How to Set Up WP Menus

Mar 8,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Set Up WP Menus

As we continue our website building series, today we will be looking at how to set up WP menus. Setting up your menus in WordPress is a great way to be able to organize and display your content. Without an easy to navigate website, you will have a very high bounce rate because your users will get frustrated and leave. They need to be able to quickly find what they are looking for on your site. A well configured menu on the header will accomplish this task.

Before we actually create the menu itself, there is one important thing we must do. Before you can organize your website, you must have all of your pages created. This does not mean that we are going to design all of the pages from start to finish. However, we are going to create the pages as placeholders for our menu. Common pages to consider making are a Home page, a Contact Us page, an About Us page, and a Services page. Once you have created all of your page names and created a placeholder for each one, then it is time to begin actually making and organizing the menu.

To begin this process, go to Appearance>menus. Before you can organize the menu, you must create the menu. Do this by entering a name in the input box and hitting “Create Menu”. Now add the pages from the left side to your menu. You can also do this with blog categories or individual posts. Once the menu items are moved to the menu, you can move them and arrange them by simply clicking and dragging them into the proper order.

Setting Up WP Menus is Simple

It is very easy to set up the menus once you have the hang of it. Now let’s talk about different levels of the menus. You can take one of the menu items and drag it slightly to the right and it will become a drop-down menu. This means you can hover over the menu item on your website and a new menu will pop up. This is very useful when organizing your website. With drop-down menus, users will be able to find what they are looking for even faster. Anytime you can make the user experience easier, then you will improve your traffic.

So what would you do if you wanted to create an unclickable menu item with a drop down? For example, you have a Services menu that individually lists all of your services, but you don’t want an actual “Services” page. To do this, you would use the custom links area of the menu page. For the link, you would simply type a hashtag. When we were kids we called them pound signs, but nonetheless, you type a # in the space. This makes that individual item unclickable. This is a useful tip that many novice designers do not know about.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to watch our “How to Set Up WP Menus” tutorial video!

Website Building

How To Customize Options in WordPress

Mar 1,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Customize Options in WordPress

For Web Wednesdays, we have been showing you how to take a website from simply an idea to a fully functional website. After installing WordPress & setting your theme. It is time to begin looking at the customize options in WordPress. You can do this by hovering over “Appearance” in the WordPress Dashboard on the left side of the screen. From here, you can click on Customize and you will be sent to the Customization menu for your theme. All themes have different options, but on the WordPress Twenty Seventeen theme, there are only a few customization settings.

The things we will look at in our Customize Options in WordPress video are Site Information, Colors, Header Media, & Homepage Settings. The other items on the Customize menu can be (and will be) tweaked directly through the dashboard.

Site Information will be where you set the SEO name of your website along with the tagline. You also have the option to decline displaying your site information here. You may be wondering why someone would want to do that. The reason is very simple. If you have a custom header with a logo and a tagline already in the image, then you may decline using this option. However, I do not suggest that approach.

You can certainly put your logo in an image, but then you would still want the Site Information displayed in the corner. If your business/site name is only in the graphic image and not overlain as text within the Site Information setting, then Google will not be able to pick up the name of your website and your tagline. Taglines are also good for SEO purposes. When it comes to getting picked up by Google, you need all the free help you can get.

Making Images for Your Site

If you haven’t done so already, I heavily suggest getting Adobe Creative Cloud so you can use Photoshop for making your images. Under Site Information, you are going to have the option to set a Site Image. This image will serve two functions: it will be the icon displayed on a browser tab & it will also be the icon if someone were to save your website to their homepage on the phone. The size of this image is 512 pixels by 512 pixels. It’s very easy to create a simple text favicon in Photoshop by making one letter in a cool font matching your color scheme.

You will also have to create a header media image for your site. This will be the image that people will think of when they remember your website. This means you need for this image (and any text on it) to really pop & stand out. Many people have a very difficult time trying to make text blend in well with a header image. Header images are rarely solid colors because that is boring. People will either use a stock photo or an abstract background with different colors. To create a header image that solves this problem, check out our Customize Options in WordPress tutorial video.

customize options in wordpress

Thanks for reading!

Social Media Tips

Schedule Social Media Posts with Buffer

Feb 22,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Schedule Social Media Posts with Buffer

If you have ever ran a social media account for a business, then you are going to want to know how to schedule social media posts with Buffer. Running social media accounts sounds very easy on the surface. Pull up an app on your phone, type in a few words, & you are done. However, anyone who thinks the process is actually that easy doesn’t know what they are talking about. Anyone can type in a few words for a status, but unless you are a celebrity, no one really cares that you are taking your dog for a walk.

People who engage with business social media accounts want value. They want the accounts they follow to provide them with content that adds to their lives. When business accounts spam social media platforms with offers, sales, promo videos, & more, people will simply unfollow them. As a business owner yourself, you must find a way to give your followers a regularly scheduled dose of valuable content. This takes a lot of research. You will want to find relevant images, memes, articles, & other content that your readers want to see.

Due to the intense level of workload it takes for a business social media account to be successful, it is absolutely pivotal that business owners either hire a full time social media expert or find an online social media posts scheduler. While the former option can get quite expensive, finding a scheduling program is much more cost effective. A good scheduler will run you between $9.99 to $79.99 per month. Unless you are managing hundreds of accounts, you should never pay anything outside of that range. One social media scheduler we found is Buffer. Our video shows you how to schedule social media posts with Buffer.

Buffer Social Media Scheduler

I discovered Buffer a few weeks ago, and I have really enjoyed using it. For 3 or less social media accounts, Buffer is totally free. One cool thing about Buffer is that it offers a free 14 day trial of one of its upgraded packages. With this package you can manage anywhere from 4-10 social media accounts from a combination of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, & Pinterest.

With Buffer, it is so easy to add social media posts. I have been exclusively using Buffer for Twitter & Facebook. With this program, the control of your schedule is in your hands. You can create a custom schedule to post any number of posts per day. You will want to research how many posts you want to do each day per platform. For instance, on Twitter it’s really ideal to post between 10 to 15 times per day. While on Facebook, 3 per day will be a good amount.

One of the problems I found with Buffer, however, is in regards to Instagram. Buffer does not currently have direct posting to Instagram. Buffer has a phone app that will send you reminders for you to post to Instagram according to your schedule. There is a feature where you can share images directly from your camera roll to Instagram to speed up the process. However, if you want to add text/hashtags then you are still going to have to type or copy them into Instagram manually. There is a note on Buffer that says that hopefully direct Instagram posting is coming down the pipeline.

We hope this post has been helpful. Thanks for reading!

Website Building

Setting Up Your WordPress Theme

Feb 22,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Setting Up Your WordPress Theme

Today we are continuing our series, Web Wednesdays. In today’s video we are going to be focusing on setting up your WordPress Theme. So this begs the question, what is a WordPress theme?

If this is your first time setting up WordPress, then it is important to understand what a theme is and what it does. The best way to think about it is an anatomical reference. Your blog is the “skin” to your website. It’s what people are going to see the moment they visit your page. Your functionality and content could be incredible, but without the right theme, people will quickly be turned off by your website… and most likely they will leave before they ever get the chance to look under the hood.

While your visitors will see your theme, the theme does also affect the functionality. Each theme comes with settings and/or customization options for things such as your header, sliders, menus, footer, widgets, & more. It is absolutely pivotal that you get to know all of the settings within your header. When I add a new theme to a website I’m working on, the first thing I do is go look at the settings. If the theme does not have settings I like then I will change the theme. There is nothing worse than working with a theme that does not have a lot of customization.

For instance, some themes only allow you to have a text based logo. Just imagine how frustrating it would be to make a beautiful website only to find that it won’t allow you to put your beautifully designed logo at the top of your page. Sure, you could add it within the content… but that is not the best way to brand your business.

Choosing Your WordPress Theme

There are so many different ways to find a WordPress theme. The first question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you would like to spend money on a theme. If you are comfortable paying for a theme, then I suggest strolling over to the Envato Market and searching their Themeforest themes. Most of the themes there run anywhere from $29 to $59. They are fairly priced and these are full themes that will also come with support. Personally, I love Themeforest themes.

If you are looking for a free theme, then you will be able to search within the WordPress platform. It’s easy to search within WordPress for a great theme. The issue with the free themes, is that most likely the themes you find are going to be “Lite” versions of premium themes. The goal of the Lite themes is to give you an idea of what the full version or premium version can offer you above and beyond what you get with the Lite theme. It’s basically a way for these themes to advertise their full version… which of course will come with a cost. Some of the free WordPress themes will offer everything you need, but more times than not you will end up frustrated.

Thanks for reading & don’t forget to check out our tutorial video, “Setting Up Your WordPress Theme.”

Tech Tuesdays

How to Save YouTube Videos with ClipGrab

Feb 14,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Save YouTube Videos with ClipGrab

If you have ever wanted to be able to grab a video off of YouTube for you own purposes, then you are in luck because I’m going to show you how to save YouTube Videos with ClipGrab. It’s a common problem for a lot of video editors. You are working on an incredible project, but you are missing a sound effect. All that your project needs is a clear and crisp sound effect of a rainstorm. However, you don’t have a library to go to to find the sound effect. So to try to find a sound effect that will work, you head on over to Google and start searching for “Rain Storm Sound Effect”.

You start scrolling down the page and find several sites with the sound effect. You go to each of them only to find out that they will be glad to give you any sound effect you want; for a monthly fee. Or maybe they offer you the clip at a fixed cost per clip. Either way, you don’t want to pay for a 20 second clip so you decide to keep searching. This time, you search for “Free Rain Storm Sound Effect Clip.” This search leads you to more websites that supposedly have the clip. You click on one of the sites listed only to discover that it is a danger site full of spyware. Sites like this will allow you to download the clip… if you also download a spyware toolbar for your browser!

Then like a beacon of light, you realize that at the very top of the Google search results were two videos of perfect rain storm clips. The issue is, how do you take a YouTube video off of YouTube and on to your desktop?

ClipGrab Makes Saving YouTube Videos Easy

This is where ClipGrab comes in. It is a super easy and simple software that allows you to pull videos directly from YouTube with ease. Head on over to ClipGrab.org in order to download the program. A great feature of this program is that it allows you to use it whether you use a PC or a Mac. Many programs are made specifically for one or the other, but fortunately ClipGrab works for both. When you navigate to the website, ClipGrab will automatically select the version you need for your computer. Download the program and then go through the installation steps.

how to save youtube videos with clipgrab

With this program, learning how to save YouTube videos with ClipGrab is a breeze. In order to grab the rain storm sound effect, all you need to do is navigate to the video you are trying to get in your web browser. Once you are there, copy the URL address for the video. Head on over to your ClipGrab software and paste the URL address in the empty field space in the program. Click “Grab this clip!” It will take a short period of time to process the video. Then just choose the file name and location of where you want the file saved to. Once you have done that, then your video will be saved and you can insert it into your video editing program. You are good to go at this point!

Thanks for reading and good luck!

Website Building

Getting Started With WordPress Dashboard

Feb 14,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Getting Started With WordPress Dashboard

This week, we are continuing with our web series about how to build a website from start to finish. We have already purchased a domain name, set up our hosting, installed WordPress, and now we are getting started with WordPress Dashboard. The first thing you must do before investigating the dashboard, is to login to your site. To do this, type /wp-admin after your domain name. It would look like this: http://www.YourDomainName.com/wp-admin. One quirky aspect of the WordPress admin URL is that the “wp-admin” must be typed in lower case letter only. If you were to type “WP-Admin” then you will not be able to get to your admin. To my knowledge, this is literally the only URL address I have ever encountered where the case of the letter matters.

Once you have pulled up your admin login screen, type in your username and password. My email address never seems to work for any sites I have created with WordPress (between 75-100). You will need to use your username here. If you forget your username or password, click Lost Password. You will be prompted to type in the email address associated with your username and WordPress will email you a reset link. Be careful about this though, because my Password Reset link usually gets sent to my spam instead of my main email inbox. Once you have logged into your account, you can now explore the dashboard.

Making Sense of WordPress

If you have never created a website before, WordPress can be quite intimidating at first. However, the platform is very easy to use with a little practice. One of the most frustrating things that WordPress does in my opinion, is allowing spam on their dashboard. Let me explain. If you go through any hosting service to install your WordPress, the hosting company has agreements in place with companies that integrate themes, widgets, & plugins. These agreements allow them to automatically install plugins & widgets onto your WordPress page.

To an experienced designer, this is not a huge problem because a good designer knows that these plugins are unnecessary. To the novice website builder, these extra plugins make the dashboard confusing. Two of the most common companies I’ve seen are JetPack and MojoMarketplace. To me personally, I have never found any use for either of these.

Plugins can create problems for your website. Certain plugins may cause certain parts of your theme to malfunction. Above all, having several plugins on your website will kill the speed of it. My philosophy is the less plugins, the better. Now of course, plugins are not the devil (even though Bobby Boucher’s mom may disagree!). Plugins are a necessary part of website building. They offer functionality that you will find solve a lot of problems. However, you only need to add plugins that you actually need. For this reason, my preference is to deactivate and delete every single plugin that comes preloaded within my WordPress site. When you delete all of those plugins, you will be amazed at just how much that simple action cleans up and simplifies your WordPress Dashboard.

Our tutorial video “Getting Started with WordPress Dashboard” shows you much more about the WordPress Dashboard.

Social Media Tips

How to Build Reddit Karma Quickly

Feb 12,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Build Reddit Karma Quickly

If you are over 30, there is a chance you don’t even know what Reddit is. If you are under 30, then there is a good chance you have used it extensively. Either way, it is a great idea to get to know it better and learn how to build Reddit Karma quickly. Reddit is an awesome platform to be able to get the word out about your business, product, service, channel, or any other cause you would like to advertise. Reddit is build in such a way that it protects its users from spam. If you are looking to spam your way to the top, then Reddit is not the place for you. If you are looking to promote your business with quality content, then Reddit is one of the best places to do so.

Website Building

How to Install WordPress – Full Tutorial

Feb 7,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Install WordPress

During our Web Wednesday series, we have been showing you how to create a website from start to finish. We have walked you through choosing a domain name, choosing a hosting package, & setting your nameservers. Now it is time to move on to the next step and we are going to show you how to install WordPress to your website.

Tech Tuesdays

How To Create a Whiteboard Explainer Video in Minutes

Feb 7,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Create a Whiteboard Explainer Video in Minutes

We are going to show you how to create a whiteboard explainer video in minutes. There are many reasons to consider adding an advertising video to your website or social media account. People love videos. They consume them at such an astounding rate that YouTube has now passed Facebook in popularity (in terms of number of monthly visitors). While your marketing video most likely won’t go viral due to its lack of cute babies or frisky felines, it can mean a lot to your business and customers.

Website Building

How to Set Up Hosting and Nameservers

Feb 2,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Set Up Hosting and Nameservers

For our Web Wednesday video series, we are showing you how to build a website from start to finish. In last week’s video we showed you how to choose your hosting package. We recommend using Hostgator as it has a simple to use cPanel that makes setting up a website there very smooth. Once we have chosen our hosting package, now we must learn how to set up hosting and nameservers for our website. It may be a little intimidating at first for those new to website building, but it is actually quite easy.

how to set up hosting and nameservers

The first thing that users will notice when they sign into their Hostgator account, is the interface of the cPanel. The cPanel is the admin by which you can tweak anything having to do with the backend of your website. This includes the File Manager, Redirects, mx Records, & more. A large portion of available sections on the cPanel are virtually useless. If you do not know yet, every site you visit that sells hosting, domains, or online marketing solutions, unashamedly try to push every product under the sun. So pay attention in our “How to Set Up Hosting and Nameservers” tutorial video above and we will reveal to you which icons you actually need to pay attention to.

Setting Your Nameservers

Since GoDaddy (or whatever domain service you own) controls your URL address, you must make GoDaddy communicate with your new hosting company. When someone visits your website, GoDaddy must be able to send visitors directly to where your website is hosted at. To do this, you must be able to let GoDaddy know where to send the visitors to. You do this through setting what are called nameservers.

how to set up hosting and nameservers

If you navigate to the right side of your cPanel and scroll down the page, there is a section that contains your account information. Within that information, your nameservers are listed. They will generally be something like ns32.hostgator.com & ns33.hostgator.com. Your nameservers will always be sequential in number. This makes setting them through GoDaddy fairly easy.

Once you have located your nameservers on Hostgator, highlight and copy the first one by hitting cmd + C for Mac or ctl + C for PC. Navigate to your GoDaddy account. Once you have entered your account, click on “Manage DNS” next to the domain you are looking to host your website on. One of the options you will have on the Manage DNS screen will be to set your nameservers. Initially, “Default Nameservers” will be the current setting. To change the setting to reflect your Hostgator nameservers, simply click “Change”. In the first box, paste the nameserver address you copied in from your Hostgator account information. Then, paste the same address in the second box and simply change the number to reflect your other nameserver. After you have placed both nameserver addresses in the boxes, click save.