How to Make Your First Search Results Page

• Also try: How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted | Mahalo Style Guide

[edit] Mahalo Style Guide

• Please refer to the Mahalo Style Guide for the most up to date instructions on creating your Search Results Page.

[edit] Step 1: Choose a Search Topic

1. Create a Greenhouse account.
2. You will receive a confirmation email. Follow the link in the email to confirm your account and change your password.
3. Login to the Greenhouse.
4. Think about the search results you would like to create for Mahalo. We highly recommend you choose a topic from one of our entry level verticals, or teams based on a specific subject, such as Entertainment or Sports. For training purposes, this How to will use the topic "James Dean" from the Entertainment vertical as its example.
5. Go to the Most Wanted page. This page lists every vertical that we make search result pages in. For your first few pages it is a good idea to stay within one vertical, until you feel comfortable enough to diversify. We highly discourage choosing Geography, Health, Travel or Products topics until you have had at least five search results pages from less complex verticals accepted.
6. Click on Entertainment to see a list of wanted terms, which are broken down by price.
7. Scan the list and choose one that looks interesting to you.

[edit] Step 2: Create the Search Results Page (SeRP)

1. Click on the name of the SeRP topic you would like to build a page for. The page will open. At the top of the page is a yellow button that reads "Claim." Click this button to claim the page. The SeRP is now yours. Your username will appear at the bottom of the page.
2. The template was selected by the guides in charge of the vertical and should already appear on the page. Templates save you time by inputing the basic code for your page automatically. They help similar pages maintain a similar structure, and help you avoid forgetting key elements of your SeRP.
3. You may find the need to manually input a template should there be a problem with the automatic template creation. Here are instructions:
4. Go to the PTG Templates page and locate the template that is appropriate for your search topic.
5. Copy the code from the PTG Templates page, for example {{Subst:PTG Celebs}}. This code, when saved, will substitute the desired template for the code automatically.
6. Type your term into the search box to go back to your page.
7. Click on the green "Edit" button at the top of the page.
8. Paste the code into the edit box that opens, in place of any other text you had there.
9. Press the "Save page" button.
10. The template will appear on the saved page.
11. Click the green "Edit" button to go back into the edit box and replace all the generic section headers, such as "Celeb," with your specific term.
12. Press the "Save page" button.

[edit] Step 3: Add Links

1. Once your template has been added and customized, you are ready to add links. Go to the Entertainment Style Guide to find reliable sources of high quality links, and to learn which sites we never link to.
2. For more details on what sites we do and don't link to, see How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted.
3. Do some Internet searches to find links you want to add to your page.
4. Your first page should be created by adding links by hand. In the future, you can use the Greenhouse Guide Tool to automate most of this process.
5. To add a link to The Mahalo Top 7:
   1. Copy the link URL
   2. Go into the edit window by clicking the green edit button at the top of the page or by clicking the edit button to the right of the section
   3. Type pound (#) to start your numbered list
   4. Next, type the name of the site your link is from
   5. Then type a colon (:) and space
   6. Type a beginning bracket: [
   7. Paste the URL after the bracket, followed by a space
   8. Type the link description. This is the text that becomes the link people will click on
   9. Close with an ending bracket: ]
   10. The final code looks like this: #Mahalo.com: [http://www.mahalo.com/James_Dean Collection of James Dean Links]
   11. Click the "Save page" button and make sure it looks the way you want it to:
   • 1. Mahalo.com: Collection of James Dean Links
6. To add a link to another section:
   1. Copy the link URL
   2. Go into the edit window by clicking the green edit button at the top of the page or by clicking the edit button to the right of the section
   3. Type an asterisk (*) to start the line
   4. Next, type the name of the site your link is from
   5. Then type a colon (:) and space
   6. Type a beginning bracket: [
   7. Paste the URL after the bracket, followed by a space
   8. Type the link description. This is the text that becomes the link people will click on
   9. Close with an ending bracket: ]
   10. The final code looks like this: *Mahalo.com: [http://www.mahalo.com/James_Dean Collection of James Dean Links]
   11. Click the "Save page" button and make sure it looks the way you want it to:
   • • Mahalo.com: Collection of James Dean Links

[edit] Step 4: Submit Your Page

• Once you have added all of the links to your SeRP, and have included a Guide Note, Fast Facts, relateds, categories and applicable warnings, shakas, Also tries, and Did you means?, you may be ready to submit your page for final review. Read the How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted page for ways to improve your SeRP and avoid some of the common problems beginning guides have.

1. Once claimed, you have seven days to complete a SeRP and submit it for review. If you do not work on a SeRP for two days, you will receive an email reminder to complete it. If you have not worked on your SeRP for seven days, you will lose the ability to complete it.
2. When you are certain your SeRP is finished, click the "Submit For Review" button on the top of the page. Once you submit your SeRP, you won't be able to edit it any longer.
3. You will receive an automated email confirming that we received your request for review.
4. Your SeRP will now be placed in the queue and will be reviewed approximately in the order which it was received.
5. We will review your SeRP based on the following criteria:
   1. Correctness of link formatting and code
   2. Completeness of sections, Guide Note and Fast Facts
   3. Accuracy and presence of relateds and categories
   4. Quality of links
6. While you are waiting for your first page to be reviewed, you may want to consult the How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted page again, look at some of the ways to get in Contact with other members of the Greenhouse, and download the Greenhouse Guide Tool, which will make the creation of future SeRPs easier.

[edit] Step 5: Feedback

• After we have reviewed your SeRP, two things can happen:

1. 1. The SeRP can be "accepted"
   2. The SeRP can be "declined"
2. If your SeRP is accepted, you will receive an email notification, including feedback noting things you did well and things changed to improve the serp.
   1. Read these emails carefully as they will let you know how you are doing and what things you can do to improve your next SeRP. Often the changes made for you in early SeRPs are things that, if you don't address them in the future, will result in your SeRPs being declined. The goal is to always be improving.
   2. The final Mahalo SeRP will have a box at the bottom giving you credit as the original author of the page. The Mahalo Guide who publishes the page will add an image to the Guide Note, and make any other changes necessary to bring the page up to Mahalo standards. From this point on, the Mahalo Guide will be responsible for updating and curating the SeRP. You will be able to make contributions to the page, if you like, through the Recommend a Link feature and discussion boards.
3. If your SeRP is declined, you will receive an email notification, including feedback noting the things you will need to improve/change in order to make it acceptable.
   1. Read this email carefully and go back into your SeRP and edit it as necessary. Once the SeRP has been declined, your editing privileges are restored until you resubmit.
   2. If you have questions about the feedback, you may email the person who reviewed your page at the email address provided on the decline email.
   3. It is not unusual for your first few SeRPs to be sent back to you for adjustments. Writing SeRPs is a learning process, and feedback is one of the best ways to improve.
   4. Once you have edited the SeRP and made all of the necessary changes, resubmit it for a second review by clicking "Submit For Review" at the top of the page.
   5. Email the person who originally declined your page to let them know you have resubmitted it.
   6. They will pick up the page again for a follow-up review as soon as they are able.
   7. The cycle will start again and finish when your SeRP is accepted onto Mahalo.

• The Mahalo Greenhouse reserves the right to suspend a PTG's ability to create SeRPs if the PTG fails to have a page accepted after three declined submissions.

[edit] Step 6: What's Next

1. Once you have a page submitted or accepted onto Mahalo, you will want to familiarize yourself with some of the other areas of the Greenhouse.
2. Sign up for our mailing list, join our chatrooms, and find someone to instant message by visiting the Contact page. There you can find ways to access the Mentors, Greenhouse Staff and Mahalo Guides for help.
3. If you would like to be paid for the pages you create that are accepted onto Mahalo, visit the Freelance Payment Information page to download the necessary forms. Make sure you fill out the forms legibly and completely.
4. Learn more about how to perfect your SeRPs with How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted.
5. Familiarize yourself with the vertical teams we have on the Greenhouse and see which ones you might want to be a part of eventually.
6. Get started on your next search results page!

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