Guide Site Builder Help
Thanks for using our product to help you build your online empire. While we don't anticipate you'll need much help with the product because it's so easy, we do understand that you may have questions from time to time, or want to read information about Guide Site Builder before you buy. Please see below for help information.
Download this guide as a PDF for local reading here
Guide Site Help Table of Contents
- Installation
- Licensing
- Using Guide Site Builder – Server Setup
- Using Guide Site Builder – Content Configuration
- Using Guide Site Builder – Document Information and Setup
- Using Guide Site Builder – Form Information
- Using Guide Site Builder – Auto Responder
- Using Guide Site Builder – SEO Configuration
- Using Guide Site Builder – Processing Tab
- Tips and Tricks
- Troubleshooting
Installation
To install the program you must have purchased and downloaded it from the guide site builder website.
Once you have downloaded the software to your local computer, double click the executable to begin the installation process.
*Note – If you do not have the .net framework 3.5 installed on your personal computer, you will either need to download it from the Microsoft site, and windows update or let the installer handle it for you.
The installer process will be familiar if you have ever installed software before on a computer. If you haven’t, don’t worry it’s very straight forward and will guide you along as it goes.
First accept the license agreement, and then choose the directory you wish to install the software to. Upon pressing the next button the installer will take over and deposit the software and requisite support files to the directory you chose during the initial install screen.
Depending on the options you chose during the installation process you will have an icon on your desktop, quick launch or start menu. If you opted only for a start menu addition you’ll have to find the program menu. Once you have located the program icon for Guide Site Builder, go ahead and double click on it to launch the program.
Depending on your computer speed, amount of RAM and other variables the program may open immediately or after a few moments. Be patient and don’t click on the executable multiple times as it may cause the software to open a number of times.
Following this the software will be installed and ready to use.
Licensing
Upon launching the application for the first time you will be asked to insert your license key. This does not require an internet connection and does not send any personal information to our servers. If you did not receive a license key with the software when you downloaded it please send us your invoice number and email address to get one issued immediately.
If the license key you are using doesn’t work then the key has already been used or is not valid for the product. This means it’s illegal pirated software or that there is an issue with the key. If you pirated the software then tough luck. If you purchased the software legally please send us an email with your license number, invoice number and email address. We will be happy to help you get it sorted out.
You can go to the help menu and then click on registration to view your registration information at any time while the software is running.
Server Setup
When you open the program, you will be presented with the initial screen, which is the server information screen. It looks something like this.
Full Domain
this will be your full domain name of the site you are going to use. This option is required for the software to work, how else would we know where to send your site? Examples of this would be “yourfreeguidesite.com” or “www.yourfreeguidesite.com”.
Enter FTP Server Details
this is the information the program uses to send your site to your web server. Here you will have to contact your hosting provider if you do not already know this information. The fields are required to be able to FTP your guide site to the server. Below are some examples.
FTP Hostname: ftp.yourfreeguidesite.com
FTP Web Path: /public_html/
FTP Username: yourfreeguidesite
FTP Password: ftppassword
Enter SMTP Server Details
if you plan on doing auto responses, or notifications of new users you will need to fill this section out. If you do not know this information, ask your web host. Below are some examples.
SMTP Hostname: smtp.yourfreeguidesite.com
SMTP Port: 25 (Can be anything, usually 25, 2525, 587)
FTP Username: yourfreeguidesite
FTP Password: smtppassword
Content Configuration
After configuring the server information, tab over to the next screen which is the content options you can add to your new Guide site.
Main Page Align
CSS Float Left – This option determines which side the content of the main page should be on – right, or left. If you select this option the content will be on the left, and the form will be on the right.
CSS Float Right - This option determines which side the content of the main page should be on – right, or left. If you select this option the content will be on the left, and the form will be on the left.
Confirm Page Align
CSS Float Left – This option will put the content on the left of the confirm page, and downloads on the right.
CSS Float Right – This option will put the content on the right of the confirm page, and downloads on the left.
Select Theme to Use
Here you can select which pre-made theme you wish to use. You have the option of Red, Blue, Green, Orange and Grey.
Advanced Users may use their own CSS
If you’re comfortable designing web pages using CSS, you may select your own custom CSS file here using the file browser. This will supersede the theme selected above if one was chosen. They are mutually exclusive.
Document Information and Setup
After configuring the content information, tab over to the next screen which is the document options you can add to your new Guide site. They don’t have to be PDF, but generally that’s the accepted file type for documents on the web.
Select your Pages
Index File – Select the file you wish to use for your index page. There are examples in the installation directory if you would like some pointers or ideas as to how to create one. These are just simple HTML files.
Confirm File – Select the file you want to use for your confirm page. As with the index file, examples are included for your use.
Privacy File – Create and select your Privacy and Terms for the guide site you are creating. Examples are included in the installation directory if you get stuck.
Select your PDF Guides and Button Images
Here you can select up to three documents and buttons for your visitors to download their guide book, recipe, lyric, whatever it is you’re putting up on your Guide Site.
Document 1 is required, it wouldn’t be much of a bargain for your visitor if there were no downloads now would it. The button is also required for this too. Examples of buttons are included in straight graphic formats as well as editable PSD files in the guide site builder installation directory.
Document2 and 3 are optional and not required unless you want to use them.
To select the buttons and the guide books you wish to upload, simply press the browse button and select it on your file system.
Form Information
After configuring the document information, the next tab you will come across is the form information tab. Here’s where you configure the form on the main page that your visitors will see.
Turn On New Confirmed Subscription Notification.
If you select this checkbox, and enter an email address into the text box (and configured SMTP information on the Server Tab earlier) then whenever somebody comes to your site and submits their information, you will get a simple email saying “new user at email@address.com signed up”. This is just a simple method for you to be notified of how your site is working and keep an easy record of the email addresses you’ve collected.
Form Information
The top three items in the form are required, and hard set. They are “First Name” “Last Name” and “Email Address”. This will be the information you pretty much always need for proper email campaigns which is why they are hard set.
The following four optional settings allow you to modify the form to cater to your particular needs for the guide site you are building. We have created default options for you so the form won’t be blank when it’s uploaded, but you may change these at any time to whatever options you feel you need for the guide site you are launching.
Examples for the four optional fields:
Company Name:
Phone Number:
Zip Code:
Country:
Auto Responder
After configuring the form information the next tab is the auto responder tab. This is optional and entirely up to you, for some guide sites it might make sense to auto respond to the visitors, and others it may not.
Auto Responder Options
The first option you see is the ability to turn the auto responder on. What this will do is every time a person comes to your guide site and fills out the form to enter the backend and download the free document, they will get an email from the site saying thanks for the download and signing up. Very simple, but gives the customer a feeling of importance.
To enable it just check the checkbox, and ensure that the SMTP options are set in the server tab as mentioned before.
Then you will have to fill out the rest of the options.
Message Content – Select the file that includes your auto responder message from your file system. You can use any of the following variables in this file %FNAME%, %LNAME%, %EMAIL%, %VARIABLE1%, %VARIABLE2%, %VARIABLE3%, %VARIABLE4%. These variables all relate to the form information on the preceding tab which will give your email a much more personal touch.
Send Mail As – Here you would put the email address that the auto-response would come from. Use something that you check regularly incase people reply to this.
Sender Name – This is where you would put the guide site name, or some sort of name that it comes from. For example you could use “Free Guide Site” or “Company Name” in this textbox.
Email Subject – This is the subject line on the auto responder email. Make this short and simple but attention grabbing. Some examples might be “Thanks for Downloading, Here’s A Free Gift!” or similar.
SEO Configuration
After configuring the Form Information and optionally the Auto Responder, the next tab you will see is the SEO configuration. Here is where you can set up the basic Search Engine Optimization methods for your Guide Site.
SEO Page Title Options
Main Title – Set the page title of the main page. Here you would set something like “Welcome to Free Guide Site.com, your source for Free Guides on Topic”
Confirm Title – Here you would set the page title on the confirmation page. This is what the user would see after they fill out their information and are able to download the guides. Search engines will also see this, but will not be able to access the guides due to our security measures.
Privacy Title – Here you set the page title of the privacy disclaimer page.
Meta Tag Include Files
Here is where you would select the text files on your file system that include the Meta tags you wish to insert into the main page, confirm page and the privacy page.
Examples of these files are included in the installation directory if you have questions.
To select the file, simply hit the select file button, and browse to your file system and select it.
Processing Tab
Well, we made it. That was pretty easy wasn’t it? After configuring everything in the previous tabs you are now at the processing tab, which allows you to upload your new guide site, or just save it as a template for later. Let’s go over the options and get your site uploaded shall we?
Save Site Templates
If this is selected and you enter a template name, you can save your configuration options so they can be used later, or for multiple similar sites with very minimal changes.
Don’t really upload, dump output here.
If this radio button is selected, then the site will not actually upload, but instead output to a directory you create on your system. This is handy if you want to check your work, or FTP it up to your server using some other method, or use SSH or other means.
Yes Really Upload Files
when this is selected, it will really upload the site to your server. Be careful because if files are already there, they could be overwritten if you’re not careful.
Save Template – This will just save the template, and is only available if you have “save template” checked and a template name entered.
Publish Site – This is for publishing the site either locally or remotely. It will only be accessible if you are not saving a template as well.
Save and Publish – This option is enabled if you are both saving a template, and publishing the site either locally or remotely.
Tips and Tricks
- It is easiest to configure one site, and save a template and then use it as the base for all your other sites to reduce configuration time.
- Read through the template files in the installation directory first so you understand how the sites work, and what content will be applied where.
- Modification of the buttons and graphics can be easily done using Photoshop or anything that supports .PSD files.
Troubleshooting
If there are issues with the software, please contact us via email at contact@guidesitebuilder.com or via telephone at +1.613.686.1870 and we will do our best to resolve the issues.
