Forecast Instructions

This page is only meant for internal use by Instant Weather team members. Reproduction or distribution of the content on this page outside of Instant Weather is prohibited.

Index

1. Accessing SquareSpace

2. Adding Title and Images/Text Blocks

3. Tags and Categories

4. Set Thumbnail Image

5. Expandable Images

6. Adding Advertisement

7. Publishing Forecast

Accessing SquareSpace

To begin, go to this link to access the blog platform that we use to create forecasts: CLICK HERE

Note: If you aren’t already logged into SquareSpace you’ll need to do this before the link will work. If you have issues with the link then you likely haven’t been added to the website as a contributor. Please contact Brennen or Adam if that occurs.

You will now see a list of all of the recent forecasts. Go to the top and click the ‘+’ symbol to create a new blog post for your forecast. A blank page should pop up that you can edit and add images/text.

Adding Title and Images/Text Blocks

Now that you’ve created a new blog post for your forecast, you can either start with adding a title now or wait until after you write up the forecast. Add the title to the single-line text box at the top that says ‘Enter a post title…’. Your title should be engaging and aim to bring as many viewers as possible so avoid bland and repetitive titles. Please run your title through the Title Case Converter to ensure it adheres to the standard article title style. Click on ‘Write here…’ and set the font to bold, center align and Heading 3 and write ‘Valid: DAY, MONTH ##, ####’ as shown below (you may also include a timing range if it’s only valid for part of a day). You don’t need to add other information to this area (such as title, province or forecaster name) as this information is included elsewhere. This text should stay at the top above all other content blocks.

To add images and texts to your forecast you need to click the ‘+’ button in the bottom right corner of the popup. Once you click this it will bring up all the different content blocks. You will mostly only need to use the image and text blocks for forecasts (except for Adding Advertisements). Start by adding an image block and choose your main image. The main image should sit right below the valid date. You will need to add a text block below the main image to start writing out your forecast and you can add more image/text blocks as needed.

Tags and Categories

For the forecast to show up on the relevant local update pages on our website, you need to add categories and tags to your forecast. For the categories, you should choose ‘Forecast’ and for tags, you should choose the province/state(s) the forecast is valid for (ex. Saskatchewan). Please use the full province or state name and not abbreviation.

Set Thumbnail Image

At the top of the pop-up, select the ‘Options’ tab and upload the thumbnail image that you want to use as the link preview. Also, double-check the Author field is set to your name and if not then change it.

Note: It is normal for the Post URL field to be blank. This will be automatically generated once you publish the forecast.

Expandable Images

We now need to make the images open in a new tab when clicked on so they can be zoomed into. To do this, first, click on the ‘Save’ button (don’t click ‘Save & Publish’) and then you will see a preview of what your forecast will look like on the website. Now right click on the first image and select ‘Copy Image Address’ (this will vary depending on what browser and OS you are using). Hover over your blog entry in the blog list and click on the ‘EDIT’ button. This will open back up the blog editor as you had before.

Hover over the image that you just copied the address for and click the ‘EDIT’ button. This will open up another pop-up with options for that image and you will need to go to the ‘Design’ tab and scroll down until you see ‘Clickthrough URL’. Click on the gear icon and it will open the Link Editor. Paste the link that you copied into the text field and make sure that ‘Open in New Window’ is turned on. You can now save this and make sure to hit ‘Apply’ when you get back to the Image options window.

Repeat this process for each image that needs to be zoomable.

Adding Advertisement

VERY IMPORTANT: You need to add advertisements to your forecast or you will not receive any commission. It’s also beneficial to the company when you add advertisements so please don’t skip this!

You will need your ad code from Google AdSense to proceed (contact Brennen or Adam if you don’t). Your ad code will look like this:

Normally we will put an advertisement directly below the main image in the forecast and another one right at the bottom. Use your judgement to place additional ads throughout your forecast. A rule of thumb would be an advertisement after every second image or 150-300 words (1-2 paragraphs). Less is more because having too many ads on your forecast will decrease potential earnings.

You can add an advertisement by adding an embed content block (the same way you added image and text blocks) and click on the Code icon to the right of the ‘Enter an embeddable URL here’ text box. This will open the ‘Embed Data’ pop-up and you can paste your ad code into the text box. Then click ‘Set’ and ‘Apply’. You can now drag the embed block where you want the advertisement to appear.

Repeat this process for each advertisement.

Note: The advertisements won’t appear in the preview for the website and may take a few minutes after posting to show up on the website.

Publishing Forecast

You are now ready to publish the forecast! You can click the ‘Save & Publish’ button which will make the forecast public and generate a URL that you can use to post it on our social media pages. You will get a pop-up conformation that the blog post is now live. It will also include the URL that you should copy and post on our social media pages. If you need to make additional edits you can still do that and just click the ‘Save’ button when done.