Options for Adding Content to Your Website!
You may have wondered what all the different options under the ‘Add Content’ Category in the Website Editor menu are. They are often overlooked, but are useful tools in customizing and optimizing your website. The following is a brief explanation of each option (which can be added to any page), and what it can be used for to add that extra touch to your website.
Heading: The heading is the main title of the page. It has 3 different levels of heading types (i.e. Sub Heading), the option to use the ‘Page Name’ as the heading, or add a custom heading.
Text: A rich text box is versatile for adding simple text, or hyperlinks, images, web codes, tables, and more. It works similarly to Microsoft Word and is probably the most commonly used feature on a website due to its versatility.
Form: Forms are fully customizable in appearance and content, with editable fields and field types. You can even create a form which automatically redirects to a page of your choice once it is filled out, the options are endless!
Testimonials: All that is needed to add a testimonial to a page is the person’s name and their comments! I would recommend creating a separate testimonials page on your website.
Referral: A referral allows you to add lawyers, sister companies, mortgage brokers, and anything else that is relevant to your business and their company/contact information.
Category Page List: A category page list is a list of links to pages under a particular category, i.e. the Home category. You have the option to display the page descriptions as well, which can be added through the ‘Search Engine Optimization’ > ‘Single Page Optimization’ tab in the Website Editor.
Links: You can add a list of links which are similar to the referrals but it displays only a link to the website. I would recommend adding a heading to indicate what these links are, i.e. “Toronto Area Lawyers” followed by the list of links that apply under that heading.
File List: You can add files to your File Manager and then have links to them on your website. Make sure you add them to the ‘Custom’ folder in your file manager, and name them based on the content of the file.
Sitemap: A sitemap lists ALL of the pages on your website in link format, with the Categories displayed as well.
Recent Blog Posts: You can display 1, 3, 5, 10, or 15 recent blog posts. I would recommend adding 3 recent posts on the ‘Home Page’ to give viewers an insight into your blog and awareness of its presence.
YouTube Video: You can easily add a YouTube video to your site via this option, all you need is the 11 character video ID which is located at the end of the YouTube URL of the particular video. Having media items on your website improves your search engine optimization (SEO). You have the option to select different video sizes as well.
Simple Image Gallery: You can add an image gallery to your website by creating a folder in your image gallery (Under ‘Website’ > ‘Image Gallery’), add images to it, and then select this folder from a dropdown once you add the Simple Image Gallery.
Web Code: You can obtain a Web Code from a third party or create a webcode and insert it here. For example, Google has a web code for a ‘Call Me’ feature which can be displayed directly on your website.
IFrame: An IFrame can be used to display another website of your liking on your website, with a frame around it. Please ensure that you have the appropriate permissions for this from the particular website.
Personal Listing Link: A personal listing link displays a listing of your choice, or at random – based on what you prefer. It also has a section for a ‘Title/Tagline’ which can be useful for advertising Open Houses or any other vital listing information.
Gateway Listing Link: A gateway listing link only asks for an MLS number, which then pulls and displays that listing from our IDX. Please ensure that the listing is in our IDX first, we currently have about 28,000 of TREB listings.
Listings Gallery: A listing gallery scrolls across the page with thumbnails of the main listing picture as well as their price and area. When a listing is clicked, it takes the website viewer to the page with all the listing information.
My Listings: This option shows all of your currently available listings, with the option of showing your solds as well.
Listings Spread: The listings spread randomly generates either your listings, or both yours and your office listings side-by-side. You can have anywhere between 1-5 per Listings Spread, but can add as many listings spreads as you want.
Amenities Map: An amenities map allows you to narrow the map down to an area (perhaps an area you specialize in, or you can use it to accentuate a neighbourhood profile page) which allows users to search amenities in that area.
IDX Pinpoint Flat Search: An IDX pinpoint flat search allows you to narrow down on an address and display all listings at that location from our IDX.
Listing Map Search: The listing map search is our interactive map allowing users to search by specific address, or by selecting a city/neighbourhood, and by criteria. It has a search option for amenities as well!
Toronto Zone Map: A Toronto zone map narrows the search to either Central, North, East, or West Toronto districts.
Toronto Search Box: This search box is similar to the zone map search, except it has all the 4 district areas – Central, North, East, and West.
Focus Areas: Focus areas are areas that you specialize in. You can add between 1-4 areas at once (but as many as you’d like via ‘Add Content’ > Focus Areas’). You can select an area/neighbourhood from a drop down menu and then select a picture from our stock content to suit it, or add your own – please make sure the dimensions are 217 pixels wide by 89 pixels high or else the image will look stretched or vice versa. If the neighbourhood you want is not available, you have the option to create a custom neighbourhood by obtaining the latitude and longitude of that area and adding it in!
Calendar: You can add a calendar to your website by first creating it in the backend. For example, create a separate calendar for ‘Community Events’ for a specific area, and add it to the suitable page!
Using the tools available to you will not only help your website look its best and separate you from the rest, but it will also help with your search engine ranking and SEO! The more useful content you add and the more frequently you add new information, more visitors will be attracted to your website as well as directed to it through search engines.
Have you used any of the above on your website? Let us know!
Written By: Sevi Najafova, Client Relations