Well, the computer gremlins were all over us today,  which goes to show that Embarrassing Webinar Moments can happen any day of the week. My computer froze up and all kinds of craziness happened.  Luckily the recording didn't disappear. 

What can you do with Gimp?

Well, I'm glad you asked. You can…

1. Create cool graphics to spice up your blog.
2. Create headers for your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to brand yourself.
3. Create graphics for clients.
4. Make banners and buttons to advertise your products or services.
5. Make pinable graphics for Pinterest.

and tons more.

The goal with this webinar was this.

1. Show you where to download Gimp.
2. Give you some graphics to play with.
3. Teach you the basics of editing a simple graphic with Gimp.
4. Allow you to walk away with a comfort level of being able to experiment with the graphics comfortably so that you can make ones you like.
5. Demonstrate how to pin a graphic once you post it on your blog.

Here's what to Do.

1. Download Gimp.

If you've never downloaded Gimp before, click here for Gimp download instructions.

If you've already got Gimp on your computer, be sure to get the updated version so that your computer screen is the same as Angela's. Click here to download the latest version of Gimp

2. Grab the Free Templates.

You can get several free templates at the top of this page: Free Templates for Gimp

3. Set your Gimp Screen to Single Window.

Once you've got that, we want to set up your screen to look like Angela's so you can follow easier.

Go to “Windows” and then click “Single-Windows Mode” as seen below. (The “Single-Window” option will ONLY show up if you've followed my directions and gotten the latest version of Gimp.)

4. Add your Layers Tab.

After you've done that, then, we want to see the layers tab..

In the area way to the right side of your screen (after you've set it as Single Window), you'll see this.

• Look for that small arrow. You click that.
• Click “Add Tab”.
• Under “Add Tab”, you'll see “Layers”.
• Click on that and you'll be able to mess with your layers without having to switch screens.

(If that's confusing at all, I can either take more screenshots or do a quick video for you.)

5. Watch the Video and Enjoy.

Now that you have Gimp downloaded, you have it set up like Angela does in the video, and you have some templates to play with, enjoy the video:

Or download here:

6. One more Thing.

Please follow me on Pinterest, too.

Nicole Dean on Pinterest.

Thanks!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Of course, if you want step-by-step Gimp training, Angela has a course here: Gimp Tutorials. (Use coupon “nicolerocks” for $10 off.)

PS again. Please comment and share your Pinterest pages so we can follow you.

And, sometimes it takes a few tries (over a few years) to really hit it out of the ballpark. At least it usually does for me.

The tricky part is, if you have two or ten blogs. Unless you learn how to tweak your headers yourself, you have to pay every time you want to change even one word. Then you have to know how to load up the new header to your site. And, if you're smart, you're going to want to update your Facebook and Twitter graphics to match.

That can cost a bundle. UNLESS – you learn how to do it yourself.

The good news is that my friend, Angela Wills, is going to be teaching monthly DIY workshops all about taking control of your WordPress websites.

And she's starting from the top. Headers.

When we brainstormed about it, I also asked her if she could include training about Facebook covers and the new Twitter graphics as well, and she said “Sure!”

Here's a quick Q&A with some common questions you might have about WordPress Headers.

How to Update your Own WordPress Headers
by Angela Wills

1. What's a website header?

You know that graphics across the top of most websites, the first thing you see when you get there? That's the header graphic. The header itself is usually defined as whatever is above the website navigation and main site content. It usually has the name of the site and some other images that visually suggest what you'll find on that website.Headers often have pictures of the website owner in them or business logos and taglines. A good website header connects with your target marketing immediately, draws them in and invites them to learn more. That's a big job for one graphic, but it's totally do-able.

2. What's the difference between a header and a logo?

A logo is more of an ‘official' branding piece for your business. In most cases a logo never changes. You know the golden arches, right? If they suddenly were green wouldn't you freak out and wonder what's happening at McDonald's head office, and if someone had lost their mind? That's because the logo is ingrained in your mind as an identification of the company, just as the company name itself identifies it.

A header on the other hand can change. You want your header to definitely represent your brand but it can be something that changes are your business focus shifts and you define your target market more clearly. In most cases you don't want your header to be just a logo unless you're trying to look ‘corporate'. These days it's not necessary to try to make your company look like a big operation to get the trust and business you deserve, so get creative with your header and let it shine with personality that gets you more business!

3. How do I get a new header for my website?

You can hire someone, that's definitely an option. You might be surprised to learn that you can also make your own headers with a free program called Gimp and a few simple graphics techniques.

For example:

• grab a beautiful stock photo from DepositPhoto.com (or Nicole's favorite Big Stock Photo),
• open it in Gimp,
• add your website name in a nice-looking font,
• save it and you've got yourself a header.

Sometimes simple really is best.

4. I want to make matching branded cover graphics for my social media sites too, can I do that with Gimp?

Oh for sure! Once you've got a source file for your website header you can then copy parts of that over to new images that you make for your facebook timeline cover and your new twitter cover, too. This will create great consistency in your branding across all of your marketing and allow people to recognize your business a lot faster. That's a very good thing.

5. Really? Me? I can make a website header? Even if I've never done any graphics in my life?

Really you can. If you can move your mouse around you really can learn some simple techniques that include you clicking some buttons and getting some stuff done. Look, I'm not going to try to convince you that you'll be winning awards for your graphical design skills or anything in the first week of opening the program. I can promise you that it is possible to master enough techniques to make simple, clean and professional-looking headers and other designs (those are my favorite kind).

Here's the link again to my new 3 hour workshops PLUS Q&A calls:  Click here to Get Ongoing WordPress Training

Cool Photo Edits For Your Website

Awhile back, Angela did a surprise guest blog post for me where she demonstrated some of the cool things that you can do once you understand how to use Gimp.

Here are those graphics, dug up from my archives. Cute eh?

Blast from the past. Angela surprised me with these in a guest blog post a year ago.

I decided to have a little fun with Nicole’s picture to use as an example of what you can do. Here’s the picture I swiped from the header here:

And let’s jump right to the results, shall we? Have a look at what I made Nicole say. The last photo edit is my favorite! (hehe)…

Here's the scoop with Angela's new program.

If you want to take control of your own WordPress sites or your clients', this may be for you.

Each month, you'll get:

• Pre-Workshop Materials Checklist
• A Monthly Three Hour Workshop Session
• Follow-Up Q&A and Catch-Up Session (One week after Workshop)
• Recordings of all sessions.

If that sounds like something you can use, be sure to check  out Angela's program here:

Click here to Get Ongoing WordPress Training

You can get just the header workshop on that page or sign up for all of the ongoing training.  She's got the introductory price of the ongoing training set really low to build her members' base. The price will increase at the end of the  month.

Got questions? Please ask. I'll have Angela swing by and answer them here.

Thanks for reading!

Warmly,
Nicole

PS. If you don't have a graphics editing program, be sure to download Gimp – a FREE Program to Create and Edit Graphics.

Click here -> To learn How to Download Gimp for free.

How the heck do you create graphics? I'm stumped.

Love,
Your Mom
Patti Winker, RemarkableWrinklies.com“

Dear Mom,

First of all, you're askin' the wrong gal. I'm definitely no graphics whiz. But, fortunately, I have a friend who knows a lot more about it than I do.

Here you go. It's a tutorial video created by my friend, Angela Wills, of GIMP Beginner Tutorials.

You can download GIMP free here. I use it, too.
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Oh, Angela also gave me a button template that you can play with after you download GIMP.

Grab it here: Free Starter Button
Love,
Nik

Recommended Resource to Learn More:
Angela Wills, who is one of my coaching clients, has put together a cool “How to Use Gimp” workshop.

I wanted to let you know in case you need some help in this department.

Check it out here…
Save Money. Learn to Use Gimp.

Enter this special coupon code if you decide to grab it to get $10 off: Coupon Code: nicolerocks

That’s it for today! Have a wonderful day.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's a totally free (yet powerful) graphics program that a lot of people online use. It's called GIMP.

You can get it free here. I use it, too.
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

To Download, go to the link above, and then click where it says…

You'll get a box that pops up and asks you whether or not you want to save the file. You do.

Then the fun begins.

Well, if you like messing around with graphics, you might think it's fun. If not, then you might want to keep reading…

I'm kind of awesome at a lot of areas of online business, but, of course, there are a few areas where I totally stink.

Like graphics.

Seriously, it's like watching me try to pick fly poop out of pepper while wearing boxing gloves. (Translation: Totally ineffective.)

It's one of the things that I gladly outsource.

HOWEVER… there's a problem with outsourcing your graphics.

You become a slave to every teeny-tiny change you want to make. Both in time (waiting for something simple to be done) and in money (paying someone else to do something that you really should be able to do yourself) — at least the smaller graphics problems like I'm going to touch on here.

For instance, little things like changing one word in a graphic or resizing something to totally different proportions or trying to add arrows or highlight screenshots in a way that looks like it was done by someone over the age of 3.

I learned the basics and I can now do enough to get myself into trouble — and even sometimes back out of it.

Why am I sharing this? For three reasons.

1. I'm very human. Very imperfect. Yet, very profitable. You can succeed without “knowing it all”. God knows I don't.

2. I realized that YOU might be struggling with this issue, too.

3. A lot of people who read my blog are service providers — or need money quickly. Adding more skills to your repertoire is always a good thing.

The good news is that there is GIMP which I mentioned is a totally free graphics program that rivals the expensive ones out there. And the even better news is that now you can learn how to use it (save $10 with coupon below).

A gal by the name of Angela Wills, who happens to be one of my coaching clients, mentioned that she was running periodic “How to Use Gimp” workshops. We brainstormed a new outline that would be the course that I wish that I'd had. She created it. It's good. So, I wanted to let you know in case you need some help in this department.

Check it out here…
Save Money. Use Gimp.

Enter this special coupon code if you decide to grab it to get $10 off.
Coupon Code: nicolerocks

That's it for today! Have a wonderful day.

Warmly,

Nicole Dean