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Landing Pages

This document is intended for people using the traditional microsites interface to create landing pages.

If you are using the streamlined landing pages interface, see the Landing Pages document.

Landing pages give you the ability to extend your message beyond the email and into Internet.

Currently, the API cannot act on microsites, but future enhancements will support API interaction with microsites. You can specify an external key to uniquely identify the microsite for future API use.

What Is a Landing Page

A landing page is an individual page within a microsite.

Defining a Landing Page

When you create a new landing page in a microsite, you see a form where you define the basic information about the page. You can edit most of this information later in the landing page properties.

Creation Method

When you create a landing page, you choose the page type (the method you use to create the page). The type appears on the My Microsites grid. Once you choose a method to use to create the landing page, you must continue to use that same method to edit the page. You can choose to build the content from HTML, build from an existing layout that you created, build from a quick layout provided with the product, or revise an existing page.

  • If you choose to build the content from HTML, you create your landing page in an external HTML editor and paste the HTML into the editor. You can preview a landing page to see how your HTML will appear to users. The preview does not emulate different browsers, operating systems, or platforms.
  • If you choose to use a layout you created, you must create the layout first. You will select the layout when you define the landing page.
  • If you choose to use a quick layout, you choose the quick layout when you define the landing page. Thumbnail previews of the layouts are available to help you choose.
  • If you choose to revise an existing page, you select the existing page to revise. A thumbnail preview of the landing page appears to help you choose. The landing page to revise appears in the editor with a new name for you to modify.

Details

The Name and Description that you create for the landing page are used in the application to identify the landing page. This information is not seen by subscribers who view the landing page in their browser window. The Title, however, appears to subscribers in the title bar at the top of the browser window.

You can create files other than HTML pages in the landing page editor. For example, you can create CSS files and JavaScript files used on your microsite. You specify on the landing page definition what kind of file you are creating.

You can enforce security on your landing page by requiring users to log in to see it. Currently, the system can validate that the users have a valid ExactTarget account and password.

Metadata for a landing page is information about the content of the landing page. When you create a landing page using a layout or by revising an existing page, you can create Meta Keywords and Meta Description. The content of the description may appear in the results of some search engine queries. In order for your pages to be found by search engines, you must allow page indexing.  When you create a landing page using HTML, you can include the META tags yourself in the HTML code.

The page indexing and link indexing values you select when you define the landing page determine whether search engines, web page ranking services, and other robots consider information from the page or links. The application includes a tag in your HTML that contains the values you select in the Allow Page Indexing and Allow Link Indexing fields. For example, if you selected no for both fields, the application would include the following tag in the HTML of the landing page.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">

Landing pages can support international messages. You can use any character set when you create the content to coordinate your landing pages with your email message sends.

You can set a publishing expiration date for your landing page. After that date, the landing page will no longer be published.

In the Landing Page Editor

After you define the landing page information, you see the landing page editor. From this screen you can create the content, see the URL of the landing page, view the properties, and preview the landing page, including dynamic content.

Landing Page Editor

In the landing page editor, you have many of the same tools available in the email editor. You can create and import dynamic content, retrieve static content that you have stored, and build content with text and images.

Additionally, if you use the advanced content creation tools, you can drag-and-drop content areas that you previously created into the content areas in the landing page layout.

Personalization and Dynamic Content in Landing Pages

You can include personalization and dynamic content in a landing page to provide a personal message to your subscribers. When you include a link to the landing page in an email, the application includes a subscriber-specific attribute in the URL.  When the subscriber clicks the link, they see a page that can include their personal
information (such as name) or content selected based on their attributes. Using this tool, you could create custom branded, personalized subscription and profile centers with more flexibility than the default subscription and profile centers.

Landing page visitors who access the page without receiving a personalized URL, such as by clicking between landing pages in your microsite, see the default content that you specify when you create an attribute or dynamic content.

Note: It is very important to have good default values for your attributes and dynamic content to ensure than subscribers viewing the default microsite see a useful and meaningful message.

You can preview the landing page for each subscriber on your list using the Subscriber Preview feature. To use the subscriber preview feature, you choose a list or group and a recipient from that list and the system renders the landing page preview as it would appear for that subscriber. After the initial rendering, you can proceed
through the rest of the subscribers on the list to see the preview for each. You can preview the landing page default content, as it would appear to a someone who accessed the landing page through a link on a web page or by directly typing in the URL. 

If you preview for subscribers on a list or group, you can also click the subscriber's email address to display the subscriber properties. You can change the attributes for a subscriber on the screen to see how the change will impact the presentation.

Note: If you change the subscriber properties here, those changes are permanently applied to the subscriber. You might benefit from creating a test subscriber whose properties you can change as needed for previewing.

Landing Page URL

You can use the URL, which you can also see in the properties, when distributing a path to a microsite outside of emails. When you create a link in an email, you can choose a landing page to link to when you create the link.

Landing Page Properties

From the landing page properties, you can change most of the information that you specified when you first defined the landing page.

Landing Page Preview

You can preview landing pages in much the same way that you can preview emails. The preview displays the content of the landing page without the content borders and other artifacts of the editing tool. You can select a list and a subscriber for which to preview to see the dynamic content for different subscriber attributes.

Note: The landing page preview cannot emulate different platforms and browsers. Test your landing page in different environments to ensure that it displays appropriately.

How  to Create a Landing Page

Before you perform this procedure, you must create a microsite content. If you want to create the landing page with HTML, you must create the HTML code before you perform this procedure. If you want to use a custom layout to create the landing page, you must create the layout before you perform this procedure.

After you complete this procedure, you must create a microsite interaction to make the landing page accessible to subscribers. You can also delete landing pages after you complete this procedure.

Use the following steps to create a landing page:

  1. Click the Content tab on the navigation bar.
  2. Click my microsites.
  3. Click the folder that contains the microsite for which you are creating the landing page.
  4. Click the name of the microsite for which to create the landing page.
  5. Click Create from the toolbar.
  6. Select the Creation Method in the Complete the information in the Type section. Valid values include:
  • Build from HTML - You type or paste in HTML code.
  • Build from Existing Layout - You select a layout you created earlier. If you select this value, you must select the layout.
  • Build from Quick layout - You select one of the pre-created layouts. If you select this value, you must select the quick layout.
  • Revise Existing Page - You select a landing page you created earlier and modify a copy of it using the same tools selected for the original.
  1. Complete the information in the Landing Page Details section:
  • Name - The name of the landing page. You use this name to help you identify the landing page within the application. Subscribers cannot see the name.
  • Description - The description of the landing page. You use this description to help you further identify the landing page within the application. Subscribers cannot see the description.
  • Title - The text that appears in the title bar of the browsers when the page is rendered.
  • Meta Description - The content of the DESCRIPTION attribute of the META element in the HTML code. Enter a description to help search engines find your landing page.
  • Meta Keywords - The content of the KEYWORDS attribute of the META element in the HTML code. Enter relevant keywords to help search engines find your landing page.
  • Character Set - The character set of the landing page.
  • Content Type - The type of file to create. Valid values include:
    • HTML Web Page
    • Text File
    • Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
    • JavaScript
    • XML
    • XHTML Web Page
    • JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
    • RSS Feed
    • Atom Feed
    • Note: You may mark a Landing Page as containing only static content to avoid parsing and dynamic rendering. To mark a Landing Page as static, add the following tag as the first non-white space content for the page: <platform contenttype="static/"> </platform>
  • Security - Determines whether you require users to log in to see this landing page.

    • Available to all visitors - no credentials are required to access the landing page once it is running.

    • Application Users Only - a user must be logged in to this email marketing application in order to access the landing page. If the user is not logged in, the browser displays an error.

    • System Authenticated Redirection - a user must be logged into this email marketing application using this authentication process in order to access the landing page. If the user is not logged in, the browser takes the user to the login page. Once the user logs in using this process, the system displays this landing page. If the landing page was created in an enterprise account, the user's enterprise ID must match the enterprise ID of the user who published the landing page in order to access it.

  • Allow search engines to view this page checkbox - Determines whether code is included in the HTML to prevent search engines from indexing the page.
  • Allow search engines to follow links on this page checkbox - Determines whether code is included in the HTML to prevent search engines from following the links on this page.
  • Publishing Expiration Date - A date after which the landing page becomes unpublished and therefore unavailable.
  • Personalized URL checkbox - Determines whether this landing page will have a personalized URL. If you select this checkbox, you must enter a value in the Key field.
  • Key - Determines the key of the personalized URL. The personalized URL of the landing page will be http://[your domain[/[key value]. You must enter a value in this field if you select the Personalized URL checkbox.
  1. Click Save.
  2. Use the editing tools to create your landing page:
  • If you selected Build from HTML, you type or paste your HTML into the text field.
  • If you selected Build from Existing Layout or Build from Quick Layout, you use similar content area tools to the ones available in the email editor.
  • If you selected Revise Existing Page, you see the tools that were used to create the page you are revising.
  1. (Optional) Click the Preview tab to preview the HTML.
  2. Click Save.

How to Use the Subscriber Preview

Use the following steps to use the subscriber preview for a landing page:

  1. Open the landing page to preview.
  2. Click the Subscriber Preview button.
  3. Select a list or group in the Select an Audience field, or select the Do not use subscriber data checkbox.
    If you select a list or group, the subscribers in the list or group appear in the Select a Recipient field. If no recipients appear for a list or group, the list or group is empty.  If you select the checkbox, you can skip the next step.
  4. Select a recipient in the Select a Subscriber field for which to preview the email.
  5. Click Generate Preview.

You can click the arrow buttons beside the recipient name to see the preview for the previous or next subscribers on the list.

After you generate the Send Preview, you can generate the Inbox Preview.

How to Delete a Landing Page

You can delete a landing page from the microsite content. This procedure does not affect the microsite interaction. You must create a landing page before you can delete it.

Use the following steps to delete a landing page:

  1. Click the Content tab on the navigation bar.
  2. Click microsites.
  3. Click the folder that contains the landing page to delete.
    A list of microsites appears in the workspace.
  4. Click the name of the microsite that contains the landing page to delete.
    A list of landing pages in the microsite appears in the workspace.
  5. Select the checkbox next to the landing page to delete.
  6. Click Delete from the toolbar.

How to Link to a Landing Page in an Email

Before you can perform this procedure, you must start your microsite interaction.

Use the following steps to start a microsite interaction:

  1. Create the email to contain the link.
  2. Select the text in the email to link to the landing page.
  3. Select Hyperlink from the Insert menu in the content creation window.
    The Insert Link window appears.
  4. Select Microsite in the Link To field.
  5. Select the microsite in the Site field.
  6. Select the landing page to link to in the Page field.
  7. Enter the Link Tooltip.
  8. Enter the Tracking Alias.
  9. Click OK.

How  to Publish Changes to a Landing Page

Use this procedure to make the changes that you make to a landing page visible to subscribers. You must perform this procedure for your edits to be visible. Before you perform this procedure, you must make changes to the landing page content.

  1. Click the Interactions tab on the navigation bar.
  2. Click Messages.
  3. Click Microsites.
  4. Click My Microsites.
  5. Click Publish Pages from the toolbar.
    The Publish Landing Pages workspace appears.
  6. Select the checkbox next to the pages to publish.
  7. Click Publish from the toolbar.

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