Digital Agent has a variety of content types available to users. Think of these content types as pre-made templates. You can create:
This section leads users through the custom content types and how to fill them out. Where necessary, there are descriptions for each field and what you need to do to use them properly.
From the Digital Workspace homepage, click ‘Settings’ box
Select the ‘Your Pages’ tab
Select the ‘Add Page’ button
Create your landing page by adding the following:
‘Type of Page’: Select option from drop-down menu
‘Page Title’: Add the page title into the field.
‘URL’: Add a web link into the ‘URL’ field.
‘Choose Standard Page Template’: This creates the structure that helps you customize the page.
‘Search Engine Optimization’ (box):
Resource: SEO Basics
This option helps the user determine how they want an article to appear in search engines (such as Google). It’s useful to know how these options work when considering SEO for your blog and site.
‘Search Engine Title’: Add preferred title into the field.
‘Meta Description’: Add description into the field.
The copy entered in this field shows up as the description in search engines.
‘Tags’: Type in the keywords and phrases into the field. Press ‘Enter’ on the keyboard for each entry.
This creates meta tags for this post. A meta tag is a snippet of descriptive text you’ll include in the code of a web page, but it doesn’t appear on the page itself. Meta tags help search engines understand what your site is about and index your page, which is critical when you want to rank on search engines for the right keywords.1
Click the ‘Save this page’ button
Note: Now that you’ve created a new page, you can view it on your website. Return to the Digital Workspace homepage, click ‘My Website’ and you can find it on your site. To begin customizing your new page, see the following topics on the Managing your site page:
"How do I create my own content?"
"How do I add pre-approved content (from the content library)?"
Digital Agent allows you to build custom forms for your website.
Go to the Digital Workspace homepage dashboard.
Click ‘Forms’.
Click ‘+New Form’.
Step 1: Set up your form
Set up your form with the following:
‘Title’: Type your form title in the field. This is a required field.
‘Description’: This is a short description of the form.
‘Send form responses to’:
Select an email address where you would like to receive responses. The email addresses that are selectable come from your default user profiles. See: ‘My Profile’ and your ‘Team Members’ profiles.
‘Submission Button Text’: This is the copy that appears on the button.
‘What should happen after the form is submitted’: Select an option
A) ‘Redirect then to a webpage’: Add a URL link to this field. When a user fills out the web form they’ll automatically be directed to the link in the field.
OR
B) ‘Display a message’: When a user fills out the web form they’ll receive a pop-up message with the text added in this field.
‘Set an expiry date’: Click the checkbox and schedule a date and time.
Date - box: [YYYY-MM-DD]
Hour – box: [drop-down]
Minute [drop-down]
Click ‘Next Step’
Step 2: Design your form
On this page, you have the ability to add new fields and (if you’re editing an already existing form) customize existing fields. Choose from the following:
‘Add new field’
‘Edit field’ (Note: You don’t have to use all the available options)
Add new fields
Select your field type:
‘Email’
‘Checkboxes’
‘Dropdown(s)’
‘Text fields’
‘Paragraphs’
‘Multiple choice’
‘Website’
Set up your field with the following:
‘Label’: You’ll see two fields. The top field serves as the name of the field. The second field provides a description of what this field is for.
Required’: This helps you set mandatory fields (that users must complete). To set the required status, leave the copy that says “true” in the ‘Required’ field. Otherwise, delete “true” copy field.
‘Size’: Select small, medium, or large from the drop-down menu.
‘Length Limit’: Set a character limit.
If you’re looking to add another custom field, click the ‘Add new field’ tab and repeat.
(When you’re done building your form) Click the ‘Next Step’ button.
Note: Regardless of whether you’re setting up a new form or editing an existing one, you can reorder the fields by dragging and dropping.
Step 3: Add a disclosure message
‘Disclosure Messages’:
Note: This is an optional step. You can add a disclosure message, by clicking the ‘Display disclosure messages’ checkbox and entering copy into the field.
Click the ‘Next Step’ button.
Step 4: Add a confirmation email
You can create a pre-generated confirmation email when a site visitor completes the form. This is an optional step.
‘Do not send a confirmation email’: Unselect this checkbox to start creating your confirmation email.
‘From Name’: Add your name to this email. This appears as the name on the confirmation email.
Example: John Doe Financial Planning.
‘From Email address’: Add an email address that should be connected to the confirmation email. It should probably be an email that you’re comfortable with people emailing directly.
‘Subject’: Add copy for the email’s subject line.
‘Message’: Add copy for the email’s message
Click the ‘Submit for Approval’ button.
Note: All forms will require a compliance review.
To create a new blog article, start by going to your Digital Workspace dashboard.
Click the ‘Blog’ icon.
This brings you to the ‘Blog Manager’ page.
Click the ‘+Add Blog Post’ button in the top right corner.
Note: This brings you to the ‘Add Blog Post’ page.
‘Title’: Type your blog article title in the field.
This is a required field.
‘Upload Feature Image’:
This is the image that appears on both the blog article and home page.
‘Browse’: Click button.
Select an image from your computer.
Click the ‘Open’ button.
Note: You’ll want to make sure your custom banners are high resolution. Ensure image size is 1500 x 650 pixels.
Edit Feature Image – view:
You can resize the image both manually OR by using the ‘Crop Dimensions’ tools.
Click ‘Ok’ button.
‘Scheduled Date and Time’: Type in the date you wish your blog article to be published. At the chosen date and time, your site will automatically do it for you.
‘Set an expiry date’:
Click the checkbox and schedule a date and time.
Note: At the given date and time, the Digital Agent will automatically remove the post.
‘Excerpt’: Type copy into the field.
This copy serves as a short description of a blog entry. When a blog entry is published on the home page, the excerpt copy appears here. Character limit: 250.
‘Author Alias’: Type the author’s name or alias in the field.
Text field (this is not labeled):
Below the 'Author Alias' field, you’ll see a text field with a toolbar. When you enter text into this field, you can use various formatting options to customize it to serve your needs. It’s as easy as using Microsoft Word.
Note: Before copying and pasting your content into Digital Agent, it’s best to first paste the content into an application like Notepad. This removes any hidden formatting that your Word document or website content may have.
Note: To learn more about setting up proper heading structures, see the “How do I set up proper heading structures?” question in the FAQ section.
‘Categories’: Click one or more checkbox options to assign a category for your blog post. This helps Digital Agent organize your posts on your site.
This creates meta tags for this blog post.
This option helps the user determine just how they might want an article to appear in search engines (such as Google). It’s useful to know how these options work when considering SEO for your blog and site.
Note: You might use this section if you have your own personal blog or contribute to an advisor blog and are looking to drive traffic to those sites instead of your advisor site. An example that applies to Canada Life would be if we were to publish an article to Digital Agent that originally was posted on the Freedom 55 site. Generally, as a best practice, you won’t need to touch this unless the above applies.
‘Disable Search Engine Crawling’: It’s recommended you do not select this checkbox. If you click this checkbox it will prevent your article from appearing in search engines. This is a feature that the company uses when articles are posted from multiple sources to prevent article duplication in search engine results.
‘Blog Post URL’: Add customized URL information.
This can be useful if you want to shorten the URL.
‘Canonical URL’: Add original source URL into the field.
You might use this field if you’re recreating/republishing an article that’s been previously published elsewhere. By entering the original URL into this field, it makes sure the SEO analytics is properly directed to the original source.
In the ‘My Profile’ section, you can update your personal information that’s displayed on your site (bio, headshot, contact information, job title, etc.). You can also add Team members that are connected with your business.
This section has the following sections:
Note: The results that load in this field are pre-loaded by Veriday. If your designation doesn’t come up, contact fieldmarketing@canadalife.com.
Note: Each of these fields has an ‘Extension’ field next to it.
You should only use this section if your site is set up to be a Team site. For information, reach out to fieldmarketing@canadalife.com.
This section contains information about your firm’s physical location. You'll see this information populated in your footer block and “Contact” page (with a Google map view). At this time, you do not have the ability to edit and update the information in this section yourself. If your firm has changed addresses, please contact fieldmarketing@canadalife.com. Canada Life administrators will make the change your behalf.