Changing Face: Blog Revamp!

Changing Face: Blog Revamp!

Heyo Bookaholics!

Jasper + Spice is getting a Premium Facelift!

Firstly, I want to acknowledge that I do know today is a Wednesday and I would typically have a storytime up, but I seriously couldn’t wait to share this exciting news with you all and I promise a wonderful, well written and revised storytime for next week!!

I think it’s about time I got serious about making this blog look and feel cute af! This blog is my dream and has grown and changed so much in the past three years it’s been alive; I want to keep altering it until she is a beautiful masterpiece. I want this blog to be a place of smiles and happiness for anyone who visits, and that’s what I wish to work on.

So what’s changed?

If you haven’t noticed yet, I changed the Homepage. The whole website has received a premium upgrade! I’ve made the sole colour theme pink and white because I want people to think of me and think PINK! I couldn’t use the new banner on the homepage but I’m trying to incorporate my photos into my headers more and make it more about the photo and not about the text.

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I have a new web address! You all probably came here via a link from somewhere so you mightn’t have noticed that the domain name has changed from www.jasperandspiice.wordpress.com to www.jasperandspice.com; which means I am now a self-hosted site! WOOHOO!

New graphics for all posts except storytimes – as they already got new graphics. I want there to be a sole focus on image and less on the words. I wanted an integration between words and images, similar to the way I do my Beauty Guru, and Storytime Wednesday series headers.

Finding Inspiration!

I wanted to speak to someone who puts so much creative effort into her own blog; so I messaged none other than Sarah from WrittenWordWorlds.

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She puts so much effort into her blog posts it’s inspiring. It is a place where people can feel happy and disconnect from the world. With bright colours and all things summer and joy, she really knows how to reel people in, and then keep them there with her engaging and funny content.

I know Sarah uses the Wordpress platform for blogging and I chose to ask her questions accordingly. Responses may be edited for clarity and cohesion.

Are you using wordpress premium?
“I use a paid ‘Personal Plan’ on WordPress! That just removes ads, gives you more themes/ storage, and gives you a custom domain name.”

For those who are unaware, WordPress has four plan types;

  • the standard free plan has only 3gb of storage, limited themes, and no custom domain name (perfect for casual bloggers);
  • the personal plan allows the user a custom domain name, a wider range of themes, 5gb of storage and a custom domain name;
  • the premium plan (which I’ve chosen to use) contains 13gb of storage, video uploads, unlimited themes, WordPress support, a custom domain name, etc;
  • the business plan is the largest plan and has unlimited storage, unlimited custom domain names, all the free themes, plug-ins, etc.

I chose the premium plan as it is best suited to my needs as a personal blogger who needs the storage to use the video uploads feature which I am super stoked about! I also just wanted a custom domain name and more freedom of customisation. Although the free plan is a very flexible platform for anyone who just wants to blog casually.

Where do you source your graphics and how are they so pretty?
“I buy my graphics from Creative Market.”

There is a link to this website and the sources of her graphics in the footer of her webpage, much like in my own.

How do you edit your graphics?
She uses the website ‘Picmonkey’, which I’ve found to be quite similar to Canva just with more options.

I want to thank Sarah for answering my questions because it was a huge help to me in choosing whether it was really worth upgrading my blog. It has been something I’ve been mulling over for over a year now and I finally have achieved my dream!

I now have a custom domain that is mine and I cannot be happier! I can finally tick off that goal I set for myself way back in my Managing Blogging and Uni in 2018 when I set three blog goals for myself, one of which was going Premium and I did it!

Thanks to you all and your interaction I actually believe that I am capable of bringing this blog somewhere which is an amazing feeling!

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What do you think of the new graphics? I really wanted to stick to the pink theme as you can tell! Give me all of your thoughts and constructive feedback down in the comments.

Do you have any other Ideas for graphics I can make or any changes that would make the site more aesthetically pleasing?

Leave your opinions in the comments or alternatively on my social media channels!
Instagram // Goodreads // Twitter // YouTube

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Thank You, With Love Bree xx

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© Jasper+Spice 2018. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use without my permission. This post was not sponsored, all photos and graphics are of my own creation.

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