OUB Digital Communications

How to...Create a Marketing Landing Page

Kelly Hansen — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 18:53:08 +0000

How to...Create a Marketing Landing Page Kelly Hansen Fri, 07/22/2022 - 14:53

Whether it’s called a landing page, lead capture page, single property page, or squeeze page - the purpose of a marketing landing page is the same - prompt a visitor into completing a specific action, or ‘conversion’.

Building a marketing landing page within SiteMasonry is as simple as building a regular page. In her Quick Start Guide to Marketing Landing Pages, Kristin Heydt, OUB's Digital Strategist, explains the basics and walks through a sample SiteMasonry marketing landing page layout.

Topics

Marketing Area Page

Marketing Landing Page

Tips to Improve Readability:

Marketing

SiteMasonry Tutorial

How to...Use the Blockquote Style to Format a Fact Box

Kelly Hansen — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:48:57 +0000

How to...Use the Blockquote Style to Format a Fact Box Kelly Hansen Fri, 04/08/2022 - 11:48

Keep Mason accessible with expressive alt text

More How tos...

How to... Embed an Image with Expressive Image Alt Text
May 9, 2023
How to... Login to Content Hub
May 8, 2023
How to… Understand Versioning and Publication States - Draft, Published, and Archive
May 2, 2023
How to... Add Files to Blackboard and Find the Web Permalink
April 25, 2023
How to...Create a News Item - Legacy
July 26, 2022

Blockquote styling is the unsung, and versatile, hero of a reader-friendly page or news item.

If you aren’t using the blockquote styling feature to add a visual POP to news items and pages, you should be! Use the blockquote styler with the attribution line to highlight a compelling quote. Or, create a fact box, like the one below, by formatting a bulleted list within a blockquote.

List the sizzle and key facts
Use concise language, short sentences
Break up articles with intro text, headers, fact boxes, and smaller images
Place large images and videos at the end

Watch the video below shows how to create a fact box in less than 26 seconds using the blockquote style. The same instructions apply to a text block placed on a landing or basic page.

Topics

Content Hub Profiles

Content Hub Programs

How to...Create a Content Editor Account

Kelly Hansen — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:09:03 +0000

How to...Create a Content Editor Account Kelly Hansen Tue, 04/05/2022 - 11:09

Use Expressive Alt Text on Images

Add Sizzle to News Items

A perk of being a Site Owner is having the ability to create Content Editors for your managed site. Site Owners are also responsible for training and supporting their Content Editors.'

To create a Content Editor account, log in to your SiteMasonry site, then:

Click the ‘People’ tab in the admin navigation bar
Select ‘Add User’ from the dropdown menu

Fill out the form on the ‘Add User’ screen

Email Address - SiteMasonry only accepts @gmu.edu Mason email addresses
Check the box that says 'Allow User to Login via CAS'
CAS Username - Enter the user's Mason username/NetID. This will be the first part of their email address (NOT the entire email address).

QUALITY ASSURANCE MOMENT

Double check the accuracy and spelling of the CAS username and the email address!

These two fields are what allow the user to login with their Mason credentials, and must be accurate.

Username: Enter the user's first and last name. (eg: Jessica Mason)
Password: This is a temporary password used only by the system to create the account.

HOT TIP

This password will not actually be the one used, and so does not need to be memorable! Please open a text program, then type or generate a long (30+ character) string of random letters, numbers, and special characters.

Do not reuse passwords for more than one user. Always create a new one.

Status: Select 'active.'
Roles: Select only one role, 'Content Editor.' Other roles are being transitioned out of SiteMasonry.
Notify user of new account: Checking this box to send an automatically-generated email to the new Content Editor. If you are not yet ready for this user to log in and begin using their site, you may leave this box unchecked, and inform the user yourself later on.

All other form options (contact settings, locale settings, and URL alias) are used by SiteMasonry Platform Managers. Please ignore these options.

Submit the form, and the new user will be created.

Topics

Site Owners

SiteMasonry Tutorial

How to...Optimize Pages and News Items for Social Sharing

Kelly Hansen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 22:58:20 +0000

How to...Optimize Pages and News Items for Social Sharing Kelly Hansen Thu, 03/10/2022 - 17:58

View a Sample Optimized News Article

Use Correct Image Sizes

More About News Items

How to... Login to Content Hub
May 8, 2023
How to...Create a News Item - Legacy
July 26, 2022
How to...Optimize Pages and News Items for Social Sharing
April 28, 2022
How to...Use the Blockquote Style to Format a Fact Box
April 8, 2022
How to...Topic Tag and Share a News Item
March 10, 2022

Always expect news items to be shared on social media.

Add a custom summary text and a thumbnail to every page, profile, and news item to improve brand impact, social engagement, as well both external and internal search engine ranking (SEO). The thumbnail and summary text display as the page's social media card and search result preview snippet.

This page's thumbnail and summary text in action.

Guide to Adding Summary Text and Thumbnail

Summary text and thumbnail images are added on the ‘Edit Settings’ screen
The thumbnail and summary text combine to become the page's search result and social media card preview snippet
The summary text should be a one-sentence highlight of the article
The thumbnail image should be an informative visual illustration of the summary text
Thumbnail images should be square (1:1 ratio) images, with minimum dimensions of 300x300 pixels and maximum dimensions of 600x600 pixels
Use a social media previewer such as OpenGraph

Even if you have no distribution plans of your own, web content is highly shareable. One can’t predict which stories will be shared by your readers.

Dr. Washington avidly promotes Mason on social media, he may be sharing your story!

Topics

Image Management Tutorial

Best Practices Tutorial

News Item Tutorial

How to...Topic Tag and Share a News Item

Kelly Hansen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 22:10:29 +0000

How to...Topic Tag and Share a News Item Kelly Hansen Thu, 03/10/2022 - 17:10

More How tos...

How to... Login to Content Hub
May 8, 2023
How to...Create a News Item - Legacy
July 26, 2022
How to...Optimize Pages and News Items for Social Sharing
April 28, 2022
How to...Use the Blockquote Style to Format a Fact Box
April 8, 2022
How to...Topic Tag and Share a News Item
March 10, 2022

Sharing and Tagging make the 'add once, view all over' Content Hub magic happen!

News Items added to Content Hub will appear on subscriber site(s) they are shared with
Topic tags assigned to a news item determine which filtered lists it will display once the item exports to a subscribing site

In this video example, a news item is shared and tagged to appear on Mason's President's Site 'Statements' page.

Topics

News Item Tutorial

How to...Use the 'Display Date' field to Order News Items

Kelly Hansen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 19:03:26 +0000

How to...Use the 'Display Date' field to Order News Items Kelly Hansen Thu, 03/10/2022 - 14:03

This 'Display Date' field is used to list news list items by 'Display Date' order in a news list filter block.

Field located near the top of a news item admin screen
The 'Display Date' does not affect the page's visibility to end-users
Use the publication settings at the bottom of the news item's 'Edit Settings' screen to publish a news item on a specific date

Topics

News Item Tutorial

Sample News Item with Optimization Tips

Kelly Hansen — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 16:05:35 +0000

Sample News Item with Optimization Tips Kelly Hansen Wed, 03/09/2022 - 11:05

Add a CTA to balance page - looks so nice!

Use Correct Image Sizes

Use Intro Text formating to create an abstract. A compelling sentence or two summarizing the key takeaways from the article will draw in your reader.

Be Ready to Share

Add a Custom Summary and Thumbnail Image to Every News Item

Thumbnail images should be a 1:1 image ratio (otherwise known as a square), and no larger than 400 pixels by 400 pixels.

Expect news items to be shared on social media. Social media shares increase Mason’s digital impact by connecting with potential new visitors and improving a news item’s search engine ranking. Even if you have no distribution plans of your own, web content is highly shareable, and you can never predict which stories will be shared by your readers.

The summary text is a news item's 'elevator speech'. It is a one-sentence highlight of the article which displays both as the search engine snippet and intro text on a social media share.

A custom thumbnail image is the visual version of a news item's summary text. Thumbnail images should be a 1:1 image ratio (otherwise known as a square), and no larger than 400 pixels by 400 pixels. Thumbnails display with summary text in search result snippets and social media shares.

Use a Social Media Share Checker

Preview what your news item will look like on social media with a social share checker. The OUB Digital Communications team likes OpenGraph XYZ and the Social Share Preview browser extension. Search for 'Social Share Preview' in your browser's extension library to download.

Use a Fact Box

Headings are Also Great for Breaking Up Text

Another way to add visual interest is to give your reader article highlights in a fact box. Create a fact box by formatting a bulleted list within a blockquote then removing the attribution. List the sizzle and key facts. Here is a sample fact box of tips to make your news item more reader-friendly for improved social shareability and search engine ranking.

Improve web readability by:

Putting important information first

Using concise language, short sentences

Breaking up articles with intro text, headers, fact boxes, and smaller images

Placing large images and videos at the end

Use Small Images

Small images are a great way to captivate readers. Small images load more quickly than large images on all devices and browsers. Load time is important, as users do not tolerate long waits, and long load times negatively affect search engine optimization.

Videos and Larger Images at the End

Pages load into a browser on any device from top to bottom. Keep large images and videos at the bottom of the article so they have time to load while your user is busy reading your compelling text.

This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance. This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance. This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance. This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance. This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance. This is filler text, please notice the fact box and image guidance.

Topics

Best Practices Tutorial

How to… Understand Versioning and Publication States - Draft, Published, and Archive

Kelly Hansen — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 19:21:28 +0000

How to… Understand Versioning and Publication States - Draft, Published, and Archive Kelly Hansen Wed, 02/02/2022 - 14:21

What is Versioning?

SiteMasonry's versioning workflow allows content to be modified in an unpublished Draft state without changing the publically viewable Published version of the page or content item (news item, profile, or program).

When an Editor makes content changes, SiteMasonry creates a previewable Draft version of the page or content item alongside a copy of the currently published page or content item. Each version can be viewed or retrieved on the page or item’s Revisions tab.

SiteMasonry's Publication States

SiteMasonry utilizes three publication states - Draft, Published, and Archive. The Publication State selector is located near the bottom of the page or item's 'Edit Settings' screen.

Draft

The Draft state allows an editor to make changes to a page without making content visible to site visitors. This acts slightly differently depending on whether or not an item has ever been published before. However, all drafts require a user to be logged in to view or edit. This means that should you wish to send a preview of edited content to another person, you'll need to either make sure they have an account on the site you are working on or rely on screenshots to show the changes.

New Content

If you are working on a new page or piece of content, setting a page in draft mode will let you see the page if you are logged in. However, you and visitors will not be able to see or visit the page until it is published.

Existing Content

If you are modifying currently published content, you can save changes as a draft. This will add a tab to your page labeled "latest version." The latest version will reflect your changes, while the current version is still public and viewable on the View tab. Once the page is re-published from Draft mode, all changes will become live and the old version will only be viewable via the revision log.

Published

A Published page is the most recent version of a page. It is 'live' and viewable to site visitors. You can make changes and push them as published immediately.

Topics

SiteMasonry Basics