Add/Edit/Delete Master Websites

You can use SiteReplicator Wizard™ (SRW) with existing websites or with new ones that you create. In either case, there are some basic guidelines that you should take into consideration.

SRW is a flexible multi-purpose replication program that has many different uses. This means that you have to design your website based on how you want to use the software. For example, if you want to offer replicated sites to affiliates or a downline, then you may want to design a website where visitors place orders that go directly to you. In this case your replicated site owners advertise their sites and orders placed go directly to you and include a code so you know which referring source to pay commissions to. Another example would be if you wanted to offer a hosted ready-to-use website to customers purchasing and wanting to market your resellable products. In this case, you could either include the website with your product or sell it for an additional fee. In either case, you may want the customer to receive and handle all orders themselves just as if it was his/her own site.

As you can see, there is some planning that needs to go into your master website. Below we will discuss how SRW works with your master website in order to help you better design it.

Guidelines & Tips For Creating Your Master Website

• Create your website with all HTML pages in one directory (names doesn't matter) and all images in another directory called images (lower case). Both directories are on the same level. (If you are using an existing website that doesn't use this structure, you can use SRW's Image Remapping feature to fix it.)
  

• To have images referenced from one location so they don't have to be copied to each replicated site, make sure they are located in the images directory

• If you DO want images or files copied to each replicated website, then place them inside the same directory as your HTML pages.

• Aside from the images folder, a website can use any folder structure that you want. The HTML files can all be in one folder, or in different ones at different levels. BUT, to keep things simple and to be able to use the Upload feature of SRW to upload your website, all HTML files must be located in the root at the same level (no sub directories) as in the following diagram.
  .

• Make sure to use relative paths when creating your website and not absolute paths, especially for navigation links.
  

• It is important that the main (home) page of your master website is named index.html or index.htm.

• Add Customizing Templates to each page wherever you want information to be personalized for each client. We will discuss this in a moment.

• Be sure to test your website before uploading it to make sure it looks and works the way you want. It is a good idea to test all websites using at least the two main browsers (Netscape and Internet Explorer).

  How to handle an Order Form

  Orders can be handled any way you design them to. Remember, SRW simply replicates the site, the functionality and feature of the website and order form depends on how you create the actual website itself.

  There are basically two different types of order forms that you will use, one when orders go to you and one when orders go to the customer. In the case when they go to you, each order form can be exactly the same because you only have to worry about the payment methods that you accept. When orders are to be sent directly to the customer, then there are some different choices to make because not everyone accepts the same payment methods.

  You can offer a basic order form that suits everyone and only accepts checks or money orders, or a more customized order form that includes the payment methods accepted by that customer. In this case, you will need to edit the order form outside of SRW after it is replicated.

  Also, if you want to offer secure orders and don't have a SSL certificate on your server, you can just allow visitors to fill out and print the order form and then mail it with payment. Or, you can manually upload a customized order form for each client to a separate secure server, which you link to from the main website.

Below is an example of how we create personalized order forms
on a separate server where orders go directly to each client

On the order page of our master website we do not have an order form, but rather just pricing info, company info and a link to a secure order form on a separate secure server. We do not have to manually edit the order page on replicated sites because we personalize the pricing, company info and even the link to the secure server all with customizing templates as it is replicated. We then take a master order form we have on our local computer and delete the order methods that the client doesn't accept (if any) and add his/her company and contact info. We also insert his/her email address as the location where the form gets submitted to. This only takes minutes and then we rename the file to the same name as the clients replicated website and upload it to the secure server. It's actually very simple and since we charge a fee of $95 a year to host the site, the few minutes it takes is well worth it.

If you don't know HTML you can try building your pages in a WYSIWYG HTML editors such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver. You can also visit our Tips section for information on learning HTML. You can also do what many companies do and hire someone to create it for you. If you are interested in having someone contact you in regards to this, please contact us.

 Adding Customizing Templates

Customizing Templates are a powerful tool that enables you to easily personalize replicated websites on-the-fly without having to access the actual site.

What are Customizing Template?

They are special SRW Tags ( Customizing Template Tags) that get inserted into the HTML of your master Web pages. Each Tag has an associated "text field" and "check box" on the Admin Replicate Website screen. When you enter text into the "text" field" and select the "check box", it tells SRW as it is replicating the website to add the text and/or link wherever the Customizing Template Tags are located. If the "check box" is not selected, the text entered will just be used for reporting purposes within your Admin Center.

Admin Replicate Website Screen	Personalizing Replicated Sites
	On the Replicate Screen you will see the Customer Information Fields to the left. All you have to do is fill in the customer information which is used for creating reports. If you also want the text to appear in the replicated site and you've inserted the special tags, all you have to do is click the "check box" next to the item and it will also be inserted wherever the tag is located. It's that simple! The email template <TMPL_VAR email>, which is the top one to the left automatically inserts the email text as a link. All the fields above the "Your Additional Comments" box are standard fields and used for both reporting and/or personalizing. All the fields below the "Your Additional Comments" box are Custom Templates and are only used with the associated Customizing Templates Tags for website personalization. Custom Templates The last five fields to the left are used with templates custom1-custom5 and can be used for whatever you like. There is a 2nd text box for each of these fields which enables you to make the text linkable. Just enter the text in the left field box and an optional URL for the link on the right. The Customizing Template Tags are perfect for personalizing websites with text or links that will change for each client, such as: pricing, text banners, navigation links, banner links, links to other websites, download links, order pages, affiliate links, etc.. Custom Templates can also be used to edit links, such as the destination URL of image and text banners as explained below.

Using Customizing Template Tags to Edit Links

By adding the Custom Tags to the HTML code of images and banners, you can easily change the hyperlink destination that appears in each replicated website. Just replace the URL (or a portion of it) in the <a href> tag with a Custom Tag. Then when filling out the Custom Tag field on the replicate page, simply enter full URL in the "text" field. Do not put anything in the URL text field of the tag since you are not creating a text link, you are just editing the existing code.

Example of changing an entire banner link:

Original banner link code:

<a href=""><img border="0" src="../images/infobiz.jpg" width="450" height="341"></a>

Banner code with a custom tag:

<a href="<TMPL_VAR custom1>"><img border="0" src="../images/infobiz.jpg" width="450" height="341"></a>

Now, if you entered the text http://www.domain.com/somefolder/somepage.htm in the text field of the custom 1 tag when replicating the site, the code that would appear on the replicated site would look like this:

<a href="http://www.domain.com/somefolder/somepage.htm"><img border="0" src="../images/infobiz.jpg" width="450" height="341"></a>

Example of changing of a portion of a text link:

Original text link code:

<a href="https://www.securesite.net/home/bizopp/<TMPL_VAR custom4>.htm">Click To Order</a>

Now, if you entered the text customername in the text field of the custom 4 tag when replicating the site, the code that would appear on the replicated site would look like this:

<a href="https://www.securesite.net/home/bizopp/customername.htm">Click To Order</a>

Example of Customizing Templates with HTML Formatting

If you enter a Customizing Template on a page as it is, the final text will be plain default text. And, if you put several Customizing Templates next to each other (as in city, state zip), the final text will all connect together. This is because you need to combine the Customizing Tags with HTML to achieve the look and feel you want. By adding HTML you can set the things such as font type, size and color, as well as spaces, commas, bold, italic etc.

EXAMPLE

When you place the following HTML (black) and Customizing Tags (red) on a master website::

<p align="center"><font face="verdana" size="1" color="#000000"
<TMPL_VAR company><br>
<TMPL_VAR street><br>
<TMPL_VAR city>,&nbsp;<TMPL_VAR state>&nbsp;<TMPL_VAR zip><br>
<TMPL_VAR email><br><br>
<b><TMPL_VAR custom1>&nbsp; &nbsp; <TMPL_VAR custom2></b><br></font>
<font face="verdana" size="1"><tmpl_var custom3></font>

And then enter this text into the Replicate Website screen;
It would create the following text and links:

United Publishing Group
12905 S. 71 Hwy PMB 304
Grandview, MO 64030
info@businesstoolbox.com

Visit Our Other Website  Download a FREE Multimedia Presentation!
Copyright 2000 UPG

IMPORTANT NOTE:
When using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Pagemill or add your customizing template tags, you MUST do it directly into the code itself and not through the WYSIWYG interface. This is because when you enter characters such as "<" and ">" it enters the actual HTML code to create the characters instead of the characters themselves. For example:

For this reason, you have to add these tags directly to the code itself. Most programs allow you to easily do this and if they do not, simply open the page up in notepad and add it.

What is a MWD?

A Master Website Directory (MWD) is the directory (folder) in which each master website and its replicated websites are stored. Before you upload a master website you will need to create a MWD for it. This is a simple process that takes only seconds.

MWD's are created in the Base URL (from settings page), which by default is the www root. This gives the shortest Web address as possible. For example:

A Base URL of:  http://www.domain.com
Equals MWD location of:  http://www.domain.com/mwd/
Which equals a replicated site URL of:  http://www.domain.com/mwd/replicated_site

When you create a MWD, SRW automatically inserts two sub folders into it called masterwebsite and images, which is where your master website gets uploaded to.

Master Website Name

The Name field enables you to create a name you want associated with a master website. This can be the name of the product you are marketing, or anything you want. For example, if your master website promotes a product called "The InfoBroker CD", then a Name could be "InfoBroker_CD".

The name you enter does not affect replicated websites, it is only for use within the Admin Center and Reports. You should use only letters or numbers and place an underscore between words. If you don't put an underscore in, SRW will add it for you.

Master Website Path

The Master Website Path (Path) is nothing more than the name of the directory you are creating to store and replicate your master websites. The Path is the actual MWD. The Path becomes part of the URL for all replicated websites inside of it. It is a good idea to correlate the Path name with the product name in some way.

As you already know, the shorter and simpler a Web address is the better. The shorter the Path name, the shorter the URL will be. While you can use underscores to separate words, it is best to use just one word.

Using the example from above where we used "InfoBroker CD" for the Name, the following are some examples that can be used for the Path: ibcd, infobroker, ib, info-broker.

As we explained above in "What is a MWD?", the Path is usually created in the www root, giving you a replicated address something like "http://www.domain.com/mwd/replicated_site". In this example, the Path is mwd. Because SRW is so flexible, you can actually create a MWD inside of an existing directory if the need arises, although this would give you a longer URL. To do so, enter the existing directory name with leading and trailing forward slashes, followed by the Path. For example, if you had an existing directory called "existing" and you wanted to create a MWD called "mwd" inside of it, you would enter a Path of: /existing/mwd which would give your replicated sites a URL of:  http://www.domain.com/existing/mwd/replicated_site

Example using a normal Path:

If you wanted to offer websites for a product called "The Ultimate CD", a sample Name and Path could be:

Name: The Ultimate CD
Path: cd (or ultimatecd or tucd)

A Master Directory called "CD" would automatically be created. This would give your replicated websites an address like:

www.yourdomain.com/CD/website_name

Example using an existing Path:

If you wanted to offer websites for a product called "Healthy Eating Video", but you wanted all Master Website Directories created in a directory called "videos" which is already in your website root, a sample Name and Path could be:

Name: Healthy Eating Video
Path: /video/healthy

The Master Directory called "healthy" would automatically be created as a sub directory of "video". This would give your replicated websites an address like:

www.yourdomain.com/video/healthy/website_name

TIPS

• The shorter the Path, the shorter the Web address.
• When possible, use only one word in your Path.
• Use an underscore between words.
• You should use all lower case letters or numbers for you Path. If you use upper case and someone types in a lower case, they probably wont be able to access the site.
• Keep it simple.

Adding a MWD

Before adding a MWD, read the four items above starting with "What is a MWD?".

Adding a MWD is very simple. From the Main Admin Panel click "ADD/EDIT MASTER DIRECTORY" to access the screen below.

1. Enter a Name (ie; Some_Product)
2. Enter a Path (ie; product)
3. Click "Add Master Website Directory"

After doing so, your MWD will be instantly created and displayed with the "Current Master Websites" as shown in the example below.

Current Master Websites

"Current Master Website Directories" lists all of the MWD you have created. The Path shows up as a link to the "masterwebsite" directory so that you can view easily view the master website after it is uploaded.

Each current MWD has several links associated with it as you can see above. You can easily upload your master website, edit and delete the MWD, as well as remap the image paths in your master website. We will discuss these in more detail below.

Once you have created a MWD you are ready to upload your master website files. You can Upload your pages and images from your PC using SRW's Upload feature, or using FTP software.

Uploading Using SRW

Access the ADD/EDIT MASTER DIRECTORIES screen and click the Upload link for the current MWD you want to upload to. You will then be prompted with the screen below.

From the above screen you can upload up to 16 images and 8 pages at one time, and then return to add more if necessary.

Click Browse which will open the File Upload box pictured below. From the Look in: drop down box locate the folder on your PC which contains the files and then select one at a time from the window and click Open. The path to the file will appear in the text box and you can move on to the next one. When you are done, click Upload Files and wait while the files get uploaded.

SRW automatically places the images in the images folder and pages in the masterwebsite folder.

SRW places all of your pages into the masterwebsite directory. This means that if your website has pages that are in different directories (sub folders), you will need to upload them yourself in order to keep the necessary directory structure.

Uploading Using FTP
We assume you have and know how to use FTP software, as this is not a course on that subject. If not, use SRW to upload.

If you prefer to upload to your website via FTP, that is no problem. We prefer it ourselves because it can be much faster if you have many files, especially if you're use to using FTP software. All you really have to know is where to upload them to, which we will explain below.

Unless you changed the Settings, SRW creates MWD's in the root. And, in each MWD there will be two sub directories (masterwebsite & images) where you upload your files to. For this example, let's assume the MWD you created was called sample_site.

Once you have uploaded a master website, you can view it by clicking the Path link on the ADD/EDIT MASTER DIRECTORY screen as show below. Doing this will launch the index page inside the masterwebsite folder.

Remap Image Paths is a powerful time-saving feature that rewrites the HTML code in your master website so that images are referenced from the master images directory and don't have to be replicated to each website. If your website was designed using the correct SRW structure as explained in this manual, then you will not need to remap image paths. This feature will easily update existing websites using a different structure.

(If your site works correctly after uploading the images to the "images" folder and the web pages to the "masterwebsite" folder, then you do NOT need to remap images.)

SRW will only edit the HTML of images that you upload to the the images directory. If for some reason you want an image(s) copied to every replicated website, you can place them in the masterwebsite folder.

After uploading your website, follow the two simple steps:

1. Click upload for the MWD that you want to remap images for. It is located on the ADD/EDIT MASTER DIRECTORIES screen, as show below.
   
   
   
   
2. Click .

   Below is an example of a before and after look at source code from a web page. The red text is actual image location that was remapped:

   Before
   <img border="0" src="/images/logo.gif" width="600" height="70">

   After
   <img border="0" src="../images/logo.gif" width="600" height="70">

To edit or delete a current MWD, click the link and then follow the instructions you are prompted with.

To Edit a Current Master Website Directory

1. Click the edit link and you will receive the following screen.
2. Make your changes and click Apply.
   

To Delete a Current Master Website Directory

1. Click the delete link and you will receive the following message box.
2. Click OK.

• Deleting a MWD also deletes all replicated websites within it.

• When you edit a MWD you can only rename "name" or "path". You can't change the level of path (add or delete a directory).
  
  Example: If the original path is: /videos/bobs_site
  Correct: /myvideo/bobbys_site
  Incorrect: /newdir/myvideo/bobbys_site

• If create a MWD (Path) within an existing directory, when you delete the MWD it will only delete the last directory in path which is the MWD. It wont delete the existing directory, as it may contain other data.