Gmail is awesome. Nuff Said? No there are so many reasons Gmail is what we use and we more than recommend it for our clients and friends. When it comes to support we like to use the chat function to work with you if you need help with your site. Typically you will find us on our laptops working on our clients sites. The chat function in Gmail can work on many levels and at the same time. There is the texting, audio and video chat functions and when used in conjunction with Google+ there is even a group video function called hangout. In Gmail you will usually find one of the creators of your site in our chat section of your gmail. From there you can text them and or audio chat with them on your computer. This allows you to have your hands free while you are working on your keyboard and with your mouse on your site. We can then look at your site and dashboard while we advise you as to what you are looking for in order to get some results you are looking to do. We can also suggest links that might help you while are working and send them to you through the chat feature on gmail as we are talking. It is almost like we are sitting next to you the whole time.
Well here is a guide of what to expect.
Building a website is possibly the most important and cost effective mode of marketing for any business. (why)
Some of the reasons are:
It works all day every day
It is interactive with your audience
It is able to be modified at anytime (why we are better)
Yearly cost compared to outdated print advertizing is way lower
Traffic is track-able allowing you to adjust your campaign to reach more of an audience
There is no limit to how much content you can add over time
This sounds great so what do you need to get started with this wonderful marketing tool?
Get and Create Content.
Content
Sounds simple as one word but What is this all important "content"?
Well content is everything from:
Name of your Company
Address of your company
Phone Number
Your Logo
Pictures of what you do
Pictures of what you have done
Written descriptions of everything you do.(what do I say)
Written articles of what is involved with what you do. (new products or developements in your industry)
Why you use a particular brand of product and how this can help your customer and the value they are getting.
Videos
Any media (ie radio commercials pod casts youtube)
Free Stuff
Oh there are a ton of things you should get familiar with and get started using:
We will determine what your best options are for your site and develop a build plan that will be able to grow with your company and its needs.
Here are some of the things we will be helping you implement.
The Look and flow of your site (Web Design)
CMS (Content Management System)
SEO (Search Engine Optimizatioin) The Most Powerful Tool
Online Store
Blog
Graphic Design (Logo)
Content Developement (making your content more effective)
Social Media
Coupons
Shopping Carts
Some things might have to be custom and that will need to be developed with your specific guidance. Remember we work as experts in webdesign and SEO we do not do what your company does and we don't claim to be experts at what you do. We help you let the world know what experts you are at what you do!
Now you are in a Strange New World, the Dashboard of your Website! Don't panic every thing you are looking to do to your site is found in here but there is a method to the madness. Everything is broken down by topic on the far left hand side of the screen. You have Posts, Media, Links, Pages, Comments, Forms, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools, Settings and some more that have been added by various Plugins. Lets ease the fear away by letting you know most of what you will be working on is in Posts and Pages.
My Site looks Great! Now how do I change things on it?
Fisrt you have to Login to your Site. This is done by going to your site and typing /wp-admin and then hit Return.
Here is an example: yoursite.com/wp-admin
Then hit Return and your Login Page will come right up. At this point you will need to input your Username and Password. If you input those correctly you will be taken to your Site's Dashboard where all of the Fun Begins! Now you might be thinking oh my goodness there are so many buttons and options where do I begin? That will be determined by what you want to change. I will give you a slight over view of what you might be looking at on your Dashboard.
Your Site is like every site out there on the internet. Sure the layout varies a little in shape and size but the elements are all the same. When dealing with your web-designer it will help if you understand and can converse in some basic lingo that your uber nerd will understand. I will break down what is in this page's layout.
Your website has a Header which is composed of your company's logo, navigation menu and possibly anything else you might include above the next element.
Your content of the page which usually consists of your information that will change from page to page and sometimes a sidebar or two. In this example the content is on the right and the sidebar is on the left. Obviously you can change what side of the page you would prefer your sidebar to appear and all of the many modifications to the layout like size and color from there.
Typically the header, footer and sidebar do not usually change as the rest of the content does. There are templates to pages that will allow for different configurations like leaving the sidebar off or calling a separate and different sidebar to the page but the typical use of these features are usually more than plenty. Templates can not be used in Posts. I am working on a simple explanation of the difference between Posts and Pages on another post so if you want to explore this topic click to it when you are done reading this one.
Found at the bottom of the page the Footer is a widget container like the Sidebar. Usually your Copyright is found in the Footer because it is present on all pages because like the Header the Footer is typically found on every page and everything else is Dynamic.
I have been helping a lot of clients get familiar with Word Press Sites that we build for them and one of the Questions that I always get asked is what is the difference between a Page and a Post?. Well it is as complex as it is simple. First the simple explanation. Posts are categorized and Pages are not. On the right hand side of the screen when you are creating or editing a Page or a Post you will see some differences. When editing a Post you will see Categories on the Right of your input for the Post. This is not present when creating or editing a Page. Pages are slightly different. Where you would see the Categories you will find Template options. These are editable as PHP files giving you complete control of the look of your page. Mainly they are used to create custom features like changing the number of columns or putting a custom background or sidebar and such on a specific page whereas Posts all have to be the same. You can not categorize pages unless you program that in yourself and a lot of the newer themes have some cool custom page templates that will grab categories of Posts for you and perform nice galleries and or portfolio pages based on the Categorizing of Posts. This last statement seams simple but is part of the cool complexity of how Word Press design works with it's code.
As promised, here are the leftover stock images from a date in Chicago during a nice snow. these are from the day after Christmas, so there are still a lot of decorations out. Also, for the snarky people out there, yes, there is a lot of movement in these stock images, they are free, what are you expecting? :mrgreen:
Anyway, there will be another large group of free stock images from the Chicago area this month. We are waiting for the next big snow to take pictures of "The Legs" in Grant Park.
The Chicago area received a decent Lake Effect snow this last week. While out, I saw the chance to take some really fun stock images and textures in the snowy landscapes and ground cover. I have already set aside the ones I will be using in future projects, but here are some free stock images that will likely be useful for someone out there. I hope you enjoy and plan to be adding several more soon. Also, more winter stock images of Chicago and Naperville will be added in the coming days.
With valentines Day fast approaching, we thought it would be a good idea to search the RapidShares for Valentines Vectors to be downloaded. We've made a small list with large packages of Vector Art. We will also be adding several Valentines Clipart in the next few days for the coming holiday. Feel free to enjoy them, and share the link on the social media.
Now you are in a Strange New World, the Dashboard of your Website! Don't panic every thing you are looking to do to your site is found in here but there is a method to the madness. Everything is broken down by topic on the far left hand side of the screen. You have Posts, Media, Links, Pages, Comments, Forms, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools, Settings and some more that have been added by various Plugins. Lets ease the fear away by letting you know most of what you will be working on is in Posts and Pages.
My Site looks Great! Now how do I change things on it?
Fisrt you have to Login to your Site. This is done by going to your site and typing /wp-admin and then hit Return.
Here is an example: yoursite.com/wp-admin
Then hit Return and your Login Page will come right up. At this point you will need to input your Username and Password. If you input those correctly you will be taken to your Site's Dashboard where all of the Fun Begins! Now you might be thinking oh my goodness there are so many buttons and options where do I begin? That will be determined by what you want to change. I will give you a slight over view of what you might be looking at on your Dashboard.
Your website has a Header which is composed of your company's logo, navigation menu and possibly anything else you might include above the next element.
Your content of the page which usually consists of your information that will change from page to page and sometimes a sidebar or two. In this example the content is on the right and the sidebar is on the left. Obviously you can change what side of the page you would prefer your sidebar to appear and all of the many modifications to the layout like size and color from there.
Typically the header, footer and sidebar do not usually change as the rest of the content does. There are templates to pages that will allow for different configurations like leaving the sidebar off or calling a separate and different sidebar to the page but the typical use of these features are usually more than plenty. Templates can not be used in Posts. I am working on a simple explanation of the difference between Posts and Pages on another post so if you want to explore this topic click to it when you are done reading this one.
Found at the bottom of the page the Footer is a widget container like the Sidebar. Usually your Copyright is found in the Footer because it is present on all pages because like the Header the Footer is typically found on every page and everything else is Dynamic.
Your website has a Header which is composed of your company's logo, navigation menu and possibly anything else you might include above the next element.
Your content of the page which usually consists of your information that will change from page to page and sometimes a sidebar or two. In this example the content is on the right and the sidebar is on the left. Obviously you can change what side of the page you would prefer your sidebar to appear and all of the many modifications to the layout like size and color from there.
Typically the header, footer and sidebar do not usually change as the rest of the content does. There are templates to pages that will allow for different configurations like leaving the sidebar off or calling a separate and different sidebar to the page but the typical use of these features are usually more than plenty. Templates can not be used in Posts. I am working on a simple explanation of the difference between Posts and Pages on another post so if you want to explore this topic click to it when you are done reading this one.
Found at the bottom of the page the Footer is a widget container like the Sidebar. Usually your Copyright is found in the Footer because it is present on all pages because like the Header the Footer is typically found on every page and everything else is Dynamic.
I have been helping a lot of clients get familiar with Word Press Sites that we build for them and one of the Questions that I always get asked is what is the difference between a Page and a Post?. Well it is as complex as it is simple. First the simple explanation. Posts are categorized and Pages are not. On the right hand side of the screen when you are creating or editing a Page or a Post you will see some differences. When editing a Post you will see Categories on the Right of your input for the Post. This is not present when creating or editing a Page. Pages are slightly different. Where you would see the Categories you will find Template options. These are editable as PHP files giving you complete control of the look of your page. Mainly they are used to create custom features like changing the number of columns or putting a custom background or sidebar and such on a specific page whereas Posts all have to be the same. You can not categorize pages unless you program that in yourself and a lot of the newer themes have some cool custom page templates that will grab categories of Posts for you and perform nice galleries and or portfolio pages based on the Categorizing of Posts. This last statement seams simple but is part of the cool complexity of how Word Press design works with it's code.
