We’ve developed this guide for folks who are new to WordPress and have chosen to take advantage of the free Basic WordPress Site we offer to all of our hosting customers. If you’re looking for direction on the setup of your WordPress site, you can find it here.

We’ve also included a video companion demo, below, from our Support Team.

Setting Your Site Title

Before you get started in all of the customizations, you’ll want to be sure the site is using the right name and description. You can set this by going to Appearance > Customize within the left-hand WordPress menu in your site’s dashboard.

Once there, select Site Identity. This will bring up two input boxes for your Site Title and Site Description; input the title of your podcast and a short tagline in the description.

Favicon

Site icons (also known as favicons) are what you see in browser tabs, bookmark bars and within mobile devices. This area is where you will want to upload your image. The icon should be square and at least 512 × 512 pixels. A symbol with a transparent background (PNG) is ideal if you have one.

Customizing the PowerPress Theme

The most exciting thing about a WordPress site is making it a home base for your podcast. Like any home, you want to decorate and make it all your own. That’s what we’ll cover in this guide to designing your WordPress site with the pre-installed PowerPress Theme.

In addition to the written portions of this article, we’ve included videos by our support team that will give you a visual representation on where to find each item mentioned and how they work.

Please keep in mind this is a guide to simply get you started. There are more customization options, but we’ll leave that for you to discover on your own.

PowerPress Theme

Unlike some WordPress themes, almost all of the settings needed to customize your site are located under the PowerPress Theme menu item within your site’s dashboard. Select that to see the options available to you.

Getting Started

This is the quickest way to make changes to every aspect of your site with just a couple of clicks.

Page Layout

Choose how you want your site’s pages to be displayed. Do you want your sidebar on the right side or left?

Theme Color Scheme

These are predesigned color templates. You can use them on their own or you can use one as a base and continue customizing with modules we’ll cover shortly.

Header

These options will change the look of the top portion of your site. You’ll be able to add your logo and a background image here.

Header Logo

This image can be anything you’d like it to be, but we recommend using the logo that appears on your podcast artwork so your branding extends to your site. The header logo image dimensions must be 320×220 pixels; if you go larger, the image will be forced into those proportions, which will skew what you uploaded.

Header Navigation Placement

You can decide where you want your header logo to appear in relation to your navigation menu. Would you like the logo above the menu or below?

Color

Even if you chose to use one of our pre-configured schemes in the Getting Started section, you can still change the colors of your site on a much more granular level. We won’t go into all of the options, but know they’re available to you in this area.

Customize Theme

Site Background

Don’t like the color of your site or header backgrounds? Want to add an image or pattern as the background? This is where you’ll do that. If you choose to use a different color or image than the default, we recommend using something subtle so you don’t detract from your content.

Header

The header background image dimensions should be 1200×214 pixels minimum. This is the space above or below the menu, depending on the settings you applied in Header Navigation Placement.

Links and Borders

Change the sitewide and footer link colors, as well as the size, color and style of the borders used on your site.

Typography

Making your site readable to your visitors is important, and having the right fonts and font sizes helps you achieve that. With these settings, you can choose from an assortment of Google Fonts to get the perfect look and feel.

Footer

The footer of your site can be utilized as an additional menu for your visitors, display your podcast’s copyright information or even links to your podcast on social media. We even give you the option of letting people know your site is Powered by PowerPress.

Posts

Display Featured Images

Your posts can use featured images to attract more attention and add to the overall feel of your site. For your reference, the featured image dimensions are 800×400 pixels.

Post Format

Depending on the amount of content you’re displaying on your site at one time, set this option to Show Excerpt or Show Full Posts. While it’s nice to have the entire text of a post at the ready for anyone visiting the site, it can also make it harder for them to find a specific episode or even browse the site quickly. Again, we’ve left the options to you for maximum customization.

Custom CSS

We only recommend this area for advanced developers.

Import/Export

We only recommend this area for advanced developers.