Happy 2014! It is time for me to give my blogsite a face lift!!! I’m plotting and planning fresh new ways to share and organize information. I am having a few technical issues and believe the time is now to clean those up and bring in some freshness. Please either comment below or send me an email at caroline@gratefulfoodie.com with your ideas. I welcome all suggestions and thoughts. Sometimes when you look at something so often, you miss the obvious!
I’m weighing out what works well and what does not, so please share your thoughts! Here are my questions to you:
[unordered_list style=”green-dot”]- I like the overall layout but am open to hear if you feel the home page is simple and easy to navigate. My hope is to provide a calm and welcoming visit.
- Is there anything you would like to see included or removed on my home page?
- Is there anything on my Tabs/Pages that you would like to see added or think is not useful?
- I’m toying with allowing ads. I go back and forth on this. I enjoy a clean site, but I also like the idea of highlighting companies and products that enhance our lives. Ya, no Viagra style ads for me.
- Tabs/pages (Asthma, Recipes, etc.): I want to start updating my tabs/pages monthly and also keep a list of recent articles on subjects relating to these pages. For example, on my asthma page, I’ll update my basic asthma data and then provide links to websites and current articles. Would this be useful?
- I want to create a products page of items that we love (chocolates, magazines, cooking supplies, etc.), do you think this would be useful to you?
- Recipe page: I am thinking of possibly using a slider with photos and updating my recipes more frequently—I’ve allowed myself to get waaaaay behind on updating with all my new recipes.
- Contests! I love contests and want to start running these monthly. Do you like Contests or find them annoying?
- I’m thinking of adding a “Rock Star” Tab, where folks can nominate someone each month to be featured as a food allergy or asthma Rock Star. Far too many good things happen daily that don’t receive the kudos deserved. Is this appealing? Do you have an interesting name suggestion other than Rock Star?
- Have you had a hard time accessing my site from your tablet or smart phone?
- Any other ideas of things are simply aching to see?!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Love the idea of the products page, “rock star” tab and recipe page. I think they’d be great additions! 🙂
About contests, I am fine with them as long as they relate to the blog content in some way (i.e. something allergy/asthma/food related because you cover all of those). They do bring in traffic, if that’s what you are looking at doing, and that should help get your info out there more. 🙂
Have you thought about doing link-ups or guest posters? I know you know some amazing people/sites that have some amazing wisdom to pass onto your readers. I know you’ve had guests before, but maybe on a little more of a regular basis would be good. The link-ups aren’t too hard to run once you figure them out, and they can be a great way to help your readers find new blogs with relevant-to-them information. It can also be a good way for you to find new bloggers.
I don’t know about the ads thing because they seem to go south for so many people. I think you’d really have to research it out to make sure you didn’t get some *ahem* inappropriate ads. Even the ones that are supposed to be “clean” can get a bit nasty. This is part of the reason I don’t do them. Also, when I did do ads, I selected for them to be about food or allergies, and they were ads for foods I would never condone (i.e. not allergy-friendly at all). I didn’t feel I should advertise things my readers couldn’t consume.
Looks like some exciting things are coming for you, my friend! 🙂 I can’t wait to see the changes!
Julie, Thank you for your thoughts. I really like the idea of regular guest blogger and I need to move past my link up fears. I really enjoying doing the link ups on your website. I appreciate your time you took to share ideas!
Have a GREAT day.
My son has peanut and sesame allergies. We like to eat out as a family and I would really appreciate a list of FOOD ALLERGY FRIENDLY RESTAURANTS. Do you have a list of the more common national or regional chain restaurants that tend to be more food allergy friendly? We went to a chain restaurant, Chinese food, and they were extremely helpful. We spoke with the waiter, he spoke with the chef/chefs, we were given the food allergy safe foods list, we still had questions, they checked and checked again on us, our foods were prepared specially and the best part was we knew which foods were specially prepared and PEANUT AND SESAME FREE because they use a different style of plates as their way of identifying the specially prepared items. The hard part of the Chinese restaurant was all of the foods with the hidden ingredients in the sauces, etc.
My son left a Chinese restaurant without the puffy lips that he used to experience. However, my husband and I went back to the restaurant a few days later and we enjoyed the food and the dining experience so much better when we were able to order without going through all of the checks and balances, rechecks, and checks again to be sure that the food we ordered would not harm my child.
I love your site, Caroline! I’m also a user of WooThemes 🙂 They make it so easy, don’t they? Keep up the great work!
Woo Themes is quite fun!
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