I’ve changed the homepage before… minor changes to liven things up a bit. Sometimes I change things simply because the old bores me.

But this time the changes were necessary.

Before I share the changes (I mean, you’ve probably seen them already…), allow me to explain why they were necessary.

Over the years, I have written plenty of blog posts. Many of them are “ultimate guides” to one crucial blogging aspect or the other. The problem I was facing now had to do with having many of these necessary guides getting lost among the sea of all the posts and pages I have on the blog.

Picture this scenario:

A brand new blogger hopeful stumbles on my blog. Perhaps they found it while searching for “how to start a blog,” or “how to use Pinterest,” or something along those lines. Basically, things most new bloggers worry about. But then what?

I mean, learning blogging isn’t limited to finding a niche or understanding how Pinterest works. There’s so much more to it.

So, I kept wondering, how can I help a new blogger find the most important posts on this blog?

Now, my audience primarily comes to my site for two things:

1. They want to start their own blog, or,
2. They want to make money with Canva

Sometimes they want both.

But yeah, those are the primary reasons someone might come to my blog, and decide to stay on.

And for them, I realized I needed to make some changes; help them find the most important topics easily without having to search for them using the search function.

So, to facilitate that, I made some changes.

1. New navigation item(s)

The first thing I did was to add a new navigation menu item called “Guides.” Under this item (when you hover over it,) I have a dropdown with six of the most important blog posts on my site:

• How to start a blog
• How to build an email list
• How to SEO
• How to use Pinterest
• How to do affiliate marketing
• How to sell Canva templates

As you can see, these six topics more or less cover the primary interests of my readers.

2. New section (after the shop section)

If you’ve spent any time on my homepage, you know that it has several “sections.”

First, the header (with logo, navigation items, shopping cart icon, etc.) Then I have the hero section where I ask visitors to sign up for my flagship free email course on how to start a blog (10-day email series, totally free.) That section is followed by the latest blog posts section, which is then followed by the Canva template shop section.

Those sections have remained unchanged (for now.) But the section following the shop section has changed. Before it was a “recommended resources” section, but now it is a “blogging guides” section. Essentially, I have linked to the same six blog posts that are now under the “Guides” navigation item. My hope is that readers will spot at least one of those: the top navigation or the list section down the page.

3. The new “recommended resources” section

The final section is still the “recommended resources” section, only, it looks better. Also, instead of linking the products on my main resources page, I have actually linked them to the blog posts where I have either reviewed them/shared tutorials/highlighted features, or all of the above.

That’s it for now. I might make small adjustments (or big? Ye never know!) but that’s the gist of it.

The goal is to have a place where the majority of my readers (new bloggers and Canva enthusiasts) can find the stuff they’re looking for.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new design; please feel free to share your comments below 🙂

In case you’re curious, my blog has the following specifications:

• Self-hosted WordPress (.org)
• The hosting provider is SiteGround
• I use the Astra theme (free), and
• I have designed my website with the Elementor (Pro) page builder plugin.