For many businesses, showcasing digital publications on their own website is a great business solution. Clients can enjoy the convenient presentation and interactive features of catalogs, magazines and more all while browsing the brand’s site.
To help you take advantage of this powerful tool, we’ve created a complete guide to embedding your publications!
In today’s post, we will explain how your publications on Calaméo can be embedded in your website, blog or displayed in a Library widget.
We’ll start off with the basics: what is an embed? Simply put, an embedded publication will be displayed in a webpage outside of Calaméo. In this example from DARRAN Furniture‘s site, their catalog appears ready to read in our viewer:
You can embed any digital publication that you’ve created with Calaméo. Even private publications can be included in your website, as long as they have not been set to be visible only to your account.
Getting Started
In order to embed your publication, you’ll have to work with a bit of code. You can insert your publication into your blog, a website built with HTML or in a dedicated tab on your Facebook page.
Finding the code is easy. In the Publications tab of your account, mouse over the title you want to embed, click the arrow and select “Embed” from the drop-down menu. You can choose from HTML, WordPress or Joomla for your embed code, depending on the needs of your site.
💡TIP: Be sure you’ve installed the appropriate Calaméo plug-in before using WordPress or Joomla embed codes.
Hit the “Copy” button and you’re ready to go!
Virtual Library
The only thing better than embedding one of your digital publications on your business’s website is embedding a whole series for your audience to discover. We’ve covered the brand benefits of creating a Calaméo Library Widget before, and here’s a great example from Hachette:
Our tutorial video recaps how to customize your Library Widget and get the embed code. The best part? New publications are added to your Library Widget display on your website automatically, so you never have to update the code in order to update your readers.
In the next part of our Complete Guide to Embeds, we’ll be reviewing the options to ensure your publication looks exactly how you want it to on your website.
Virtual libraries offer a great tool for showcasing content on your website and keeping it organized. In fact, the easy-to-use Library Widget is one of our favorite digital publishing features on Calaméo. You can create your own virtual library, customize it and share in only a few clicks.
Let’s dive in to all the essentials of curating your virtual library!
A virtual library is a convenient, fun way to display a collection of digital publications. Just like a regular bookshelf, your virtual library allows you to bring together a group of materials in one place. It’s an inviting space where you can browse, read or simply show off your beautiful publications!
How to set up your own virtual library
You can make a virtual library in just a few minutes on Calaméo. In order to create a library widget stocked with your own Calaméo publications, go to the Publications tab of your account.
First, choose the Folder whose publications you wish to include in your virtual library. All of the public publications in that Folder will appear in your library shelves. (Your private publications are never displayed in the library widget.)
Next, click on the three squares icon at the top of the page to create your virtual library.
Finally, fine-tune the look of your library widget by clicking on “customize options”. You can select:
A background texture or color
How many shelves to show
The thumbnail size of your publication covers
Publication information to show
How to order your publications
How to open publications when clicked
Thumbnail design features like the cover drop shadow
While you adjust the details, you’ll be able to see the changes in real time directly in the preview window. Once you’re happy with the appearance, just copy the embed code. And that’s it—everything you need to create your own virtual library!
Watch our video tutorial on how to create a virtual library below:
💡 TIP: Prefer to view the tutorial in a different language? Use the Settings icon in the video player to select your subtitles.
How to display a virtual library
Congratulations—your library widget is all set up and ready to go! Meanwhile, the next step is to consider how you would like to share your virtual library. For example, you might want to display your publications on your website or blog. Or perhaps you’d rather have a link to email to friends, contacts or customers.
Libraries on your own website
Sharing your virtual library on your own blog or website is a piece of cake. After you have finished customizing the design of your bookshelves, copy the HTML embed code.
If your site is built with WordPress or Joomla, you can install our plug-in and paste the code right into a blog post or page. For example, this code:
However, other websites may require you to specify a container for your virtual library. Consult your CMS’s specifications or check with your webmaster for more information.
To display all of the publications in your virtual library on Calaméo, you can share a link to a Folder or Favorites list. Although the bookshelf interface is not available on Folder or Favorites pages, your audience will be able to view and explore the entire collection.
Linking to a Favorites list
To share a Favorites list, start by going to the Favorites tab of your account. Then select the list that you want to share from the left-hand menu. Finally, click the Share icon. In the window that opens, copy the URL and start sharing!
Linking to a Folder
To share a Folder, head to the Publications tab of your account. Choose the Folder whose publications you want to share from the left-hand menu, then click the Share icon. Grab the link to your Folder and you’re set to share.
Why make a virtual library
There are lots of great reasons to create your own virtual library. In fact, we reviewed 10 of the best for anyone who needs convincing! But to keep things simple, here are the top three benefits of a library widget.
Perfect presentation
The biggest advantage of a virtual library is the easy, interactive way it lets you showcase different publications. Whether the shelves are filled with every issue of your magazine or a variety of materials, a library widget can boost your publications’ visual impact.
Plus, browsing your publications in a virtual library is a breeze thanks to its intuitive navigation. Visitors can click any cover to open the publication in full screen or a new window, then return to your library when they’ve finished reading.
Painless updates
Another great feature solves a major headache for many publishers: the content in your virtual library updates automatically. Whenever you add a new publication to your library’s Folder on Calaméo, it also appears on your embedded bookshelf. As a result, you never need to worry about manually importing content to maintain your site.
Likewise, removing publications from your virtual library only takes a minute. Set them to private, move to a different Folder or deactivate out-of-date materials.
Extra insights
You’ll benefit from useful viewership analytics when you create your own virtual library on Calaméo, too. Because it’s important to know where your audience comes from and how they interact with your content, your account statistics show library details. You’ll see what percentage of your publications’ views happen in your virtual library, as well as other advanced statistics like link clicks and downloads.
In conclusion, setting up a digital bookshelf couldn’t be simpler. All you need to start is a free Calaméo account! Join today and create your own virtual library.
Do you want to make your digital publications more interactive and dynamic? Adding links to your publications on Calaméo is a simple and effective solution for enhancing your readers’ experience. With links, you can guide your audience to external pages, or additional resources, all at the click of a button. In this article, we present our video tutorial “How to add links to your Calaméo publications”, a step-by-step guide to easily integrate external links into your online documents and maximize their interactive potential.
Why add external links to your digital publications on Calaméo?
Adding external links to your digital publications is an effective way of making your documents interactive and captivating for your readers. This feature enhances the user experience by offering the possibility of accessing additional resources without leaving the publication. Whether you’re publishing a catalog, corporate brochure or magazine, external links can direct your audience to a website, purchase pages, detailed articles or explanatory videos, enhancing the reach and usefulness of your content.
The benefits of adding external links to your Calaméo publications
Integrating external links into your Calaméo publications offers a number of key advantages, all of which enhance the quality and performance of your digital documents:
Enhanced browsing: By inserting external links, you give your readers easy access to complementary external content that can enrich their understanding of the subject. They can consult additional resources, read more detailed articles or explore partner offers directly from your publication.
Increased engagement and interactivity: External links are a great way to encourage your readers to explore further. By directing your audience to relevant sites or additional resources, you stimulate their interest and prompt action.
Track performance with Calaméo statistics: Calaméo not only lets you add external links easily, but also track their performance with its integrated statistics functions. You can measure the number of clicks generated by your external links directly from your dashboard. This data is invaluable for analyzing the effectiveness of your content and adjusting your strategy according to the results.
These advantages make adding external links a key feature for enhancing your digital publications. You can transform your documents into truly interactive tools, while offering your readers a more fluid and enriching reading experience.
A video tutorial to guide you: How to add external links to Calaméo
The good news? Thanks to Calaméo’s intuitive interface, adding external links to your publications is simple. To help you get the most out of this feature, we’ve put together a detailed video tutorial that guides you step-by-step through how to insert external links into your Calaméo publications with ease.
Adding external links to your Calaméo publications is a simple and effective way of making your documents more interactive and dynamic. Whether you want to redirect your readers to online resources or provide them with additional information, this feature is an invaluable asset.
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