Introduction
This guide will walk you through populating and publishing an Event Landing Page for your CT Live/Athlinks event. Since the ELP is populated using information that has existed in CT Live for quite some time, most of this process should feel very familiar. We will go into greater detail over newer aspects, however. For a visual key of the source for each aspect of the ELP, see the Legend at the bottom of this article.
For an introduction to what the event landing page does and is, click HERE.
Enabling the Event Landing Page
Before you can use Event Landing pages, your CT Live event must be linked to an Athlinks event under a Master. If you created your event after July 25, 2016, your event is likely already linked as noted by the magenta flame next to your Races.
If your event is not linked or not under a Master yet, you can find out how to do these things by clicking HERE.
Once your event is linked, your Event Landing Page is effectively enabled for publishing.
Please ensure that all races and Registration Choices are added and configured for your CT Live event before finalizing the ELP publication process.
Configuring and Populating the Event Landing Page
Event Properties
Nearly all aspects of the Event Landing page are populated using from your CT Live event, so in order to configure and populate your ELP, you should first make sure that the proper aspects of your Event Properties are configured. Event Date, Location, Name, Timer, Organizer, and Event Excerpt from your CT Live Event properties. Since these are things you would have configured in your Event Creation Process, you will likely not have to adjust any of these items.
The Social Media and website links are not part of Event Creation, so if you would like these links to appear in your Landing Page, you will need to edit the Event Properties to add the links. The social media links are currently only relevant to Event Landing Pages.
To add the social media links, click the Event Properties button on the Dashboard to access the event's basic settings. Click the dropdown and select Resources. Now enter the URLs for each of the social media pages you'd like to connect to this event.
Once these URLs are populated, the corresponding links will show up in your Event Landing Page.
If you did not completely fill in your Event Excerpt during event creation, you can use the Names section of Event Properties to do so.
Once you're satisfied with the values in the Event Properties, click Save & Next/Save & Close to save the changes.
Registration
Whether you are using CT Live single or multi-event registration or registration from a 3rd-party website, you can publish registration links on the ELPs. For single event CT Live registration, simply configure and open Online Registration, and the Register button will automatically be populated in the ELP.
For CT Live Multi-Event (Series) Registration or 3rd-party registration platforms, open the Event Properties for your Event and click the dropdown to access the Resources tab. At the bottom of this page, enter the link to your Series registration form or 3rd-party registration service, then click Save & Continue to save the change, then click the X at the top right of the properties window to close it.
Now that you've got your Event Properties set, click on the Event Landing Page tab on the main Event tab.
Within the Event Landing Page tab, there are a variety of additional features to add to the ELP. These are discussed below.
Extended Event Description
Under the Event Landing Page Image on the ELP tab, you'll see the Event Excerpt that you filled in when creating your event, followed by a simple text editing pane under the Extended Event Description heading. The Extended Description allows you to supply even more information about the event, including links to external websites such as merchandise outlets and event sponsors' websites. Athletes will be able to view the Extended Description by clicking the [MORE] button on the ELP. This helps to keep the immediate ELP experience compact and quick since a larger Description body would otherwise lengthen the page.
The text editor offers Bold, Italic, and Bullet point buttons, as well as a link button that looks like a globe.
To add a link:
- Click the globe icon. This will open a small window prompting you to supply the URL. Supply the URL and click OK.
- When you click OK, the link will appear in the text frame, and some highlighted text will prompt you to enter a label for the link. Type the label for the link.
- To preview your Extended Description, click the Preview button. Remember that you need to click the Preview button again to return to editing.
- When you're satisfied with your Description, click Save Draft to finalize the changes. If you navigate away from the ELP tab before saving, your changes will be lost.
PDF Course Maps
You now have the ability to add up to 7 individual PDF Course Maps to your Event Landing Page. The upload process is simple. Just click the Add Course Map button, select the PDF on your computer, give the map a name, and click Complete & Save.
The maps will appear in a list which cannot be reordered, so if there is a specific order in which you would like maps to appear, you should upload them in order from first to last.
Course Maps can be edited or removed at any time using the pencil and x icons, respectively.
Within the Event Landing Page, the full body of the PDF will be displayed, and users can toggle between maps by clicking their tab.
Locations
With the locations feature, you can add up to 5 locations to the event that will provide athletes with a clickable link that will open the location in Google Maps. To add a location, click the Add Location button. In the window that appears, supply the correct information for the location. As you fill in address, city, state, zip, and country, the Geolocation coordinates at the bottom of the page will automatically update.
When you're done entering the location information, click Complete & Save. The locations will be shown in a list which cannot be reordered, so if you'd like the locations to be displayed in a certain order, enter the locations from first to last.
Locations can be edited or removed at any time using the pencil and x icons, respectively.
Within the Event Landing Page, Locations will appear at the bottom of the ELP like so:
Schedule Times
By default, the Event Landing Page's Schedule Times field is automatically populated with the Races within your event. However, you now have the ability to add up to 15 custom schedule items. To do this, click the Add Schedule Time button at the very bottom of the page.
In the window that appears, supply a Name and Start and End times. If you ever need to hide this schedule item, you can edit it and choose Hide Schedule to do so.
The Time Zone will not be changeable from this screen since it is dependent on the Time Zone selected in the Event Properties.
Click Complete & Save when you're done.
Schedule items - including races - can be edited at any time to hide them or alter their name.
Event Landing Page Images
Event Landing Page (Header) Image
If you do not upload a custom header image, the ELP header image will automatically be filled from our own library of stock images. The image will be selected from our library based on the first Race you create within your CT Live event. If the race is a Triathlon, the image will reflect a triathlon type event. If it is a bike, it will show an image of athletes cycling, and so on.
We HIGHLY recommend that you upload your own image for the event, especially in the case that you have multiple different race types.
To upload an image:
- Click the Upload Custom Image button.
- In the window that appears, click Select Image and locate your custom image on your PC. This image must be 1600 x 900 pixels and no larger than 2MB.
When creating your image, please remember that the full area of the image may not be visible on certain display sizes since the website is responsive (shows differently for different screen resolutions). We recommend that you keep important elements in the middle 350px (height) of the overall image, and don't include text unless absolutely necessary. - Once you've selected the image, click Upload.
- After a few moments, you should see a blue bar appear at the top of the window saying that the upload was successful. Click Close & Refresh. The new image should now appear in the ELP tab.
Once an image is uploaded, you can remove the image by clicking the X in the top right corner of the image. Remember to click Save Draft after making any changes to the ELP page.
Event Icon
The next image type that can be added to the ELP is the Event Icon. This icon is pulled from CT Live's Event Icon image in the Graphics tab. For a guide on how to change the Event Icon and other graphics, click HERE. This is the last visual element that needs to be configured for the ELP. If you do not upload an Event Icon, it will default to the Athlinks flame image.
Event Sponsor Images
The latest addition to the Event Landing Page is the ability to add Sponsor Logos that are linked to each sponsor's website. When an athlete clicks one of the logos, they will be directed to the sponsor's website. These sponsor images will appear in three different places in Athlinks:
- At the bottom of the Event Landing Page
- At the bottom of the Event Results Page
- In the sidebar of the Individual Results Page
You can add up to 25 different Sponsor Logos, and after upload, the images can be drag-and-dropped to arrange their order. Each logo must be 300 x 250 pixels.
To add a Sponsor Image, click the Add Sponsor Logo button
In the window that appears, supply a Name for the sponsor, then add a URL. Adding a URL is not required. Next, you can upload the Logo to be used and then determine if the Logo will be a Title Sponsor. Logos marked as Title Sponsors will appear larger than the other logos in the Individual Results pages.
When you're finished, click Complete & Save. The new Logo should appear in a few moments, and you can continue to import logos until finished, or until you reach the 25 logo limit.
Publish/Archive the Landing Page
Now that your Event Landing Page is populated, you can Publish the page to Athlinks and distribute the link on your website, social media, etc.
To activate and publish the ELP, click the Publish Event Landing Page button. A confirmation dialogue will display prompting you to confirm the publishing.
Once an Event is published, it can be searched on the Athlinks website regardless of whether or not you distribute the link via other methods.
Click Publish to confirm. The page will refresh, and the ELP link will now be available. You'll also notice that the Publish button now says 'Archive Event Landing Page'. When you archive the ELP, it will be removed from Athlinks searches and the link will no longer work until you publish the ELP again.
Settings Legend
Coming soon!