It’s about time! My sabbatical has finally come to a close, and I must admit that I’ve been getting anxious.
Anxious to talk to you guys! Anxious to publish articles.
It was a much needed break, but I’m glad to be back.
If you haven’t noticed, one of my main focuses was this re-design. I hope you like it!
I’m going to tell you about all the new stuff, and this article will also serve as a guide to help you better navigate this website to find what you’re looking for.
A Brief History of MoneyMiniBlog
Since this is version 3.0, I thought it would be fun to briefly go back and look at previous versions.
When I first started this blog at the end of 2013, I didn’t really know what I was doing.
I’ve learned a lot in the last few years, and thank God for that, right?
Yes, this website used to look pretty awful a little less organized.
Here was how I launched it in 2013:
And here was version 2.0 that I launched at the beginning of 2015:
That’s what it has been up until now. I liked it, but I wanted it to be better. And now, I think it is.
Let me explain why I made the changes, and exactly what all I have been doing…
The Main Changes to MoneyMiniBlog
Before I explain what changed, I want to briefly touch on how I did it. This is the first time I’ve ever created a new design as a “staging” copy. “Staging” is a feature, offered by SiteGround Web Hosting, that allowed me to create the entire new design as a separate copy (while my old design remained live), then once I was ready, I “pushed to live” the entire site. It took about two seconds and there was zero downtime. I highly recommend SiteGround for many reasons, but this is just another awesome reason!
You may have noticed the new logo. It’s not that different, just a little more compact.
I re-designed the logo, because I wanted it to be a little more even and concise – a small, but important, detail.
I re-designed everything else, because I wanted to make your reading experience better. That’s my main focus.
Here’s everything I did to improve MoneyMiniBlog:
- Increased Font Size – Easier to read now, right?
- Removed the Sidebar – Less distractions for reading.
- Revamped the Tools Page – This was huge! We’ll get to this in a moment.
- Removed the Footer – Focusing on the articles, so less information elsewhere.
- Updated the Guides – Hover over the “Guides” drop-down menu at the top to see them!
- Updated Beginner Series – I made some changes and updated the entire beginner series.
- Easier Navigation – Smaller menu and overall easier to navigate. Examples: Articles, About Me and Tools.
The biggest update was the new tools page. Instead of having a few resources in plain lists, I organized the entire page to make it super user-friendly (and pretty). I also added productivity tools, recommended book lists, a huge list of websites I use to save money, and more worksheets for the paper lovers out there!
The Direction of MoneyMiniBlog
Now you can expect more content and better content. That’s the focus: content.
You’re here to learn. To be entertained. Ultimately, to read articles. Not to be distracted and directed to another website. That’s why I originally removed all ads from MoneyMiniBlog. Because it’s not about making money, and it never has been. It’s about providing valuable content. Of course, I am a big fan of money, and I still make money from this blog, just less.
So you can expect a more minimal approach. I will probably keep this design for a long time, and strictly focus on producing the highest quality content possible, as well as only publishing the highest quality content from my other authors. For example, I put over 10 hours into the Understanding Mortgages article that will be going live next Monday.
As another way to a more minimal approach, the only social media platforms I will be consistently updating and interacting on are Facebook and Instagram. Please go like the Facebook page to add some positivity to your news feed. I’m going to devote a lot of time to posting not just my articles, but other valuable articles, tools, images and lessons. As for Instagram, I will be using that as a more personal platform, posting things like habit tracking, quotes, books I’m reading, and possibly even some of the clean meals I’m eating at any given time.
All of these minimalistic changes will allow me to be more active in the blogosphere again! That’s one area that I have been slacking in – I haven’t been reading, commenting on and interacting with enough other blogs lately. The financial blogosphere is a very tight-knit community, and I have many friends in it, so I will go back to regularly reading all of those awesome blogs. By the way, you can see my friends on my blogroll.
You can also expect to see weekly roundups, on Fridays, with the best stuff I can find on money and productivity.
I will continue with the next article of the Understanding Series next week. So stay tuned!
I hope this has been a real and transparent update. I want to be real with you guys (because I am real).
Share in the comments about your thoughts on the new design and direction!