create landing page template if not an HTML coder

[Trish_Voskovitc]

hi all
so i created a landing page template by cloning a template marketo had created for us when we first became a customer. the design needed to be updates as our corp identity and website had changed. it seemed to work  and  created a bunch of landing pages using it just fine.

then a couple months later was broken- the mktcontent section height was no longer editable when in use. i asked support for help. 2 reps were not able to help so they escalated to engineering.

the response i then got back was "sorry we do not review or correct customers' custom code" then they said I should just "go back to the template marketo had created for us and to move forward"  So the "help" i got was to use a template that is not appropriate and very outdated - no helpful in any way. Basically, "be happy with what we give you" whether it is what we need or want.

so i asked how a non coder like me (i am sure there are thousands of us) could create a landing page template when the editor for templates is straight coding only? (unlike when creating program assets)

i said i had cut the marketo code into Dreamweaver and then just touched the elements that were design elements and then cut and paste back into Marketo. This was only way i could see what i was going.  But, I was told that marketo did not support outside apps like Dreamweaver and it wouldn't work and they wouldn't help me fix any errors.

So, my non-coder colleagues how the heck do you create templates? At this pooint i will have to use the blank template for landing page assets and build out design EACH time.

Suggestions that do not include paying Marketo lots of money each time i need a new templatd? i may be a small customer but a good size percentage of my budget is already given to them

just this morning i was wishing i could change vendors- but of course they have me hostage as my sales people rely on the sales insigfht info they have and the historical data would be lost.
 

[Anonymous]

Trish:

Sorry to hear about that predicament. I know what you mean about some of the gotchas for the editor. 

I ran into a similar problem to you with the code. You might look at the CSS for the #mktcontent. If you have any height or min-height defined for the #mktcontent, it'll mess with your landing page editor in Marketo.

Marketo's WYSIWYG tries to be as non-technical as possible, and they mostly do a good job about it. But it's also easy to accidentally screw up the process. 

In my own personal opinion, it's great to have someone technical either on-staff or on-call for Marketo use. Especially with the design studio. Getting someone who can set up the technical/coding parts before-hand is really useful when they know that the product will be handled by non-coders. This way they can try to make it as user-friendly as possible while still being up-to-date with coding best practices, plus having it branded correctly for your company.


Best,
Edward Unthank
Marketing Operations Specialist
Yesler

[Anonymous]

Well this sounds like some of the responses i have received from support on other issues. We have only been with them for a few months and have created numerous 'bug reports' now for issues they cannot explain or even fix that happen on their own nothing we even caused!! 
I am a senior engineer so that kinda helped escalate my issues.. For your templates if your going to continue to rock dreamweaver, make sure you only copy specific parts of the code back into Marketo. There are PHP tags in there <?php ?> type of elements you dont want in Dreamweaver. 
Above all, whenever you have created something in Marketo for 'Templates' make a local backup on your companies servers, your Outlook or local machine so you can always go back to it. These SaaS products do random things and can really cost you time if not careful. They are truly awesome, but if only managed really well.

I'm not sure what Marketo charges for templates, but free lancers on Craigslist would do it for you for like 15-20$ i bet 🙂

[Anonymous]

Trish:
To second Edward - WYSIWYG only use for templates is probably your best bet in this scenario, considering the budgets don't allow bring support from a 3d party vendor.

Another option would be to build a stronger collaboration with your web team and see if some of the JS, CSS resources can be pulled from their on as needed basis.

Dmitri

[Anonymous]

As Michael said above, make sure you did not unintentionally remove some of the PHP code required for the template when you were editing it in Dreamweaver.

[Michelle_Tizian]

Hi Trish,

In the Courses Section in the Marketo Community, there's a video on Beyond Basics: Landing Page Templates.  The person in the video uses Dreamweaver and shows you what you can and can not remove. http://community.marketo.com/marketocourses

[Anonymous]

Trish,

Your company has a beautiful website, I would make friends with your web designer (or agency) and have them assist you. Marketo is meant to be used by "non-coders" once things are set up properly, but changing templates and corporate identity would involve code with any vendor's system. The system is not difficult to set up once you understand how it is structured, but it can be intimidating to those without coding experience.

Go make some friends, bring them a 6 pack or something...I'm sure they will help out! If you're looking for an agency to help you with all of Marketo, here's my shameless plug: http://www.pedowitzgroup.com/marketo

[Rafael_Santoni1]

Hi,

My two cents. I am willing to roll up my sleeves and give you a hand. I am sure I am not the only one willing to give you a helping hand here in the community.

How about you send me a copy of your HTML template and I can check it for inconsistencies, broken code, etc.

Feel free to export the HTML and email it to my personal email, which is rafael@rafaelsantoni.com.

Not warranties expressed or implied.  😉

Thank you,

Rafael