Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Not sure why? But the front page has a lot of side scroll. Might be the top main menu blue tabs want pulling in on your BV page.

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Thanks for that Chris, I believe the problem was with the Facebook icons being too far to the right.
PS to all those who check our RTF site out: please push the like/recommend button for FB if you do like what you see!

I don't know anything about social networking and would appreciate any tips anybody my have.
Thanks,
Marcie

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

I applaud all your work to update the sites to a refined, balanced presentation, Marcie!

If you have specific requests regarding Social Networking, give me a holler ... I am always happy to share!

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Thanks for your encouragement Vasili!
I'm beginning to see a blog on the acorn site might be helpful especially since someone is now making a documentary about the acorn initiative during these dire Greek economic times and a blog would be a good way to record our progress. Just the idea of a blog freaks me out, where do I start? I think I want the blog to be a page on the iloveacorn site but will need help
knowing how to promote it on FB. Seems I have much to learn and will post again when I've got the blog up. Thanks again,M

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

There are two ways for you to incorporate a "blog" into the site ... the easiest being to simply install a simple Wordpress blog via Fantastico! upon the domain as a sub-domain (a different but 'attached' directory) that is created automatically as the first step of the installation process by simply "naming" a new directory to be installed in (create a new name such as "acorn-blog" in the first little box shown on the installation page). Then you simply link your image, text link, or Menu link to that specific blog directory, as might be seen as "www.ILoveAcorns.com/acorn-blog/"

The other suggestion is to have a much more "universal" platform to link to, that being a Facebook page (which is essentially a 'public blog'), where as we all know, there is far more familiarity with Visitors and potential global audience to participate with and which also makes for a more 'unified' single platform for your to "administrate" .... it is far easier to manage a Facebook page which provides far more visibility and potential Visitor interaction than to dilute your attention to managing a website, a blog, and a Facebook page -- which without needing to explain or emphasize, your need to have (a Facebook page).

So, I would probably suggest creating a Facebook 'Company' or 'Group' page first, and getting the "link to"and "Like" buttons on your site first, to form a more viable base of followers. You can create Notes (longer, article-like compositions) and simple posts that are distributed directly to a core following without worrying if anyone is missing anything (people keep updated with Facebook more regularly than with favorite blogs and websites anyway). * Be sure to create your Facebook page in English, however, not only for it to be more easily cached and referenced, but because English pages are easier to translate into other languages as an option while the reverse is not true.

Once you see how things go, and if you feel you are "outgrowing" your Facebook page, then you might re-visit the consideration of creating your own Wordpress blog to link to your site .... once you figure out how to effectively promote it and assure a smooth migration of followers.

Just some thoughts to ponder ...

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Wow, thanks again Vasili!
I like the idea of a blog on the site to be honest.
I know my intense dislike of Facebook is unreasonable but I've always been one of strongly held convictions and I don't see that changing anytime soon. There is so much flotsam and jetsam on FB and I'd rather carve my own little niche out over at iloveacorns.com! Looks like I have more to learn this way but I'll start reading now...

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

No prob! Go into your cP and find Fantastico! ... click on it, and then click on "Wordpress" in the left column.
This will take you to the Wordpress interface page, where it will show you all the installations on any domain in your account, etc. In your case you will have none, so click on 'New Installation'.

This will take you to the Installation Page .... the first empty little box at the top of the page where it asks your to Name Directory to install WP in, this is where you can create the "Name" of the blog's new Directory to which it will be automatically created for you (it will create the directory similarly as I exampled the link above -- www.iLoveAcorns.com/acorn-blog/ if you enter acorn-blog in the box).
The rest is pretty easy to intuitively understand the process.

Once you get the WP installed, if you wish, you can email me via the email address you just received and I can walk you through some of the initial steps to make things easier.

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

I got wordpress up and running but messed up and the blog is now located where my index page was www.iloveacorns.com
Augh. Is there any way to change this or must I get rid of the blog and start over. Either way, I'll need a push in the right direction. Sorry to take up more of your time Vasili...M

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

You need to uninstall WP entirely (via Fantastico!)... this shows you the critical need for a separate directory.

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Got that straightened out, the blog is now at www.iloveacorns.com/acorn-journal/
Now that it is up I can't think of anything to write! I'll give the blog a personal look
tomorrow when I've had some time to dig up a banner. Thanks again, M

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

I like what you've done to it so far!

You do know that you can reduce or eliminate altogether the top white area by editing the style.css file from within the Admin Dashboard > Theme Manager, yes? Eliminating the area completely will allow the entire blog to "rise" on display, to show more of your actual page, and only eliminates 1 of the "Search" buttons. Just a thought.

Your blog deserves a custom header, for proper recognition by Visitors to facilitate loyalty, frequent interaction, etc., and to fully establish a unique and distinctive identity (Branding). There are a number of easy methods to accomplish this (many using the tools found in Vodaland), so you may wish to consider planning on using a custom header yourself, starting by deciding on an image, most likely.

Just messing around, I did this mock-up using your present header to demonstrate the effect a customized Header brings, and down-sized it to post here. A choice of 2 full-size 1000x288 versions can be saved from this page if you wanted to use them.



If you have another image you want to use, or want specific wording or placement, let me know, as I've kept the layouts and can modify them in just a few minutes to create just the custom header you desire. Just email me whatever image and text you want me to use ...


Nonetheless, you've done great, and I am looking forward to the emergence of your continued creativity, this time with regard to compositional flair....

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Ha! I don't know about compositional flair!
I hope the acorn-journal becomes a place where people can exchange knowledge because I'm fielding many private emails every day about Oaks and acorns and this way all these questions and answers can accumulate and be archived. I'll get some photos up soon and work on a logo for the blog over the coming weeks. The pine cone is a wordpress image and seemed fine until I figure out what I want the blog to look like. I won't pass out the blog URL for awhile yet until I've had a chance to beef it up a bit. As always, thank you so much Vasili for talking me through this new level of web mastering!

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

"We all get by with a little help from our friends ..."

I see that you are adding a new article every day, which is excellent and a great habit to begin ... makes the larger task so much easier to make each step smaller and a nicer fit into your day. Something to do while having morning coffee, for instance!

I couldn't help myself: I found some new images, since I thought I sensed a twinge of angst within your comment about your present header being a WP stock image. Soooooo ... I made a couple more using "acorn" as the dedicated theme. You can see the examples I posted here, and the full-sized 1000x288 WP banners can be downloaded from HERE.
I also included the image blanks, in case you wanted to try your hand at it .... even though I am willing to "edit" (or even create anew) any banner for you.

* Even if one is used "Temporarily" until a final design is selected, it's better than using the WP default with a 'Pine Cone', IMO!

Re: Updated Greek Guesthouse site - please have a look

Vasi;i, you are so kind! Now I feel very badly because sadly I can't use any of these great banners for fear of offending the diehard botanists that have already taken me to task once for using images of acorns other than the rare Quercus Aegilops we have here on Kea which has an enormous spiky cap. At first I didn't pay much attention to these purists but then realized they had a point since it is the spiky cap that European tanneries have used for centuries to tan and dye leather. And I really like the banners!!! I'll see if I can put something together today on photoshop before I start telling people about the blog. I have a nice list of people that have asked to be kept informed about acorn activities so hopefully they will find the blog interesting and informative. Again, thanks V for your wonderful efforts...