Create a Viral Contest with MailingBoss and Cheetah

Create a viral contest using Mailing Boss and Cheetah. Allow people to signup and get their own link to share to get points towards winning the contest. Let them see the results and what place they are in at any time by going to a special results page. Watch your contest go viral using this system in Builderall.

Step 1:  Create a subscriber list in Mailing Boss

Mouse over “Apps”

Click “MailingBoss Autoresponder”

Name:  name your subscriber list

Display name:  add the name you want to display on your list of subscriber lists

Description:  add the description of your subscriber list

Click “Continue”

No need to change anything on this screen

Click “Next”

Check “Create First Name Field” (optional)

Click “Save Changes”

Click “Update”

Click “Advanced”

Change “Ranking List” to YES

Click “Save Changes”

Step 2:  Create your website pages in Cheetah

Mouse over “Apps”

Click “Cheetah Website Builder”

  1. Create an optin page

Click “Create New Site”

Under Professional Templates, Click “Choose”

NOTE:  We will be using a blank template.  You can choose an existing template or specific design for your viral site.

Click “Blank”

Hover over the template and click “Select this”

Click “Save”

NOTE:  This creates the website, creates the home (optin) page, and takes you inside the editor for the website.

  1. Create a thank you page

Click “Create New Page”

Name:  Type in your page name

Title:  Type in your page title (this appears on the tab of the browser)

Description:  Type in a description for your page

Click “Save”

NOTE:  Your pages are credit and now it is time to edit each one

Step 3:  Edit Optin Page

Click “Edit Page”on the home/optin page.

NOTE:  Depending on whether you chose a blank template or a template that already has design elements, it may look very different from the following screenshots.  We will cover just the basic things you need to complete the creation of the viral contest site.

NOTE:  If the side panel is not open, click the small arrow on the side panel to open it (you may have to click it twice)

Click “Add”

Click “Elements”

Scroll down the elements list and click “Email Marketing Form”

Click and drag the style of form you want to use onto the panel on your page.

Click on the subscriber list you created in STEP 1

Click “Save”

NOTE:  Click on the email marketing form to activate the mini toolbar.

Click on the “Set Link” on the mini toolbar for the form element

Click “no action” beside “Subscribe pending”

Click “Page

Select your thank you page

Click “Save”

Click “no action” beside “Subscribe confirm”

Click “Page

Select your thank you page

Click “Save”

Click “Save”

Click “Save” in the top right corner of the editor to save the changes to that page

Click “That’s fine” to publish the changes to your page

NOTE:  You have completed the changes that you need for the viral contest form on the optin page.  After your viral contest form is completely setup, you can then work on adding elements and design to the page. 

Step 4:  Edit Thank You page

In the top right corner of the editor, click the down arrow and change the page to your thank you page.

Click “Save and exit”

NOTE:  If your page is new, you may need to add the first panel by going to “Add”, “Panel”, and “Blank Panel” (or choose a premade panel)

NOTE:  If the side panel is not open, click the small arrow on the side panel to open it (you may have to click it twice)

Click “Add”

Click “Elements”

Scroll down the elements list and click “Email Marketing Form”

NOTE:  Scroll down to the end of the form elements to see the viral contest forms

Click and drag the form to the panel where you want to place it on your page

Right click on the email marketing form element to active the side panel settings for the form.  This is where you can configure the settings for the form.

NOTE:  The most important setting for the ranking to work is to set the optin/capture page address correctly.  Type in name of the page in the field provided in the settings.  To find the name of the page, go to the list of pages in Cheetah and look for the name on the page card (see image below)

NOTE:  You can personalize and change several settings in the viral contest results element including show or hide ranking, the number of people in the contest, social share settings, and configuring the design of the text and buttons.

Click “Save” in the top right corner of the editor to save the changes to that page

Click “That’s fine” to publish the changes to your page

NOTE: You have completed the changes that you need for the viral contest form on the thank you page.  You can now work on adding more elements and design to the pages.