Archive for the ‘Tutorial’ Category

In this tutorial you will learn how to change your font’s size and color. Before we get started you should understand that the font style is built into the FREE custom theme you received (12 month membership) when you first signed up. What this means is although you can change the color and size of your font, the style will remain the same. There is an exception to this, if you are comfortable editing code, you can use the HTML tab to change the font style.

To get started you must be in the visual mode where you write a post; here is the path Dashboard>Posts>Add New>Visual. You can either change the font size and color as you write your post or you can write your post and then go back, highlight the portion you wish to change, and then make the changes. I would make sure to click the button before the button just to be certain that the size and color changes you made are what you intended. BE AWARE: Changing font size from the visual tab will change it for that entire paragraph or section, not for individual words. If you are comfortable editing code, you can use the HTML tab to change individual words or phrases. Below is a visual roadmap to how you change the font size and color from the visual tab (Click for a larger image). PLEASE NOTE: Learning to write in code is an involved process, I will not be explaining how to write or re-write code. Many communities have classes available through community centers, high schools, and other continuing education centers that can teach you how to write code if you are interested.

In the second image (Click for larger version) you can see an example of a post that has changed font size and color. Below the image you will see a point by point explanation of this; numbers and colors correspond to those in the image.

1. Title has a default larger font with underlining – though it is not bolded.

2. Links have a default color built into your theme – though the size can be changed.

3. This is the un-altered font size and color – built into theme.

4. Changed font color (and increased size, bolded, and underlined).

5. Default font color with increased size, bolded, and underlined.

6. Default font color with increased size.

Fonts – Size And Color is a post from: Test Account

©2010 Test Account. All Rights Reserved.

One of the best things aside from the versatility of Positive Real Estate Professionals members’ websites is the ability for visitors to do virtually everything without ever leaving your site. This eliminates the need for the back arrow on your browser. This also allows you to have numerous tabs or windows open at once for ease of movement between those tabs or windows. *Let me clarify: tabs are multiple sites opened in a single browser window while windows are opened in their own browser window*

To make pictures or text that you are linking within the body of a post open in a new window rather than directing a visitor away from your site there is a simple but important step that you must remember when creating the link. To link pictures you must select the image by clicking on it. You are then able to insert the link by using the For text, you highlight the text you wish to link and then click on the to attach a link. NOW FOR THE STEP THAT MAKES YOUR LINK OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW! When you click on the link icon a window will open in the middle of your page. This window is where you put your link’s URL. This is also where you can make your link open in a new window. Directly under where you put the link’s URL is the ‘Target’ field. This field has a dropdown arrow that allows you to make your link open in the same window or in a new window. Select ‘Open Link In A New Window’, hit insert, and you are down. Now your link will open in a new window.

Make Your Links Open In A New Window is a post from: Test Account

©2010 Test Account. All Rights Reserved.

In this tutorial you will learn what tags are and how to use them. If you consider the amount of information on the internet it is no surprise that there must be a way to categorize that information for future reference by web surfers who are looking for it. The same holds true for information contained on your site.

To use tags you begin on the same screen where you write a post. After writing a post look to the right of the box where you have just typed the body of your post. You will see a white box labeled ‘Tags’ (notice the RED arrow in the illustration to the right). This is where you enter the tags which accurately describe the content of your post (see the GREEN box in the illustration to the right). Once you have added your tags they will appear under the header entitled ‘Tags used on this post:’ (inside the PURPLE box in the illustration to the right). If your post is about some aspect of the ‘$8000 Tax Credit’ then that phrase would be a good tag. You do not want to use non-relevant tags as visitors might get upset and/or frustrated if they click on ‘$8000 Tax Credit’ and the post(s) which are displayed are not directly related to that tag.

A wonderful tool that is available to help visitors easily use the tags you have entered is the Tag Cloud Widget. This widget is accessed via the dashboard; YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN. From the Dashboard this is the path:

Dashboard>Appearance>Widgets>Tag Cloud

If your tag cloud widget is not active and you want to use it, look for the ‘Appearance’ header on the left side of your Dashboard. If you hover over ‘Appearance’ a GRAY dropdown arrow will appear; click on this arrow. You then click on WIDGETS to open the list of widgets. Simply ADD the ‘Tag Cloud’ widget to your sidebar by clicking ‘Add.’

Tags which accurately relate to the content of your post are a great organizational tool. This organization can make your site much more visitor friendly. Imagine for a minute that you are the visitor and you arrive at a webpage looking for information on the ‘$8000 Tax Credit.’ If the site owner uses accurate tags then a visitor can simply click on the topic they are looking for in the tag cloud to display all of the posts that are tagged with that term! See the tag cloud to the right for an example of how a well utilized tag cloud might look.

As always, if you are a member of this real estate network and have any questions on how to use tags or add the tag cloud widget to your site please do not hesitate to send me a support ticket or give me a call. If you are not a member of Positive Real Estate Professionals and have a question, please feel free to ask it in the comment section below.

One of the most powerful developments on the internet for both business and personal connections is the emergence and widespread use of social media outlets. I would surmise that most internet users and even many people who do not use the internet have heard of at least one social media network; even if they do not realize it. MySpace? Twitter? Facebook? One of these three will generally ring a bell with most people as they are mentioned often on television, the radio, and in print media. In addition to these three social medias there are others, lots of others.

As a PREP member you have access to a pre-loaded widget from your Dashboard that can easily allow visitors to your site to connect with you via numerous social medias. This tutorial is going to give you step by step instructions (with illustrations) on how to:

1. access this widget
2. enter your social media usernames
3. place this widget on your sidebar

To begin with you will need to be logged into your Dashboard. From your dashboard, here is the path to access the widget:

Dashboard > Settings > Social Media Page

As you can see from the graphic to the left, the Widget named ‘Social Media Page’ is where you need to begin. Locate the ‘Setting’ tab on the left hand side of your dashboard. When you hover over the settings tab a grey arrow will appear next to the tab name; click this arrow. When you have clicked this grey arrow a dropdown with numerous options will appear. In this list of dropdowns you will need to locate ‘Social Media Page.’ This is the widget we will be working with. In the image to the left I have placed a red box around the widget with a red arrow pointing to it. Click on ‘Social Media Page’ to begin working with this widget.

When you click on ‘Social Media Page’ the image below will appear on your dashboard:

From this point you fill in your Username/User ID for each of the social medias that you belong to and that you would like to utilize to easily connect with visitors to your site. Be sure that once you have filled in this information that you click ‘Update Profiles & Options’ at the bottom of the page to save the information you have entered. WARNING: If you do not click update the info you entered will not be saved and you will have to re-enter it. Now you are ready to place the widget on your sidebar.

To place the completed Widget on your sidebar, here is the path:

Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Add

On left hand side of your dashboard, locate the ‘Appearance’ tab. Just like you did with the ‘Settings’ tab above, hover over Appearance and a grey arrow will appear. Click this grey arrow to open up a dropdown. In this dropdown, locate ‘Widgets’ and click on it. I have placed a blue oval around widgets in the image to the right.

When you click on widgets, a new screen will open on your dashboard. From this screen, you can now add the completed ‘Social Media Page’ widget to your sidebar. Simply click ‘Add’ to place it in the sidebar you have selected. Once you have added it to your selected sidebar be sure to click ‘Save Changes’ or it will not be added.

That’s it! Now if you open your PREP site you will see the widget added to your sidebar with the various social media icons present and linked to your accounts. Just another way to connect with those potential clients.

In this tutorial you will learn how to add pages and subpages to your Positive Real Estate Professionals website (NOTE: THIS METHOD SHOULD WORK FOR ALL WORDPRESS PLATFORMS WITH THE ONLY RESTRICTIONS BEING THOSE IMPOSED BY A PARTICULAR THEME; THEME DESIGN MUST ALLOW FOR MULTI-LEVEL PAGES.)

A page appears as a ‘tab’ in you navigation menu bar while a subpage appears as a ‘sub-tab.’ The main pages are the parents to the subpages. Please see the graphic below (if you click the graphic, you will get a larger image):

To edit an existing page or add a new page you begin on your Dashboard. On the left hand side locate the ‘Pages’ header. If you hover over it a gray drop down arrow will appear; click on this arrow. This will open the two sub-categories, ‘Edit’ and ‘Add New.’ Edit will allow you to edit existing pages (remember pages are ‘tabs’ or ‘parent’). From this selection you can edit or delete info on that particular page.

If you select ‘Add New’ you will be able to add a new page or subpage. Please see the graphic below for an example of what will appear if you choose ‘Add New’ (if you click the graphic, you will get a larger image). You will notice that you name the new page (in green), just as you would a post, and that this name will appear in your navigation menu. Any content, whether text or media goes in the body (in orange), just as you would a post. Be certain that you are writing under the correct tab; either Visual or HTML.

Congratulations! If you followed the steps above you have either edited an existing page or added a new page!

If you have added a new page, let’s look at how you construct the ‘subpages’ or ‘child.’ Before you publish your new page look to the far right under the publish button. You will see another box titled ‘Attributes’. This box allows you to make your new page the ‘subpage’ or ‘child’ of another main page or ‘parent.’ The default for all new pages is ‘no parent.’ Simply select the appropriate page to be the parent and you are done. You can edit existing pages to make them ‘subpages’ or ‘child’ using this same process. As in the first image above you can have multiple levels similar to what I have written out below.

Mortgage Forms PARENT (Tab)

• Refinance

• Purchase CHILD (Subpage)

Conventional CHILD (Subpage)

FHA                  CHILD (Subpage)

USDA               CHILD (Subpage)

VA                     CHILD (Subpage)

BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR DRAFT OR PUBLISH THE NEW PAGE!

In this tutorial, you will learn how to insert pictures into your posts written on a WordPress platform. Please leave any questions in the comments section and I will try to answer them promptly.

The image to the left is an illustration of the first step in adding an image to your post (article). On your Dashboard where you write posts you will want to locate the “Add media:”  as indicated by the red arrow in the image to the left. It is located between your post’s title and your post’s content. You simply click on the first icon which looks like a square inside a square.

When you click on the icon, a box identical to the image above opens up. There are four options indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Each option is different and will be explained below.

Once you have uploaded your image to your post using one of the four methods above, a new window will open that will give you options for your image.

The use of categories is very important to help separate your posts by the criteria visitors to your website might be using. If you do not use categories, a tag cloud can still help visitors to navigate your multitude of posts. Some writers/bloggers use both categories and a tag cloud because the more help available for visitors the better. This is a brief tutorial on how to use categories.

YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN

From your Dashboard click on the dropdown arrow beside the Posts header. This will pull up several options including Categories.  In the picture below, the Blue Arrow shows the Posts header and the Red Arrow shows the Categories option.

Once you have clicked on Categories (Red Arrow above) under the Posts header a category menu will open up.

This is where you add categories. I would recommend starting with the most general category you are likely to use; for example, if you do most of your work in Tennessee this would be a good first category because it could then be used as a parent. You can and should put articles in multiple categories that will help focus a visitor’s search. *NOTE: IF THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU ARE ADDING CATEGORIES, YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY PARENT CATEGORIES YET. ONCE YOU START ADDING CATEGORIES, YOU CAN CREATE A HIERARCHY IF YOU WANT*

The following two images show categories; the one on top uses a hierarchy (parent) system to narrow a search and the one on the bottom does not.

Before you publish your post, place it in the appropriate categories by checking the boxes. Once you publish your article it will now be categorized.

Please let me know if you have any questions on how to use categories.