Google Slides is my favorite tool for creating graphic images that I can use on my website. It has so many options, it's clear and easy to use, and it's free! If you haven't used Google Slides, you're probably at least familiar with its cousin, PowerPoint. Most people use it for presentations only, and are unaware of how versatile this tool is for creating images.

With this method, one "slide" will become a single JPEG image. You can control the shape and layout, as well as the background and any images you want to add. When you're finished, you can download the single slide as a JPEG.

First, open up Google Slides. If you don't already have a Google email address, you'll need to open one to start an account. You will then have access to your own Google Drive cloud storage where anything you create with Google tools, including Slides, Docs, and Sheets. This is what you'll see:

Choose "Blank" for making graphics. You don't need all the layout stuff they provide for presentations. The blank presentation will look like this:

The first thing you're going to do with your blank slide is to choose the size. I use this tool for a lot of my graphics. One of my favorite sizes is the 8.5" x 11" because it has proportions people are comfortable with seeing everywhere, like book covers or copy paper. The size you choose now is about the proportions, not the file size of the final product, so don't worry if you don't want an image that big!

Here's how to change your "slide" size. Pull down the menu from "File," in the upper left hand corner. Click "Page Setup."

You will get this box for your options:

Click on the double arrows for more choices.

Choose "Custom." Under "Custom," you will be able to choose between inches, centimeters, points, and pixels. The "banner" in your theme probably suggests optimal sizes, so you can choose what's best for your site.

For this tutorial, we're going to choose proportions that are good for a website banner. An optimal size is 728 x 90 pixels.

Now you have your slide size set up! Go on to the next page to learn how to add the details you would like on your banner.