How to Create a Listing – California Christmas Lights

How to Register and List your property on California Christmas Lights

While not required.. consider a donation to support the site.

With limited resources, this project is entirely a volunteer effort. It costs hundreds of dollars to build a site, and hundreds more to keep it functioning. Please considering donating to keep the site up and running. As Alex used to say, this is not a commercial site, I do not charge anything for listings. So, donations are appreciated. ~ Joseph **PayPal Me, or Venmo @ Tinglassman. PLEASE PAY AS “FRIEND”, so we avoid fees. Thanks!

I am looking at taking in some advertisers from respectable vendors I utilize in my displays to help offset costs. Google maps charges now, hosting fees have risen.

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR HOUSE ASK YOURSELF: Do your neighbors have to wear sunglasses to keep the glare from your Christmas lights from burning their eyes? Does your neighborhood display burn so brightly it can be seen from the International Space Station?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, and want your fellow local residents to get a load of your holiday spirit, here’s your chance to shine.

California Christmas Lights is designed for showing holiday decorations in California that are unusual, elaborate or decorated beyond the traditional strings of lights or simple decorations. Not every house that is submitted will be accepted / displayed.

~ THINK OF YOUR SUBMISSION AS A RESUME FOR A JOB !!~

Your photos are the first and ONLY impression I will have of your display and WILL make all the difference in the world about your display making it onto the site or simply being deleted.

Lets Get Started…

You must register. You must be approved before you can list.

Registration Page

If you are not registered, complete the REGISTRATION FORM. You MUST complete ALL questions. These questions help us get to know you, and help us screen out spammers from your community website. Screening protects you, all users, and our site.

Your registration request will be sent to Admin Support and/ or Joseph, the current site owner of CaliforniaChristmasLights.com. Your registration will be either approved or denied. If APPROVED and you intend to list your property / light display, your role or status will be updated to “Author.”

Login uses double fact authentication, meaning you will login, receive a code in your email used to login.

Only approved “Authors” can list their property / light display. Once you have been approved and your status / role has been upgrade to “Author”, create your listing:

CREATING A LISTING:

LOGIN / Click “MY ACCOUNT” (under menu item “Lighting Manager)
Select “ADD LISTING”
Fill out the form:
1. COUNTY: From the drop down menu select your “County.”
2. TITLE: Enter your street address as the “TITLE” of your post. Example: 101 Main Street. Do not add state or zip IN THIS FIELD. YOU MUST USE YOUR STREET ADDRESS AS THE TITLE.
3. LOCATION: Select a city from the drop down menu under “LOCATIONS.” If you do not see your city, STOP, contact us ASAP, and we will add your city to the drop down choice. We will let you know when your city is added.
4. Complete the ADDRESS SECTION.
5. CLICK “FIND ON MAP”  to set your map marker pin.
6. FEATURES: Select any tags or “FEATURES” that apply to your light display. If you have a feature that is not listed, let us know, and we will consider adding that Feature choice.
7. DATE ESTABLISHED: (OPTIONAL) Fill in date. You may enter the date you started your neighborhood display, or today’s date.
8. DISPLAY HOURS: What time do the lights turn on and off? “Select day(s) hours” for nightly hours. However, you might not light up every night. READ! Selecting “ALL DAY” will be shown as “ALL NIGHT” on your listing.. on the Viewer side. (*** This feature is being customized and soon will only include PM times and the “all night” verbiage on your “edit / add listing” side of the listing. Note, another quirk in the software, selecting a date on the calendar sometimes results in the propagated field date to be ONE day off. Just click one day after the date you need. We apologize if this happens to you, and are working on resolving the issue.)
9. LISTING DESCRIPTION: Enter a description of your display. You must write at least 200 characters, and no more than 500.
10. WEBSITE: (OPTIONAL) Add your RELATED Christmas LIght Website if you have one.
11. SOCIAL ACCOUNT(S)\: (OPTIONAL) Enter your social urls, if they are relevant.
12. PHOTOS: First image uploaded will be the “featured” image, and the image the map likely uses for a marker. Upload up to 6 photos. If they look like crap, we will let you know, and you listing may not approved until better photos are submitted. Your photos may be edited and maintained in your assigned personal media gallery. Please clean out unused photos.
  1. Tittle the Picture – short and clear, eg. 101 Main Front of House
  2. Add your “Alt Text”
  3. Add a brief, concise CAPTION
  4. ONCE YOUR PHOTOS ARE UPLOADED.. you may visit and edit your personal media folder by going to my account / manage listings / edit / add image. Or, navigate to your listing and click the green gear icon on the right / edit / add image. This will take you into your media folder.
13. YOUTUBE VIDEO: Optional url of your display video
14. SUBMIT your listing. You will be notified when your listing is approved.

PLEASE READ: All posts / listings will either be approved or denied. So, please use your best photos. Anything that even remotely looks like spam, illicit sexual content , or an unauthorized sales pitch for products will be denied and deleted, ALONG WITH YOUR USER ACCOUNT. All posts / listings remain supervised so updates to your listing require approval, but you can update the listing yourself.

Okey Dokey.. HAVE FUN! And, Shine on:)

Contact us if you get stuck or have questions.

UPDATING / EDITING LISTING:

Two Methods: