Using the "External Site" setting on EssexInfo

This is an old page that I have reformatted and reposted for the record.

If you have a registered domain and have started your transistion from the EssexInfo hosting service it is recommended that you set the "Use External Website" option in "Website Settings"

Searching for your Parish Council by name

This was one of the things that was good about being under the EssexInfo umbrella. I was pleasntly surprised that when I registered an account with EssexInfo the Parish Council website was soon found when you searched for it by name. I was aware at the time that there was a "push-back" from some in the village who thought that: http://www.essexinfo.net/village-parish-council
was too long and not easy for people to remember or type! However, many of these observations came from those that thought Facebook was a good way of promoting the village.

The website url and the "querkyness" of the EssexInfo design interface led the Village Hall Committee to register their own domain and build their own website. While the Village Hall can be found when making a search, I would hazard a guess that there are very few who acually search for it!

When you set the website settings to use an external website anyone finding the EssexInfo indexing will be sent to your new website even though they will see a listing that still has the "long" url. As a passing note, the Facebook page for the village does not show in the search result. Herein shows a flaw in the argument about having a website address that starts with the parish name.

When EssexInfo finally suspends its service you will no longer get this url referral and it will be a long(er) time before your site will be re-indexed so that it will be found by a web search. However, if visitors know your new Council websites name they will be able to type it in to their browser anyway.

Logging in to your EssexInfo Account

You will still be able to log in to your EssexInfo account and see your old site on EssexInfo. You will be re-directed to your old site if you are already logged in to EssexInfo. Other visitors will see your new site. If you are logged-in you will have to access your new site by entering the new url into your browsers address box.

If you are checking your new site on your Smartphone, you won't be editing it there! you will see your new site if you search for it. You can log-in to EssexInfo on your phone but I don't really see the point.