A quick guide to setting up your new website
Hi there. Welcome to MrSite we re really happy you chose to build your brand new website with us and look forward to seeing what you create! We re sure you re excited to get started building your site, so we ve created this guide to quickly take you through the first steps to getting up and running.
If after reading this you ve got any further questions, no problem. There s lots of ways you can get in touch with the friendly team. To chat online with us, log into your account and click the Live Chat button. Alternatively, send an email to support@mrsite.co.uk or give us a call on 0207 099 0760. We promise, no question is too basic, or indeed too complicated we re here to help.
Contents. Welcome Getting started Registering your website & choosing your website name Designing your pages Adding your first page Adding images and text Choosing a design 02 06 09 Getting selling Adding your first product 18 And don t forget... 20 5
Getting started. Activating your website Your first step to getting your new website up and running is to activate it. All you need is the password that you found in this box. Go to www. mrsite.co.uk/activate and type your password in. Next, click Go!. Remember, the password is case sensitive so type it in exactly as you see it! Choosing your website address You get a free web address included as part of your MrSite website also known as a domain name for example, www.yourwebsite. com. After you ve entered your password, on the next page you ll be asked to choose your website address. Enter your chosen domain name and click Check availability. We ll then look to see whether it s free; it may be that someone else is already using the address. If the domain is free, you ll see a message saying This domain is available. Click Next and we ll register it for you. Some tips when choosing your website address: Keep it short ideally, no more than 15 characters. You want people to remember it easily. Make sure it s easy to spell; avoid words with different spellings in the UK and USA, like jewellery or colour. Try a regional domain name ending; for example, if you re based in the UK opt for co.uk, if you re in Australia go for com.au.
Registering with MrSite Once you ve picked your domain name, then you ll be asked to fill in a few details about yourself so we can register you as it s owner. You can change these details later, but it s really important that you make sure that things like your phone number and email address are accurate. We ll need to contact you when your website and/or domain name are due for renewal to make sure you don t lose them, or perhaps if you ever request technical support. If we don t have the right contact details we won t be able to get in touch. Your login details and password Once you ve completed your registration, on the screen you ll see your username (which will be your registered email address) and your password, which is your original password; you ll also be emailed these details. Click Log into MrSite to start building your new website. You can change your password or email address later. You ll be taken first to your Account Centre, where you can manage your website and domains. To start designing your website, just click Build my website at the top of the screen. You ll see your Overview page gives you a quick summaryof your site like how many pages you ve added, any new messages you ve received from the MrSite team and any activity in your blog. 7
Designing your pages. The Edit my website tab is where you can get the web pages on your site looking just how you want. If you click Web pages, you ll see MrSite has created a set of default pages, including a shop page, blog, and of course your homepage. Aside from your homepage (you definitely need that!) you don t have to use any of these default pages. To delete a page, just click Edit and then Delete. To add a page, click Add new page - there re more info on page 12 to help you with this.. The Publish button Remember, at the end of a designing session, to make the changes appear live on your site click the Publish button at the top of your screen. Designing your pages To start building a page, click Design it next to the one you want to work on. Your page is split up into different sections: A B C D E F Upper content drop zone Left column drop zone Middle column drop zone Right column drop zone Lower content drop zone Footer drop zone 9
To design your web page, we ve created different widgets which you just drag and drop into the different page sections. If you want to add some content, or a box with your latest tweets, or perhaps an image gallery, all you need to do is drop the relevant widget into your page If you click the widget, you ll see numbers which let you choose how big the widget will appear on your web page select 1 for the smallest size, 4 for the biggest size. Content widget for adding text and image To get started, let s look at how you can use the Content widget to add text and images to your website. Click the Design drop-down list in the menu on the right, click on the Content widget and drag it into your page. Next, click Edit. Adding text You can now type in your text and then format it as you want you ll see the familiar text editing buttons in the menu at the top.
Adding images To add your images, click this button: You can now either link to an image online by typing in the web address into the Image URL box, or you can upload an image by selecting this button: You ll be taken to your Image library, which is where you can store and edit all the images you use on your website. To add a new image to your library, you just need to select Upload image. Then choose the image on your computer you want to add to your website and click Open. You ll now see the images appears in your Image Library. If you want to crop the image, then you can click it and select Crop. When you ve finished, go to Insert image and it ll appear in your content box. If you want to change the size of the image, just click the the right hand corner,hold your mouse down and drag inwards. Once you re happy, you can Save widget. To make the changes live on the net, click the Publish button at the top right of your screen. Previewing your site As you start building your pages, you ll probably want to see how they are looking, so you can make any tweaks before you publish your site live. 11
To preview your page, just scroll down until you see the Preview button at the bottom of the screen. Click it and you ll see how your page is looking. If you re happy, click Save page - otherwise you can carry on designing. Creating your first web page If you want to add a new page to your website, you can do so in Webpages, which you ll find in Edit my website. Just click Add a new page and fill in the top section: Page details Page name: This is the name which will appear in your menu bar. Published: Tick this box if you want the page to be live on your website Page position: If you have ticked the box above, then this option will appear. If you want it to be a main website page, then select Root page. If you want it to be a sub-page so it appears within a main Root page you can choose here which page it will appear within. Add to menu: Tick here if you want the page to appear in the main navigational menu of your website Access password: If you want to make a page passwordprotected, so only your trusted visitors can access it, enter the password here. Display order: This will set how high this page appears in your navigation menu so if you type 1 then it will be the first page in your menu, and if you select 5 it will be the fifth. Now remember to Save new page :
What other widgets are available? Here, we re going to give you a quick run-down of the different widgets which you can use to make your website look brilliant. There are even more to be discovered by clicking the My Widgets tab, followed by Browse more widgets ; why not create a newsletter, or add Youtube and Vimeo to your pages? To add a widget, just click and drag it into place. Then click it again and select Edit. We ve split the widgets into two categories: Design: These widgets help you add great-looking content to your site: Gallery A gallery is a brilliant way for you to make it easy for your website visitors to scroll through your images News list: If you have a news page on your website you can create one by going to the News tab, which you ll find in Edit my website. then you may want to have a feed on another page, showing the latest articles you ve posted. This widget lets you do that all you need to do is click Edit and then specify how many articles you want to show in the feed. Column widgets With these widgets, you can add your content as columns on your website, rather than bigger blocks of text. Choose from 1,2,3 or 4 columns. 13
Social These widgets help you connect with your online visitors and get some buzz going about your new website. Guest book With this widget, you can set up a place for your customers to leave a message on your website about you, your products and business User poll: You can create polls for your website they re a great way to engage your visitors and get their opinion on the topics that matter to them and you. Social links: It s easy to create a link on your web page to your different social networks, such as Facebook, with this widget Just add in your username or the URL Latest tweets: Add a feed of all your latest posts on Twitter and get more followers. Just remember there are also lots more available in the Marketplace, which you can find by going to My widgets and then clicking Browse more widgets. We re always adding new ones so it s worth browsing around every so often to see what catches your eye! My website designs Designs are website layouts that you can add to your site. They help you arrange your web pages professionally and makes sure your site looks great.
As they re based on the most current design trends, you can be sure that your website visitors will not only be impressed, they ll find browsing your site an easy and enjoyable experience. Just look through the many available and pick your favourite and don t forget, more are always being added. Finding your perfect design In the My site design tab, select Browse more designs. This will take you to the Marketplace, where you will see the full range of designs available. To see how a design will look on your site, click it and then select Test drive. If you like it, click Get design to add it to your design library. Your design library Your design library is a way for you to keep all your downloaded layouts together in one place. Building a design library means you can easily access your favourite designs, keep a record of which ones you ve used on your site and create a bank of designs you can use for different occasions (for example, seasonal designs). In your design library, just check in the column Live if you re unsure about which layout is published in your site the design that s currently on your site will have a big green tick next to it. Customising your design and adding a logo You can customise designs to make them unique by selecting Options and then Customise. Here, you can also upload a logo or header to your site. 15
Your site settings. By going to the Site settings tab, you can change the admin settings for your website including creating a holding message for when your site is under construction and getting your site visible on Google with SEO. Since this is a quick guide, we re just going to cover the sections you ll want to fill in as you get started, but you can go back later to complete the rest! General Here you can set up the basic details about your new website. Site name: Give your website a name Site URL: Enter your website s domain name here (for example www.mywebsite.com). Site under construction: Tick this box to let visitors know that you re building the site and they should check back in a few days. 17
Getting selling. If you want to sell online, then your MrSite website comes with it s own online shop. Online selling also known as e-commerce is a great way to reach more customers, all over the world. With a Starter package, perfect for dipping your toes into online sales, you just need to follow these steps - but since Standard and Pro come with more advanced options, if you re using either check out your Site overview for advice on how to make the most of your shop Adding your first product To create a new product, click Edit my Shop and then Products. Select Add a new product and then just fill in these sections: About this product Product name: Enter the name of your product here Published: If you want the product to go live on your site, tick this box. Short description: For example, This beautiful set of prints makes a great gift for any occasion. Product description: Here you can give a longer description of your product - for example, A set of 5 prints, mounted in canvas with a green pine frame. Will add a beautiful accent to any room and is the ideal present for any art lover. Product settings Price: Enter the price of your product here Click Save new product. Once you ve saved it, you ll also be able to add a product image - you can do this by clicking Add a picture.
Managing your shop Accepting payments In Edit my shop, if you go to Shop settings then you ll see there are two tabs - payments and shipping. Before you can start selling live, you ll need to set up an account with PayPal so you can accept payments online. It s simple to do - just go to www.paypal.com/standard. Then, just go to Payments and select Add a new method. Once you ve added PayPal, you ll see it appear in your list of payment methods. If you select Edit you ll see more instructions about the last few steps you need to take to accept payments on your site. Shipping With the Shipping tab, you can choose how customers can get their products delivered to them. To add different shipping methods - for example, First Class or Special Delivery - click Shipping and select Shipping methods from the drop-down menu. Then click Add a new shipping method and fill in the details. You can also specify how much your customers need to pay for delivery, by going to Costs, which you ll find in the Shipping dropdown menu. 19
And there s lots more... We ve only taken you through the basics of setting up your site - there s so much more you can do, though. You can add a blog, create a news page, drop in video or music content... To find out more about how to make the most of your site, look out for the full manual, available in your Site Overview. We re very excited to see your new website and would love to hear how you get on, so drop us an email at stories@mrsite.co.uk to let us know.