Create State/System Landing Pages: An Overview Guide

States/systems can create a customized, branded Transferology® landing page to help promote colleges and universities to prospective students. When navigating to Transferology through the system's referral link or badge, students will see the customized page (assuming it is published) instead of the CollegeSource-branded homepage. This guide - and its associated articles - explains how users with the State Coordinator role can create state/system landing pages in the Transferology® Lab.

Articles in this series:

Getting Started
Initial Setup

State/System Template Editor
Required Information

Additional Landing Page Information

Getting Started

Since students are guided to landing pages by customized URLs, state/system institutions can promote schools through institution landing pages and one or more state/system pages.

To begin, it is recommended that users who will be involved with creating the landing page review Customize the Transferology Landing Page and become familiar with the following:

The layout of the Transferology® homepage.
The aspects of the state/system landing page that are customized.
The aspects of the CollegeSource-branded homepage that do not appear to students within a state/system landing page.

Initial Setup

States and systems must work with CollegeSource to collaboratively create the initial landing page. Once the landing page is in place, it will be maintained by users at the participating institutions with the State Coordinator role in the Lab and any other State Coordinators given access to edit the page.

To begin setup, a representative from the state/system will need to fill out the Request for State or System Transferology Landing Page form and supply CollegeSource with the following information:

The name of the state/system for which a landing page will be created.
- This name must be 32 characters or less.
A list of the schools within the state/system.

Once the information has been collected, CollegeSource will reach out to the representative to help the system get started in building the landing page using the State/System Template Editor.

State/System Template Editor

Users having the State Coordinator role in the Transferology Lab at the institutions in the list will be granted access to the State/System Template Editor. Additional users with the State Coordinator role can also be given access. Once the initial landing page has been published in coordination with CollegeSource, the State Coordinators will need to work together to maintain the page via the editor.

Institutions should be aware that any user with the State Coordinator role at an institution that has a state/system landing page can edit, change, publish, and unpublish the page. Additionally, any user with the State Coordinator role additionally granted access to the page can do the same. This means multiple users have the ability to update the template, and coordination will be needed as a result.

To navigate to the State/System Template editor:

Go to the School Profile menu.
Select Promote Your School.
Select the State/System Template tab.

Users can also navigate to Promote Your School via the How to promote your school hyperlink within the Profile Preview.

Users will be presented with a message asking for affirmation that the content of the landing page is not the responsibility of CollegeSource. Images, color, and text added to this page are the responsibility of the institution, state, or system to which the page belongs.
- Mark the checkbox in front of I agree and select Agree to continue.

The editor is broken down into five sections:

Color Selection.
Information.
Links.
Landing Page Images.
SEO Optimization.

What the user will see next on the landing page will depend on the following. If the user has the State Coordinator role in the Lab at only one institution within a state/system for which a landing page is being created or the user has been added as a collaborator for that page, only one template will be available to edit. The user will see the template name currently being edited on the screen and have no option to select another page.

Callout reads: Currently editing the state system landing page for State System Name. — Select to see a larger version

Some users with the State Coordinator role will be able to edit multiple landing pages and also see a drop-down from which to select the page to edit.

Callout reads: Currently editing the state system landing page for CollegeSource Universities. — Select to see a larger version

State Coordinators will have access to multiple state/system landing pages in the following circumstances:

The user has the State Coordinator role in the Lab at more than one institution within a state/system for which a landing page is being created.
The user has been added as a collaborator to multiple state/system pages.
The user has the State Coordinator role in the Lab with at least one institution within a state/system for which a system landing page is being created, and the individual has been added as a collaborator to a separate system page.

Required Information

Representatives of the state/system will need to supply the following information to create the initial landing page. Field names within the State/System Template Editor are noted in the chart below.

Select the hyperlinked heading name for further information:

Heading	Field Name/Description
Color Selection	Primary Color hex code value.
	Secondary Color hex code value.
Information	Referral Code 32 characters or less. Should contain letters and numbers; no dots (.).
	Introduction Paragraph introducing the state/system. 250 characters or less.
	Description A description of the institutions within the state/system. 250 characters or less.
	Credit Award Types Options: Standardized Exams, Military Learning Experiences, Life Learning Experiences.
Links Limited to .edu or any URL that contains a college or university domain unless approved by CollegeSource	Designated Image 1 Image for 1st additional resource URL. 600x600 pixels; no more than 1MB in size. URL for Image 1 255 characters or less. Text Below Image 1 55 characters or less. Image 1 Alternate Text (if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Designated Image 2 Image for 2nd additional resource URL. 600x600 pixels; no more than 1MB in size. URL for Image 2 255 characters or less. Text Below Image 2 55 characters or less. Image 2 Alternate Text (if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Designated Image 3 Image for 3rd additional resource URL. 600x600 pixels; no more than 1MB in size. URL for Image 3 255 characters or less. Text Below Image 3 55 characters or less. Image 3 Alternate Text (if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Additional Resource URL 1 1.Link Display Text Each 255 characters or less.
	Additional Resource URL 2 2.Link Display Text Each 255 characters or less.
	Additional Resource URL 3 3.Link Display Text Each 255 characters or less.
Landing Page Images	Logo Image 875x375 pixels; must be a JPG, JPEG, or PNG file no more than 1MB in size. Alternate Text (only if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Header Image 1200x1100 pixels; must be a JPG, JPEG, or PNG file no more than 1MB in size. Alternate Text (only if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Cover Image 1840x680 pixels; must be a JPG, JPEG, or PNG file no more than 1MB in size. Alternate Text (only if not using the default) 120 characters or less.
	Thumbnail Image (only if not using the default) 48x48 pixels; must be a JPG, JPEG, or PNG file no more than 1MB in size. Alternate Text Transferology does not currently use this field. States/systems do not need to populate any text in this field.

Additional Landing Page Information

In addition to the customizations discussed within the supporting articles, students will also be able to view a listing and a map of the institutions within the state/system.

Highlight calls out the number of institutions within the state or system and the View all institutions button from which the student can see the map and list of schools.

Once a user selects the View all institutions button, a pop-up of the participating institutions within the state/system will appear, along with the list of institution names.

Image displays a map of the location of CollegeSource Universities. Ten institution names are listed. — Select to see a larger version

Upon publication, the landing page URL will be communicated to representatives of the institution. It will also be available at the bottom of the state/system landing page:

Callout highlights the location of the referral link.