By Eddy R.
9-12-00

These days, web builders promote their web sites in many different ways, included: Search Engines, Link Exchanges, Affiliate Programs, and Web Rings. But did you know that one can promote one's web site by providing Desktop Wallpaper for download?

Yes, by providing wallpaper related to your site, you are promoting your site every time the system that's using your site's wallpaper is boot-up. Think about it, the first thing that one - and anyone who is around - sees when a system is turned on is the Desktop wallpaper.

Since offering wallpaper for download is such a great way to promote one's site, I decided to give you a few pointers that will help you create your own wallpaper and prepare it for download.

Fire-up your Graphics Editor

You'll obviously need a graphics editor to be able to create wallpaper, and you'll obviously have to come up with the artwork for the wallpaper yourself. Editor's such as Adobe's PhotoShop, Macromedia's Fireworks, or Jasc's PaintShop Pro, are robust tools that offer both flexibility and sets of features that will allow you to create beautiful artwork.

Size Matters

It is very important that you decide for which resolution the wallpaper you create will be suited. I should remind you that there are only so many resolutions for which you can create your wallpaper, these are: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and the like.

How does one create wallpaper for these resolutions? It's very simple! When you create a new image, just set it's size to match any of the values mentioned above - such as 800 for width and 600 height. It is also recommended that you create wallpaper for different resolutions since several PC and Mac users run their monitors at different resolutions.

File extension and Compression

Wallpaper, unlike other images that can be saved as both GIFs or JPEGs, must be saved with the file extension BMP.

Files with the BMP extension can get quite large. To ease the download process, and not to drive those who download your wallpaper mad, you'll want to Zip your wallpaper file(s). Utility software such as Winzip, will help you compress files in no time.

Finally, you'll want to upload your zipped files to your web site and announce their availability for download. How can you do this? Just check out our Wallpaper download section to get some ideas.

Remember, offering wallpaper for download will not only help you promote your site but will add value to your site as well.