Placester Quick Start Guide Congratulations! You re on your way to building a strong online presence for your real estate business. This Quick Start Guide will walk you through all of the basics for getting up and running quickly. Remember, you can access our entire knowledge base of support tutorials at support.placester.com. We can t wait to see what you create! Table of Contents 1. Logging in to your Placester site 2. Editing your Contact Details 3. Adding Slideshow Images 4. Adding Social Networks 5. IDX 6. Requesting an IDX Integration 7. How Long Does the IDX Approval Process Take? 8. Filtering your MLS Listings 9. Featuring Listings on your Home Page 10. Custom Domains 11. How and Where to Purchase a Custom Domain 12. Pointing your Custom Domain to your Placester Site 13. What Now? 14. Need Assistance?
A. Logging in to your Placester site Where do I log in? You can access the back end of your site at placester.com Once there, click "Login" in the top right hand corner of the screen. You will be prompted to enter your email and password. You will then see the following popup: Select the Placester Sites (Beta) to log in. Front End vs. Back End The back end of your site is the administrative side where you can make changes. Only you will see the back end options. The front end is the live version of the site that your visitors will see. The back end looks similar to this:
Where should I start? Clicking on your site title or the Edit Site option under the Websites tab will open the Website Details section of the panel: You can use these options to edit pages and blog posts and add individual agents and testimonials, if you've created pages using those templates. Site Settings The Site Settings drop-down at the top of the panel is the main tool you'll be using to customize your site.
These options open slide-out panels where you can change themes, submit your IDX request, upload slideshow images, choose listings to feature on your home page, and organize your menu. B. Editing your Contact Details Your contact details will be displayed in the Agent widget on your Home, Contact, Testimonials and property details pages. To start, open the Website Settings drop-down at the top of the Admin Panel and select Site Info. Site Settings > Site Info
This will open a slide-out panel where you can add your name, email address, phone number and headshot to the Contact Details section. Feel free to use a contact email address that's different from the one associated with your Placester account - don't worry, your login username won't change. C. Adding Slideshow Images Slideshow Images Specific to your Market All of our website designs feature a home slideshow that can be customized with images of your own that are specific to your area or the types of homes you're focusing on. You can 1) upload your own images to replace all of the default images, 2) choose from our available sets of royalty-free images, or 3) do a combination of both. Site Settings > Slideshow To see your options, go to the Slideshow tab within Site Settings.
Home Slideshow Options Placester provides several sets of home slideshow images to choose from, which are categorized by type. Scroll through to see your options and use the arrows to see the different images within each set.
If you find an image set that you like, click Select. Uploading your Own Images You might also find that you like certain images within the image sets but would like to swap some out for your own images. Or, perhaps you want to use only your custom images.
If you select a slideshow such as Default, you'll find more advanced options to upload your own images to replace the existing ones. You can also add a caption and link if you d like to provide more information about the image and/or link to a related page directly from the home slideshow. Pro Tip Images should be at least 1600 pixels wide by 660 pixels tall. Need a free, easy cropping tool? Here s one we recommend: http://pixlr.com/express/ You can learn more about cropping and resizing images here.
D. Adding Social Networks Social Media Links The social media links that you add will appear on the front end of your site in the header and footer. The design will look slightly different depending on which theme you're using, but generally will look something like this: Header Footer
Site Settings > Social Networks To add your social media accounts to your website, go to the Social Networks tab within the Site Settings menu. Social Networks Slide Out This will bring you to a screen where you add your personal or business social media accounts.
Finding your Social Media Links To enter your social media accounts, go to each of your personal or business profile pages and look at the URL, or web address. Then, copy what comes after the backslash into the space provided. For example, let s look at Placester s social network account URLs: Facebook The Facebook URL is https://www.facebook.com/placester, so we ll just need to enter placester in the Facebook space.
Twitter The Twitter URL is https://www.twitter.com/placester, so we ll just need to enter placester in the Twitter space. Pinterest The Pinterest URL is https://www.pinterest.com/placester, so we ll just need to enter placester in the Pinterest space.
Linkedin LinkedIn's system is slightly different to most of the other social networks. When you first login and click Profile, it usually takes you to a profile that you can edit. Beneath your picture on this page, you'll see your public profile link; click that (or copy and paste it in your browser address bar), to get to your public profile. Once there, copy everything after the.com part of the address - it should look something like /pub/your-name/12/3ab/456. Google Plus
The Google Plus URL is https://plus.google.com/+placester/posts, so we ll need to enter +Placester/posts in the Google Plus space. YouTube The Youtube URL is https://www.youtube.com/user/placesterinc, so we ll need to enter user/placesterinc in the Google Plus space. Instagram
The Instagram URL is https://instagram.com/placester/, so we'll just need to enter "placester" in the Instagram space. Entering your Social Networks Now that we know the endings to the URLs, we can add them to the Social Networks slide out. Just type in what comes after the slash. Once you ve filled in the blanks for your accounts, click Save. Don't Have All of These Accounts? You don t have to use every social media account. If you re just getting started, you can add them one at a time as you become more active and learn more about the leads you generate from them. We d recommend Facebook and Twitter to start, as they are the two most popular social media sites. If you leave an account blank, the icon won t appear on the front end of your site. In the above example, where we only entered Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter links, the front end will look like this: LinkedIn and Google+ links will not be included, since we didn t fill them out.
I. IDX A. Requesting an IDX Integration Note: IDX integration typically takes up to 5-10 business days but speed can be impacted by delays in receiving signatures from the agent and broker, as well as delays in response from your MLS. Website Settings > IDX Integration To get your MLS listings integrated into your website, head to Website Settings > IDX Integration. Step 1: Select State and MLS Find your state and MLS name, then click Next.
Step 2: Enter Contact Info Enter your agent email address, phone number and office name that will be used for contacting the agent to sign the documents. Click Next.
Step 3: Submit Request Depending on your MLS requirements, this step will prompt you for more information, such as the Agent ID and broker's email address. We'll only use the broker's email address to send the IDX documents to. It is a good idea to let him or her know to look out for documents to sign so that you can have listings on your site as soon as possible. Click Send Request when all of the information is filled out. General IDX Approval Process The approval process most often involves sending electronic forms to the agent and broker to sign. We use an online document signing service called RightSignature to request the signatures. Once we receive those, we ll automatically contact your MLS for their approval. After receiving approval, we ll make your listings live on your new site!
Check out this article on how to fill out your IDX documents using RightSignature. Different Approval Processes Some MLSs have slightly different processes that require the agent to reach out to the MLS directly or log in to an online portal to start the approval process. If this is the case, you will see an explanation of the process that needs to be followed below your pending IDX request.. B. How Long Does the IDX Approval Process Take? IDX Approval Once the necessary approval documents are signed and submitted to your MLS by you and/or your broker, it usually takes 5-10 business days for IDX approval. When the MLS has approved your site for IDX integration, Placester's MLS team will reach out to you directly to let you know your IDX is live on your Placester site. Possible IDX Approval Delays Delays in IDX approval can occur both during the initial signing process and once the MLS receives the approval documents. Possible reasons for delay before the documents are submitted to the MLS include missing agent signature, missing broker signature, or incorrect email addresses provided for either agent or broker to complete virtual signature. Delays also occur when the MLS doesn't respond in a timely manner to the approval request. Checking Status of IDX Approval If you're concerned about potential delay and want to check the status of your IDX approval, you can reach out to the Placester support team at support@placester.com. If the delay is coming from your MLS, you can also reach out to them for more information. C. Filtering your MLS Listings Narrowing Down your Listings Once your IDX integration is complete, all of the listings from your entire MLS will appear on your site. Many users have certain areas within the MLS that they d like to focus on. Or, they might be limiting their sales to certain property types or prices.
You can narrow down the listings to be displayed across your entire site under the Global Filters tab within Site Settings. Site Settings > Global Filters Global Filters Slide Out Within the Global Filters slide out, you ll see three tabs, which will allow you to set the search criteria that will find just the listings that you'd like to filter down to on your site. You can choose between: 1. Displaying all listings on your site 2. Filtering your listings to automatically update based on search criteria you save (recommended) 3. Manually selecting specific listings to narrow the site down to By default, the global filters will be set to display all of the listings on your site.
Filtered Listings The Filtered Listings tab will allow you to add criteria for your site to automatically search through your MLS and display only those listings that match your criteria.
To start adding filters to search by, click the dropdown menu next to Add Search Criteria. Let's say you wanted to filter by zip code. Scroll down the list to the Location section and select Zip, then click Add.
This will create a field into which you can start typing your zip code(s). When you start typing, you'll see some suggestions. Keep typing until you see the zip you want to filter by and click on it in the suggestion box.
Repeat this step as many times as necessary, then click Search. Once the search is complete, the Search Results box will display only listings from the zip(s) specified.
Once you've added all the criteria you want, scroll to the bottom of the pane and click Save to apply your filters to your site. Adding Multiple Filters Add as many filters as you d like in the same way by selecting the appropriate filter category from the "Add Search Criteria" drop down. Once they ve all been added, click Search to see your results. You can add a combination of different types of filters. See the example below, where the site is narrowed down to a few zip codes, with a maximum of 3 beds, minimum of 1 bath and a maximum price of $800,000. This has narrowed the total number of listings down to 214 listings after clicking Search.
The Filtered Listings tab uses an automatic process to update, so every time a new listing in the MLS matches the criteria you set, it will be added to the search results on your site. Specific Listings The Specific Listings tab gives you the opportunity to manually search for listings and add them to your site. The search options are the same as on the Filtered Listings tab, but the selection process is different. Once you've added all the search criteria you want, you need to select a listing from the Search Results box and click Add to add it the Selected listings box; these listings will be the ones that appear on your site. Pro tip: multi-select by holding down the command key (on Mac) or control key (on PC) while clicking individual listings.
Once you've selected the listings you want to display on your site, click Save. If you want to remove a listing, select it in the Selected Listings box and click Remove. This method requires you to manually add new listings from the MLS every time you want them to appear on your site, so you just repeat the steps above and look through the pages of found listings to add the new ones. Location Filters For location filters, the most specific ones will override the more general ones. For example, let's say I added two city filters: Boston and Cambridge. If I then decide to add filters for neighborhoods that are just within Boston, such as Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the city of Cambridge will no longer be featured anywhere
on the site since the neighborhood filters are more specific and have narrowed the site down to only the city that includes those neighborhoods, which is Boston. D. Featuring Listings on your Home Page Featured Listings Each of our designs allows you to manually select listings to feature on your home page. Many agents have their own listings or office listings that they want to highlight, and this is a great way to do so. First, go to Site Settings to find the Featured Listings tab. Site Settings > Featured Listings
Featured Listings Slide Out Within the Featured Listings slide out, you ll see two tabs, which offer different options for selecting your Featured Listings. The first tab you'll see is Filtered Listings. Filtered Listings The Filtered Listings tab will allow you to add criteria for your site to automatically search through your MLS and display only those listings that match your criteria. To start adding filters to search by, click the dropdown menu next to Add Search Criteria. Let's say you wanted to filter by Zip code. Scroll down the list to the Location section and select Zip, then click Add.
This will create a field into which you can start typing your Zip code(s). When you start typing, you'll see some suggestions. Keep typing until you see the zip you want to filter by and click on it in the suggestion box.
Repeat this step as many times as necessary, then click Search. Once the search is complete, the Search Results box will display only listings from the zip(s) specified. Once you've added all the criteria you want, scroll to the bottom of the pane and click Save to apply your filters to your site s featured listings.
Adding Multiple Filters Add as many filters as you d like in the same way by selecting the appropriate filter category from the "Add Search Criteria" drop down. Once they ve all been added, click Search to see your results. You can add a combination of different types of filters. See the example below, where the site is narrowed down to a few zip codes, with a maximum of 3 beds, minimum of 1 bath and a maximum price of $800,000. This has narrowed the total number of listings down to 214 listings after clicking Search. The Filtered Listings tab uses an automatic process to update, so every time a new listing in the MLS matches the criteria you set, it will be added to the search results on your site.
Specific Listings The Specific Listings tab gives you the opportunity to manually search for listings and add them to your site. The search options are the same as on the Filtered Listings tab, but the selection process is different. Once you've added all the search criteria you want, you need to select a listing from the Search Results box and click Add to add it the Selected listings box; these listings will be the ones that appear on your site. The Specific Listings tab gives you the opportunity to manually search for listings and add them to your site s home page. The search options are the same as on the Filtered Listings tab, but the selection process is different. Once you've added all the search criteria you want, you need to select a listing from the Search Results box and click Add to add it the Selected listings box; these listings will be the ones that appear on your site.
Pro tip: multi-select by holding down the command key (on Mac) or control key (on PC) while clicking individual listings.
Once you've selected the listings you want to display on your home page, click Save. If you want to remove a listing, select it in the Selected Listings box and click Remove. This method requires you to manually add new listings from the MLS every time you want them to appear on your site, so you just repeat the steps above and look through the pages of found listings to add the new ones. Inactive Featured Listings If a listing you've selected to feature becomes inactive, it will automatically be removed from your home page. If you d like to modify the featured properties in the meantime, you can always return to this screen.
Location Filters For location filters, the most specific filters will override the more general filters. For example, let's say I added two city filters: Boston and Cambridge. If I then decide to add filters for neighborhoods that are just within Boston, such as Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the city of Cambridge will no longer be featured anywhere on the site since the neighborhood filters are more specific and have narrowed the site down to only the city that includes those neighborhoods, which is Boston. II. Custom Domains A. How and Where to Purchase a Custom Domain Your Temporary Placester Subdomain When you create a website with Placester, you will have a temporary subdomain such as site900.myrealestateplatform.com. Your site will be located at that website address until you are ready to use your own domain. Users with Existing Domains Many of our users already own domains from sites such as GoDaddy.com. If that's the case, it's easy to point your custom domain to your Placester website. Learn more about doing so here. Buying a New Domain Other users might have had a domain provided by their company in the past. Or, some users are first-time website owners and have never owned a domain. If that's the case for you, you'll want to purchase a new domain. This isn't something that is provided directly through Placester. Instead, you can purchase a domain elsewhere and then point it to your Placester site. Recommended Domain Registrars If you're looking to purchase a new domain, these are some domain registrars we recommend: GoDaddy Hover Bluehost Enom.com Namecheap.com
Name.com What You Need from Your Domain Registrar No matter which domain registrar you choose, just be sure that you'll have access to the DNS settings (both the A-Record and CName) once the domain is purchased - that's what needs to be adjusted to point the domain to your Placester site. We've found that some domain registrars, such as 1and1.com, do not allow you to change both the A-Record and CName, making it impossible to map a domain to a Placester site through 1and1. Or, HostGator and other providers charge additional fees to give you access to the DNS settings. Our Favorite Registrars GoDaddy and Hover are definitely our preferred registrars. They provide a simple setup and access to all of the settings you'll need at low prices. Choosing Your Domain Name You can check if a domain name you're interested in is available here. Not sure how to choose a domain name? Check out this article from our Marketing Academy that will give you some tips. B. Pointing your Custom Domain to your Placester Site If you have a custom domain that you want to use for your Placester site, you can substitute it for your standard sitex.myrealestateplatform.com web address. This article will outline the general steps for domain mapping with any domain registrar. Or, find articles specific to certain popular domain registrars here. Changing the DNS Settings within your Domain Registrar To take care of domain mapping, you ll need to log into your DNS management platform and change the A-Record and the CName. These can usually be found within the Domain Name Systems (DNS) section or the DNS Zone File. A-Record: Points to the IP Address 184.169.141.142 Host should be @ or * depending on the registrar CNAME: Points to domains.myrealestateplatform.com Host should be www
Once you ve completed these settings, log in at placester.com to access the back end of your site and complete the final step for domain mapping. Site Settings > Custom Domain This will bring you to the Custom Domain slide out. Custom Domain Slide Out Within the custom domain slide out, add the custom domain that you're looking to use. Use only lowercase letters, and be sure to include www when adding in your URL. Example: www.placester.com
Click Add Domain, then click Save. Troubleshooting If you've made all of these changes and are finding that your site still isn't loading, here are some potential causes: 1. Caching: You have a cached copy of the site on your browser. Try clearing your cache, using a new browser or testing the site on a mobile device. 2. Propagation: DNS adjustments take longer to propagate with certain domain registrars. We like to test and make sure everything has propagated using www.whatsmydns.com. 3. Errors in Site Settings > Custom Domain: make sure that you included the www before the custom domain and you didn't use any capital letters. Otherwise, the site will not load. Pro Tip: DNS Tools Here are some DNS tools that we recommend: Use WhoIs.com to find out where a domain is registered and the status of a domain Use WhatsMyDNS.net to check the current DNS records of a domain
Pro Tip: Purchasing a Custom Domain Don t have a Custom URL yet? We recommend purchasing from sites such as GoDaddy.com and Hover.com, which offer simple DNS management tools. You can find out more about this here. What Now? Now that the basic setup of your site is complete you can start working on adding more personalized information to the site, in the form of area pages and blog posts. Find out more at https://support.placester.com Interested in adding advanced features or finding out more about them? Go to https://placester.com/pricing/ or call 800-728-8391 Need Assistance? You can reach Placester Support with any questions or concerns through email support@placester.com or on the phone at 800-728-8391