Open centralOS

Website

Website in the sidebar is where the business's website is made. You don't need to know any code: you tell the Website agent what you want in the box at the bottom of the page (Ask me anything...) and it writes the pages. Nothing changes on the live site until you press Publish.

Build a website for the first time

  1. Open Website in the sidebar.
  2. A new site shows a gallery of designs. Click one to see it full size, use the names at the top to compare others, and press Use template. You can also skip this and describe the site you want in the box at the bottom.
  3. In the box at the bottom, tell the Website agent about the business: what it does, where it works, its services and prices, and how customers get in touch. Pasting in existing text or attaching a document with Attach works too.
  4. The Website agent asks how you'd like to work: section by section, page by page, or the whole site at once. It replaces the template's sample business with yours.
  5. Look over the preview and ask for changes in the same box, in plain words.
  6. Press Publish. The site goes live at the address shown at the bottom of the page. Clicking that address opens the live site in a new tab.

Draft beside Publish means the site hasn't been published yet.

Change the website

  1. Open Website and type the change in the box at the bottom, such as "change our phone number to 0400 000 000" or "add a reviews section to the home page".
  2. The Website agent changes the draft and shows it. If you don't like it, you can ask again or press Undo (the curved arrow beside Publish).
  3. Press Publish to put the changes live.

If the pages start to look inconsistent, ask the Website agent to "tidy up the website". It tidies every page without changing how it looks and says which pages to check before publishing.

Pages

  • The button at the bottom showing the page's name (the home page is index) lists every page. Click one to see it.
  • To add a page, ask the Website agent ("add an About page"), which builds it too. Or open the list, press New, type a name and press Add for a blank page.
  • Hover over a page in the list and press ... to Rename or Delete it. The home page can't be renamed or deleted.
  • HTML, beside Preview, shows the page's code for anyone who wants to edit it by hand.
  • Maximise (the outward arrows at the bottom left) shows the page full screen.

Contact form

Ask the Website agent for a contact page with an enquiry form. Messages sent through it arrive in Enquiries, on plans that have it, and the team gets a notification.

Booking form

  1. Set Open hours in Settings > Website & Socials: pick the days, then set the hours with the slider. Per day gives each day its own hours, and 24/7 opens every hour.
  2. Ask the Website agent to add a booking form.

Visitors pick a free time inside those hours that doesn't clash with anything in the business's calendar. The booking request arrives in Enquiries with the time they chose.

Blog of Socials posts

Ask the Website agent for a blog page showing the Socials feed. Every post published from Socials with Website ticked appears there, newest first, which keeps the site fresh for search engines. Visitors can reply to a post. Replies come to Enquiries privately and aren't shown on the site.

Getting found on Google

To get found on Google and get more from your website, it helps to have:

  • A contact page with an enquiry form, so visitors can reach you from any page.
  • A blog page showing your Socials feed, posted to regularly.
  • A search title and description on each page for the services and area you want to be found for, such as "emergency plumber in Newcastle".

Tell the Website agent which of these you want, and it adds them.

Web address

  • Every site gets a free centralOS web address. To change its first part, go to Settings > Website & Socials > Web address, type the new name, wait for the green tick that says it's free, and press Save beside it. Only the business's Owners can change it. Changing it moves the published site to the new address, so the old one stops working.
  • To use your own domain name, such as yourbusiness.com.au, press the globe button at the bottom left of the Website page. Domains has the steps. The globe shows an amber warning while no domain is connected, and a green shield once it's connected.

Things to know

  • Changes are only a draft until Publish is pressed.
  • Building a whole site in one go uses much more of the plan's centralAgent allowance than changing a page. Page by page spreads it out.
  • The Website agent only uses facts it's given or finds in centralOS. It won't make up prices, reviews or statistics, so give it the real ones.