We continue the cycle of business articles about the city website and mobile city guide. Today we to find out more about the second fundamental part of this project - city website and mobile app.
You will learn about the functionality of our product, all sections, admin zone and mobile applications.
How does the CitySites platform work?
Like any successful site, without attendance, our project will not work as it should. To get a lot of visitors, three things should be done well: content quality, browsing convenience and how many people can see it. Content consists of city news, videos, photo reports, placement in the directory, poster, etc.
Let's see what we have done to make a site owner’s life easier:
- The CitySites platform provides convenient content consumption from both a computer and a smartphone.
- The CitySites platform is designed to maximize views number of your content, even outside the site and mobile app.
- We have maximally simplified the process of creating high-quality content.
Thus, 2.5 problems out of three have already been solved for you. You have just to concentrate on the content and sales, not being distracted by other things. Great? Ask our existing partners.
CitySites platform overview: how does it look like?
Like any other site, the city portal consists of various sections. Let's look at them and talk about the purpose of each of them.
Let’s go through the site, then through the application.
All information is relevant at the time of publication of the material - the summer of 2017. We constantly add new features and functions to the product, therefore, the final look and functionality may differ from that described in the article.
Home page
Home page - the most important page of the site. Visitors go to different sections, browse the news feed and rate the site as a whole. This is the most viewed page.
Pictures are clickable.
This is the header.
- logo;
- current weather;
- login/registration buttons on the site;
- links to all major sections of the site;
- buttons for downloading the mobile application of the city, for iOS and Android. And the search button (expands when clicked);
- a unique wide logo with the sights of your city;
- special links that complement the top row of sections, leading to the branded pages, consultation pages, etc.;
- advertising banner.
You independently create the appearance of your home page. Focus on the most resonant news, preparing the news for publication, choose different types of blocks. This makes it easier for the reader to find out the situation in a city.
A block "The most interesting" should contain the most resonant events. There is an option to mark before publishing.
The block “What's for today” is an events calendar for today. These are cinema, theaters, exhibitions, etc. Usually, our partners agree on partnership conditions with event organizers, and for each ticket purchased, forwarded from your website, you will get a certain commission of its cost.
We have a separate block for highlighted video. Users like to watch videos.
News
The news section contains all the latest news about the city. There is a filter for it, news with a video or photo reports are also highlighted in a separate block, as well as on the main page. It is possible to filter the news by date, the most interesting news, as well as subscribe to the newsletter by email.
Business directory
This section of the site is a catalog of all firms in your city. According to the franchise contract, we independently fill this directory when launching the site. You can use it as your first base of potential advertisers (if you don’t have your own).
The structure of the business directory. You can change the order, bringing up different categories of businesses and services. Graphic design is also changing.
Separately, there is a block "Popular places", in which the premium directory entries are displayed. It also shows the rating, contacts, and then quickly find it using your personal account.
Leisure
This section is almost a functional copy of the business directory, its content is the only difference. The section contains all entertainment facilities, structured by type. There is also a side column rating and “popular places”.
Events guide
This is how the start screen of an events guide looks like, it contains filters, date selection and much more. Below are the most anticipated events, if any.
There is a section with photo reports about past events below the whole guide. By the way, some photo reports can be displayed on the main page, they will be displayed in the section “The most interesting”. Photo reports can be filtered by place of occurrence.
City Map
The "City Map" section is a convenient way to see a city map. Uses Google resources.
Transportation
You can quickly build a route from point A to point B. You can build routes within the city, as well as long-distance ones.
Classifieds
By a similar principle, the sections "Auto", "Real Estate" and "Vacancies" are built. These are the sections in which visitors can post their ads.
Users can donate and highlight their ads. Thus, a passive income from the site is formed. The purchase of highlight functions is possible without the involvement of a manager, simply by payment by card.
Weather
A simple section where visitor can quickly find out the weather forecast. A small widget with the current situation behind the window is displayed on each page of the site near the logo.
Admin zone
The administrative zone of the site is the place where you manage your site: put news, banners, customize the appearance of the main page, moderate all sections and much more. You can restrict access to certain sections so that your employee does not accidentally “do things”. Here is an example of a user admin who can post only news. Also, the admin panel contains brief tips on working in the relevant section.
Mobile version of the site
Our platform uses technology of adaptation to the screens of mobile devices (phones and tablets). With this view, the same sections are available as in the PC version. The functionality is also not limited.
Mobile app
By installing the mobile application, the user gets access to all sections of the site, as well as unique features that are accessible only from the program. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android platforms. Functionally, these are twin brothers, there are differences only in design (so that applications fit into the interface of their operating system).
From the application, you can quickly call or open the address on the map and build a route. The application can track the location, and in any category (for example, cafes, cinemas or pharmacies), you can find the address of the desired object near you.
Mobile applications are constantly updated, about once a quarter to expand functionality and improve design.
What awaits the platform in the future?
Improvement is a continuous process. The development, marketing and design departments work on the platform to improve existing opportunities and propose new ones. We also take into account the wishes of our partners.
Thank you for reading. It's time to discuss the launch of such a project in your city!
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