The InstaSites application is a partner account-only tool that allows you to rapidly build a brand-new website for your leads and prospects. This document will teach you how to build an InstaSite for a single customer within the application.
If you are looking for instructions on how to build InstaSites in bulk, please refer to this help article instead.
Browse & Preview
As you enter the InstaSites app, you will arrive on the Templates tab by default. This acts as a storefront for the hundreds of sites we have available.
Our entire template list appears in alphabetical order on the main page.
You can also browse website templates by using the column on the left. First, you can separate all of our sites by Business, E-commerce, and Landing Page.
Business refers to general informational sites that are used to promote awareness and deliver key business details.
E-commerce is similar to Business, but also contains a templated store to allow you to quickly list and begin selling your products.
Landing Page refers to single-page sites designed to promote a single offer related to that industry niche. Be aware that landing pages also contain a follow-up thank you page to let your users know that their form submission was successful.
You can also break down our available templates by industry. Finally, you can utilize the Search Template bar located at the top of the page.
Building an InstaSite
After you select an InstaSite, follow these instructions as follows to build your website.
First, hover over the template until two buttons appear. Click on Build InstaSite.
Select a Data Source
The first task to complete is to select a Data Source. The InstaSites application will gather the necessary data from your business contact(s) from this source. You have two options to choose from:
Business Contacts - The contact information will come directly from the Contacts app.
Upload CSV - You can upload a CSV file directly.
If you elect to use a CSV file, ensure that it is formatted correctly. For our system to complete your InstaSite build, you will need to include the following values:
Business name
Business phone
Business email
Business street
Business suite
Business city
Business state
Business zip
Business country
Person name
Person email
Person phone
Any value in bold is required. If you do not include these values within your CSV file, our system will not complete the InstaSite build. You can download a CSV template for your personal use by scrolling down to the attachments at the end of this article. Additionally, you must include the person's contact information if you wish to notify someone at the business of their new InstaSite build.
Note - The template file signifies required fields with an asterisk. Do not include these asterisks when uploading your values. This is simply used to help you differentiate which values are required and which are optional.
Click on the option you wish to use. Then, click Continue at the top of the page.
Choosing Your Contacts
Regardless of the Data Source you use, you should arrive at a new screen which features a table of your available contacts.
If you are having an issue, please make sure that your CSV file is formatted correctly. If you selected Business Contacts, but do not currently have any contacts in your account, this list will be empty.
Locate the contact from the list that you wish to build the InstaSite for. You can either scroll to locate the business or utilize the search function at the top of the page.
Check the box that’s available to the left of the business name. Then, click Continue at the top of the page. You may proceed to the section titled Notifying Your Contacts.
Important Note - The Business contact must have all of the required information on file. This includes Business Name, Phone Number, Email, State, and City.
If your business contact does not currently exist in your account, you can learn how to add a new business below.
Adding a New Business
You do not need to leave this setup process to add a new business to your account. To add a new business, click on + New Business at the top right of the table.
Then, utilize the panel that appears to complete the following steps:
Enter the Business Name in the field provided. Note that there is a red asterisk next to the field name indicating that this is a requirement.
As you begin entering the Business Name, the panel automatically expands to reveal fields for additional information. The only fields that are required are:
Business Name
Email Address
Phone Number
City
State/Province
The InstaSites app must utilize this information to personalize the website to this specific client. If you choose to fill out the remaining fields, the system can also utilize this additional information wherever appropriate throughout the website.
Important Note - Hovering over the logo field at the top allows you to upload an image file. Click on this to upload the business logo. This will allow the InstaSites app to add the business logo wherever appropriate on the website. If you do not upload a logo, those same areas will default to using text that shows the business name.After filling out the required fields, click Submit at the bottom of the page. If you wish to take this opportunity to add additional business contacts, you can click Create and Add Another instead.
Your new business contact should now appear in the previous table. Check the box to the left of the name.
When you’re ready to move on to the next step, click Continue at the top of the page.
Notifying Your Contacts
Next, you have the option of creating notifications to send out to your business contacts regarding their new website.
If you do not wish to send notifications, click on No Notifications, then click Continue at the top of the page. Then, you may skip to the section titled Summary Review.
If you’d like to create notifications, click on the option you wish to use, then click Continue at the top of the page.
Before we begin creating your notifications, you will need to select individual contacts affiliated with the business.
You should see a table once again similar to the image shown above. To the left of each Business Name, you will see a number format that looks something like “0/3.” This means that you currently are selecting 0 people contacts out of a possible 3 that are affiliated with the business.
To explore the available contacts, move further left and click on the blue arrow icon. This will expand the table and reveal the individual contacts. Click the empty checkbox next to the person’s name to send notifications to that person. You may add as many contacts as you wish.
If you currently have no contacts affiliated with the Business, you must add one to send notifications. You can add a contact using these steps:
Hover over the business in question until the icon pictured below appears. Click on this icon.
A side panel will appear titled Create Contact. Enter the necessary information and click Submit. If you need to add more than one contact, click Create and Add Another.
Your new contacts will now appear under the business name for you to select. Now that you have selected your people contacts, click Continue at the top of the page.
Setting Up Your Email Notification
The following steps will correspond to the option of your choosing. If you select an option with an email notification, you will now see a menu that looks identical to the email form we use in our Templates application.
The From field is the user whose name will display when the recipient receives the notification. You can select it from the dropdown menu.
The Subject field is the topic of your email. You may call this “New Lead from X Campaign,” for example.
The open text field is where you will enter the body of your message. There is no limit on the number of characters you can use for your email notifications.
Attachments have a cumulative maximum file size of 20MB. There is no limit on the number of files you can attach as long as they remain below the size limit.
Personalize gives you the ability to automatically inject information you have on file associated with the lead or the team member you are contacting. You can learn more about how to utilize personalization options using our help article found here.
Important Note - The Personalize function is important when using the InstaSite application as you can immediately share the link to the new website within your message. Click on the button and scroll down until you find the InstaSites section. Then, click on Preview as shown in the image below:
Finally, you can utilize the Use Template option to quickly set up a notification message rather than creating one from scratch. Our Templates app allows you to create any number of SMS or email templates to optimize your workflow in situations like these. You can learn more about how to create templates using our help article found here.
Once your email notification is complete, you can test the message by entering an email in the bottom field and selecting Send Test. If you are ready, click Continue at the top of the page.
Setting Up Your SMS Notification
The process of setting up an SMS notification is nearly identical to the process explained above. SMS notifications do not include a Subject field and do not support attachments. Otherwise, you may personalize or use a pre-made SMS template as you can with emails.
Warning - SMS notifications receive charges differently than emails. Our platform utilizes a credit system at the cost of 1 Credit for every 160 characters in your SMS notification. You will also expend 1 Credit whenever you test your SMS notification. Click here to learn more about our Credit system for templates and notifications.
After you complete these steps, click Continue at the top of the page.
Summary Review
After selecting our contacts and creating our notifications, we will arrive at the Summary screen.
This is your final opportunity to review your InstaSites builds and back out if necessary. You will receive a summary of the actions you set up using these instructions as well as how many credits you can expect to use.
If everything appears correct and you are satisfied with your choices, click Continue to finalize your InstaSites build.
Congratulations! Your InstaSites are now in the build queue. Navigate back to the My InstaSites tab to find your website in the table.
Under the Status column, you can determine how far your InstaSites are from completion. Here’s a quick summary of the various Status conditions and what they mean.
Queued - Your InstaSite is in the queue and will build shortly.
Built - Your InstaSite now exists and your notifications have been sent to your contacts.
Canceled - This is an uncommon status, and typically only appears if you or an internal team member cancels the build for some purpose.
Failed - The InstaSite build was not successful. Our system will attempt to retry once. If there is still a problem, it will remain with this status.
Retrying - The initial build was unsuccessful, and the system is attempting to build once more.
Purchased - You purchased this website for your client.
Final Notes
Now that you’ve built your website, it’s now your opportunity to sell it to your contacts. You will not be able to set up a custom domain or hand it over to your client until you make a purchase.
You may also make edits to the InstaSite before you purchase it by clicking on the blue gear icon that appears when hovering over the Company Name.