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30 April 2015

A Bit of a Blog Change

blog rebranding

I've gone and done it, finally. Rebranded my Blog - just a bit.
I've been thinking about it for months and months, racking my brains to come up with a new name/title that would take this blog into the future and make more sense of where I am now?

(Remember waaaay back in January when I talked about needing a new name for my blog?)

I was worried that "Greatfun4kids" might just be a little misleading/confusing/no longer appropriate now that my kids are getting older, and my parties/inspiring ideas are (sort of) winding back.

I had a few goes at "Peek User Testing" - a free analysis by a real person who lands on your blog/website and tries to navigate it/figure out what it's about.

Too often the person doing the test would say, "Hmmmm, Great fun for kids... I guess this is a website that recommends fun activities for children and families."
No! It's not! It's a blog written by a mum who just happens to be a bit of a DIY party nut. Arrrggh!

When this same conclusion was reached by different people on a number of occasions I thought, I really have to do something about this. I need to come up with a new blog name.

business card for blog
[My blog "business card" - saves spelling it all out] 

I put it out to my readers/facebook followers, asking for suggestions. There were a number of good ones, the most popular of which was "Greatfun4life" but when I really thought about it, I don't think this blog is just about fun. I mean, is it? No. It has changed so much over the years, and I write about so many random-yet-connected things. Connected only because they are all things that mean something to me, they are things I enjoy, things I've done, things I think might interest/help/encourage other people. There is no other rhyme or reason to it: DIY, Travel, Book Reviews, Parenting, Parties, Movie Nights, Recipes and Mental Health... not a very specific niche!

I wanted any new name to somehow link to the old one because:
  1. People know me as that name. People usually hate change. I don't want to lose people.
  2. I just really can't be faffed figuring out how to change my URL and I was scared I'd mess it up 
  3. I also couldn't be faffed changing all my email and social media pages/identities to match. I'd have to start again with followers and all my logins - Nope not doing that.
  4. Last year I finally got business cards printed for my blog ($20 from Vistaprint); I'd hate to waste them
  5. I know there was a number (5) but I can't think of it right now...
So there I was, needing a new name but not really wanting one.
Whenever I'd think of something that might fit I'd google search to see if some other blogger had already thought of it.

Life as it Happens - taken.
Simone Says - taken.
Getting There - taken.

You get the idea.

Then this morning, I decided to just play with fonts in Photoshop, using the picture of my lemonade stand (which I think is still very appropriate and which I love).


Great fun.
It links back to the old. But that's not all I write here. I write other stories.


From the Rollercoaster of Life? On the Rollercoaster of Life?
Hmmm. Does that make sense? Or should it be...


I think we have a winner, folks.
It makes sense to me - I hope it does to you too.

The new title doesn't require me to change my URL, email address, Facebook Page or anything else major. It connects with the old well enough while being a little less specific and giving me more room to move. Hopefully The peek User Testing people will approve.

What do you think?

EVOLUTION OF A BLOG IDENTITY:

 The name "Greatfun4kids" was right off the top of my head...
Greatfun4kids blog original header
Next I tried collage headers, which I changed every season (I get bored easily)
Greatfun4kids blog original headers
 When I grew tired of that, I asked my six-year-old daughter to create some artwork for me...

Child draws design for blog header

Child's design for blog header

Our family in all the seasons...

Greatfun4kids blog sketchy style header

That one stuck around for quite a few years, but eventually I started playing again, and tried a bunch of different versions (none of which stuck) and eventually arrived at:

Greatfun4kids blog PicMonkey header
Which soon became...

Greatfun4kids blog new name


I'd love to hear what you think of my attempt at a new name/identity for this blog... let me know!

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