Adding/Editing Custom Pages to your site:
Path, from the left navigation menu: ['Customization' section] > Custom Pages
Custom Pages, unlike the Special Pages, are not mandatory, and do not feature in the tabbed header menu at the top of every page. Instead, you may link to any (or all) of your custom pages by setting up links to them within the 'Custom Links' and 'Footer Links' sections of the Partner Administration System. Also unlike the Special Pages, when you create a Custom Page, you can even specify the filename of the page (allowing you make search-engine friendly filenames which may boost your rankings).
To load the Custom Pages screen, you just need to select the Custom Pages' menu option from the left navigation menu, within the 'Customization' section.
Fig. 2.5.5.1: The "Custom Pages" link for reviewing / changing your site's 'Custom Page' content:
This will load the Custom Pages screen, shown below:
Fig. 2.5.5.2: The "Custom Pages" screen from which you select Custom Pages for modification, and create new Custom Pages:
Running quickly through each of the headings you can see on the Custom Pages screen, the below descriptions give a very brief introduction to each of the different types of information listed about the different custom pages on your screen.
URL
These are the paths to your special pages, relative to your audio-book store website. For example, if you have a Custom Page with a file name "Halloween" your URL will be /Halloween.html The page filename you specify, when creating/editing a Custom Page, will feature in the URL field here.
Tip: Bear in mind that some search engines base their ranking of your page partly on whether a search term features in your website URL. By customizing your own filenames in the Custom Pages screen, you can optimize your page's ranking for a particular key word or phrase.
Page Heading
These are the Page Headings that have been specified for each of the Special Pages. These headings can be edited using the edit feature (below).
Versions
This value tells you whether or not there are any additional versions of each of the Custom Pages. Different versions can be created of each of the Custom Pages to allow you to keep your pages fresh and targeted. Your new versions of a Custom page can be set to appear over a particular date range (so you can effectively 'schedule' different versions of your Custom Pages to tie into seasonal events, such as Thanksgiving, Summer Holidays, etc.).
Tip: Why not create many different Custom Pages that you can use to target your sales on special occasions (from links to the Custom Pages on the Footer and Custom Links Panels), one for each of a range of seasonal promotions: Fathers' Day, New-Year, The Olympics, An author's birthday, etc.
Edit (only visible when you actually have some existing Custom Pages)
The edit link takes you to the editing page for the Custom Page in question.
Delete (only visible when you actually have some existing Custom Pages)
If you would like to delete a Custom Page entirely, you may do so by clicking the link entitled "delete". This will permanently remove this custom page from your list.
Creating new Custom Links:
You can create a new Custom Page by pressing the button labeled "Create New", at the bottom left of the Custom Pages screen. This will open a blank version of the Edit Screen below, into which you may enter the relevant details (see below for details of the different fields of information required). You may then save your new Custom Page by following the instructions at the end of this section.
The Custom Page Edit Screen - Modifying existing Custom Pages and Entering Details for New Custom Pages:
Whether you've selected 'Edit' (to edit an existing Custom Page) or the "Create New" button, you will be taken to the following page:
Fig. 2.5.5.3: The "Custom Pages Editing Screen" using which you may modify or enter the details of your Custom Pages:
On the Custom Pages Editing Screen, you will see a list of editable options in the center of the page. Below these options are a number of save/cancel/preview buttons too. Each of the elements on the page will be discussed below, to help your understanding of the types of changes you can make here.
Filename (no ext)
This field is the name of your custom web page. You can call your web page pretty much anything you'd like, and this name will form part of the url. Do not enter a suffix. like '.html' or similar, as this is automatically added by the system. For example, if you create a new Custom page with filename "thanksgiving" the url to the file will be http://www.yourdomain.com/thanksgiving.html (where 'yourdomain.com' is of course your own domain name as registered during your Partner Account setup). In this way you can target certain search terms, and optimize your search engine positioning by using relevant keywords or terms in the filename.
Link Text
If you specify, within the Footer Links menu option in the Partner Admin System, that you would like a link to one of your Custom Pages, the text you enter in this field will become the text for the link itself. For example, if in this field you type "MY CUSTOM PAGE" then when you come to editing your Footer Links, and you specify that you would like a link to this particular Custom Page on the Footer, the link will appear with the text "MY CUSTOM PAGE". Exactly as you specified here. Likewise, if you want to feature a particular Custom Page in the 'Custom Nav Bar' (which appears either left or right of your screen, as you prefer), then the text you specify here will again form the text of the link in the navigation panel.
Page Header
The text at the top of the body copy on your custom page, the header text, is editable here. This is the text that needs to capture the reader's attention and entice them to read on. It should be relevant to the main body text wherever possible.
Description
The description of your custom page can be edited here. This is the text that usually appears in the search results, when people are finding your page in search engines. You should make sure that the description is interesting enough and tells the visitor exactly what the page is all about.
Page Template
The page template option asks you if you want/need a Right Panel for your specific custom page. The right panel usually includes the Recommended and New Releases panels, with the audio book titles that we recommend or the audio books that were just released. Depending on the scope of the custom page, you can include or not a right panel.
Text
This is the actual body text for the Custom Page that you're currently editing. The input box here is in HTML format - you should not simply enter unformatted text here as it will cause problems when viewing your page. You have three options as regards inserting your desired HTML into this field, namely;
1) Edit the HTML code directly, by clicking the 'source' button in the edit area, and then entering your HTML code in the window that appears.
2) Use the in-built WYSIWYG Editor (more on which below)
3) Use a third party HTML authoring application, then copy & paste your finished HTML into the HTML edit box, again loaded by clicking the 'source' button.
This versatile feature enables you to get a really custom look and feel about the major editorial sections of your site - you can even incorporate graphics into your page (although you will have to use absolute http:// paths to your graphics as they will need to be located on your own, personal web space, off the Spoken Network System - not a problem so long as they are small enough not to slow the page-load).
WYSIWYG editor
To make editing your HTML as easy and intuitive as possible, we've included a 'what you see is what you get' HTML page editor for you to use - right off the page! This gives you a really simple view of exactly how your page text will appear, without having to get into the HTML coding side of things.
Fig. 2.5.5.4: The "WYSIWYG" editor, for editing the text on your Special Pages:
This inbuilt HTML editor is designed to give you straightforward control over the layout of the main text in the Custom Page you're currently editing. The editor is designed to be intuitive to anyone who is familiar with standard word processing editing options, but for those who are not, you can access a special help page entirely on the features of the editor window, by visiting the section of this manual entitled: "WYSIWYG Editor".
Create another Version (link)
If you would like to create a whole new version of this page (perhaps you want to create a temporary version of one of your Custom Pages, for use on a particular holiday or other timely event) you may do so by clicking this link. A completely new copy of the current Custom Page will appear, ready for editing and saving. You may then link to this new Custom Page in the usual manner, from the Footer Links and Custom Nav Bar pages.
Saving, Canceling and Submitting your Custom Page changes
As was mentioned earlier in this section, there are three buttons at the bottom of the Custom Pages Editing Screen. Their functions are as follows:
"Preview Page" Button: This button allows you to load a new, pop-up window illustrating exactly how the changes you have just made will look when your page is made live. This is a great way to visualize how the text you've used appears on the page, and to make sure you're happy with the overall effect of your editing. This button does NOT make changes to your 'live' site - it is only for use as a visual 'proof' of your proposed changes to this specific Custom Page.
"Cancel" Button: This button allows you to return to the list of Custom Pages without saving any changes you may have just made to your Custom Page. If, for example, you preview a page and you're really not happy with the effect, you can close the preview window, then effectively abandon your proposed changes by clicking the "Cancel" button. Only clicking the "Save Changes" button (details of which are below) will you commit your changes.
"Save Changes" Button: This button saves any changes you might have made in this session to the Custom Page you are editing. On clicking this button, as well as saving your changes, the system will redirect you back to the list of Custom Pages, ready for you to make your next editing selection.
Tip:
It is highly recommended that you make full use of the "Preview Page" button facility to ensure that the changes you have proposed appear exactly as you want, BEFORE committing the changes to the 'live' site by clicking the "Save Changes" button (although you can of course edit the site again, and recommit additional changes, should you need to correct an error).