Build your website

Our built-in website editor allows you to create your own customized site and set it live — no programming or technical skills required. If you’ve been putting off building a landing page because it seems too hard, creating one on TaxDome is a good place to start.

Before you start

• Website hosting is included in your subscription, with no third party involved. All web traffic is SSL/TLS-encrypted, and clients can verify that you are the owner of the website.
• Your site can be accessed via your firm’s TaxDome URL or your own. To use your own website address, you’ll need a custom domain. If you already have one, set it up so that it points to your website on TaxDome, then use your client portal as a subdomain (portal.domain.com).
• A firm owner or admin can create and manage a website hosted on TaxDome. To allow a team member to manage the site, give them the Manage site access right in Settings > Team & Plans.
• The website can only be published after purchasing a subscription.

Note

Having trouble setting up your landing page or custom domain? We can build your website for you—learn more in this article .

Move your existing website to TaxDome

If you’ve already built your own website, you can migrate it to TaxDome using the Import feature—no backup of your files required.

Note

Only the front end of a website (all visible content on a site) is importable. The feature won’t work for websites that require databases or any other kind of backend feature.

1. Go to Settings > Site builder from the left menu bar. Click Start editing Website.

2. Click Import website. Or click New/Reset, select Change template, then Website import.

3. Enter the URL of your website, click Import, then wait several minutes for the import to complete.

Once the import is done, the website pages will be displayed inside the website builder, where they can be edited .

Build your first website

To build your own site on TaxDome, follow steps A through G below.

• A. Select a template
• B. Create pages
• C. Add content to your page
• D. Edit element and block properties
• E. Edit copy
• F. Move, lock, duplicate and hide page elements
• G. Create links

A. Select a template

Building a landing page from scratch is time-consuming, so we’ve done most of the work for you. Select a template for the basic layout, then customize it to make it look even better.

1. Go to Settings > Site builder from the left menu bar and click Start editing Website.

2. Browse the templates to find your favorite. To preview a template, hover over the thumbnail, then click Preview. To apply it, hover over the thumbnail, then click Select.

Once the template has loaded, start customizing it inside the editor window of the website builder.

B. Create pages

To add extra pages to your site:

1. In the top left of the editing window, click the down arrow next to Home, then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

2. Click New Page, enter the item name, then specify the item type by selecting Page or Popup.

3. Set up the SEO, background, and script settings as needed, then click Apply.

Once a page or link is created, specify whether you want it to appear in the site menu. Define the order of your pages in the menu by dragging and dropping items.

Add a link to your portal

Add an /app page link (e.g., yourfirm.taxdome.com/app) to your site menu. This way, clients can access their TaxDome portal from the site. The app page redirects them to either the login page or—if there’s an active session—their client account portal (e.g., yourfirm.taxdome.com/app/dashboard).

To add a portal link:

1. Click on the menu in the site builder, or add one by clicking the Menu button.

2. Click Edit menu to add a link to an existing menu, or New menu item to add a new one.

3. Select Link > Web Address and enter your portal URL (for example yourfirm.taxdome.com/app)

4. Click Apply.

C. Add content to your page

There are two ways to build a page. Use one or combine them:

• Add single elements like buttons, shapes, and images. These also include interactive elements like Google Maps, social media, galleries, and embedded videos. To choose elements for your page, drag and drop the appropriate toolbar button to the desired position. To make sure your elements are positioned correctly, use the Layout option. It helps to mark the location of the page elements.

• Add blocks to speed up the process of prototyping and page-building. A page block is a predesigned block of content used for a certain section, such as Testimonials, About Us, or Services. A page block has images, buttons, links, and other elements that can be easily edited or deleted. You have 100 percent design control, but you don’t have to build from scratch. To add a page block, click Blocks, select a category from the list, choose the block design, then click Add.

D. Edit element and block properties

Every element and block added to your page has editable properties. To access them, click on the element or block, and the properties are displayed in a panel on the right. The properties that are available depend on the object type.

To make sure your website looks great on all devices, set the Width and Height to auto and select the Allow to adjust size automatically checkbox.

E. Edit text

To edit a text element, double-click on any text box in the preview screen. Once you’ve finished, click Done or anywhere outside the text box.

F. Move, lock, duplicate and hide page elements

• To move an element on a page, point your cursor on the edge of an element, then drag it.

• To lock the element in place, hover over the element, right-click, then select Lock from the drop-down menu. Once the element is locked, it won’t move. To move it again, return to the drop-down menu, then select Unlock.

• To duplicate an element, hover over it, right-click, then select Duplicate from the drop-down menu. The element will appear below the original one. To paste a copy somewhere else, use the Copy and Paste Element commands instead.

• Page elements are deletable. Hover over the element, right-click, then select Remove.

• To hide specific elements on a page based on the device type, hover over the element, right-click it, open the right panel, select Visibility, and choose the desired device type.

G. Create links

Any element on a page can have a clickable link. To add one:

1. Click the element.

2. In the URL section in the panel on the right, fill in the link properties, then click Apply.

Add a contact form

Adding a contact form to your website allows current and future clients to enter their contact info and email you. Many templates already have a Contact us form installed, and one can also be added by going to Blocks, selecting the Contacts section, then choosing the appropriate element.

To set the contact form up so that you receive messages at your email address:

1. Make sure your site is published first, then click the gear icon at the top right.

2. Select the team member(s) who should receive form submissions—you can only choose from existing TaxDome team members with a paid seat.

3. Copy the URL from the Copy this URL field to enable contact form submissions.

4. Click in the area of your contact form in the website builder. In the right menu, fill in the following fields:

   • Submit form to: Select URL from the drop-down.
   • URL: Paste the URL that you copied in the previous step.

When a visitor fills out a contact form on your site and clicks the submit button, the data from the form is sent to a specified server at that URL via a secure connection, so the information submitted through the form is kept safe. This allows you to receive messages from the contact form at your email address or another specified server that handles these requests.

You can also adjust the Form sent Message to customize what your site visitors see after submitting the form.

Create a blog

Blogging is a great way to attract visitors to your website and increase visibility on search engines. The more content you have on your blog, the more chances search engines will identify your site as a valuable resource.

If your site is hosted on TaxDome, add a blog at no additional cost. Create the page where you want it to be, click Blog, then select your preferred layout. Once you click on a blog element, customize it by changing things like color, using the settings in the panel on the right.

• To edit default posts and add new ones, click the Edit posts button in the panel on the right.
• Or open any of the existing posts, then click the Edit link on the categories list.

Customize SEO settings

Using our website builder, you can customize titles, descriptions, and keywords for your website. To configure SEO and metadata so your firm’s website shows up properly in search engines:

1. In the top-right corner of the site builder, click the down arrow next to the gear icon, then select Pages.

2. In the pop-up window, select Default (for all pages) from the left sidebar to configure SEO settings that apply to all pages. In the SEO tab, fill in the Website name, Description, and Keywords, and upload an image (such as your firm logo or an office photo)—this is what appears when the link is shared on social media. Click Apply to save.

3. To override settings for individual pages, select the specific page from the left sidebar instead of Default. Use Do not index this page if you don’t want a page to appear in search engine results.

To learn more about search engine optimization, read the article on improving your visibility with search engines .

Save, preview, and publish your site

To save your changes, hover over the Publish button, then select Save.

Once you finish working on your site, preview it. Click the Preview button to see what it will look like on different screens. Click Close preview to exit preview mode.

To ensure your site looks great on all screen sizes, select Switch to vertical layout on smaller screens in the right pane after clicking the page.

If you’re happy with what you see, click Publish. Once the site is published, visitors can get to it by navigating to your firm’s TaxDome URL.

Unpublish your site

You can temporarily hide your site so that clients won’t see it. Toggle off Enable Website at the top of the page.

Download and restore a backup

You may want to create a backup of your website in the website builder before doing any editing: this ensures that the previous version is saved on your desktop so that you can restore it anytime.

To back up your website, hover over the Publish button, select Backup/Restore from the drop-down menu, then click Download Backup. This will download the current version of your website in .sitebuilder format.

To restore your website, go to the Restore section and click Browse…. Locate a .sitebuilder file on your computer, then click Restore.

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