You’ve watched tutorials. YouTube Videos. Clicked on links to how-to articles. Joined Facebook groups. Memberships. Every resource you can think of is available. Then how come you still have the problem?
Your website isn’t working.
Exclusive help specific to your need. You ask the questions and get the answers in real time. Specific to your need. It’s a unique concept today. Someone to show you how it’s done.
We have believed the advertising copy.
It’s convincing. You’re persuaded. Creating a website using a ready made template is easy. After attempting to use it, the truth comes out. It’s not easy to use. Edits and content creation slows to grinding halt. And, the template has a license to renew each year.
When you can have a website that doesn’t dissappoint.
Keeps pace with technology changes and upgrades.
Doesn’t have an annual license.
Operates without added expense and the endless search for answers.
You get the help you need to show you how. I did it with my websites and I do it for my clients’ websites.
One-on-one tuition. Learn first hand how it works so you can work it. Then your website will work and you’ll know how to operate it.
There will always be problems to solve with website technology and updates. But if you know how to address the problem; change a setting, add or delete a plugin, create content, style and organize the blog.
You will be able to manage your business because your website works.
All these things are just a matter being shown how.
The real problem with having no time isn’t time. It’s that websites and technology are intimidating. And, we don’t want anyone to know that we don’t know.
But, the fact is you need a professional website. One that works. And, you need the website now.
Setting up a website is overwehleming. Even if you have someone do it for you. You still have to manage the website.
This is why it’s a best practice to have someone show you how.
Your alternative is to hire someone to build the website for you with a maintenance plan. If you’re too involved in managing your business.
As a business owner you’re still responsible for what you publish on the web on your website. You need to be hands on with your website so you know how it works. Even if someone manages it for you.
Restricted use. Upgrade to use additional features.
Difficult to manage. Limited tech support. Annual licence fee.
Hosting sever insufficient. Cannot upgrade software. Website malfunctions.
If you have the time and want to learn. Not enough tech support.
The truth about websites is this. There is a learning curve. There’s no way around this.
If you work in a website daily, then it’s no problem.
But not everyone works daily on their website. This is what I do. If you want a website we can build it together, or I can build it for you.
Contact Me and let’s get your website built, and live on the web.
Build a Style Guide
Change the color scheme
Set the color palette
Chose the font pairing
Deal with Accessibility
The Style Guide should be the first consideration when you’re going to redo a website. Even if you’re not redoing a website and you’re starting from scratch, you should create a Style Guide. This takes into consideration all the elements that will give you the effect you wish to have for the website.
There is no perfect style, there’s only the style based on preference.
As you start the process you’ll be able to figure out what you like and what you don’t like.
There isn’t one that is better than another. Styles come and go. What doesn’t change is the way the style should not interfere with the content.
In the Design section of every module in the Divi Theme there are options to create good styles. It’s a matter of balance when it comes to styles. If there’s too much style it’s a distraction. With all the design elements built into the Divi Theme, and other Themes, you can overdo styling.
Colors have meaning and when they’re combined with other colors they either clash or match. Colors also bring an emotional response. Think about how some colors are soothing and other colors provoke action.
Interesting Fact:
“Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. “Source: CCICOLOR – Institute for Color Research
Color communicates and is an important element throughout the style of the website. If there is an existing color incorporate the same logo colors. Unless you want to redesign the logo. Depending on how well your company is known by it’s logo will help you make this decision.
Color helps focus attention but it should never be distracting or too bright as to hurt the eyes. Many people are color blind and don’t see true colors.
There is no perfect color that will be good for everything. Using only one color is uninteresting and the content will be ignored.
Most useful tool to use when making sure you get just the right kind of color tone and hue. The software used for this process is Affinity Designer. All of the softwares have the color wheel tool. You will find color charts built into note taking applications. All the time on a website you are looking at a combination of text and color.
What I like about a color wheel is when you drag the small circle and you will see the color change in the selected image or shape.
The Divi Theme comes with the ability to change the Default Color Palette and is located in the Theme Options area. Here you can set the colors. When you set this Color Palette those colors will be used throughout the site.
All colors come with a specific RGB, or CYMK, or #and a number setting. You can put your curser anywhere in the square and the color setting will change giving you the number of that color.
Which font is the right font? There isn’t one. There are six-hundred Google Fonts to choose from so how do you know which one you should use.
Fonts are tricky. They need to be readable. Sounds obvious, but when you look at the many styles of Fonts available you find some are much easier to read than others.
Chose an easy to read Font. You do not want to give the person visiting your website eye fatigue.
You want to be sure you have clean open spaces and readable content. We do so much more reading than we used to do. We are constantly reading text on different sized screens.
For a comparison of how a font looks with color this article The Ultimate Collection of Google Font Pairing gives examples and shows the different sets of font pairing. You do not have to use those exact font pairings.
The choice of fonts is a matter of preference. You will find some fonts appeal to you and others don’t.
Your website must be accessible to someone with a disability. We don’t always remember there are people that are color blind, or handicapped in some way. Their online interaction is going to be different and it’s necessary to take into consideration accessibility.
In this blog post Quickly Build a Website in Divi on my other website RealTime Paradigm, I show an example of how using a flip module is a great effect, but it’s not obvious you need to mouse over the text to see the other side. This could be faulted as being inaccessible.
Animation and moving parts on a web page is now “in style.”
The best practice with animation; use it sparingly. You want to eliminate any barriers to prevent interaction.
The World Wide Web Consortium has an Introduction to Web Accessibility article for further reading.
One common error is an overly complicated navigation system with too many items in a menu that folds out into a sub menu. This can cause confusion as to where you are in the website.
People have visual disabilities. Make sure the text size is not too small, or too light. It’s the perfect way to get someone off your website if they can’t read the text.
A website has to be functional, accessible, operable, and this takes thinking through how you are going to redo the website.
You don’t have to have the website done by a designer. In fact, the best person to design a website is you. Of course you might need some help to do this as website software is now more sophisticated.
The Divi Theme is a robust theme with all the options available including AI generation for images and text.
Build a Style Guide
Change the Color Scheme
Set the Color Palette
Choose the Font Pairing
Deal with Accessibility
All of these steps will take you on a journey to redo your website. The context of a website is complex but when you approach it from this angle you’ll get the results you want when you redo a website in Divi.
Why don’t we do it right the first time? Because we don’t have the right information. The right information only comes from someone who has made the mistakes themselves and is willing to share their experience so you can do it right the first time.
This article gives you the information. It’s written from my experience. I’ve made them all. The First Mistake was starting a free website. It looked simple to do, or so the text read so I clicked the “get started” button. Every step was complicated. First I had to select a name for my website then I discovered the name I wanted to use was taken by someone else. With the free website the name of the website had the website platform in the URL and this signals to the world it’s a freebie. The only way the platform name wouldn’t be in the URL was to upgrade.
I thought the website was free? The website is free, but the URL looked like this: http://mywebsitename.wordpress.com this didn’t look right. I don’t want wordpress.com in the URL! Too bad this is how a free platform works.
If I wanted to continue, I would have to buy a domain name and then I could have the URL as https://joanmargau.com. If I had the right information to begin with I wouldn’t have started a free website with a free theme. I didn’t like the website and I didn’t want to buy a domain name… and I couldn’t figure out how to use the theme either. I thought WordPress was easy to use. It is when someone shows you how it works.
The first step is to decide on a domain name and to check if this domain is available to use. The name of your website should tell people what the website is about. It is the name of the industry or business or your personal name. Make sure the domain name is not confusingly similar to another domain in use.
Self-hosting isn’t hosting your website on your computer. It’s using a Hosting Company to host your website on their server. Which is the best Hosting Company? The one that gives you the best support based on your level of comfort with the intricacies of website management.
Don’t go with the cheapest price. Cheap hosting fees mean insufficient memory, and an upgrade fee for sufficient memory. Even if your website starts with a few pages and a blog. You will be adding images and videos which requires more memory.
The Hosting Company servers should have PHP 7.0+ with a free SSL certificate, at no extra cost. Daily backups of your website and email service with 24/7 helpful tech support.
This time you’re in luck the best software for a website is WordPress and there is no cost to you to use WordPress. It’s delivered to you when you sign up with a Hosting Company. WordPress is the most used software for websites worldwide. It is secure and updated regularly. The next step is the most challenging one.
There are literally hundreds of themes each one better than the one you looked at previously, and they’re free. By now you should be wary of the word “free.” My advice; never go with a free WordPress Theme. Do yourself a favor and go with the most used Premium WordPress Theme in the world, the Divi Theme. This is all you will need.
One of the things you do not want to do is to have to change your theme each year. Why? A theme comes with a one year license to use and to continue using that theme you must renew the license.
There are plenty of themes and why I’m prepared to recommend the Divi Theme is because it’s the one theme that let’s you be in charge of your website. The idea that only a designer or a programmer can build a website isn’t true. You can build a website without knowing code and be in control of the website you own. There is a learning curve, as there is with all software. But once you know how it works, you’ll be building your website.
To use the Divi Theme you must be a member of Elegant Themes.
In my opinion this theme is the best WordPress theme. I have used other WordPress themes but they aren’t as versatile as the Divi Theme. Divi comes with an on page Visual Builder and a Theme Builder.
No other WordPress Theme offers this much versatility. And, you don’t need to know how to code to use the Divi Theme.
How much money are you wanting to spend? None? Then you’ll live with the free website and eventually come to the point of dissatisfaction because you can’t get what you want out of the website and it isn’t working. If you’re going to have a website it will take an investment on your part, but it’s not as expensive as you think.
Step # 1: The Domain Name. You can purchase the domain through the Hosting Company as most of them are Domain Registrars. A domain is priced from $9.88 to $20. All domains must be renewed annually to keep them from dropping into the public domain. Some Hosting Companies will include the domain for free when you sign up with them for hosting. This might be for the first year of hosting only.
Step # 2 and #3: Hosting Company. A Hosting Company will have attractive low introductory rate offers. After the introduction period the price will go up to the regular monthly rate. Always make sure you know what that rate is. Don’t be lured by the cheaper hosting company. Remember, cheap means insufficient memory and upgrade to use more.
For more information take a look at SiteGround pricing.
Step #4 and #5: WordPress and the Divi Theme. WordPress is included. A WordPress Theme overlays the WordPress core. The core is the free part of WordPress. To use the Divi Theme you must be a member of Elegant Themes. The membership includes tech support and all the products that come with the Divi Theme. The products are Monarch, a social media sharing plugin, Bloom an email opt-in plugin, and premade layout packs added weekly to the Divi Library.
The Elegant Themes membership is $87 per year. You can upgrade to a lifetime membership with a one time fee for $249 and thereafter your fees for all the products and features will be $0.
If you’re budget conscious, there will be special discounts and offers and of course there’s Black Friday in November. This means you get a huge discount off joining Elegant Themes and the lifetime membership.
What is your budget? How much should you spend? As much as you need depending on where you want to go with your website.
Some of the links on this page are my affiliate links. I only recommend products I use on my websites and on clients websites.
The Divi Theme Builder will come out October 17, 2019. Something we always associated with a designer or a developer is now going to be available for us users. The long awaited Divi 4.0 is about to launch. It will change the way you think about websites. You won’t have the problems becuase you’ll have the right tools to use.
The Divi Theme was created by Elegant Themes in 2013. It has become the most used theme in the world and has been translated into thirty-two different languages because it’s so versatile and you don’t have to know how to do HTML.
Designers and Developers have been using a Child Theme method to build stylized themes. The Divi Theme Builder makes Child Themes something you don’t really need. That’s the way of technology it forges the new and gives everyone the opportunity not just the few elite. Now you can start to think about building your own unique website with your style.
Develop means build, but not in the sense of building it from the ground up and using code. WordPress core software is already coded. A WordPress Theme overlays the WordPress framework. The Divi Theme is a theme framework and this means you’re now in the position of being able to build a website.
A web page is divided up into sections. The top part of the page is the Header, the content is in the middle, and the footer is at the bottom of the page. The web page isn’t the same as an 8″ x 11″ piece of paper. It’s as long as the content on the page.
The information inside the web page is made up of dividers, or div containers stacked on top of each other. The dividers are arranged into column widths to put content on to the page.
The header has the logo and the main nagivation menu. The footer has information such as the copyright notice and other links and information. The header and the footer appear on each page throughout the site, this is known as global or sitewide.
The page builder overlays the existing WordPress editor and helps you put content onto the page. As the term implies it builds the page without your having to use code. It is a method created by the developers. Not everyone likes to use HTML.
We’re looking at the web page from the front end, the finished product. All software used on a computer is operated by code that runs in the background while the software is in use.
With the Visual Builder you see your edits on the page as you enter the content into the mdoule.
The modules are self-contained. They are mini content management systems for a particular item you want to use on the web page.
This is also an invention of the developers who figured out how to use the basic icon commands and wrote the code to create the specific module with settings for content, design, and advanced styling.
The whole style of drag and drop modules has changed the way a website is built. The Global Editor allows you to save the module in a particular style throughout the website. This means you don’t have to style each module.
With the new Theme Builder you can style the header and the footer, this means you don’t have to use a Child Theme for a website.
Have you been thinking that even building a website is too much technical know how. Contact me and let’s talk.
Building a website isn’t done in three steps. Before you can run and build a theme you will need to learn to walk in the foundational knowledge of how a theme functions. The Divi Theme now includes builder features. These builder features are the most advanced tools that will assist you with your project no matter what level the project is at. Even if it’s still an idea inside your head, you’ll find the solution in one of the Builders built into the Divi Theme.
The Divi Builder
The Visual Builder
The Theme Builder
This is built into the Divi Theme but is also able to be used as a stand alone plugin in a WordPress website. That is one of the excellent features about using WordPress for a website, the ability to add functions to the website.
The Divi builder gives you drag and drop modules to style the content onto the page. You can use the Divi Builder plugin with any WordPress Theme. The Divi Builder is available from Elegant Themes the makers of the Divi Theme.
Built into the Divi Theme for use as an onpage visual editor where you see the content as you create it in real time. One of the most avanced technologies in website building.
A first of it’s kind. As you type the content into the module you can view the content. The Visual Builder will increase your work speed and accuracy. You edit your content as you type the content into the module. Even if you copy and paste the content you are able to read it and edit the content easily. This way of working when writing for the web is a content creators dream.
Just recently added to the Divi Theme. It’s the leading innovation into website building. The fact that you can build a website, and a theme if you want, without needing to know code, is a technological achievement that is complimetary to our ability.
Of course there is more to building a theme than just being able to use the feature of the Theme Builder.
Going without a website isn’t a good idea. The Internet isn’t going to be eliminated. Online communication is the best way to reach an audience, grow a business, share information, and learn.
In fact, we’re so in love with the Internet most of us can’t sleep at night because we’re inside our computers finding more information. To build a website you need the foundational knowledge about how the Divi Theme works.
The best way to get the foundational knowledge the basics of the how it’s done is to see Divi in action. The best way to see how it works is to see it in action. When you see what is possible then you’ll be inspired to bring your idea into your website with a blog.
The links in this post to Elegant Themes are my affiliate link. I have used their services since 2012, and the Divi Theme since it was published by them in 2013.
For a live in-person demonstration on how to start using the Divi Theme contact me.
Why don't we do it right the first time? Because we don't have the right information. The right information only comes from someone who has made the mistakes themselves and is willing to share their experience so you can do it right the first time.The First Mistake...
Yes! How so? The Divi Theme Builder will come out October 17, 2019. Something we always associated with a designer or a developer is now going to be available for us users. The long awaited Divi 4.0 is about to launch. It will change the way you think about...
