1. Adding the Website Service (if needed)
If you haven't done so yet, adding the Website Service to your account is really easy:
- Log in to your account at https://rescuegroups.org.
- Go to Website > Add Website Service.
For more detailed information please see our guide on Upgrading, downgrading, and changing your services.
2. Choosing a hostname
When you signed up for the Website Service, you were prompted to select a hostname.
Example: If you chose yourorgname then your website URL would be: yourorgname.rescuegroups.org. If you do not have a domain name, you can use this for your website URL.
If you have a domain name or want to register a domain name, you can set up your website first using the hostname you just selected, then we can show you how to use a domain name. See the Domain Names guide.
NOTE
It may take time for the hostname to become active. In the meantime, you can move on to the next steps.
3. Verifying your organization's contact information
- Go to Services > Account Administration
- Click Contact Information
- Verify that everything is accurate.
4. Adding or importing animals
Many of the features of the website require some animals to be added before they will be available.
NOTE
If you are new to our services, please read the Getting started with RescueGroups.org guide. If you are new, you may also want help doing an import of your animals (Importing animal data into your account). If you already have either the Pet Adoption Portal or the Data Management Service, your animals are already added.
We also would ask you, please read the Animals section of this guide to learn about adding your animals into your RescueGroups.org account.
Now that you have animals added to your service, let's go through some specific settings that your website will use.
5. Complete (Review and Change) the animal settings
There are several animal-related settings you should review and change if needed. This section describes those settings. These are different from the settings described in the chapter Understanding the website settings.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Supported Species | We recommend unchecking species you do not rescue because that shortens the drop-down menus to only the animals you rescue.
|
| Special Lists Settings | For more information about using special lists, see the section about Using the Special Lists Settings feature.
If you would like to display your adoptable pets by age groups on separate pages, you need to add in birth dates for each animal. This is a great way to show puppies, adults, seniors on their own web pages. |
| Additional Animal Settings | Browse through and make any changes necessary to the following:
|
Setting up your website
There are some basic tasks to complete to set up your new website:
- Uploading your organization's logo to the website
- Enable the affiliates you want to use, such as Facebook, Twitter, Paypal
- Review your website settings and enable or disable features to customize to your needs
- Selecting a layout
- Open your website and start to add content
6. Uploading a logo
To upload your organization's logo, go to Website > Logo > Upload a New Logo
For more information please our guide: Adding your logo to your website
7. Enabling Affiliates
- Go to Website > Affiliates
- PayPal Email: enter the email address that your organization uses with PayPal.
- Facebook Page: For more information about adding your adoptable animals to your Facebook account, read the section, Using the Pet Adoption iFrame.
- Twitter Account
- You can enter others or leave them blank.
- Save Affiliates
For more information please see our guide: Adding PayPal, Facebook, or other affiliate vendors to your website
NOTE
Please note: Amazon Tag is not the Amazon Smile or Wishlist. To add those, you will create a custom code snippet, then add it to your web page.
8. Reviewing the Website Settings page and enable/disable features.
Go to Website > Settings
For more detailed information please see our guide: Understanding the website settings
General Site Settings
It's a good idea to leave the site active as you get things set up so you can preview your edits.
Meta Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Website Description | This is used by all search engines and is the little snippet of information that appears in google and bing. Keep it brief. The description should optimally be between 150-160 characters. |
| Use Short Cut / Favicon Image | If you have a favicon image, you can upload it to Website > Images, then select it from the drop-down menu here. A favicon is a little icon that appears in a browser's address bar or next to the site name in a bookmark list. Here is an online tool to generate one if you'd like. http://www.favicon-generator.org/ |
| Use Logo Image | Upload an image that is a minimum of 200 x 200 pixels to Website > Images, then select it here. This is the image shown when you share the website. |
9. Selecting a layout
We have a page devoted to helping you select a website layout. Please see Selecting a website layout before you continue your website setup.
For more detailed information please see our guide: Selecting a website layout
Site Layout Options
Not all website layouts support the Layout Slogan. If your layout does not, you can upload your logo to your Website > Images, then edit the web page named Header, and place your logo on the page.
Front Page Options
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Custom front page | While it's a good idea to use the web pages that comprise your home page to maximize use of the built-in features, you can create your own web page, and set that page as your homepage. |
| Display logo on front page | Not all layouts support this, but if the layout you selected does and you've uploaded a logo, you can enable it here. |
| Latest News Articles | Enable this feature if you would like to show news on your homepage. To read more about news articles and how to use them, see the chapter, About News Articles. You can also use the News feature by using a code snippet. For information about code snippets, see the chapter, Using code snippets. |
| Upcoming Events | Enable this feature if you would like to show events on your home page. For information about using the Events feature, see the chapter, About events. You can also use the Events feature by using a code snippet. See the chapter, Using code snippets. |
| Top Highlighted Animals | You can use the Animal Highlight field to specify which animals appear as highlighted. For more information about using the animal highlights feature, see the chapter, Using the animal highlight feature. |
Sidebar Options
Depending on your layout these options may be available as built-in elements or you can add them manually using code snippets. For information about code snippets, see the chapter, Using code snippets.
Logo and Background
Use logo
Some layouts use this setting to add your logo.
Use Background Image
You can upload an image to website > images and select that image to be your background image. The image must be a JPEG file and will be resized to 140px.
If you would like to use a solid color or change the color that is there, we can help you with that. Let us know.
Contact Info Page
Enable to activate the contact form.
Save Settings.
10. Open Your Website
Go to Website > Open Your Website
Your website is live and ready for you to start adding content and customizing the look and feel.
11. Add Some Content to the Web Pages that Make up Your Home Page
When selecting a layout, it helps to see where each of these page elements is located on the various templates (if they are used).
Adding in some content before you choose a layout will make this easier. These web pages are Home Page Header, Front Page Top, Front Page Bottom, Sidebar Right, Sidebar Middle, and Footer. See below for more information.
NOTE
Adding HTML to a Web Page
Please be sure to add all custom HTML using the Custom Code Snippet feature.
If you add the code directly to the page, the page editor will likely strip out your HTML code or trap the code in paragraph tags - that is why you should use the custom code snippet feature. For more information about using custom code snippets read the article: Using custom code snippets.
When to use this? Whenever you add any custom HTML like:
- Adding in a custom PayPal button.
- Embedding a video
- Adding a Facebook feed
Recommendation
Copying / Pasting
If you are copy/pasting text from another web page, an email, or word document:
Please use the Paste as Plain Text icon in the page editor to remove the formatting! This will remove the existing font sizes, font properties, and any unsupported code. For detailed information about working with the page editor, see the article: Using the editor.
- Go to Website > Web Page List
- In the data table, under Title is the list of web pages and editable sections for your website.
- Click the Edit icon next to the webpage titled Sidebar Middle, then type the words "Sidebar Middle" on the page, click Save.
- Repeat for these pages:
- Sidebar Right, then type the words "Sidebar Right" on the page, click Save.
- Header
- Footer
- Front page top
- Front page bottom
- Upload your logo to Website > Logo.
- Add your organization's PayPal email address to Website > Affiliates.
- Add your organization's Facebook page to Website > Affiliates.
- Go to Services > Account Administration > Organization Contact. Determine if anything needs to be updated or made private.
For more detailed information please see our guide: Creating your website content
12. Preview the Layouts
Layouts are like a frame and many of the layouts can be further customized by modifying the style sheet. Now that you have some content on the pages, you can flip between the different layouts to see where things will appear since not all layouts use all of the areas (sidebar middle, sidebar right, header, footer and not all automatically display the logo). If a layout you like does not automatically display these elements, you can manually add in your logo by uploading it to your Website > Images, then placing it on the page. You can also add in other elements manually.
- Go to Website > Layouts.
- Click Preview next to each layout.
- You can also click Use This Layout to see the layout more in-depth.
- Click Website > Open Your Website to view your website.
13. Select your sites Colors and Font Options
This can be challenging to create the look/feel you would like. And some of the areas on a few layouts can only be customized by modifying the style sheet. If you need any help, please open a support ticket and let us know. You can send us your logo, and some ideas of the colors/feel you like, we can help you set the colors.
- Go to Website > Colors & Font Options.
- Select a font and font size that you will use across your entire site. This will help you avoid changing the font/font size on each of the pages.
- Select Colors, click Preview at the bottom of the page or click Save
Not all layouts use the Secondary and Strong Colors in the same places, so it's a good idea to select the layout first, then edit these.
At the bottom of this page is a tool that can help you select colors.
NOTE
Font & Font sizes: if the layout you select displays the text too small on some pages, please open a support ticket and we can help you adjust this. We can also help you adjust the font sizes, font face for the heading and page titles. This way if you want to have a page heading that is a different font or font size, you can just select the Heading 1 or Heading 2 and not change the font face, font size on the page over and over.
Colors: A lot of this is trial and error. If you need help, please open a support ticket and we will assist you.
14. When to Create Pages (Decide whether to use the built-in pages or create a custom page)
- Buil- in pages come with your site, you don't need to use them, but they're there to help you get started.
- You do NOT need to create the animal browse pages. One of the great features that is built into your service is the automatic displaying of animals.
- To automatically group animals by ages (puppies, kittens, dogs, cats) you will need to add birth dates.
- To add Events or News
IMPORTANT
Built-in pages cannot be deleted. You can create a custom menu and opt not use those pages.
To add HTML to a page, please use the Custom Code Snippet feature.
Examples of adding custom HTML are:
- ChipIn widget
- Goodsearch code
- Goodshop code
- Embed a Video or Slideshow
- Custom PayPal code
- Custom Affiliate code
- Facebook Like Box
- iFrame
15. Using a domain name with your Website Service
For more information on domains please see our guide: About domain names
Detailed instructions about using a domain name with the website service are detailed in the Domain Names guide.
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