A Guide to Site Settings

Your site settings hold the main properties of your website, and they’re worth reviewing and adjusting before you launch. This guide runs through the ones most worth checking first.

You’ll find them under Site Settings in the web office, and whoever has permission to work in here is listed under its Administrator area. As you go, click ‘Save Updates’ on each page to keep any changes you make.

Site profile

The ‘Primary Web Address’ is the website URL used in all emails the site sends. If you need it changed, get in touch and we’ll do it for you.

The ‘Site Email Address’ is the address your site emails are sent from, such as the welcome email when a new registration is approved. It needs to be a working address, or some providers will reject the mail, and replies should reach someone who can act on them.

Your contact details

The Web Site Help Information section holds the contact details shown in the help area of your website, so visitors with a question about your content can reach you. At a minimum add a contact name (for example, [Organisation] Office) and an email address; you can include a phone number too.

The Public Contact Information section holds your organisation’s details. These appear in your site’s Terms of Use the first time someone logs in, and your registered charity number can also show in the website footer. The ‘Contact Person’ here is for our records only and won’t appear on your site.

System emails

The Emails category holds the templates for your site’s system emails, like the welcome email. Most won’t need changing, but it’s worth checking the wording of the important ones, such as the Welcome email under Site Registration and Login.

Mailing channels

Mailing channels let people subscribe to, and unsubscribe from, particular kinds of mailing. Every site starts with one channel. You can add more for specific content, say a monthly newsletter, so people can opt in or out of that without unsubscribing from your general mailings.

Users

It’s worth checking the Users settings before launch too. You can tailor the ‘Registration form’ to what you need, set the ‘user titles’ (salutations), choose your address book policy, and set your usage policies. ‘Usage policies’ shows the Acceptable Use Policy for your site, which is linked wherever people post messages or write articles. The default is worth a read and editing to suit you, then enabling.

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Good to know

• Changes save per page, so click ‘Save Updates’ on each one before you move on.
• The other areas under Site Settings can be adjusted after launch if the need comes up, so there’s no need to work through everything at once.