Sparkjoy Tutorials

Cropping and resizing images in WordPress – a “how to”

Sometimes after you’ve uploaded an image to use in your site, you realize you need to edit it. This tutorial covers how you can crop and resize your images right in WordPress. You can edit the images on your site by going to the Media library. Click on Media in the menu on the left of… Read more »

Google Analytics In Your WordPress Dashboard

We have added a new widget to your WordPress Dashboard. Now you can see your Google Analytics right from your site’s back end. When you first log in to your site, you are in the WordPress Dashboard. It will look something like this: You may need to scroll down to find the Google Analytics widget,… Read more »

Contact forms – a “how to”

The team here at Sparkjoy Studios has been working on making your website even more secure by replacing email addresses in your site content with a secure contact form. Many contact pages list email address directly on the page, which is great for the user because it’s easy to find. Unfortunately, it’s also easy for… Read more »

Troubleshooting – a DIY guide

When you run into problems with your website – error messages, and things not working the way you expect – you can always count on the team at Sparkjoy to help you out. However, website and computer problems don’t keep business hours, and you might find yourself staring at an error message, or wondering why… Read more »

Screenshots – a “how to”

Sometimes users run into issues with their website or email – error messages full of cryptic chatter and numbers that don’t make any sense, or fields and check boxes that only a wizard could get to the bottom of. In these cases, we like to see exactly what our clients are seeing, and the easiest… Read more »

Create good SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) assists in making your content searchable by web search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing and others through the use of keywords, Search Engine Results Page (SERPs), categories and tags. WordPress makes it easy to write and edit your site’s SEO for each post and page you create. For this tutorial,… Read more »

Create or remove a link

Links are a great way to point your readers to content related to your posts or pages, or to other content on your own site. Create a link to another site Copy the address of the page you want to link to. Highlight the text you want to use as your link. Click the… Read more »

Create and use Featured Images

Featured Image – which used to be known as a “post thumbnail” – is a unique custom image for WordPress posts and pages. Ideally, the featured image should reflect the content, or general idea, of your post. In the example below, the author has written a post regarding a lengthy absence from blogging. As a… Read more »

Create categories and tags

Categories and tags are created by you to sort and classify content; this makes it easier for visitors to your site to find the content they really want to see. Categories describe the topic at hand in a very broad and general sense, whereas tags describe the specific aspects of the topic – often mirroring… Read more »

Whitelist email contacts in Gmail

Whitelisting is the practice of ensuring that emails from particular sender never get filtered to your spam folder or trash. Gmail makes it very easy to get the emails you want in your inbox (or to blacklist the ones you don’t). Whitelist a single sender Log in to your Gmail account. Click the gear… Read more »

Create a Post

Posts (and Pages) is where the majority of the content on your site will be. Content is created in an editor known as the ‘What You See Is What You Get’ editor, also affectionately known as the WYSIWYG (pronounced ‘whizzy-wig’). Please note that the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for your site are only applied to… Read more »

The WordPress dashboard – overview

The WordPress dashboard is the central access point and administrative overview for everything about your site. From the dashboard, you can: Add pages and posts Upload media files ( e.g., photos, videos) Look at and manage comments from visitors Write and save a Quick Draft Manage categories and tags The administrative actions available through the… Read more »

Log in to your WordPress site

Login to your WordPress website to access the WordPress dashboard: Click the Log In link on your website (usually at the bottom of the home page). Type your Username and Password. Click Log In. Check the Remember Me box (or answer “Yes” if your browser offers to save your username and password) and, next time you log in, you won’t have to… Read more »