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Tech Support and FAQs for ActiveRain Customizer

As I look through ActiveRain, I am amazed at all the great looking blogs that have been created in such a short amount of time. The ActiveRainCustomizer.com website has only been live a few days and already, almost 500 people have successfully customized their ActiveRain blog. And while the overall feedback has been great, there are a few people that have had difficulty customizing their blog.

Technical Support Options

Because this was simply a side project that I put together at no cost to the ActiveRain community, I am somewhat limited in the amount of time I can dedicate to free tech support. With this in mind, I have put together a Frequently Asked Questions post to help resolve some of the issues. If you are having problems customizing your blog, please visit the ActiveRainCustomizer.com FAQs Post on my other blog. I also address the various types of support that are available for your blog customization.

Click Here to visit the ActiveRainCustomizer.com FAQs

Also, if you have not already done so, I would encourage you to also subscribe to my Dakno Marketing Blog as we will also be using this blog to keep people updated on changes, bugs, etc.

Technical Support Resources

ActiveRain Customizer FAQ's

Video Tutorial from Brad Andersohn

Photo Tutorial from Jeff Turner

Brad Andersohn also contacted me and said that he would be happy to assist people who are having difficulty customizing their ActiveRain Blogs.

Thanks,
Brad

h2 { color:#356D9E!important; font-family:Trebuchet MS,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:24px!important; font-size-adjust:none; font-stretch:normal; font-style:normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; letter-spacing:0pt; line-height:24px; margin:9pt 0pt 0px; padding:6px 0pt 0px; } h3 { color:#356D9E!important; font-family:Trebuchet MS,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:20px!important; font-size-adjust:none; font-stretch:normal; font-style:normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; letter-spacing:0pt; line-height:24px; margin:9pt 0pt 0px; padding:6px 0pt 0px; } a { color:#356D9E; text-decoration:underline; } p{ margin-top:2px!important;} a:hover { color:#ffffff; text-decoration:none; background:#356D9E; border 1px solid #DDA603 }

Posted by Brad Carroll - Real Estate Web Designer on 04/14/2008 11:29 AM

Comments (61)

real estate web design, real estate blog design, activerain customizer

Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies
Post is included in group: Blogging & SEO
Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: Rainmaking - Internet Marketing Strategies
Post is included in group: Online Marketing Help Center

61 Comments on Tech Support and FAQs for ActiveRain Customizer

APR

2008

Brad. Thanks for all of your help. Keith..

I've reworked mine a couple of times...thanks so much. I'm still trying to work out some kinks. I can get a background or a photo for the blog title but not both. I'll get it figured out. Thanks so much for helping!

Brad - The customizer is sweet. The hardest part is choosing the right images to use. Thanks for building this Brad!

Brad - I'll check it out right away, need to get some photos on mine! How in the world can you tell how many of us have used this? Thanks for bringing it to the Rain, just one more cool thing!

Thanks, I really want to try to work on this soon. It looks great.

Brad..... Brad Andersohn just sent me to your link to customize my blog page. I am no tech genius and you made it sooooooo easy. I still need to learn how to add the words, but I just copied a picture with the color background and then cropped it. It's okay, but I guess I will have to tinker with it for a week. I have seen some great blog pages. And thanks to your help, it's very simple now. Here is what I briefly did... http://activerain.com/blogs/jeffmortgageman

Hey Brad~ Just another shout out to say thanks, for your generous work on our behalf! You ROCK!

Thanks, I'll ck it out!

Very nice. The trick, of course, for Dumb Real Estate Brokers is getting the image the right size. The rest is easy.

I've gotten a number of compliments

Thanks.

Lenn

Some of the blogs do look nice BUT I've seen a few that are hideous. Too much power can be dangerous!

Jeff Turner has a great post about how to work with your images for your banner and background using Flickr. That's how I was able to get mine to work very easily.

Hi Brad - thanks for posting the link to your FAQs, and for taking the time to put them together. I've seen some really cool looking customizations, but have been a little hesitant to attempt my own. If there's a way to mess it up, I'll be the one to do it. So I've been waiting until I had a good chunk of time to tinker with this.

Thanks!
Ann

I saw some of the blofgs with their new looks. I have been so busy, I did not take time to find out how to do it. Thank for pointing me to it. I will be making the desired upgrade this week.

Many kudos for taking the time to design and share this nifty program. It's neat and I got this far: http://activerain.com/blogs/robinnest.

A question: do I understand that if you want to change fonts/formating and place photos/graphics in the blogs you need to use html and the pics need to reside on an online server? Again thanks.

The Sue part of Robin and Sue

Sue In Hendersonville NC

This will be a great help to Dummies like me. Thank, Brad, for everything.

Thank you so much, it is great!

Thanks for your help Brad. I'm still working on my graphic. I really appreciate everything that you have done for the AR community!

Thanks for the tool! I am still dialing in my blog but I am looking forward to having a really nice looking page soon. I really do appreciate your hard work.

Best,

Scott

Brad,

Thanks again for the great blog.

Thanks so much Brad... I'm very happy with the way mine came out. I used Jeff Turner's tips, as well using Picnik. I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Brad,

Why not install a 900 number for tech support? I mean, you deserve to be paid if demands are made on your time!

Brad;

I also wanted to say thank you. I attempted the first go round, but not having one techie bone in my body, called it a day early. With the new and improved link it was a snap. I have some more work to do, but it was fun and easy. I have such admiration for people with your talent. Thank you again!

Cheers!

Thanks Brad. I appreciate all of the time and effort you have expended to create a truly useful tool.

Thank you Brad, You have been very helpful and I love my fancy blog!

Brad, I love that I have been able to upload our company's logo to our blog thanks to the ActiveRain Customizer. It's fantastic!

Nyana - Office Manager, Barbara Kehl Realty

BRAD.... THANK YOU.... I just FINISHED CUSTOMIZING MY BLOG AND I LOVE IT!!!!! YES, I'M YELLING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS SO EVERYONE CAN HERE ME... YOU'VE GOT TO DO IT!

I just want to say Thank You. And the customizer is incredibly easy to use... Not only is it a great tool, but an easy to use tool as well...

How do you get any time to work? You're always putting together the most valuable posts! Thans again.

I would like to know the optimum size for the background image - thanks again

Brad, I appreciate all the time and effort you have put into this. I am sure others do as well. It is perfectly understood that this isn't your job and all of your assistance is appreciated.

Your second version worked like a charm for me. The first time, I opened accounts with every photo storage site known to man and it wouldn't take the path....lol.

Brad, the FAQ is a good idea. Thanks again for donating your time, effort and expertise to make this possible for all of us. If you ever make it out to Tucson, I owe you a good lunch!

Always enjoy your posts. Thanks for making this tool available to people. And thanks for sharing you time and knowledge.

Hi Brad, I was wondering how you got a cloud background. Now I know how. I will have to check this out. Thanks for doing this.

APR

2008

Brad - if you want to put my information on your FAQ post, I'd be happy to help out as many members as I can. I just did a quick tutorial post to try and help simplify the process. Jeff Turner also did a "How To" resize graphics post if these might be of use to anyone. Just FYI, thanks for all your efforts in helping to put this all together! :-)

Joe: You are right. With new power comes new responsibility :-)

Jay: Thanks for pointing that out. I am actually going to update this post with a few links to other resources

Sue: With the latest version, you no longer have to worry about hosting the image on an online server. You can simply upload the new graphic.

Richard: HAHA That would be great.

Tony: Luckily, I have a great team here at Dakno that helps me get “real” work done. :-)

Brad: Thanks I am going to update this post to include your info and a few links to some customization resources.

Hi Brad... just a quick note to say thanks for this awesome contribution. It's so nice to see the personality of the member's blogs.

Hi Brad - I too wanted to voice my gratitude not only for writing this program, but for the continued high level of support and education that you provide to all of us. Thank you again. I am about to go work on the image at the top of my blog.

Hi BRad, I still haven't seen an answer to the question

what is the optimum size for the background image ? - thanks again

This is great information. Thank you for helping the rest of us!

APR

2008

Thanks so much Brad for all that you share with us here at Active Rain. You are awesome!

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity group Vancouver WA

With the two Brads working for us, one creating and one tech supporting - how could we ask for anything more?

APR

2008

Thanks a million for the Blog Customizer. I will be giving it a try tonight.....The FAQs are a great addition, because most of us work on our blogs at 2am, and a quick answer is exactly what we need.

APR

2008

Brad - I couldn't say enough to thank you for writting this program and sharing it with us. Even though I haven't costumize my blog yet, I will as soon as I have some time.

Brad, you are probably told this over and over again but I must say it yet again. Thank you so much for all you have contributed to everyone here at Active Rain. Your talent is amazing. We are lucky to have you and so many others that take the time and patience to help us through the blogosphere. We will be watching you! Go check out my new skin! Later in the rain~Deb

APR

2008

okay, this will be my weekend project! Thank you SO much for all your work!

APR

2008

Thanks for all the advice and hard word!

APR

2008

Brad, thanks for your support. Sooner or later I'm going to make this happen! I'm bookmarking your post.

MAY

2008

I like the customizer. Thanks for the free use of it and good job it on it. Really simple and now it looks great.

MAY

2008

Thank you, I am fairly new on the rain and I got the customizer started and working.

It's great.

All the best!

MAY

2008

Brad - I miss your posts...it's been a month, I keep checking back, and no new posts on your blog. I miss ya buddy, and all the great stuff you contribute here in the rain. I hope all is well and that this comment finds you in good health and prosperous. I'll be back later to check in with ya... :-))

MAY

2008

Howdy Brad

Is there anything new going on with the blog skin customizer ?

I hope evey thing is good with you.

Knowledge is the Power to Your Freedom to a Worry Free Home!

Hi Brad, we miss your posts. Just wanted to say thank you we have our page looking pretty good we think, thanks again for all of your help.

MAY

2008

Hi Guys, Thanks for the comments. I just posted a new post on my AR blog.

Dale: The Customizer is now in AR's hands so they will be the point person for future development.

MAY

2008

Thanks Brad again for sharing. This is a priority for me this week....I am also surprised at how many people customized their blogs so quickly...there are some really great looking designs out there...but some of these fold I think may be color blind...LOL!!!