This tutorial will show you how to add a custom widget area to anywhere in your WordPress theme template. The widget area can be added to anywhere, your header, footer, sidebar or even into a new page template. This can give your ‘end user’ clients are far better feel of control over their websites content because widgets are easy to add, edit and update.

Step 1 – Add this chunk of code to your functions.php

Below is a chunk of code that tells WordPress that you want to register a new widget area for your website. It needs to be pasted into your functions.php file. You can find this by logging into your WordPress dashboard, then clicking on Appearance, then click Editor, then select functions.php. If you do not have any of these options in your theme it is most likely that your theme developer / web designer has blocked your from accessing them, so please contact them with further questions.

Now WordPress will add a new Widget area called Extra Widgets. This is because as you can see in the code above, I gave it the ‘name’ Extra Widgets. If I had called the ‘name’ value ‘Header Widget’ for example, then I would have a widget area called Header Widget, in my WordPress widget control panel. Wow thats a lot of widgets in a sentence!

IMPORTANT NOTE!
This code can be copied and pasted into your functions.php as many times as you want, to make as many widget areas as you like. Be sure to change the ‘name’, ‘id’ and ‘description’ for each widget area.

Step 2 – Call up the widget in your theme template php files

Now you need to tell Worpdress where you want these widgets to appear. This can be slightly more tricky and may require you to have some knowledge of HTML to edit the necessary code and some CSS skills to make the widgets you have entered look pretty. But best of luck and if you get stuck feel free to ask me any questions in the comment box below. Remember always back up theme files before editing, especially when editing your PHP files, one out of place character can crash the back and front end of your website.

Enter this code into your theme files (e.g. page.php, single.php, header.php, footer.php)

Notice the ‘name’ value from the first block of code matches the !dynamic_sidebar value. This is very important and if you change the ‘name’ for a new widget area, make sure it matches on this line of code, where you want to call it up. Also notice that I have wrapped the PHP call up code in a <ul> tag. This is because each of the widgets you add to the widget area is outputted as a list item <li>. I decided it would be better for code semantics if the list items were wrapped in and unordered list tag. Let me know if you agree in the comments box below.

Step 3 – Add new widgets

Now for the fun part, adding those widgets. Incase your new to WordPress widgets are extra functions that you can bring to your site quickly and easily via downloadable plugins. Need to a form to capture email addresses? There is a plugin widget for it. Need a slideshow to show off your work? There is a plugin widget for it. Just about any function you can think of? There is a plugin widget for it. It is the beauty of Worpdress, via la WordPress, I love it.

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial, if you have any questions or comments please send them to me via the contact box below. Thanks for reading, please feel free to share this via the social share icons.

LINK TO CREATIVE CLASSROOMS
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One of my favourite things about this website is its bold ‘in your face’ design. When I had a look at the booklets that had been created by Studio ON’s staff, I knew this was an opportunity for a web design that had a little more life and colour to it. Using the bold images in the header and footer (on every page) with an unimposing background colour was a perfect mix. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Another feature of this web design project that I really like is the navigation bar. The nav looks almost metallic, with a slight shine on it. I also particularly like the home icon that links back to the home page. The colours are inverted for a rollover effect which shows how chunky and accessible the buttons are.

Another great feature of this web design is the header images on each page of the website. After talking with the client he asked me would it be possible to have a large header image on each page instead of a slider only on the front page. This seemed like a great design feature for the website, in the interest of making the website as user friendly as possible I coded the page template to use the ‘Featured Image’ functionality to allow easy upload of a header image for each page (one for the WordPress fans).

The last feature of this web design I would like to bring to your attention is the sticker link in the top right of the header. It links to the downloadable PDF content page. From this page teachers can download the educational resources to go with the video content. The client felt there was too many links in the navigation bar to add ‘Downloads PDF’ so I came up with the creative solution of using this sticker image link and I think its a great feature of the website

Overall this web design project worked out perfectly. I had fun working on a quirky eye catching website, and most importantly the client was over the moon, telling me recently that “We have received nothing but good feedback about the site”. Stay tuned as I am just waiting on a testimonial from them to add to the website.

Today I ask the question on everyones lips…

Do I really need a Google+ business page for my business?…

The answer my friends is YES! Let me tell you why…

Putting you on the map

Firstly it gives your business a listing on Google Places For Business. This means when people search for your business they can find it with a Goolge Maps Listing. This is good for people who want to physically find your place of business, but its also beneficial as it can bring you new customers who have searched for your keywords.

Below is an example of a search result for “flower delivery Belfast” you can clearly see a Multi Media Monsters client here in the results Jill Edwards Florists Belfast. This search result is due to the map listing and not SEO (what is SEO?) of the website itself.

Boost that SEO

Your Google+ business listing will give you the best back link that your websites SEO could ask for. As anyone who has dipped their toe in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) will know, building back links to your website is essential. But getting good results is about quality not quantity. That is one of the big reasons why you should open these social business listings, they give you a great strong back link to your website and continue to do so with every article that you add to the networks. There is no better back link than from Google itself.

Register with the Google search engine

When you search on Goolge your not searching the live internet, your searching Goolge’s index. If you have not registered your business and website with Google there is a possibility it does not even know you exist. Surprisingly this is the case with a lot of clients. By opening a Goolge+ account you have waved a flag to Google search engine to say “here I am, bring customers to me”.

A world of Google services

Ok so a lot of haters out there are not a fan of this but they obviously don’t run their own business or deal the media department for a business, but here is the scoop. By opening a Google+ account you have just opened an account that will be used for any of the services Google offer. Some people dont like that, I call it the time saver of the decade, I hate filling in those repetitive forms.

If you should want them, with your Goolge+ log in details can use:

• Youtube
• Gmail
• Google Calendars
• Google Drive
• Google Adwords
• Google Analytics
• and so many more great Google services, all with one log in!

What more can you ask for really? But unfortunately this is an example of a common response when I talk to potentail clients about social networking

I’m already on a lot of social networks, won’t this just make more work for me?

To which I always replay…

Social Networking should not be a time consuming chore. You should be using your website like a news hub, adding a news item to your website should automatically add the content to your Facebook, your Twitter, your Google+ and any other network that your business is a part of. This way with mininal work you are always adding fresh content to your website and your networks. Each news item will not only add an SEO boosting back link to your website it also acts as a bridge pulling people from their social networks onto your website. Therefore the networks are working for you and not vise versa.

If it sounds like our skilled and local team can lend you a hand with your businesses online presence then please contact us via the information provided below. Thank you for reading this article, all relevant comments are warmly welcomed.

I am currently working on a guide for going self employed, it will be packed with lots of great tips, tricks and advice. Stay tuned for more great free content from Multi Media Monsters, the most friendly media studio in UK & Ireland.

I know that my website is a bit heavy on load time, I use a lot of rich images and some pretty complex plugins for my gallery and pop up video player. But when I started using a plugin to comply to the new cookie laws I noticed a definite drop in load speed. I decided to test my loading time with and without the plugin activated, here is the results:

Ok so its less than a second difference, but I still felt it was a valid reason to try a new plugin for complying with the cookie laws. The plugin I settled on was Cookie Law Info. I’m really happy with it and should be uploading a quick review and tutorial about it soon. Back to the matter at hand, if you would like to test your websites load speed just use the link below and bookmark it for later.

Click here to test your websites loading speed

In conclusion Pingdom is a great tool for some many people on the web. It allows web site designers and developers to better analyse the loading time of their websites and web apps. It also gives business owners the ability to collect data to present to their web design team about how the site is loading on any page. All in all a big thumbs up to the people at Pingdom, thanks for this great free web tool.

LINK TO UNIPIM SOFTWARE
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One of the most important features of the website for the client was to have promotional videos pop up on the home page so the users would not have to dig for the video content. This video pop up effect was so beautifully achieved and the quality of the feature was good that it was also installed into our website design. See the video links in our sidebar and footer for an example.

Another great feature of this website is the design of the page content itself. When we took on this project the pages were filled with great information about the software, its features and pricing structure. Our team were able to present this information in an eye catching format that does the software justice.

Over all I am really happy with another great web design job for another very happy customer. Our team always gives 110% for all of our clients, making business succeed in Belfast and Northern Ireland is our number one priority. If we can help any business get a boost with our web design or promotional videos we have achieved our goal. If you are in need of a skilled, friendly and creative web design or video production team in Belfast Northern Ireland then our contact details are below. Thank you.

If you would like to contact our skilled team about product photography, online video content production or Search Engine Optimisation please contact us.

Don’t make your decision right away, first why dont you have a look at some of the great examples of completed web design projects. These vary greatly in design and functionality, but are all based on the perfectly coded WordPress platform.
Click here for example of business portfolio web designs

Small Print

Ok so there are a few minor details to work out. This deal is a minimum contract of 18 months. There will be a £100 deposite set up fee. There is no hidden fees, this includes the hosting for the website and the domain name (web address). This service does not include product photography, although this can be organized separately. All work completed will be displayed on our website as promotional material. All completed websites will feature a small link back to our website in the footer. All customers will be joining our ever growing army of previous happy clients (dont worry we will not call you up for duty at any time).

Don’t make your decision right away, first why dont you have a look at some of the great examples of completed web design projects. These vary greatly in design and functionality, but are all based on the perfectly coded WordPress platform.
Click here for example of business portfolio web designs

Small Print

Ok so there are a few minor details to work out. This deal is a minimum contract of 18 months. There will be a £150 deposite set up fee. There is no hidden fees, this includes the hosting for the website and the domain name (web address). This service does not include product photography, although this can be organized separately. All work completed will be displayed on our website as promotional material. All completed websites will feature a small link back to our website in the footer. All customers will be joining our ever growing army of previous happy clients (dont worry we will not call you up for duty at any time).

Don’t make your decision right away, first why dont you have a look at some of the great examples of completed e-commerce web design projects. These vary greatly in design and functionality, but are all based on the perfectly coded WordPress platform.
Click here for examples of e-commerce web designs

Small Print

Ok so there are a few minor details to work out. This deal is a minimum contract of 18 months. There will be a £200 deposite set up fee. This service does not include product photography, although this can be organized separately. Data entry is not included in this price, we will train you how to upload your products, then its up to you to upload them all, but we can offer this service for a small hourly rate. All work completed will be displayed on our website as promotional material. All customers will be joining our ever growing army of previous happy clients (dont worry we will not call you up for duty at any time).


So there is no time to delay, contact us now if this is something you are considering for your business. As this deal will be going faster than hot sausage rolls.