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

How to Set Up Facebook Page Cover Photo

Feb 6,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

How to Set Up Facebook Page Cover Photo

If you have been looking for a how to set up Facebook page cover photo tutorial, then you have come to the right place. Feel free to watch our video, but also let’s look at why it is important to set up your page correctly. Facebook, as a corporation, feels like it is time to once again change their working algorithm for businesses. Seemingly just like every other business in the world, Facebook wants to appeal to their users and make it more difficult for businesses to advertise to those users. This is good for users but bad for businesses.

Tech Tuesdays

Learn to Animate in Less than 10 Minutes

Jan 30,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Learn to Animate in Less than 10 Minutes

If you are looking to learn to animate in less than 10 minutes, then you have came to the right place! At the Online Business Realm, we are always showing you tricks, tips, and methods to streamline your online business acumen. On Tech Tuesdays, we go in depth showing you how to do things involving technology, computer programs, & design. Today, we are going to teach you how to animate.

Have you ever had one of those ideas that you just knew is absolute gold, but you had no idea how to even begin to make it possible. It’s like the time I had this idea to create a pillow with a pocket for your iPhone. I told my wife about it and tried to convince her to make some for the Etsy Shop she had at the time. She thought it was a terrible idea and made so much fun of me. I had absolutely no way to make this pillow. Needless to say, the pillow didn’t get made. No less than 12 months later, guess what pops on my TV Screen… but an infomercial for a pillow with a pocket. There it was. $19.99 for two as a matter of fact!

The point of that story is sometimes when you get a good idea you have to go for it. I had one of those ideas pop into my recently about creating a cartoon. The only problem was I had no idea how to animate, and finding a professional animator was going to cost way too much money. Remembering my pillow with a pocket snafu, I decided that anything I don’t know, I will learn. I will not let another idea pass me buy. So I learned how to animate in one weekend.

Using Adobe Animate to Create Videos

When I first started using Adobe Create Cloud, I only had it for Photoshop. I never dreamed that one day I would be able to use the majority of the apps within Creative Cloud. As of this weekend, I have now added a new skill to my Adobe repertoire, as I learned how to use Adobe Animate. And I was able to learn how to animate in less than 10 minutes. It is very similar and has a lot of the same tools & functions as other Adobe products. That makes the learning curve much less steep than it would be for a first time Adobe user.

The most confusing thing about using Adobe Animate is learning how to make the objects move. My first attempt at animation involved manually moving each object frame by frame. However, I knew there had to be a simpler way to animate simple shapes. Then I discovered how to use the Classic Tween. Using the Classic Tween is extremely simple and allows your objects to move evenly and fluidly throughout an animation. To see exactly how to use the Classic Tween & to see how to learn to animate in less than 10 minutes, please watch the tutorial video above!

Thanks for reading & good luck!

Blog

How To Start A Logo Design Business – No Experience Required

Jan 3,2018 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

Many people want to be able to make money as a freelancer. A freelancer is someone who is able to offer a service to people without having to work for a company. Freelancers are great because they are able to control their prices & schedule. One of the easiest ways for a novice graphic designer to break into the freelancing business is through creating a logo design business.

Blog

Getting Your Business Started with Adobe Creative Cloud

Dec 26,2017 / By Ben Armstrong / No Comment

There are two types of online business entrepreneurs: People looking to become successful & people who are looking for more success. For those who are looking for more success, there is a very easy option to getting their businesses going. They simply outsource everything. If they need a website, they simply pay someone to create it for them. If they need graphic design work done, then they find a graphic design company and put them on a retainer fee. If they need marketing done, they find the best company to be able to maximize their profits.