Wow! After more than three months of brainstorming, searching, waiting, planning, and tweaking, here we are, ready to greet the world!
The makeover of EricaSays.com has been a major undertaking, and perhaps one of the most anticipated legs of my online journey. I’ve never been more excited about the future of any of my sites!
I feel like those lucky folks on the Extreme Makeover – Home Edition…
The Old Theme was so boring, dark, and stifling. I was almost embarrassed of it. After blogging for five years, and getting mostly nowhere, I knew it was time for a big change!
The New Theme is open and freeing. When I preview a new post on the made-over site I sigh with relief… finally my site is deserving of my content, and of all the amazing people who visit it! Now when you come a-visiting I’ll feel confident swinging the door wide open and inviting you in instead of hiding behind a half-cracked door and wondering, ‘Can they see the mess inside?‘ I’ll also feel more confident about guest blogging on other sites, knowing that when someone clicks thru on that link to my site, they won’t find a trace of the old mess!
Credit Where Credit is Due!
My dreams for this site could not have been made a reality without the amazing work-from-home mom, Julie, of Mason Jar Holdings. This woman took a really crappy picture of me and turned it into the perfect silhouette you see here. Maybe some day I will feel confident enough to show you the original photo… but today, you get Julie’s rendition! (Trust me, it’s much prettier!) You can see the full silhouette on my newly updated Twitter Profile!
Re-branding is about so much more than throwing up a new logo on your WordPress theme… the work that goes into choosing the colors, the words to use, and then updating across the board takes a lot of time and effort!! I’m exhausted, but happy! And, I couldn’t thank my friends enough for all their help, critique, support, and praise along the way!
So, tell me, what do you think of the new layout?
It looks great, Erica! I love it!
Congrats!
Congratulations on the fun new look! I like it!
Cool! Looks like we're all at the redesign game at the moment. I like it!
Site looks great, I can't compare to the old one, but I will be back to read more!
Justin
Great look with and open space feel to it. Funny, I did not know the story behind the silhouette of course, but I felt all along that it fit you perfectly. Had no idea it was REALLY you. LOL
Congrats on the makeover, it is a success already.
Yay! Looks nice!
IT's nice. But can I throw the cat amongst the pigeons I like the older one. To me it was more personal. But then Thats just me. Please do not take it as criticism.
Thats just the banner.
For the rest of the site, I think it's perfect.
Congratulations to you and Julie on a fantastic job! It makes a huge difference to feel comfortable with your blog and this should provide plenty of inspiration. If you are interested in a guest post on Engaging With Ms. Ileane Speaks I would welcome you with open arms. Please say yes.
@Ileane
The white background gives your space a nice clean feeling. Hope you got all the bugs worked out.
Really like the Social media buttons that are making use of the megaphones too. Very good for branding. Much lighter and cheerier. Suits your personality.
Thank you MJ! Glad you stopped by and hope to see you here again soon!
Thank you for the kind words! Do you blog? I'd love to visit you!
Yes, Mike! I think 2010 goals for many included upping the game on their sites, including their design. New decade, new style! Your site's makeover turned out fantastic… much improved from the old one which I always had a hard time navigating. Didn't Jimi just redo his site too?
Thanks, Justin! The old one wasn't really bad, just narrow and dark, and very image heavy. It wasn't something I could easily re-work, so I knew eventually I'd have to give it up. I've been craving some good ole white space for some time now!
Yea, Jimi, I think there were a couple people surprised to find out the image was really me. One person told me the gal looked too young, which wasn't good cause teen-girl bloggers don't get a lot of respect.
I guess this 25 year old will be glad someday when people guess she's more than a teen, but until then, let's hope this young face doesn't harm my image. haha
Thank you, Courtney! You've been such a friend through this… listening when I needed an ear, checking things for me, and giving your honest opinion. I love ya!
Robert, I can see that. Having my picture up top did add a personal flair. I think the theme served it's purpose by associating my face with the name. I just got to a point where branding became important… what to put on business cards, Twitter profile, etc? I'm a fairly shy person my nature, and while I don't wish to hide, handing out things with a big picture of myself has never been my style. haha The silhouette is me, without looking like I've made my own baseball card….
And, my face will still be on everything I do, just not the main focus.
Thanks for the thoughts! I have a lot of respect for you, Robert, and am glad to call you a friend!
Oh, Ileane, I would be honored! I've actually promised a guest post to Patty in February… I can try and do one for each of you, but no promises; I've got a big conference in Feb. So, it may have to be March, but I'll be there!!
I can't wait to see your banners out and about on the web!
Thanks, Patty! Yes, the bugs were a real bummer, but I think they're worked out now. Crazy plugins were messing up the front end, and I think the backend too! Once I got rid of a few, the problems seemed to go away. Weird thing is, they were well respected plugins, and some of them I'd been using for ages. I guess ya just never know!
Ah, Thanks, Gordie! You noticed
The megaphones were part of the reason I was NOT wanting to give up the megaphone idea… I'd already pictured my icons and other items in my head and knew I couldn't do the same thing with speech bubbles. 
Cheery, that's me!