Adrecom’s member and business directories are examples of our employment of database-oriented content. Database-oriented pages are dynamic pages that are linked to an internal database that stores member and business directory information. When a back end user, such as a site administrator or member of our team, makes a change in the database the change is reflected on the front end. Information that exists in the Back Office database is sent to the respective page via programming configurations. This way, every time the page is reloaded the changes will be apparent on the front end.
For example, adding, editing or deleting members from a database makes an identical change to the content on the front end of the site. Categorizing members or businesses as is as well another change reflected on the front end. Read more about business directory capabilities and member management in our Solutions and Services for Nonprofits & Associations page.
Bulk Uploading and Importing
As is discussed in more detail in our post about Product Catalog Management,
bulk exporting and importing is available to back end users who wish or need to
make a broad range of changes at one time. Instead of making a score of manual
changes, such as replacing one business location from one city to another for
30 locations, you can make all changes in one fell sweep using the export
feature.
Exporting the member or business directory information presents all of the information in the database in an Excel sheet. By altering the information in the Excel sheet and reinserting it, also known as importing, into the Back Office’s database, all of the new information will appear on the front end in lieu of the old. This is a great feature to use to avoid the daunting task of making a potentially long list of changes to information in the database.
Tip:
When using the upload feature always save the originally downloaded file in a secure place. In the event that you make a mistake while making your import file, you can simply reimport the original file. This saves a lot of energy and avoids the issue of reapplying back-up information. Naming both your original and altered files by date is a good idea so that you know when the files were exported and imported.
MetaData
The Business Directory is also equipped with the
ability to export and import Meta Data related to information existing in the
business and member directory. Carefully considered “meta information” can be inserted
into an Excel sheet and imported in the same manner as business directory
information to improve your sites Google ranking. You can read more about how
MetaData works on our CMS Editing
Tools page.
