Hey Friends!
I am sitting in the airport in Utah waiting for my flight home.
I had an absolutely wonderful time at the SNAP! Conference, and I look forward to sharing some pictures with you. Although I will be sharing pictures from other bloggers since I broke my camera the first day of my trip. (I’ll tell you that story later.”)
But for now, I wanted to talk to you about my new blog design!
I am soooo very super excited about this design. It is so much more “me.”
Some of you may be wondering why I changed the look of my design, and I will share with you the number one reason.
When I chose my blog name three years ago, I had NO idea that my blog would become my business. I chose the name “Beneath My Heart” because I wanted to share on my blog all the things I love most in my life and hold dear to my heart: my family, my faith, and my home.
Over the years, my blog has become my business, and it focuses mostly on DIY home décor and home improvement. However, when someone visits my blog for the first time, my blog name does not give the reader any clue as to what my blog is actually about.
I came up with my tagline, “Striving to Create Beauty in my Heart and in my Home” last year as an attempt to give a new reader a clue that my blog is about my home.
But still many times, readers could not tell what my blog was about when they first visited it.
The main thing that I did not like about my old design was that you could only view two posts at a time on the main page. When I took a survey about my blog last year, I had some readers tell me that it frustrated them that they couldn’t see more of my posts at a time on the main page.
I also didn’t like that it only showed two posts on my home page at a time because if those two posts where about non-home stuff, new visitors wouldn’t know what my blog was about.
For example, if I had a post about Jonathan singing at the Ky Opry and the next post was about a jewelry giveaway, a new visitor would have NO idea what my blog was about. Because my blog title surely wasn’t going to help!
I have absolutely love my friend, Layla’s, design every since she changed hers.
I love that she has a home page that I can easily view all of her recent posts to see if I have missed any. She and I discussed my switch to this new layout when we ate lunch together in Nashville before Christmas.
She told me that a new reader only has seconds to decide whether they like your blog and want to stay and read more. She chose her new design so a new visitor could easily scroll down her page and view the thumbnail posts to see what her blog is about.
That is what I am hoping for my blog. I am hoping that when someone visits, or even for my current readers, that this new layout will help you navigate my site more easily and be able to see any posts that you want to read or catch up on.
I am also going to try and keep “home-y” pictures in my new slide show to help better depict what my blog is about.
If you currently read my blog through a reader or through email, NOTHING HAS CHANGED FOR. You will see my most current post in its entirety just like you always have. I will NOT truncate (shorten) my posts in a reader or email.
Another great change is that each of my post has the date on them now! Whew!
My last design didn’t have that and it even drove ME crazy. Now, you can see which days I posted and be able to tell if you have missed any older posts. 
I still have some “tweaks” I need to make to the design. Right now, the thumbnail picture just shows the first picture in the post. My blog designer is working to change that so I can pick which picture goes there.
I am also going to work on putting my older projects in a gallery style format to make them easy to find.
Anyway, I am SUPER thrilled with my new design, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Thank you so much for being such faithful readers and for always supporting my blog. I cannot tell you how full my heart is because of this blog and because of YOU!
I pray you have a blessed day!
I love your new design! I have had the same problem with the “first” pic showing up, and I always put my “before” first, so it doesn’t work to well. Who is doing your redesign?…I could use a little help. Love getting your blog via mail, Lori
Love the new look. What I love most about your blog is how you let your faith shine through in all that you do. When you said at the end of your post today, “I pray you have a blessed day!”, I know you meant it. I believe that you do pray for your readers and THAT truly does bless my day. Thanks Traci…
I absolutely LOVE the new look. It has such a nice, fresh look and it’s so much easier to navigate. I also really like the picture of you. Everything looks fantastic!
Your blog looks great! I hope I’ll get to meet you at Haven- woo-hoo, coming up soon!
The new blog design looks fantastic Traci! My heart sank when I read about your camera – why does stuff like that always happen at the worst possible times?! Can’t wait to hear all about the conference!
Thank you, Carmel! Let’s get together soon! :)
Thanks for the explanation! I understand what you were doing now.
The new design looks fantastic! Work should begin on my new homepage soon. I’m hoping it will accomplish a lot of the things you mentioned.
Sorry about your camera! That is sad.
Traci, it looks awesome!!! Congrats on the new look :D
I have noticed that there has been a lot of changes in blog world. Many of the sites that I view are changing their blog page and I like them but I will have toget use to them. You can change the lay out but what you put into it will never change when it comes to your heart. Keep up the great work. Thanks for sharing. You done good.
Love the new look, especially the colors you chose!
I’m sorry I don’t like the change. I understand your reasons. However, I don’t like clicking back and forth to the front page to got to the previous stories. There’s always one in every bunck. ;->
Tracy-I love the new look. I am about to change my layout as well. I’m afraid people won’t like it (like the comment above mine) I don’t like clicking either, but I want a reader to know what is there at a glance, not with a bunch of scrolling. We’ll see!
good luck !
gail
The date thing drove me crazy and it isn’t my blog!!! Who designed your blog for you?
Tony, from Evenpar Solutions, is my blog designer. Chena designed the look. You can find their links at the bottom of my blog page. :)
i don’t care for this type of blog. i don’t like all the clicking back and forth. i read your blog on an almost daily basis. we also don’t have the highest speed internet so it takes a while to load. i also feel the same about layla’s. i think your header could be a little more bold. you strike me as someone who is bold and colorful(with a twinkle in your eye) and i don’t see that personality in your header.
Traci! :-D
I love the new look, and want to thank you for the sweet things you said about my blog. :-)
And for the readers who said they didn’t like that you had to click back to the home page to get to the next post- that’s actually not the case. There’s a handy dandy little <<OLDER link at the bottom of every blog post I publish, so that if you feel like scrolling back, you can just keep hitting that to read my previous posts. ;-)
Anywho- congrats on the new look Trac! I'm so glad you're having fun with your blog!
XO
Beautiful new look!