Let's get started
Pour the coffee/tea/any caffeine vehicle of choice. Now, let's get your website set up!
CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW SITE
Let's Get this party started
Definitely take advantage of that 14-day trial. I'd recommend going with the middle tier plan, unless you need fancy plugins for your wordpress blog (then go big with the third option).
Check your email! You should have received the sharekey for your new template. Just copy that share key code to your clipboard.
For new Showit users, login at app.showit.co, and click past the free Showit designs to the "Your designs" section.
If you're a Showit pro, just login to your Showit account at app.showit.co, and click "Create A New Design."
Next, paste that share key into the dialog box and you're ready to roll!
Let's Go!
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Create Your Showit Account.
Enter That Share Key.
Install That Bad Boy.
01.
Set it up
the Brand
This is the time to show off all the hard work put into your brand style guide! Pull out those fonts, colors, and any branding photos and save them in one place. You can add any of your custom fonts to your Showit site (use the .woff format), or feel free to keep the fonts and colors that were specially picked out just for your template.
If you're looking for some new font ideas for your brand, highly recommend CreativeMarket.com or find a ton of free font options at dafont.com.
Make sure you add your brand logo and marks to the same place you saved your fonts, colors, and photos. Also cannot recommend enough to make your logos + graphics high-res transparent PNGs or vector-based SVGs so they appear nice and smooth!
This is the time to show off all the hard work put into your brand style guide! Pull out those fonts, colors, and any branding photos and save them in one place. You can add any of your custom fonts to your Showit site (use the .woff format), or feel free to keep the fonts and colors that were specially picked out just for your template.
If you're looking for some new font ideas for your brand, highly recommend CreativeMarket.com or find a ton of free font options at dafont.com.
Make sure you add your brand logo and marks to the same place you saved your fonts, colors, and photos. Also cannot recommend enough to make your logos + graphics high-res transparent PNGs or vector-based SVGs so they appear nice and smooth!
The Images
Now let's get those images together! Collect all the images you want to include on your website and add them to your site folder (or folders). A few things to keep in mind as your going through your images - they should be at least 1500px but no larger than 3500px - any bigger and you may experience loading issues with your site - which is not what we're going for. (tinyjpg.com will help you resize the images before uploading them) Try to make sure your images are saved as a JPG (PNG will also work) and have a RBG color profile. To make it easier, Showit will automatically resize the images to fit the area.
If you're in the market for some solid stock images, check out Pexels or Unsplash for some free stock photograph and videos.
Pro Tip: Rename your images before uploading to Showit to optimize that SEO performance (i.e. use searchable terms like "modern-luxe-apartment-new-york-central-park")
the Copy
Use your voice to write copy people actually want to read! You don't have to sound like a robot or a corporate email to get people to read it - your customers want to form a relationship with you AND your brand. So feel free to write it like you own it (since...you do).
If you don't have your copy already created, recommend opening a fresh google doc to start drafting on so you can use spellcheck and proofread to make sure it all makes sense. Once you have the final version all fine-tuned, copy and paste all the goodness right into the text boxes.
Learn Showit
Learn The Basics
Learn everything you need to know about Showit in 30 minutes!
Chat it up
Chat with the Showit support team or browse their help documents.
Find Friends
Ask questions to the Showit community in their facebook group.
02.
Design
let's make it easy.
Start By Replacing The Content
The hard work is done. Let's start by replacing the fonts/colors/images/logos to see how it all looks and flows before you start making any design tweaks.
Make it yours
Add the fonts and colors you've hand picked to represent your brand to the design settings. Once you have all the design settings in place, the template will automatically update to reflect you and your brand!
If you have custom fonts you'd like to add, check out this resource to learn how.
Set Those Fonts and Colors
Remember all those images you added to a folder (or folders) before? Time to get them loaded in! It's always recommended to replace the images by clicking on the image then selecting the blue SWAP IMAGE button in the Image tab on the right.
Check here if you still want to add your own photos, just make sure you check both the mobile and desktop layouts!
Replace/Add Those Images
Go to that google doc or where ever you drafted your copy and get ready to add it in. It's as simple as double clicking on the text box you want to edit and pasting your copy in there. It's important to check the mobile layout as you go!
Check this resource for formatting text. Would definitely recommend just filling in the pre-populated text boxes instead of adding new ones, but you do you!
Add Your Copy
Click Actions
Click actions are actions that happen when you click a box, link, arrow, anything on your page - and showit allows you to customize any of them!
Most of the click actions are already set up for you, but you can adjust any you need to...like if you want to link social media or go to another page or site.
To edit the click action, just click the item (text box, picture, shape, icon, etc.) and navigate to the Click Actions tab on the right tool bar. From there you can use the drop down options to select what you want to happen when your customer clicks.
Mobile and Desktop
Views
All of our templates are optimized for BOTH desktop and mobile! But if you choose to add/edit any of the objects on the page, you should check both versions to make sure they look great.
And it's easy - just toggle between the views in the bottom left of the viewing panel.
04.
Before Launch
YOU'RE SO CLOSE!
test, test, test!
Go through your website like you would one of your customers. Have a friend go through it too. Share it with your mom. Just make sure you test on different platforms with other people.
edit, fix, hide
During your test, if you find pages, canvases, items that don't work for you or your site - feel free to hide them or delete them. Just a note, hiding always allows them to be added back easily without pulling from the library.
check your SEO
SEO is your "search engine optimization" - aka can the Google machine find your site! Make sure you optimize your SEO so new customers can find you and your business easily.
Ready to go big?
Bonus Content
TIME TO POP THAT BUBBLY!
You DID IT
This template has all the key features I needed at such a reasonable price.
its exactly what i was looking for
- Kelly
Every template was so carefully curated
it felt like they were made just for me!
- Chrstina
This was the easiest process to make my website...me.
All I needed was my voice and Michelle Ann Design Co. provided the look.
- Jennifer
ready to level up?
Let's Get started!
Find that show-stopping template that leaves an unforgettable first impression. Show them your brand and everything you offer on that first glance. Find a template that emphasizes your brand or customize one to really tailor it to your audience.