Something that does make sense is registering for Google Maps
Click on Maps
Click on Put your business on Google Maps
And follow the prompts
You need a valid mail address to create a Google account
As well as a contactable telephone number to verify the upload
Otherwise it is straight forward
And it amazes me that most people never get around to doing it
Myself included.
At this stage I think we should recap
Decide on a hosting service
Register a domain
Get an installer to set up Wordpress
Draw up a list key words
And three word search phrases
Go to Settings/All in One SEO, enable it
Add a key word rich Title
Go to Plugins/Installed Plugins
And activate FS Contact form
Go to Pages/All Pages
Delete the default page and select Add New
Set up an Enquiries form, not forgetting the All in One title field
Select Add New and create an About Us page not forgetting the All in One title tag
Go to Settings/Reading and change your landing page to you the About Us page
Check your site settings
After a week to ten days start searching for your domain name on Google
When it does pop up you will know you have been visited and can expect a follow up every three weeks or so
Google will watch and index your every move
Register with Google Maps
And you can start building your site creating pages for each service centre
Adding a few pictures to brighten up what is essentially a drab and boring web site
And you structure each service centre by creating child or internal pages (not forgetting the All in One title tags)
This is when you start thinking page layout, look and feel
Last edited by workshop; 19-Apr-13 at 08:36 AM.
Dave A (19-Apr-13)
thxs Mark
I am reading
Thirty mins tops. That is all it takes to get someone started.
I think they have done away with the footer on the 2012 Template so lets change the template to 2010 which I am comfortable
And when you have lots of time you can play and experiment with the different options, learning the pros and cons on themes you want to work with
Go to Appearances/Themes
Click to activate Twenty Ten
Go to Widgets on the menu on the left and select
You will find the current menu options in the Primary Widget Area on the right of the page
We want to move most of these out of the way and into the footer.
Click on the Back button to take you back to the Dashboard and Appearances/Widgets
We are now going to Delete those widgets from the Sidebar
Go to the Primary Widget Area click on the open arrow next to Categories
Click on Delete
Do the same for Recent Posts and Recent Comments.
Move Archives to the Third Footer Area and Meta to the Fourth and delete them as well
Take a look at your Home page
It is beginning to take shape
You might want to move Recent Posts and Recent Comments to Footer Area Two
But that is Widgets done and that is the first step you have taken working with Templates
Experiment and enjoy!
Last edited by workshop; 20-Apr-13 at 07:11 PM.
Made the changes, easy when you know. Altho I had forgotten how intimidating that dashboard looks.
It is easy when you know how
And if you understand the importance of passing these skills on to next person
It even gets easier and then easier.
Why?
And once again
That question has an easy answer
If you can impress the importance of sharing knowledge and skills with and onto the next person
And there are more and more people doing the same thing
The chances are that they are going to figure out the very thing that is eluding you right now
And having done so,
They might just make the effort to pass it back to you, along with everyone else.
The perfect world, maybe
But one that also makes perfect sense.
To me at least.
Next we are going to change the image in the header.
You can replace it with picture or a customised logo and graphic
Go to Appearances and click on Header
Your first option is to Select an Image
Go to the browse window and go to Pictures on your C drive
Select the image you want to use and click Open
This takes you back to your Dashboard
Click Upload
You now get the option to crop your Image
But select Skip and use as is
(I am in hurry to finish)
Go the the bottom of the page and Save
And Voila you are now a designer with a bright new future as a web site developer/designer.
But before you get too carried away go to the top of the page where you will see a link to View your site
And yes you have customised the header and yes it is that easy.
But the chances are that there is still a bit of work to do on that image.
I am not very good at "design" and try to get by with what I can resize and crop with Picture Manager
This is despite the fact I am almost certain that there are very useful, free tools available, that allow one to do what those that are more imaginative than I, to create logo's, brand and design.
I just don't have the time nor the need, let alone the inclination to learn
If I really need more than a resize and crop job I get a tame designer to design it
But most of the time I go to Pictures
Open the picture I want
Right click it
And select Open with....Picture Manager
Click on Picture in the options menu
Select Resize
I use "Percentage of original"
And reduce/increase the width until New Size under Size Setting Summary shows a width of 940 pixels
This is the recommended size of the image used in the default Wordpress header
I then click OK
And Save As after opening File in the Main Menu options
Next click on Pictures again
Select Crop and chop off bits from the top and bottom until the image is as close to 198 pixels high
When you are ready Save As and you should have an image that works
It's a hack job, yes
You have butchered a perfectly good picture
But it works
And sometimes the client even thanks me once I have uploaded it
Next we will try getting a little cleverer
Sometimes you end up with a demanding and difficult client who won't accept second best
And that is when you need to get creative.
We have now mastered the default template
All it took was a few quick and easy key strokes
And you have already figured out that you can do stuff with the background
You can insert even more stuff into the code
You don't really need me any longer
You can almost fly
You have found the template download function and have been looking at the options you have
Options offered by the wider community which you have by now become a part of.
But pause for a moment and reflect once again on your part in this.
We have reached the point where I am struggling to appear to know anymore than you.
And this is where you need to start participating, to start sharing what you know and understand
There are an infinite number of templates to choose from
Some you will be able to figure out for yourself, others you are going to need help with
This is where we need to build an active workgroup.
And no we are not finished yet
We have a couple of pages set up
We have primed them for Google
And whilst we have been waiting we have taken steps to dress the site
What's next?
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