Animating Your Google+ Cover Image

I've had an enquiry about how I have animated my cover photo for my Google+ profile: so I thought I'd share how I did it, step by step.

For those who are image-creation savvy, I have two things to say:

1. The image is an animated gif, which unlike other social networks, Google+ allows.
2. I found that with 19 frames, I had to halve the size of the image from 2120x1190px, which is the max for the new Google+ cover image to 1060x565px in order to have an image that loads in a small enough time.

For those of you who would like to know how to design and make an animated gif, then read on. :)