MyCity is an online portal through which your community can submit events, businesses, and community groups. We have a complete section of this help center to help you set up your MyCity, including pages for your community to submit content and for you to set up page sharing to your public website.
However, there are some tips we can share to help you set up pages on your public site to list submitted content correctly, and help explain to site visitors how they can submit content.
Set Up Directories
Through MyCity, users can submit OC Event, OC Business, and OC Directory pages. When a page is submitted, approved, and published, they are then shared to your public site and will display on the OC Module Interface page you set up for the listing. The content types translate to:
- OC Events display with any other event pages you created on site or that sync from a connector. Most often, this will be an OC Module Interface page with one of the four events listing templates.
- OC Business pages are your local business directory pages and display on an OC Module Interface page with the OC Business Directory template.
- OC Directory pages are your community directory pages and display on an OC Module Interface page with the OC Local Directory template.
Once you have set these pages up, there are a couple of things you can add to ensure you’re providing your community with the information they need to both submit and find content.
Adding Instructions and Resources
Providing instructions and resources is an essential part of building your MyCity directory pages, as it allows your community to submit content easily and reduces the time you need to spend reviewing it.
There are several techniques you can use to do this, including:
- Use the listing page WYSIWYG Editor to introduce the directory and add call-to-action button links to direct site visitors to your MyCity site.
- Use accordions to insert expandable panels with information about how users can register with MyCity, submit content, and promote their content.
- Create and link to an OC Service page that instructs users who can and how to register, create and manage pages, and how to contact your organization with any questions. The benefit of using a service page is that you can use the Modes of interaction to include tabbed and numbered instructions.
- Create sample documents or images that explain what content users should include in their submitted listings. You can add this to the listing page WYGIWYG Editor, the content submission form WYSIWYG Editor, or both.
Terms and Conditions
You must provide accessible terms and conditions for your MyCity users to list out the rules and regulations that apply to creating a user account and submitting content. For example, if you require all events submitted to be free, you will list this in the terms and conditions.
These terms must be developed within your organization and in conjunction with your legal team, so we can’t tell you the exact information you need in there.
But regardless of what information you include, you need to ensure that it is accessible to your community. When we create your MyCity site, there will be a page available for you to publish your terms and conditions, and this page will be linked to the footer of the MyCity site.
We recommend also making them available on your public site. You may need to create and link to a page specifically for this, such as an OC General page with a table of contents. Or you may choose to include it in an accordion on the listing page, or a tab on the OC Service instructions page.
Supplemental Content
With all the essential links and instructions in place, you can start adding content that is not strictly necessary but could make the page more user-friendly and provide relevant information. For example:
- Maps: Create a map displaying the community groups or local businesses listed in the directories, or combine them into one map showing both. You can include an address search and separate your layers using content labels to allow site visitors to choose listings more relevant to them.
- Calendars: Create a calendar showing upcoming community events to help show your community what’s happening in their area.
- Image Galleries and Rotating Banners: Add an image gallery or banner to showcase community events, programs, or featuring local businesses. We recommend adding this to the secondary WYSIWYG Editor on the listing page and you must ensure you have permission to publish any photos you use.