I’ve just finished the finishing touches on this blog and I’m so pleased with how it turned out.  The client was wanting a blog that would be easy to navigate but at the same time host a few advanced features like multiple videos on the main page, ad management, and community interactivity.    This blog is a bit more advanced than I usually do for clients but I had so much fun working on it!  Honestly I would love to have more clients that want a blog that has a few of the more intensive features but at the same time I have an appreciation for the simpler style blogs.

If you are ever in the area of Mount Ayr, Iowa…be sure to stop in the Princess Theater for some entertainment.  Until then, have a peek at the site and let them know what you think of it!
Live Site

I will try and make this little tutorial as simple & painless as possible.  It may be alot to take in at first but I promise all these little details will make your blog attractive & functional.  If you have any questions about any of these steps…just leave me a comment and I will respond to your question here so that it will be easy to come back and refer to.

Let’s get started!

Featured Gallery
One of my favorite parts of this blog is the Featured Gallery.  The Featured Gallery is basically a large rectangle image, a title & an excerpt of a post…actually it’s a series of these elements, hence the word Gallery!

To create posts that will show up in the Featured Gallery first you will need an image that is exactly 590 pixels x 240 pixels.  To create a Featured Gallery post, you will go to Write New Post page.

You will see in the image above that you will need to upload an image for this post.  You will do so by clicking on a little box located in the toolbar right above the area that you type your post.  Here are images to walk you through the process of uploading your Featured Gallery image.

Once you have located the file on your computer and selected it, it will go through a process called Crunching.  Then you will see the following screen.

Keep in mind that you only need to do the things that are highlighted with my notations in blue.  For the Featured Gallery image, do not select Insert into Post.

More to come later…

I am currently redesigning the website for Heying Tax Services located in Spencer, Iowa.  The site is not yet finished so there is no live website for you to check out unless you want to see the old design which was created by another designer.  Jake Heying approached me wanting a more modern looking site in which to represent Heying Tax Services.  After meeting with him I knew this was going to be a very pleasant working experience as he knew exactly what he wanted for his site…all I had to do was come up with a color theme and get to work on a layout design.  My favorite part of this job is the creative design so when I have clients like Jake, I am basically able to devote a big portion of my time to the process of designing because he had already done (or is doing) the little details like page titles & exact text for each page.  Once the site is launched & active, I will be posted the link so be sure to check back.

UPDATE:  This site is now live!  Check it out:  Heying Tax & Financial Services.

This was another one of those designs that was inspired by the photos provided by the client.  I just loved the colors of the exterior of the inn so naturally I had to use those on the design of the site. This client also has a coordinating news blog which I designed.

Live Website