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You may have noticed that WellnessMama.com recently got a slight website redesign this past week. I seriously dislike updating and redesigning, as the process always takes longer, costs more, and is even more mentally exhausting than expected. One of the things I’ve learned since 2006 (when I first started blogging) is that I’d almost rather go through labor then redesign the blog, but sometimes it’s a necessity. And this redesign was no exception. It’s been in the works for over a year!
Although I liked the old design, I decided to make a few changes that I think will provide a better user experience for you. Here are some of those changes:
Updated Resources Page
For years we’ve had a resources page listing all my favorite companies, products, ingredients, courses, and other resources that I personally use and recommend to family and friends. It’s always been a reader favorite since you can find all the products I recommend in one easy location. But over time it got a little unwieldy and wasn’t organized nearly well enough for a good user experience. With the new and improved resources page, it’s much much easier to sort and search through all the recommendations, so you can always find what you’re looking for. This is still a work in progress and will continue to get updated over the next few weeks, but you can check out the new design and functionality here.
Medical Review Board
Over the past year we’ve been putting together a medical review board of doctors, researchers, and expert advisers to review all the articles on Wellness Mama and ensure the information presented is up-to-date, balanced, and backed by science. It’s always been my goal to take complex topics and break them down into easy-to-understand articles that will improve the quality of your family’s life. By utilizing known experts to quality check my work, you can rest assured that what you’re reading is factually accurate and trustworthy. Each article that has been medically reviewed will list the reviewer’s name next to the post author, which you can click on to learn more about him or her and see the other articles they have contributed to. You can learn more about our medical review board here.
No Sidebar
In the past, when reading a blog post on your computer, there was a right-hand sidebar that linked to other posts, social media, a search box, recent podcasts, and recommended resources. While some readers found it helpful, I do want the focus of the blog to be on the articles and information provided instead of distracting asides. Because of that, we’ve removed the sidebar and some of the ads so you can focus on the content… which is why you’re here in the first place, right?
Improved Mobile Experience
The majority of Wellness Mama readers visit on a mobile device, so ensuring that the website loads fast and is easy to use on a phone, tablet, or any other device is of the utmost importance. We’ve simplified the design and removed some of the distractions and slow loading components so the site should load much faster and be easier to read as well.
Along with the obvious design changes, there were a lot of behind-the-scenes coding changes that I don’t fully understand which help the site work better and faster.
Thanks to the amazing Wellness Mama tech team at Spears Marketing and Biz Budding, this transition went relatively smoothly, even though we still have a few more tweaks and updates to make over the next few weeks.
Wellness Mama Design Time Capsule
As we finished the recent updates, I looked through all of the past designs I’ve had over the years (since 2006). Each one has definitely been an improvement over the last. If you’ve been a long-time reader, how many of these designs do you remember?
My original site on blogspot.com:
First WordPress.com design:
Second WordPress.com design:
Second self-hosted WordPress design. I didn’t keep a screenshot of the first one, but I did it myself and rest assured, it was pretty bad! 298 people liked me on Facebook back in 2010 and I remember each of them by name. Many of them still comment pretty regularly and I feel like we’ve become e-friends since then.
And then there was the pink theme with the cartoon me 🙂
And my first mobile-friendly design with custom hand-drawn typeface logo:
My first truly custom blog design, with the updated logo that I’ve used for years:
This was an updated version of the above, but with a more personal touch on the homepage:
An improved version of the above, with the old membership site:
And this one that we’ve had for several years that announced my new books:
Blogging Tips?
I get asked for my blogging tips pretty often, and to be honest, I don’t feel qualified to answer most of the time. My goal when I started blogging was to help other moms provide a natural and healthy lifestyle for their families so they can improve their health and happiness.
I’ve learned a lot over the years about formatting blog posts and using social media, but at the end of the day, my best tip (as corny as it may sound) is to make sure that the focus is always on helping others. If you truly care about your readers, authenticity will show through in your writing and others will be attracted to it.
My Blogging Resources
This is a list of the blogging resources that I use for my site in case they can be helpful to any of you who blog or are thinking of starting a blog (go for it!):
- Domain name registration: Hover
- Website hosting: BizBudding
- WordPress theme: Mai Lifestyle Pro
- WordPress training tutorials: WordPress 101
- Website security & backups: Sucuri
- Form creation software: Gravity Forms
- Recipe creation: WP Recipe Maker
- Email newsletter: Convert Kit
What do you think? Do you like the new design changes? Anything you’d do differently or still has bugs that need be fixed?
Oh, Katie, I certainly understand the challenges presented with blogging and all the updates and changes that need to be made along the way because I have had my website online since 1999 and blogging since 2004 but I really, really, really miss your old green logo! Your logos were the first things that caught my eye ever since I started following you ten years ago! I always thought the latest green one was the very best and the brightest side of your site. I’m really sad to see that has been deleted in lew of the simple lettering for your logo. Bummer…Other than that, the site is very easy to view and all pages load quickly and of course, the content is still and always will be I’m sure, superb!
I really quite enjoy your new redesign! I love the simplicity and the cleanness of it all. I really love how you’ve evolved over the years. Well done! You most certainly inspire me, in many areas of life!
Wow katie just listened to a pod cast of you and a guest, cast chosen at random. Hint your a rebel! Ring a bell? Anyway wow is it ever going to help me in the relationships. That i am in. So cool growing already thank you for that!
I know this is basically ifo for moms and females alike however there is plenty of good things here for a dad like me who wants to improve the quality of life for his beautiful daughter. So would it be ok for a man to hangout. Ask questions, participate and so on? Thanks
Of course 🙂
Looks good, easy to navigate. Is Heather of mommypotamus still a part of wellness mama? I didn’t notice her name anywhere and wondered if I needed to go back to her blog for her articles. Thank you.
No she’s not. It was an experiment that we decided was best left separate…
I’ve been reading your blog since your Second WordPress Design.
Hi Katie ! I know things have to go through changes every now and then, and I absolutely love your site, but I miss the instant search, like showing all the beauty recipes, or all the food recipes, I know i must be doing something wrong, Help ? x
The instant search feature should still be working the same. It is on my end, anyway. Maybe make sure your browser is updated then try it again?
My husband is dealing with shaking (doctors say is Parkinson’s) and we are very interested in going to Switzerland but don’t have a clue how to go about this. Could you please give us some information.
Hi! I like the redesign. It definitely is very profitable 🙂 I wish you good success as I have learned many things from reading your posts and I am sure many others have also. Thanks for assisting in building the movement towards wellness! I was wondering, did you use a certain plugin for your post grids on your archive pages and related posts? Same or different? I love how you customized the excerpt. Thanks for the info!
It’s not a plugin, everything is custom built within the theme.
I couldn’t figure out how to comment on some of your older posts, the microwave one for example. Does the comment period expire after it has been posted for a while?
Yes. Comments are closed on articles older than a year, but I’m always updating older content and republishing it with new information, so when that happens, comments are opened up again. This process makes it much easier to manage, as many articles get hundreds of comments…
Love your blog and your website. Your mission and passion shine through. This world of mama living is much better and easier with you in it!!! Thanks!
I just checked and it appears you haven’t actually signed up for it yet. You’ll need to create an account before you can access it.
I love your site. I’ve been using it for years. The new look is lovely. I have no problem accessing anything on my phone however there is no search option on my computer. I read through the recent comments to see if I was missing something and noticed that you told someone everything should be fixed but this is the first time I’ve opened your site on this computer and there is still no search option. I am using internet explorer. I noticed another user pointed out that was the problem for her. Working through kinks can be a mess I know. Just wanted to let you know that there is still an issue with internet explorer.
Thanks Jennifer. There does seem to be a bug on the IE side. I am working on it though and hope to have it fixed soon. For now, try using a different browser if possible, as it seems to only be affecting Internet Explorer.
New changes are a very nice and BIG improvement. Congratulations, I know how much work this is. But I think it will definitely pay off for you. Happy New 2016!
I am having trouble registering. I get email updates to my email but when I tried to register here it says you don’t have my email?? Help!
Are you having trouble signing up for the content library or are you getting an error? Since the library is different than just the email newsletter, you’ll have to actually create an account to access the member library. You can use the same email and you won’t be sent any additional emails, but you will need to sign up and create a password to access. Hope that helps.
I love the streamlined appearance of the website! I miss a lot when a site is visually “busy”. Is there a “search” mechanism that I’m missing? I was looking for a particular remedy and didn’t find it easily. Thanks for all your great information!
Yes, if you click the little magnifying glass in the navigation bar it will open up the search box for you.
I’ve been on and off this website for years and have recently changed professions leaving me time to actually invest in myself…which was the main reason for the change. I dropped from 60 hours a week to 35 hours and dropped the stress ball as well. My oldest daughter sent me a recipe from your site and I was like “omg!! I know this site!” So glad to be able to work my way through your site!!! thank you for becoming a #1 resource!!
I LOVE your webpage. I have learned sooooo much in a real short time. I have been having some difficulty for the last week. I can’t find the magnifying glass in the menu and the recipe page is all jumbled up making it nearly unusable. I am sure these are just kinks that need to be worked out. Thought I would just let you know in case you were not aware. Don’t stop the good work, because I have just started my journey to a healthier life style and it is in large part because of you. Thank you over and over again.
Hmm, all of the issues should be corrected. Can you try deleting your browser’s cache memory then refresh to see if it’s still like that?
Well, I tried deleting my history and restarting my computer. I have had the problem on my home computer and my work computer. Nothing seems to be working. I will keep trying things tho. Thanks
Deleting your computer’s cache is different than it’s history. You might also want to try it in a different browser to see if that makes a difference.
I have it now. I didn’t go to the site for about a week and then when I tried it was all good. Don’t know what that was all about but I am sure glad. Thanks for your help.