, customizable ad library
•
A built-in ad editor
•
A built-in contact manager
•
A comprehensive campaign history log
•
Direct integration with XSites lead capture forms
Getting Started
The first step in jump starting your electronic marketing efforts is
to dive in to XSellerate. Depending on whether you're using
XSellerate in tandem with your XSite or whether you're using it as
a standalone product, there are different ways you log in.
To access XSellerate from your XSite...
1. Log into your XSite
2. Click the XSellerate shortcut at the top of the screen
XSellerate
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To access XSellerate for stand-alone users...
o
1. Launch the XSellerate link you were provided when you signed
up.
Welcome - This opens the Welcome panel with details on
creating contacts or new campaigns and offers any available
help videos.
4. Current Campaign Activity - The main portion of the
XSellerate home page is devoted to providing you information
about how your campaigns are doing. The main pane shows
which campaign ads are scheduled to ship this week, month or
near future, and any errors that may have occurred. Click one
of the links at the top of the pane to change the time frame.
2. Type your username and password and click Login.
Then, when you open XSellerate, the primary main page is
segmented into three panes:
1. Campaigns - This pane shows all of the campaigns you've
created, and their current status. Click on any campaign in the
list and you can see, at a glance, which recipients are getting
that campaign, which ads are included in it and whether there
were any errors. You can also quickly activate or deactivate
the campaign, or copy it to create a new one.
Configuring XSellerate
Before you start building campaigns with XSellerate, you should
take a few moments to configure your preferences. To access
XSellerate's settings...
2. Configure - This section of the home page gives you access to
set the various options for how XSellerate works. You can also
access the help resources available.
3. Settings - Use the Settings tool to configure certain defaults
for XSellerate, such as how you normally build your campaigns,
how you schedule them and which ads you normally see.
o
Ad Library - This link takes you to your Ad Library, where
you can create and edit content for your campaign.
o
Client Data Capture - If you're using an XSite along with
XSellerate, click here to open that tool's lead generation
management tools.
o
Create Ads - Click this link to create a new ad from scratch.
XSellerate
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1. In XSellerate, click Settings in the XSellerate Configure panel.
Schedule & Delivery Default. Then, type in a default interval
in days for ads you schedule by interval.
4. Finally, if you don't intend to use all of the stock content
provided with XSellerate, you can set XSellerate to filter out
content you don't want to see when you're creating campaigns.
You can filter by target audience or by author.
2. Mark the desired Campaign Manager Order option to control the
first step of the campaign wizard. Options are:
o
Start with Recipients - Mark this option if you want to
choose contacts for the campaign before selecting ads in
the campaign.
o
Start with Content - Mark this option if you want to
choose ads in the campaign before selecting contacts.
o
To filter by target audience - Check the box beside each
Recipient Type to indicate your intended target audiences.
o
To filter by author -Indicate whether you want to see your
custom content, stock XSellerate content, or both when
selecting ads. Next, indicate whether you want to see single
ads, complete ready-made campaigns, or both when
selecting ads. If you're not concerned with what content
appear in the ad selector, check the Just show all the
content box.
5. Now, click Edit MySignature to set up your e-mail signature.
E-mail signatures are standard blocks of text that are included
in all of your ads. While you can add other information to your
signature as well, e-mail signatures generally contain your
contact information so that you put that information into the
hands of the recipient. Using this feature allows you to make
changes to your signature block in the future - say if you
change employers - without having to go back and edit every
ad that may include it.
3. Next, specify whether you want to deliver ads at intervals or
through handpicked dates by default. Just mark the appropriate
XSellerate
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there are several things you should do to ensure the best results
from your marketing campaigns.
•
Import any contacts you have in other contact managers to
freshen your list of recipients.
•
Create groups you can use to logically organize your contacts
•
Assign contacts to the groups you create so that you can target
campaigns at those groups instead of on an individual basis.
•
Update your existing contacts ensuring that each has:
o
An e-mail address
o
A mailing address
o
An indicated contact type
If you have a lot of contacts, you may want to work on these
progressively. If you're using recurring or interval based
campaigns, you can always enroll other contacts later as you
continue to update the information in your contacts database. For
more details on groups, contact types, and contact management,
see the Contacts section of this user's guide.
6. When the editing tool appears, make the desired changes to
your e-mail signature and click Save.
7. Then, click Save again in the Settings screen to apply your
changes.
Organizing Contacts
One of the most significant parts of XSellerate is the contacts
database. Without contacts, after all, you have no audience for
your marketing efforts. You can access your contacts database by
clicking the Contacts icon in the main toolbar. Once you're there,
XSellerate
Ad Library
The individual pieces you send out - called ads - are at the heart of
XSellerate. Even though these may not be solicitations for business
or promotional announcements, they're still ads since they're an
integral part of a holistic marketing solution. Think of these like email templates you keep in a library and then call upon when you
need them.
XSellerate comes pre-loaded with hundreds of ads ready for you to
send out. You can edit these to meet your needs, or create your
own ads from scratch. The Ad Library gives you quick access to all
of these ads. To view the ads, click the Ad Library link in the
XSellerate drop-down menu in the main toolbar at the top of the
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see {#MyCompany#} in the preview, the customer sees the
name of your company when they get the message.
screen. All of the ads are listed in the scrolling window in
alphabetical order, with a small thumbnail image.
•
Search for an ad by typing a search phrase into the Search bar
and clicking the magnifying glass icon.
•
Toggle between the thumbnail view of the ads and a
"description view" by clicking the Thumbnails/Detail View
button found in the upper-right corner of the Ad Library.
As you're selecting ads, keep in mind that there are several
different types of ads you may see.
In the ad library you can:
•
View a more detailed description of each ad in the Ad Preview
region at the bottom of the library. Just click an ad to see the
more detailed preview or click Preview to open a full screen ad
preview.
•
Filter the list of ads to just ads within a specific category by
clicking an Ad Category from the list on the left.
•
Edit the ad on-the-fly as you're creating your campaign by
clicking the ad and then clicking Edit in the Preview pane at
the bottom of the screen. When the ad editor opens, content
that comes from your site or from the customer's contact
information is presented in brackets. For example, where you
XSellerate
•
Single pre-built ads are designated by a thumbnail preview of
the ad.
•
Icons designated with a "stacked paper" icon denote a prebuilt, multi-ad campaign. Click the icon and all of the ads
contained in that campaign are displayed in the Ad Preview
pane.
•
Ads you create yourself are shown in the lists with a generic
blue icon.
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Working with Ads
The XSellerate marketing system provides a built-in editor you can
use to personalize any of the ads in the Ad Library. Whenever you
edit one of the stock ads, XSellerate creates a new copy of that ad
with your changes, leaving the original intact. You can also use the
editor to create your own ads from scratch.
•
To create a new ad from scratch, in XSellerate, click the Create
Ads link in the Settings pane.
•
To customize a stock XSellerate ad, find the ad in the ad
library, click to select it, and then click Edit in the Preview
pane.
Our built-in ad editor has a lot in common with modern word
processors making it easy to edit ads to your liking. For
specific instructions about using this editor, see the Content
Editor section of this user's guide.
When using XSellerate's custom ad editor, keep a few things in
mind:
XSellerate
•
When you first open an ad in the editor, you're warned about
text enclosed in brackets {}. These are special codes that are
replaced with text when the ad is sent.
•
The Ad Description field at top of the editor to name your
document allows you to name the ad so that you can effectively
find and use the ad as you build your campaigns. Name your
ad something descriptive and bear in mind that this description
is NOT the same thing as the subject line that appears when
you deliver the ad. You edit the subject line for the ad when
you're actually scheduling it out in the campaign creation
process. One example of a good ad name might be "New
Clients Drip Campaign Message 1 (Emphasizing Online Tools)."
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•
You can learn more about the function of any button in the
editor by hovering your mouse momentarily over it or clicking
the blue help icon in the top toolbar for a full list of descriptions
for each button.
o
My Fields are those that pull information from your
company profile. If you're an XSite user, this information
comes from the Company Information step in the XSite
Wizard.
•
You can compose both plain text ads and beautiful image
backed ads. Keep in mind, though, that not every type of ad
will get through to every contact. Standard HTML message ads
that contain images, hyperlinks, and other advanced content
can occasionally trigger SPAM blockers to falsely identify your
message as SPAM, reducing ad exposure. And due to the
limitations of some mail browsers, some recipients may not see
the ad the same way as it is displayed in the preview window.
The overwhelming majority of people use an e-mail client that
can view these HTML messages as designed, but even these
people may configure their e-mail clients to view messages in
plain text. This may cause your messages to these people to
display oddly. A good approach is to balance plain text ads with
standard HTML ads containing images, links, etc. While not
every message will find its way onto the desks of every contact,
this approach still helps you balance ad effectiveness with
maximum ad exposure.
o
Date Fields allow you to insert codes that are replaced by
the current date whenever the ad is sent out.
•
The Merge Fields drop-down menu gives you a variety of
placeholders for information that varies from one message to
the next or information about your office that may change over
time. You can identify these placeholders as they are denoted
in red and surrounded by brackets. For example, the
placeholder for the contact's first name is {#FirstName#}.
The Merge Fields menu is broken up into three types of
dynamically inserted fields.
o
XSellerate
Contact Fields are those that pull information from your
Contacts database when you send the ad. This allows you to
customize your communications using your contact's name
and other personal information.
Note: Working with these fields can be tricky. If you select a
field that may not have information in it for every contact - the
PrimaryAddress2 Contact Field, for instance - you may get odd
results on some of your campaigns.
As always, remember to click Save at the bottom of the ad editor
when you're through writing your ad.
Planning Campaigns
Before you get started using XSellerate, you should spend some
time planning your marketing efforts. Effective marketing is not a
haphazard affair. It takes careful planning, efficient execution and
regular follow-up. The more effort you put into the planning
stages, the higher the payoff in new and repeat business. Keep
these items in mind as you design your holistic marketing
approach.
1. Plan Your Campaigns - As with any effort, the more thought
you put into it before you act, the better result you can expect.
2. Choose a Target Audience - There are several things you
should consider when selecting a target audience.
o
Consider the potential impact of the ad you want to send on
the audience you select.
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o
3. Choose an Appropriate Message - Keep in mind the ads you
send are just as important as the audience you select. For
example, today's SPAM - not to be confused with mass e-mail is largely ineffective in the professional world. While SPAM
messages have a broad target audience, the messages are illconceived, laden with typos, and generally unprofessional. The
more thought you put into selecting the right messages for
your campaigns, the better the result.
4. Consider Appropriate Timing - It's easy to spoil an effective
set of marketing campaigns by sending too many ads to any
one person in a short period of time. A well thought out
delivery schedule for the ads in your "drip campaigns" should
balance the importance of your message with consideration for
the recipient. No one likes getting too much marketing mail
from someone. On another tack, bear in mind that enrolling the
same person in multiple campaigns can spoil your timing efforts
as well.
Campaign Types
You should also consider what kind of campaign you wish to use in
your marketing efforts. Campaigns can be:
•
One-time blasts or mailers -One-time blasts and mailers
aren't truly "campaigns" in the sense that they only occur one
time, but even if your objective is to simply announce a change
in your business, XSellerate can help you achieve it.
•
One-time direct messages - Much as one time blasts aren't
truly campaigns, one time direct messages are also not true
campaigns. Despite this, XSellerate holds to its nature as a
marketing tool by providing a way for you to send a one-time
direct ad to one or more contacts through its integration with
CertMail. For example, you might send a Happy Birthday ad
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directly to one individual as a way of cultivating the relationship
between you. While it wouldn't be appropriate to blast a Happy
Birthday ad to a large number of contacts, it makes perfect
sense to send such an ad directly to your contact with your own
personalized message.
Keep in mind that you may overlap multiple campaigns to
the same target audience. If you overlap too much, you
may reduce the effectiveness of your campaign.
•
Drip or multi-contact blasts or mailers - Drip campaigns
help you coordinate a series of messages that you stagger out
over the course of a certain time period. They can help you
balance a lot of information spread out across numerous ads
with appropriate timing for maximum effectiveness. Examples
of drip campaigns include ongoing newsletters, blog
subscriptions, and piece-meal ads where each builds on the
next. Drip campaigns can even be a blend of e-mail messages
and postcards if you want to maximize both the exposure to
your marketing efforts and the impact of each ad.
Creating Campaigns
Once you've organized your contacts and you've plotted out what
you want to say, you're ready to start creating your campaigns.
Before you actually start building the campaign, you should take
some time to review XSellerate's ad library in search of pre-built
messages that convey your intended message If you don't find email ads that meet your needs, just drop into XSellerate's ad editor
and create your own. If you want to use your own print ads for a
direct mailer, there's no need to add them into XSellerate. Just
print contact labels for your target audience and send your custom
print ad as usual. To create a new e-mail or mixed campaign...
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and click Continue to continue into the campaign wizard
with your setup choices accounted for already. For full
details on the Quick Setup process, see the Campaign Quick
Setup section of this user's guide.
1. Click Create new campaign.
Once you activate the campaign, XSellerate automatically delivers
any e-mail based ads and sends you mailing reminders - with links
to your selected print ads - when it's time for your print ads to go
out.
Select Recipients
The first step in the campaign wizard helps you select the contacts
that are to receive this campaign.
1. On the left side is the list of available contacts, broken up by
Contact, Groups or Type of Contact. Click a header to view
contacts of that type.
Note: Only those contacts with an e-mail address entered
appear in the list.
2. Type a name for your campaign in the box provided.
3. Then, you can set up your campaign in one of two ways:
o
Using the campaign wizard - To use the campaign wizard
so that you can fine tune every aspect of your marketing
campaign, click Continue to begin selecting recipients.
o
Using the Quick Setup process - If you've become
intimately familiar with the campaign wizard, the Quick
Setup may help you speed up the process of designing a
campaign. Just click Options, choose your desired settings,
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o
To edit a contact in the list, click to select the contact and
then click Edit in the Contact Details pane.
o
If you want to add a contact that is not yet in your contacts
database, click the New Contact button. Type relevant
contact information check the box to indicate that you want
to include this contact in the current campaign. Then, click
Save to create the contact and add them to the campaign.
2.
3. Select all of the contacts, types, and groups you wish to include
in your campaign.
o
Select a contact or group in the left window, and then click
the green arrow button.
o
Continue adding individuals or groups using this same
process.
o
If you need to remove a contact from the list, select it in the
window on the right and click the red arrow button.
o
Notice that as you click on a contact or group, the Preview
pane at the bottom of the screen gives you some detailed
information, and tells you in which campaigns this person or
people are already included.
4. Click Next when you're ready to move on.
Note: E-mail marketing can be very effective as long as you
avoid "spamming" techniques. When done right, e-mail
marketing is often welcomed by customers. To ensure that your
XSellerate e-mail messages receive the broadest possible slice
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of your target audience, we limit the number of e-mail
messages that you can send each day to 1,000 e-mails per
day. Messages in excess of this 1,000 per day limit are queued
and sent the following day. This ensures that you're not ever
1. Find an ad that suits your needs. To find an ad that works for
your campaign...
o
Filter the list of ads to find the one you want by selecting an
ad type from the drop-down menu above the ad list.
o
If you're looking for a very specific ad, type a search phrase
into the search bar and click the magnifying glass icon to
search for the ad.
o
Icons with a "stacked paper" look denote a pre-built, multiad campaign. Click the icon and all of the ads contained in
that campaign are displayed in the Ad Preview pane.
o
Ads you create yourself are shown in the lists with a generic
blue icon.
o
When you find an ad that interests you, click it for a more
detailed description of the ad in the Ad Preview pane at
the bottom.
o
If you want to see a full screen preview of the ad, click
Preview in the Ad Preview pane. A separate window
opens and shows you how the ad should look in your
customer's e-mail. Content which should come from either
your site or from the customer's contact information is
presented in brackets. For example, where you see
{#MyCompany#} in the preview, the customer sees the
name of your company when they get the message.
inadvertently flagged as a potential spammer due to the bulk of
e-mail you deliver from day to day.
Selecting Ad Content
In the second step of the campaign creation wizard, you're ready
to select ads from the list of stock and custom ads you've accrued
in XSellerate's Ad Library.
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If you find an ad you want to use, but you want to
customize it, click Edit in the Ad Preview pane to alter the
contents to your needs.
•
Delivery By Date - Delivery by date is your ideal method for
time-sensitive ads. Use this method if you need the freedom to
hand pick the right dates for each ad.
2. When you find an ad you want to use, click to select it from the
Ad Library list on the left and then click the green arrow.
•
Delivery By Interval - Delivery by interval is typically the best
scheduling option for most ad campaigns. This type of
scheduling ensures that every campaign "subscriber" gets the
exact same experience. For example, you could schedule three
ads in your campaign to go out every 30 days from the
beginning of the campaign. Even if others subscribe to your
campaign 40 days in, they still receive the ads at 30 day
intervals instead of all at once.
•
Recurring Delivery - Recurring delivery only applies to
"campaigns" that involve one single ad. By using recurring
delivery, you can schedule ads to go out daily, weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or annually.
o
3. Depending on the type of ad you insert into your campaign,
XSellerate reacts differently.
o
If you add an E-mail Ad to your campaign, XSellerate just
sends the e-mail message at the scheduled time.
o
If you add a Print Ad (like a postcard), you receive a
prompt indicating that XSellerate cannot automate the print
mailer delivery, but that it can send you a reminder e-mail
with a link to a printable copy of your selected ad when the
date arrives. Just click OK to acknowledge the prompt and
continue inserting ads.
To schedule your ad's delivery...
1. Click Schedule Delivery above the Campaign Content (ad)
list to the right of the screen.
2. At the top of the Schedule Delivery window, choose whether
you want to deliver this campaign by date, by interval, or as a
recurring campaign (for one-ad campaigns).
o
When you're finished inserting ads into your campaign, you then
need to schedule their delivery.
Scheduling Ad Delivery
XSellerate provides three different scheduling methods you can use
to fine tune the delivery timing of each ad.
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For By Interval delivery, enter a specific interval in the
Wait Days text box beside each ad. When you activate the
campaign, XSellerate waits until the appropriate number of
days has passed before delivering each ad on a recipientby-recipient basis. To schedule each ad out evenly - every
30 days, for instance - type the number of wait days into
the Send ads every # days box and indicate whether you
want to start the count at day zero (today) by marking the
available check box.
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Note: If a new contact is added to any group associated with
Note: Recurring delivery only appears as an option for
this campaign, or if you manually add a new contact to the
campaigns that contain a single ad.
group, the interval is calculated from the day they are added to
the group or campaign.
o
For By Date delivery, mark the By Date option and click
the calendar beside each ad to hand pick the delivery date.
o
For Recurring delivery, mark the Recurring option and
choose an interval for the recurrence. Options are daily,
weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Next, click the
calendars to specify a Start Date and optional End Date
for the campaign. Depending on the interval you've
selected, you may also have the opportunity to fine tune the
delivery further. For instance, weekly delivery offers you the
option of selecting the day of the week for delivery. Just
mark your preference.
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3. Once scheduling is complete, you should take a moment to
review the Subject lines for each ad. If you want to tweak the
exact wording of the Subject line for each ad, just type your
changes into the Subject box beside each ad.
4. Finally, click Save in the Schedule Delivery window and then
click Next in the campaign creation wizard to continue.
Activating Campaigns
The final step in the campaign wizard offers you the chance to
review your campaign's design and then activate the campaign if
you're satisfied with your work. In the final step, you can:
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•
Review a full list of campaign recipients by clicking the Total
Recipients link.
•
Review the ads and scheduling you've selected in the Content
& Delivery section.
•
Preview, print, or edit an ad by clicking its thumbnail
representation.
•
Activate the campaign by clicking Activate Now.
•
Save the campaign (whether active or inactive) by clicking
Finish.
Campaign Quick Setup
Once you start the campaign creation process, you have the option
to use XSellerate's Quick Setup to speed up the campaign design
process. To do so...
1. Create a new campaign and click the Options button in the
Create a New Campaign screen.
2. Type a name for your campaign into the provided text box.
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3. Next, indicate whether you want to use a ready-made
campaign or use a custom selection of ads from the Ad Library.
If you opt to use a ready-made campaign, select the readymade campaign you want to use from the drop-down menu.
o
Rename this campaign allows you to modify the name of
your effort.
o
Click Clone this campaign to make an exact copy of the
current campaign and open it in the Campaign Editor.
Follow the wizard to modify the old campaign and create a
new one.
4. Optionally select a group of recipients from your list of custom
groups in the Select Recipient Groups box.
5. Finally, indicate whether you want to schedule each ad's
delivery by interval or by date and, if you choose to schedule
by interval, specify an interval amount in days.
6. Lastly, click Continue to jump into the campaign wizard where
you can place any other finishing touches on your campaign
design before activating the campaign.
Editing Campaigns
Once you've created a campaign, you can fine tune it at any time
by editing any of the settings you selected earlier. Or, you can
create a new campaign by simply copying or "cloning" an existing
campaign. To review, edit, or clone an existing campaign in
XSellerate...
1. In XSellerate, hover over any of your campaigns in the My
Campaigns pane.
2. As you hover over each, a fly-out menu appears with extra
options. Just click the option reflecting your need. Options are:
o
Click Edit to open the current campaign in the Campaign
Editor
o
Click Activate or Deactivate link to enable your campaign,
or stop it.
o
Use the Add recipient or Add element link to quickly
jump to that section of the Campaign Editor.
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Unsubscribing Contacts
These days, SPAM seems to be a daily part of our lives. And as we
find our mailboxes filling with SPAM, the general public's perception
of SPAM continues to expand. In an effort to combat this,
legislators produced the CAN-SPAM Act to define SPAM and the
ground rules for legally mass-mailing your client base. And to
ensure that you don't need to worry about all the details of this
legislation, your XSellerate automated e-mail system automatically
takes all of these items into account when you send out e-mail ads.
Despite this, many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) provide tools
to help their customers combat perceived SPAM and, regardless of
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the value of such tools, this kind of interference can cause your email messages to be blocked or, worse yet, for your e-mail address
to be flagged as a spammer's address. If an XSellerate ad recipient
flags your message as a SPAM, in many cases, their ISP will label
your e-mail address as a spammer's address (temporarily) and will
send out a notice of this. When this occurs, we relay a notice to
you to fully explain the implications and you can typically shake the
"spammer" label by simply waiting a few days. In order to ensure
that you can continually deliver legitimate ad e-mail through
XSellerate without concern for one or two recipients who decide to
regularly flag your message as SPAM, you can manually remove
any e-mail account from an XSellerate campaign.
3. In the section that appears, uncheck ever box and click Save to
update the contact.
To remove a contact from an XSellerate campaign...
1. You must remove the contact from any contact groups that
you've created
2. You must remove the contact's e-mail address from any active
campaigns in your XSellerate account
Removing Contacts from XSellerate Campaigns
To remove contacts from XSellerate campaigns...
1. In XSellerate, click the first campaign in the Campaigns panel
on the left and then click Edit in the balloon that fields out.
2. When the Select Recipients step appears, look through the
Contacts section of the Selected Recipients list on the right
for the e-mail address you wish to remove.
Removing Contacts from Contact Groups
To remove a contact from a contact group...
3. Click the e-mail address you want to remove and then click the
red left arrow to remove the contact from the campaign. Then,
click Save.
1. From your contact manager, find a contact you want to
unsubscribe from future ad campaigns.
2. Double-click to edit the contact and click the Groups section
towards the bottom of the contact's details.
4. Now, click the XSellerate Home button in the top toolbar and
repeat these steps for the remaining campaigns in the
Campaigns list.
Once you've removed the e-mail address from every XSellerate
campaign, you have unsubscribed the contact. Just remember not
to enroll that contact into any other campaigns or marketing
groups in the future as that will add them back to your subscription
list.
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Tracking Your Campaigns
By tracking your e-mail campaigns you can easily gauge the
effectiveness of your marketing efforts so you can decide what
changes need to be made to your existing campaigns. XSellerate
offers two different ways to track the effectiveness of your e-mail
campaigns: the current activity view and the weekly activity report.
The current activity view provides an at-a-glance overview of the
people to whom XSellerate has sent e-mail, which e-mails they
received, and whether they opened the e-mail. The weekly activity
report provides an alternate view into the success of your
campaigns by breaking down the clicks, opens, and unsubscribes
against each of the e-mails sent that week.
Current Activity View
To track your campaigns from XSellerate's current activity view...
1. From XSellerate, click the Campaign Activity button in the
Configure panel on the left to show the Current Campaign
Activity screen. If you already see the Current Campaign
Activity screen when you load XSellerate, skip to the next
step.
2. Click the This week, 0-30 days, 30-60 days, 60-90 days, or
90+ days tab to see the ads that have been delivered to your
various contacts in the indicated time range. If you blended
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print mailings with your e-mail campaign, XSellerate also
notifies you of the notifications you've received about delivering
those postcards.
3. Review the list of items that have been delivered. For each email ad that was delivered, click the name of the ad to read the
actual copy of the ad that was sent to your contact. To
determine if the recipient read the message, refer to the
Contact column.
If you want to view more specific details about a given campaign
so you can see who actually read the campaign
1. For more specific tracking data pertaining to any active
campaign, hover over the name of the campaign you wish to
track in the Campaigns list on the left.
2. In the balloon that flies out, click the Filter link beside History
at the bottom of the screen.
o
3. XSellerate filters the campaign activity to just the selected
campaign. From here you can:
o
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Review the 0-30 days, 30-60-days, or 90+ days tabs for
more specific details about the contacts to whom XSellerate
has delivered your ad and whether each one has read your
message.
Click the name of the campaign in the This week tab to
review all of the potential recipients for your campaign and
whether or not each one has read your message.
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4. When finished, click the Clear Filter link at the top of the
Current Campaign Activity screen to return to the full
XSellerate campaign history.
Hint: Another way to track the effectiveness of your campaigns
is to embed a link to a specific page on your XSite that's only
available through your ad. You can even add a lead capture
form to the page to encourage the recipients of your ad to
contact you!
To increase the number of recipients for a message, simply add
more contacts or groups to your campaign.
Quantity Opened
This refers to the number of recipients who opened the message in
their e-mail program. Factors that can affect the Quantity opened
include the number of recipients, subject line, and deliverability
issues such as automatic spam blockers.
The best way to increase the Quantity opened is to improve your
subject line to be more targeted as well as providing eminence to
your message. Requesting that your clients add your e-mail to
their accepted senders list will also help.
Weekly Activity Report
Every Sunday XSellerate sends a weekly summary activity report
to the administrator of your site to provide an overview of your
campaign success that week. Here's a quick reference explaining
each piece of the weekly XSellerate activity report...
You can also increase your Quantity opened by increasing the
number of recipients for each message. But beware; this approach
invites spam complaints against your domain. Again, the most
optimal approach to increase the number of clients viewing your
message is to improve your subject line and message quality.
Subject Line
This is the text that appears as the subject in the recipients e-mail
program. Subject lines typically influence the number of recipients
that open a message. The more direct and specific subjects will
derive the best results.
Percent Opened
This is the rate at which your recipients open a message; it’s the
quantity opened divided by the number of recipients. Percent
opened is the best indication of a successful subject line as well as
recipients’ willingness to hear what you have to say.
For example, if you send a message with the subject line,
“Refinance now” and only get a 5% open rate, you should try
changing the subject to “Refinance now and lower your payment.”
The second subject line is more targeted and provides a clear,
valuable reason to open the message.
When you’re working on improving your overall campaigns, it’s
important to focus on improving this statistic. Once you’ve seen
improvement in the percent opened, expand the recipients
receiving the message.
Recipient
This is the number of unique e-mail addresses that were sent each
message. Returned messages are included in the recipient list.
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Quantity that Clicked Link
This tells you how many of the recipients clicked a link back to your
website. This is an indication of how successful your message and
calls to action are.
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All of your marketing pieces should have a call to action that links
to your website so your clients can learn more about how you can
help them. These calls to action may be more effective when
graphical – such as a “Search Listings” or “Apply Now” button. You
may also consider offering free services or information as a way to
get more recipients to click through to your website.
Percent Clicked
This tells you the rate recipients clicked through to your website.
This rate is the quantity clicked divided by the number viewed.
Percent clicked is the best indication of a successful message,
offer, and call to action combination.
Percent Opted Out
This is the rate at which recipients are opting out of your marketing
campaigns. It’s the quantity opted out divided by the total number
of recipients.
Your goal should be to keep this rate as close to zero as possible
by sending timely messages to recipients that you have an
established relationship with.
Creating Print Mailings
For example, a Percentage Clicked of less than 1% shows that
readers aren’t compelled to take any action from the e-mail you’ve
sent them. Percentage clicked rates of 10% or more means that
your information is influential, and readers are visiting your
website because of it.
XSellerate's print campaign engine can help you quickly set up a
direct mail campaign in much the same way it can help you build
e-mail campaigns. To start designing a new printed mailing...
•
From XSellerate's home screen, click Create New Printed
Mailing at the bottom of the campaigns list on the left.
As seen earlier, before increasing the quantity of contacts receiving
a campaign, it’s best to focus on improving the percentage. This
can help avoid spam complaints against your domain.
•
From anywhere in XSellerate, click New Printed Mailing from
the XSellerate drop-down toolbar at the top of the screen.
Quantity Opted Out
This is the number of people who have requested to stop receiving
your campaigns through the opt-out link in your e-mails. National
CAN-SPAM laws require that marketing e-mails give readers the
opportunity to stop receiving e-mails.
Seemingly you want this number to be as low as possible for every
message. The best way to minimize your opt-outs is to send
messages that the recipients find relevant and valuable enough to
read. Blindly sending thousands of marketing e-mails to recipients
you’ve never met will often result in high opt-outs and even spam
complaints against your domain.
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XSellerate's printed mailing wizard quickly walks you through these
steps for any stock print ads that come with XSellerate. Of course,
if you already have a print ad you intend to use for your mailer,
you can always use the Print Contact Labels tool built into
XSellerate's contact manager to save time. For more details on
XSellerate's Print Contact Labels tool, see the Printing Contact
Labels section of this user's guide.
Selecting Print Ads
In the first step of XSellerate's Printed Mailing wizard, you're
offered a variety of printable ads that you can send to your target
audience. To find a print ad for your mailing...
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1. Find an ad that suits your needs. To find an ad that works for
your campaign...
o
Filter the list of ads to find the one you want by selecting an
ad type from the Ad Categories list on the left.
o
If you're looking for a very specific ad, type a search phrase
into the search bar and click the magnifying glass icon to
search for the ad.
o
To switch between just thumbnails of each ad and brief
descriptions, click the Thumbnails/Detail View button to
the top right of the ad list.
o
When you find an ad that interests you, click it for a more
detailed description of the ad in the Preview pane at the
bottom.
o
If you want to see a full screen preview of the ad, click
Preview in the Preview pane. A separate window opens
and shows you how the ad should look when printed.
o
If you find an ad you want to use, but you want to
customize it, click Preview in the Preview pane. The ad
opens in Adobe Acrobat where you can simply click the
contact information you want to change and type in your
corrections. If you customize a print ad, remember to save
a copy of the ad from Adobe so that you can give the
customize ad to your printer.
o
To print an ad, click to select it and then click Print Ad in
the Preview pane.
2. Once you've found and printed or saved a copy of the ad you
wish to mail, click Select Recipients to continue.
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Selecting Addressees
The last step in the printed mailing wizard is to select the
addressees for the mailing and print contact labels for each.
1. On the left side is the list of available contacts, broken up by
Contact, Groups or Type of Contact. Click a header to view
contacts of that type.
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information, and tells you in which campaigns this person or
people are already included.
o
To edit a contact in the list, click to select the contact and
then click Edit in the Contact Details pane.
o
If you want to add a contact that is not yet in your contacts
database, click the New Contact button. Type relevant
contact information check the box to indicate that you want
to include this contact in the current campaign. Then, click
Save to create the contact and add them to the campaign.
2. Select all of the contacts, types, and groups you wish to include
in your mailing. To do so...
o
Select a contact or group in the left window, and then click
the green arrow button.
o
Continue adding individuals or groups using this same
process.
o
If you need to remove a contact from the list, select it in the
window on the right and click the red arrow button.
o
Notice that as you click on a contact or group, the Preview
pane at the bottom of the screen gives you some detailed
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3. Click Print Mailing Labels when finished.
4. When the Print Labels screen appears, you can:
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o
Choose the type of Avery® labels on which you want to
print using the drop-down menu.
o
Require that the contact contains a full mailing address to
print a label for it so that you don't print labels you can't
use for mailings.
o
Print a custom label instead of labels from contacts
o
Force the label printer to print a full sheet of your custom
labels
o
Choose the starting label on your label sheet by clicking the
corresponding cell in the preview page above the Preview
Labels button.
5. When you're ready to print your labels, just click the Print icon
in the Label Preview pane to send them to the printer.
Marketing Your Listings
Getting exposure for the properties on your XSite is the best way
to convert a listing into a sold property. Your XSite helps by
formatting your listing in a graphic format with plenty of photos, an
image tour, and even online videos. XSellerate goes a step further
by allowing you to include any of your listings in automated
campaigns.
click the Marketing tab.
2. In the first section, click the check box to add this listing to
your XSite Blog. If you don't have your Blog enabled, you'll be
prompted to create it.
3. Next, select the items you'd like to add to your XSellerate
campaign. You'll have the chance to select from several specific
template options once you've launched the Campaign Wizard.
o
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E-mail message - Includes a fully-editable e-mail
message, which can be automatically sent to anybody in
your Contacts database. Click the Edit link to open the
default message in the Content Editor.
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Agent XSites
o
Postcard - Select the design you like and create a PDF
document, which you can print yourself or send to your
printing company.
2. Open the Birthdays and Anniversaries section of the
contact's detailed information and type in the contact's birthday
or, if it's relevant, their anniversary of being your client.
o
Brochure - Create your own eye-catching listing brochures.
Again, you can print them on your own, or send the PDF
copy to a professional print house.
3. In the Birthday field, enter the contact's birthday.
4. Finally click Listing Campaign Wizard to select recipients and
specific elements for your campaign.
Your XSite launches a new XSellerate campaign pre-loaded with
your selections. For additional information about creating and
managing XSellerate campaigns, see the Creating Campaigns
section of this user's guide.
Hint: Each time you run the Listing Campaign Wizard, it
4. Click Save to save the contact.
5. A prompt appears offering you the chance to enroll this contact
in a birthday XSellerate campaign.
o
To add this one contact to the birthday campaign, click Yes.
o
To add this contact and all future contacts into the birthday
campaign, check the box to automatically add contacts into
the campaign and click Yes.
o
If you do not want to market to this contact on his/her
birthday click No or, if you never want to use the birthday
campaign, check the box to prevent your site from
prompting you again and then click No.
remembers the recipients and marketing items you use. If you'd
like to keep these default settings, you can simply skip to the
third step of the wizard and Activate your campaign.
Birthday/Anniversary Marketing
One of the best ways to impact your customers through your
marketing efforts is to remember and acknowledge key events in
the client's life. To that effect XSellerate offers an automatic
birthday marketing system that extends itself to market to clients
on their anniversary of becoming a customer in certain real estate
markets. To set up an automatic birthday greeting using
XSellerate...
1. From your contact manager, create or edit a contact.
XSellerate
Once you enroll contacts into the XSellerate birthday campaign,
XSellerate automatically e-mails them on the occurrence of each
future birthday.
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Agent XSites
Once a year, remember to return to XSellerate to update your
holiday campaign with the updated Standard US Holiday campaign
for that year.
Holiday Marketing
To set up a campaign that sends out greetings for every standard
US holiday during the year...
1. In XSellerate, click Create New Campaign in the Campaigns
panel on the left.
2. In the screen that appears, type a name for your campaign and
click Continue.
3. Select the recipients for your holiday campaign and click Next.
4. From the drop-down menu in the upper left corner, choose
Ready Made Campaigns.
5. Select Standard US Holidays XXXX from the campaigns list
and click the green arrow to add it to your campaign content.
Then, click Next.
6. Review and activate the campaign.
Saved Searches
If you find yourself looking up the same types of properties on a
regular basis, you can save the specific search criteria.
1. Click the Manage your Saved Searches link at the top of the
Search Properties pop up.
2. Click the link to create a new saved search.
3. Now, enter the criteria for your search in the Advanced
Search screen.
4. At the bottom of the form, type a name for this search in the
Search Title: field and click Save.
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