You may have noticed over the last little while that I've been slowly making some changes to the layout and design of this blog. If not, that's OK... you were probably focused on all the decluttering you were doing last month right?!
If you're a recent follower, first of all, WELCOME! Second, I apologize if you thought I was changing things every day. I don't usually don't do that. In fact, I set up most of the design and layout initially on this blog when I started it a year and a half ago, and I haven't really changed it much since. Until recently.
I really wanted to make my blog easier for you to navigate. I wanted you to be able easily find what you were looking for. Or even to find things you didn't know you were looking for, but that you actually needed to see :) So I made some changes to help you out.
Stick around the next few days while I take you on a tour! I know your time is precious and limited so I'll show you how you can get the most out of the time you spend on this blog so you can find all the organizing tips you need!
First up, I would like to direct your attention to the new menu at the top of the blog. {I feel a little like a flight attendant! Picture arms pointing to direct you where to look :) }
I added several tabs to it so you can find the posts you're looking for quickly. Here's a breakdown of what's in these tabs.
The first two tabs were in the menu before, but I've made changes to the pages themselves.
I revised my About Me page, showing off all the beautiful family pictures we had taken in the summer and updating the description of who I am, why I write this blog, and how I can help you get organized. If you've been following this blog for awhile and you haven't checked out the new page, I hope you will. You may find a few surprises you didn't know about me!
Next up, I added a few more tabs with links to posts in popular series and to the organizing projects I've done around my home.
I've had the 31 Days of Organizing Tips tab there since last October's series finished and this year I added the 31 Days of Easy Decluttering tab. This makes it easy for you to find the other posts in the series if you missed any. Or you can come back to these posts when you're in a decluttering or organizing mood and need tips or inspiration.
New this month is a link to the Organizing Ideas For The Weekend series. This is a popular series for people who want to do a quick organizing project on the weekend. Now you can find these ideas at any time or catch up on any you missed.
I also added an Organizing My Home tab that has all the posts with my own organizing projects around my home. These were some of my more popular posts {I think because you like seeing those before and after pictures and seeing how unorganized my house often is!}. But it was hard for you to find them back on the blog later, so hopefully this tab will help you with that and you can refer to these posts when you want to organize various spaces in your home.
On the bottom row of the menu bar, I've got a few more tabs with series, as well as tabs for printables and resources.
I can't add a tab for every series I ever do on the blog, so I've created these tabs to group various series posts together. The Challenges tab contains links to the challenges I've done so far (You've Got Too Much Email and The Great Photo Purge Challenge) and I will add to it whenever I host a new challenge. The Other Series tab is a catch-all for other series that I haven't included a separate tab for and I'll continue adding posts to this page as well. {Creative title eh?!}
I've shared several organizing printables on the blog and now they are easy to find, by clicking the Printables tab. This includes all the monthly family goals printables and the other printables I've shared. I will continue to add to this tab whenever I share a new printable.
Next I created a tab called Organizing Resources. On this page I share links to organizing books that I want to recommend. These are all excellent resources to help you organize you home and your life. Check them out! And keep checking back, because I'll be adding to this page whenever I come across some new books that I know will help you get organized.
Last up are two tabs that already existed and one new one.
The Link Parties tab has been on the blog since the beginning, but I gave the page a HUGE revamp, and I'm so excited about how it turned out. This is where I list all the link parties and blog hops I join up with, so if you like joining or checking out link parties, check out this page for my favourites.
I didn't take a screenshot of what this page was like before, but if you remember, the first few rows of buttons were neat and tidy, but then it just became a jumbled mess. Not good for a blog that's supposed to model organization eh?!
I'm learning a lot about HTML, but I had such a hard time making those buttons behave the way I wanted them to and I was not happy with how messy and unorganized that page looked. Plus, I knew there were a lot of parties on that list that don't even exist anymore, so the page needed a major overhaul.
So, I asked around, checked out other blogs to see what they did, and researched a few options. I decided to try out Inlinkz and I'm really happy with the results. I created a collection and added links to it and then I just copy the code onto my page and it's done. Here's a screenshot of part of the page so you can see how it turned out:
Beautifully lined up pictures and links! Isn't that a lot better?
I'm SO happy about how this page turned out that I used it all over my blog. In each of the 31 Days series posts, on all the pages with collections of posts, and even in my sidebar (more on that tomorrow).
If you want to tidy up your blog, I highly recommend checking out Inlinkz {I'm not affiliated with them in any way, and they have no idea I'm telling you any of this. I just love how their project manager works and wanted to share it with you!}
OK, back to the menu bar... got a little excited there :) Here's the last screenshot again.
The Contact Me tab was there before but I updated the page a little bit. If you've got organizing dilemmas you'd like me to help with, send me an email and I'll give you some tips! I may even feature you in a post :)
Lastly, I added a tab for my Professional Organizing business website. If you're in the Mississauga or Oakville area and would like hands-on help getting organized, then click the Organizing Services tab. Mainly I added this tab because I've also included a link to this blog on my business website so potential clients can get ideas and inspiration before I help them. This Organizing Services tab on the blog helps them get back to the business site again.
So, that concludes the tour of my new menu bar. I hope it helps you navigate your way around the blog easier and find the organizing help you need quicker! Take some time to check out each of the tabs so you are familiar with what's there and then refer back to the ones you find most helpful once in awhile to see what I've added.
What do you think of the new blog layout and design? I'd love to hear your feedback! Which tab do you think you'll use the most?
Happy organizing!
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
