How to Make a Twitter Background | VATrainingOnline.com

Creating a twitter background is fun and easy! All you need is a good background image and your cool photo. Here’s how…

WHAT YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH | At the end of this tutorial, you would have created your own twitter page. Of all our twitter tutorials so far, this is the one with the most flexibility. You can create any design that you want, since you are not constrained by your existing branding/website.

SHOW ME THE LIVE SITE| You may view the live sample of the final twitter page at Twitter.com/vatostacey

Let’s follow each other on twitter| http://twitter.com/VATrngOnline

This is the third tutorial for our Twitter customization series. You may want to visit our earlier tutorials for more ideas.

How to Customize Your Twitter | for Virtual Assistants,Freelancers 1

How to Customize Your Twitter to Compliment Your Website 2

INSTRUCTIONS

Level| Moderately Easy Cost| $.75-$5 (depends on your chosen image)

You Need Twitter, Pixlr, Fotolia (or any image source)

Pick a Background Image

Free Twitter Templates| There are tons of free beautiful Twitter templates online. The catch is, you need to bear with the Ads on your twitter page. From a branding standpoint, this is a big fat no! It says “I’m cheap”. If you want to be able to charge descent rates, you don’t want ads on your twitter page. If you want to explore, here are some sites offering free Twitter templates:

Professional Quality Images| If you want professional quality and yet inexpensive backgrounds ($.75 cents & up), we do recommend Fotolia. We ourselves source out roughly 90% of our website images from Fotolia. Other quality sources are iStockPhotos,Stock.xchng (free) & Getty Images

ACTION|

Goto your favorite stock photo & Pick your background image.
Below are some beautiful samples we came across during our research.
- Goto Fotolia
- Search for below id numbers (ie. #12247539)

twitter31

twitter32

Customize Your Twitter Background

Adjust Your Background

Download – Right Click – SAVE AS this file| Guide.png. [How to Use Guide]
Goto PIXLR.com.
OPEN IMAGE EDITOR, then open your downloaded Guide.
FILE-OPEN your saved background image.
- Select MARQUEE TOOL .
- Set FEATHER to 50% and drag the tool across your background image. [Feather Image]
- CTRL-C or Copy. Then Paste on your Guide’s left sidebar.
- Adjust photo within the Guide’s border.

To fill up the white spaces [Color White Spaces]

Uncheck your Guide layer.
Grab the COLOR PICKER & click the shade you want to use for your background.
Add a new layer and drag this below your background photo.
Pour color onto this new layer using PAINT BUCKET TOOL

Add Your Photo [Add Photo]

FILE-OPEN then select your photo.
Select MARQUEE TOOL and drag across your photo.
CTRL-C or Copy. Then paste on your background/template’s left sidebar.
At the Layer’s Pallete, change Normal mode to MULTIPLY
To adjust photo angel, click EDIT – FREE TRANSFORM then drag handles.

Design Your Background with Borders/Shapes [Add Borders & Shapes]

1. Use the DRAWING TOOL to add shapes (ie. left border)
2. Click EDIT – FREE TRANSFORM to resize images/shapes
3. Goto LAYERS – LAYERS STYLE to add shadow/effects
4. If you are feeling creative, try out the different effects on FILTER

Add Catchy/Informative Text

1. From the TOOLS Palette choose TYPE TOOL
2. Include your Name, Company Name, Tagline/USB, Contacts, Website Url, etc.

Crop your image when done. [Crop Twitter Background]

Cropping your image helps reduce your file size, thereby allowing your twitter to load faster. When you crop, make sure you leave enough plain background both at the sides and at the bottom of your image.

SAVE your file. [Completed Twitter Background]

PHOTO TIPS

The QUALITY of your photo is definitely critical to a professional looking twitter page!
You may reduce the size of your photo but never stretch your photo.
If you only have 1 cute photo and it happens to be small, try adding a background instead.
If your photo is not Vogue-material, consider applying creative effects.
- How to Edit Photos w/ Photofunia (Video/Slideshare)
- How to Edit Photos w/ Picnik & Befunky
For excellent one-click retouching/creative effects use PICNIK, BeFunky, Photofunia, FotoFlexer. We absolutely love them. You’ll love them too!

Upload Your Completed Twitter Template

Upload Your Completed Background Template

Login to your Twitter your account.
Goto SETTINGS – DESIGN – CHANGE BACKGROUND IMAGE then upload. [Design Twitter]
SAVE CHANGES Your new background should now be reflected!

Customize Your Text & Sidebar Color

Customize Your Text & Sidebar to Complement Your Background

For a more unified look, use the colors which are present in your background template. To determine your colors, go back to PIXLR.com
- Double click TOOLS – FOREGROUND COLOR [Color Picker]
- Point the color picker to any area in your template.
- Note down the HEX#s you want to use.
In Twitter, goto SETTINGS – DESIGN – CHANGE DESIGN COLORS & Plug this HEX# in Text/Background/SideBar [Change Hex#]
You should now see your masterpiece reflected on your Twitter Account! Make adjustments as necessary up until you get that Twitterific Twitter Page!