5 tips for creating your own WordPress website

5 tips for creating your own WordPress website

If you don’t have the money to hire a designer, don’t give up on having a website. If you have a genius business idea, just quickly set up your own website, make the money, and hire a designer when you have the budget. Now you’re thinking ‘I don’t have any knowledge of creating a website’, but WordPress makes it really easy. Here are 5 tips for creating your own WordPress website.

5 tips for creating your own WordPress website

01. Looks matter

No matter what, your site has to look professional. If your site looks horrible, you will lose potential customers. WordPress themes usually have a clean and minimalist design. All you have to do is pick a theme that matches what you want. This may sound easy, but it’s actually hard.

Before you even think about creating your website, research your competition or jot down all the things you like about the websites you usually go to. Do you want a blog? Jot it down. Do you hate blog sidebars? Make a note of that. Do you want your navigation in the center or to the right or left? Make note of that.

The first thing you need to do is go to wordpress.org (not wordpress.com) and download WordPress. Once you set it up, you can pick your theme. Now, go back to the list of things you want and don’t want on your website. Does this theme have a blog sidebar? Is the navigation where you want it to be? Once you see a theme that has everything you want, install it.

Warning!

Make sure you also pick a theme that isn’t complicated to use. If you know that there’s a learning curve when it comes to using technology, don’t pick a theme with a lot going on. Do you need that video header? Do you need all those sliders? Only pick a theme you know you can handle.

Remember, you’re just trying to get up and running. You can hire a professional later for all the other things you need. I have seen a lot of people give up on creating a website because they get frustrated.

 

Brand Your Own Biz

02. Where am I supposed to go?

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5 ways to brand your YouTube channel
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5 ways to brand your YouTube channel

YouTube has evolved tremendously. I remember when anyone would just whip out their phone and start recording without thinking about anything. Now, it’s become a big production. No one wants to watch a video that is bad in quality. Even if you’re message is awesome, if it doesn’t look high quality or professional, then no one’s going to watch it. Besides editing, branding will take your videos up to the next level. Here are the 5 ways to brand your YouTube Channel.

5 ways to brand your YouTube channel

Some people start filming a video and upload it without even thinking about branding their channel. If your viewers want to know more about you, then they’re going to click over to your main channel page. I know that’s the first thing I do before I subscribe to any video.

When they get to your channel, they want to get a feel for you and check out your other videos. Just like a website, if the channel looks horrible, then I pass. Here are some simple things to do to make your YouTube channel stand out.

01. Get on the cover

The first thing you need to do is set your channel art. This is one of the first things your viewer sees on your page. You can have a picture of you if it’s all about you or you can just use your logo or YouTube channel name.

 

5 ways to brand your YouTube channel work it

 

Just so you know, you only have a limited space for your channel art. Make sure you only put relevant things on there or it will look cluttered and messy. I would just have my channel name and if you publish on certain days, the days that you post on YouTube.

If you want to create your own channel art (*shameless plug* I include this in my Multimedia Headquarters package), you can use Canva. Make sure you keep the dimensions in mind. The channel art is responsive to desktops and laptops, mobile, and TV. Just keep in mind when you’re designing. You’ll want to keep a lot of negative space (whitespace or make sure you see a lot of the background)because the desktop dimensions are very limited.

02. Make Headlines

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Why you should have a website
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Why you should have a website

In this day and age, having any type of business is the main reason why you have a website. No matter who you’re trying to attract, one of the first places they will look is online. Even if you don’t have a business, if you’re trying to create an audience, then a website is still important.

Why you should have a website, for reals

Having a website is important because you own it. You get to decide what to post or sell. It’s your own headquarters and you can build a community on it. If you’re thinking that’s what you use social media for, well think again.

Building your own community

Even though you have a community on social media, there’s only so much you can do on it. You can’t post what you want all the time on there. Plus it’s ever-changing. It’s getting harder and harder to start a community because all they (the social media giants) care about is making money now. If you were one of the first people on social media, that was fine, and you probably have lots of followers, but that is not the case now.

You can’t collect emails from social media. What if later down the line you want to start selling products or services or what if you want to start blogging or vlogging? You need a community or a loyal audience for that. Not everyone on social media will want to be a part of your community, but your fans will visit your website and sign up for your newsletter.

A newsletter will help you create an awesome community that is interested in the topics you want to blog or vlog about. They will also be interested in buying products from you because you would have built trust within your community. The easiest way to get people to sign up is through your website.

community

I’m looking at you, YouTube

I love watching videos on YouTube. I’m one of those people who becomes a super fan when I like a vlogger. The first thing I do, after I binge watch all their videos, is go to their bio and look for a website.

My biggest pet peeve is when they don’t have a website. You have all these followers who adore you and you don’t have a website? That’s crazy. I’m practically ready to stalk your website and buy all the things you like, but nothing. Read More “Why you should have a website”

What's a brand style guide
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What’s a Brand Style Guide

One of the things I provide in my brand package is a brand style guide. I think it’s one of the most important things to provide to keep the brand uniform. Just in case I’m not available or needed as a designer for retainer, it’s the perfect way for clients to keep expanding their brand consistently.

What’s a Brand Style Guide

So what’s a brand style guide? It’s basically a manual for your brand. It’s a guideline for the design elements of your brand that showcase the mood and tone of the company.

Why is a brand style guide important? It’s a guide to keep your brand consistent. If I had to use one word to describe branding, it’s consistency. A brand style guide will help keep the brand uniform. If you’re planning on expanding, the brand style guide will be useful in creating new graphics and marketing that is consistent with the brand.

Your business bible

I like to think of the brand style guide as your business bible. It’s a reference and guide to keeping your brand style uniform. Even though you’ll have creative ideas of how you want to market your brand, the design elements will always be the same.

what's a brand style guide - Devil wears prada gif

For example, if you started off just blogging, but want to expand into creating videos, all you have to do is reference your brand style guide and use the same brand elements. No matter the content of the video, as long as the brand elements are the same your brand will be recognizable. Read More “What’s a Brand Style Guide”

5 Tips For Providing Your Designer With Helpful Feedback
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5 Tips For Providing Your Designer With Helpful Feedback

During the design process, there are always revisions from the client. It’s always great to give helpful feedback so that it will help the project run smoothly, quickly, and easily. I don’t think these tips apply only to designers. All these steps can apply to giving feedback in any industry. These are the tips I use for work or when I’m in mastermind groups and have to give my opinion. Here are the 5 tips for providing your designer with helpful feedback.

5 Tips For Providing Your Designer With Helpful Feedback

01. When you’re listing revisions use bullet points or numbers.

This is something I do all the time. I like to keep things clean and concise. I wouldn’t say I’m a neat freak, nevermind I am. I mean even the mess on my desk is organized in some way. It just looks messy.

Creating bullet points and numbers makes everything look clean and organized. For example, look at this blog post. All the tips are numbered and separated. If I didn’t add the numbers then it would just be one big blob. No one wants to read things that look cluttered and messy.

Another reason to keep things numbered is that I don’t want to miss any feedback. What if I read through the whole email and accidentally miss something? I’ve received long emails from family and friends who don’t organize their emails into bullet points. It just looks like one big mess and I have missed things because everything was jumbled together.

No matter what industry you’re in, it looks professional to list things in bullet points and numbers. If you’re emailing your family and friends, that would be nice too.

Example:

  • I don’t like the navigation menu in the center.
  • The text looks too small to read.
  • Can we try a different color?

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Brand x Web Design for Tutor in Tinseltown
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Brand x Web Design for Tutor in Tinseltown

Overview

Tutor in Tinseltown offers tutoring services and behavioral and academic consulting. In the future, Tutor in Tinseltown plans to expand into creating products and workshops that educate and assist parents within those categories.

Target Audience

Parents with children 4-20 who have academic, social, and/or behavioral concerns for their children.

Inspiration Board

Brand x Web Design for Tutor in Tinseltown mood board Read More “Brand x Web Design for Tutor in Tinseltown”

Questions To Ask Your Designer

5 Questions To Ask Your Designer On A Free Consult Call

I’m not good at improvising. I think most of us aren’t. So when I take a call or go to an interview I’m always prepared. I look up the questions that someone will potentially ask me and then I rehearse my answers. Since a consult call is like a short interview, I’ve prepared 5 questions to ask your designer on a free consult call. Read More “5 Questions To Ask Your Designer On A Free Consult Call”

How to launch your online business for under 200 dollars

How to launch your online business for under 200 dollars

People are under the misconception that it costs a lot of money to start a business. This depends on your definition of ‘a lot of money’ and your business idea. If you’re starting off online, it’s way easier to start a business. In this post, I’m going to explain how to launch your online business for under 200 dollars.

How to launch your online business for under 200 dollars:

You need something to sell

The first thing you need is something to sell. Not just anything, but something that people actually want. This can be either a service or a product. When I say product, I mean digital product. Physical products will cost money to produce, so I won’t include them in this post. Read More “How to launch your online business for under 200 dollars”

3 ways my RTVF degree made me a natural designer

3 ways my RTVF degree made me a natural designer

If you didn’t know, before I studied design and front-end web development, my background was in Radio/TV/Film (RTVF). My main responsibilities included writing scripts, revising scripts, filming, and editing. In fact, when I decided to join the Interactive Media Certificate Program (IMCP), I only joined to learn how to create animations (not knowing that it concentrated more on design) but fell in love with design instead. Here are 3 ways my RTVF degree made me a natural designer. Read More “3 ways my RTVF degree made me a natural designer”