Have it Your Way - Customizing Your Website Design

We know there are a lot of you out there who would like to do a little more with your website than is usually offered with a template website platform. But, of course, you want the advantage of all the tools that come with your Advanced Access website. We love our templates, but we know that you may have a creative streak that is dying to get out! Don't worry, we have the best of both worlds for you.

Have you ever wondered how some of our Most Impressive Website Contest winners have a homepage that you've never seen in our template selections before? Check out Bonnie Sweetman; our 2nd place winner for Best Home Page in 2006. She used the "Under Construction" page feature in our 3.0 website platform to create her own design.

In our 3.0 Virtual Office go to the Page Manager section and click on the Under Construction option. You will see a message that says, "Your Under Construction page is a custom page you create that will be displayed instead of your homepage." And that's exactly what it does. Instead of displaying your chosen template on the homepage, and your 'Home Page' content from Page Manager, it only displays what you have on your Under Construction page. This means you can use our editor to create your own homepage and navigation. Of course, you can use the HTML tab to add CSS, embed flash files, etc, to further enhance your design. (Quick side note - we don't recommend doing your whole site in flash as it is not the most search engine friendly). Once your Under Construction page is completed and ready to "go live", check the 'Enable' box in the Under Construction section.

One of our favorite examples of a custom website using our 3.0 website is Suburban House Hunters by Ken Smith of Chicago, Illinois. The site has an easy-to-navigate design and has had a great deal of success with leads and search engine placement. Ken decided to learn all about CSS and build his site using the Under Construction page. Ken is a regular in our member forums and has helped a lot of other agents with their websites.

In our 4.0 Virtual Office we have provided a "Blank" template under Template Manager found in the Design Center. If you are using our 4.0 website platform choose the 'Other' category in Template Manager and select the first template called 'Custom Template'. You will name the template and click save. Don't select the "Choose" option for the template yet, though... visit your Page Manager Home Page section to build your new site in the editor. You can use the HTML tab to add CSS, etc just like our 3.0 platform. Once you are ready for prime time with your customized home page, visit Template Manager and select the "Choose" option next to your custom template title.

A couple things to remember when making your own home page design:

- Don't forget to create good navigation to your other pages. Your nav bar will not be on your home page because you have bypassed a normal template which includes a navigation bar.
- You still need to be mindful of your navigation bar design and settings as there will be navigation on your interior pages (the interior navigation is a little different in each of our platforms, contact Customer Support if you get stuck along the way).
- Make sure your design is truly your own; the examples we featured in this Marketing Tip are meant to be only that. Do not take the work of others and use it as your own.

Please feel free to stop by the Advanced Access Forums for advice and assistance. Our 4.0 clients can contact Customer Support at 866-518-1571 or email Support@AdvancedAccess.com to activate a forum account.

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Advanced Access
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Email: Support@AdvancedAccess.com
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