Why is this needed?#
When visitors arrive on your Network Site they may not understand what the purpose of the network is, especially if they are first time visitors. It is good practice to provide visitors some information covering various aspects like:
- What is this network about
- Why does it exist
- Who should join
- What should they expect
- What are the benefits
- Who are the good folks creating this
- Why did they feel the need, etc.
The focus is to sell the network's virtues and attract members.
There are 4 ways in which this can be done:
- Network landing carousel
- Hybrid landing page (on paid plans only)
- Full featured landing page (on paid plans only)
- Featured post
However none of these methods should be used to explain the underlying network mechanics or features - how the network or a feature works, how to signup, how to navigate, how to post, etc, remember you are not making an explainer. Such explainers are already part of the MainCross platform and are progressively disclosed, with detailed help available when required.
Network landing carousel#
A nifty carousel is probably the most important gift you can give to your network site. Think of it as an elevator pitch for your network site. Use it effectively to tell a compelling story to the attention deficient visitor.
The network carousel lives on the /network destination, and shows above the fold, with the feed and other elements below it.
Read more about the landing carousel.
Hybrid landing page#
If the MainCross landing carousel is not your thing, then you may setup a landing page which shows what its about, together with the network feed. When a visitor loads the site, this is the page that will load first (hence called the "landing page").
A hybrid landing page is a Featured Page with brief information presented in an attractive way, followed by a Custom Feed set to the default, ie the Network Feed.
Here is an example from Hived Music:
Full featured landing page#
Any Featured Page can be set as the landing page. When a visitor loads the site, this is the page that will load first (hence called the "landing page").
Featured pages allow one to build out semi-custom graphical "website" type of pages. These can be as complex as you want, with dynamic and/or interactive elements, crafted using the Page Builder. Our Page Builder creates gorgeous full screen pages, that allows you to control the entire layout and the design - and drop in various MainCross widgets.
Featured post#
This method is not recommended, but in a pinch this quick and dirty method also works. If creating the landing carousel, or Featured Pages seems like just way too much work, a simple option is to create a post with various bits of information in text form, and then add that post to the network's Feature Post section.
