Edit 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.
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. This guide provides instructions for editing an existing landing page using the State/System Template Editor.
Articles in this series:
- Customize the Transferology Landing Page
- Create State/System Landing Pages: An Overview Guide
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: An Overview Guide
- Getting Started
- Make Edits Without Unpublishing the Page
- Unpublish the Landing Page Before Making Edits
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: Color Selection
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: Information
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: Links
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: Landing Page Images
- Edit State/System Landing Pages: SEO Optimization
Getting Started
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 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.
Before editing the state/system landing page, users should review the landing page and its current appearance.
Customize the Transferology Landing Page and Create State/System Landing Pages: An Overview Guide are available as resources, if needed, to help institutions become familiar again with the layout of the Transferology® homepage, the aspects of the landing page that can be customized, and how customizations impact the look and feel of the state/system landing page.
States/systems do not have to unpublish a landing page to make changes. Adjustments to the images on the landing page would automatically apply upon upload. All other changes would automatically apply to the published landing page once saved. Users with the State Coordinator role will need to exercise judgment in determining whether to make changes while the landing page is live or, if substantial changes need to be made, whether to unpublish the landing page and republish it once updates are complete.
Once a landing page has been unpublished, anyone visiting Transferology.com via the state or system referral link or badge will see Transferology's default homepage.
To edit a landing page:
- 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.
State/System Template Editor
Since states/systems collaborated with CollegeSource to create the initial landing page, some users may need to become more familiar with - or may need to become reacquainted with - the State/System Template Editor. This is the area through which the landing page is created and edited in the Lab.
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.
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.
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.
Within the template editor, users can make adjustments to the selections provided, as explained below. Three buttons will be visible on the page, depending on whether the page is published.
| Label | Description |
| Preview Changes | Select to see how changes made within the editor will appear on the landing page. |
| Save Changes | Select to save work on the landing page. Adjustments to the images on the landing page will automatically apply upon upload. All other changes must be saved to apply. |
| Unpublish Landing Page | Appears when the landing page is currently published. Select to unpublish the landing page. Once a landing page has been unpublished, anyone visiting Transferology.com via the state/system's referral link or badge will see Transferology's default homepage. |
| Publish Landing Page | Appears when the landing page is currently unpublished. Select to publish the landing page. Anyone visiting Transferology.com via the state/system's referral link or badge will see the state/system landing page. |
To publish the landing page, all fields (with the exception of Alternate Text and the Thumbnail Image, for which there are established defaults) must be filled in. If the School Coordinator attempts to publish a template with missing information, an alert informs the user what fields need to be completed.
Make Edits Without Unpublishing the Landing Page
Use the following documentation to make adjustments to existing color selections, information, links, images and alternate text, the SEO page description, and SEO page keywords while the landing page is live:
Unpublish the Landing Page Before Making Edits
Follow the steps below to make changes to the state/system landing page in its unpublished state:
- At the top of the State/System Template Editor, select Unpublish Landing Page.
- A message will appear indicating that the user is about to unpublish the landing page for the state/system. Anyone visiting Transferology.com via the state/system's referral link or badge will see Transferology's default homepage.
- Select Yes to continue and unpublish the page.
- A confirmation will appear indicating that the landing page has been successfully unpublished.
- Use the following documentation to adjust color selections, information, links, images and alternate text, the SEO page description, and SEO page keywords:
- Select the Preview Changes button at the top of the template editor to see how selections appear on the landing page.
- Select Save Changes to apply changes.
- A pop-up will appear noting that the user is about to make changes to the landing page for the system. Doing so will make these changes visible to the public if the landing page has been published. Make sure to review changes via the Preview Changes button.
- Select Yes to proceed with saving changes.
- A confirmation will appear indicating that changes have been saved.
- When all changes are complete, and the institution is ready to republish the page, select Publish Landing Page.
- A pop-up will appear indicating that the user is about to publish the landing page for the system. Doing so will make the page visible to the public. Before publishing, make sure to save any changes made and review the landing page via the Preview Changes button.
- Select Yes to proceed with publishing the landing page.
- A confirmation will appear indicating that the landing page has been successfully published.
To publish the landing page, all fields (with the exception of Alternate Text and the Thumbnail Image, for which there are established defaults) must be filled in. If the School Coordinator attempts to publish a template with missing information, an alert informs the user what fields need to be completed.