I’ve been blogging for almost five years and have never given myself a makeover – until now!
I’ve made three changes:
- A brand new ‘theme’ (i.e. the overall ‘look’)
- The initial website ‘landing page’ is now the ‘About Me’ page, so that anyone searching for me on the internet (unlikely, but you never know – it might happen!) will immediately see ME rather than a spurious blog post about a writing competition or someone else’s book
- A new domain name. An acquaintance told me that they never visit websites with ‘wordpress’ in the URL because it flags up ‘amateurism’. I don’t want to give an amateur impression so I’ve paid for the domain http://www.sally-jenkins.com (hyphenated because sallyjenkins.com wasn’t available).
So, I hope you like the new professional look!
In other news:
If you are planning on entering either the Flash 500 competition or the Writers’ Bureau Short Story competition then you might like to take a look at this blog post by Iain Pattison. He is judging both these competitions and talks about his likes and dislikes in short story competition entries.
Kobo are offering e-books for half-price until Monday August 31st. If you have a Kobo e-reader or fancy downloading the Kobo App, simply key in the code SALE50 (can be used as many times as you like over the weekend) when you download a book. This is a chance to buy Old Friends – 13 Coffee Break Stories for 75p – less than half the Amazon price!
#1 by susanjanejones on August 29, 2015 - 12:07 pm
Thanks for the links, Sally and will look at your website when I get to my computer – on my mobile at the moment.
#2 by Susan Jones on August 29, 2015 - 12:32 pm
Hi, Sally, it looks great, and thanks for keeping my link on your blog, I must add yours on my website as well if you like. It does look more professional, but I liked it before as well. Thanks for the links.
#3 by Sally Jenkins on August 29, 2015 - 6:56 pm
Glad you approve, Susan! And yes please, I’d love you to include my link on your site.
#4 by blogaboutwriting on August 29, 2015 - 2:35 pm
Sally – I’m impressed! It all looks very professional. Well done, you. Would appreciate some tips on sorting out a domain name.. but perhaps that’s something you’ll be saving for an article!?!
#5 by Sally Jenkins on August 29, 2015 - 7:00 pm
Thanks, Helen. The domain name was easy, I’m simply ‘renting’ it on an annual basis from wordpress. So the site is still hosted by wordpress but just has a different URL. It may not be the cheapest/best way but to me it seemed the simplest. All the info is here https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/. I did option 1 – Register a new domain and paid the extra to keep my personal details private. Good Luck!
#6 by nickdaws on August 30, 2015 - 1:11 pm
Congratulations on the new look blog, Sally. It looks great, including on my smartphone!
#7 by Sally Jenkins on August 30, 2015 - 7:03 pm
Thanks, Nick. Haven’t looked at it on my phone yet so good to know that it works!
#8 by Dorinda Cass on August 30, 2015 - 5:31 pm
Love your new website, Sally. Very ‘clean’ and easy to navigate. Has lots of useful info. I look forward to your weekly blog as you always have something interesting to say, and good links.
Also, I tried to use the comments space on the website but it wouldn’t let me enter anything. May be a glitch or me being incompetent!
#9 by Sally Jenkins on August 30, 2015 - 7:11 pm
Thanks, Dorinda. I think I turned off the comments on the ‘about me’ page, so that may be the problem there – not you being incompetent!
#10 by Wendy Clarke on August 31, 2015 - 7:26 am
Very smart! I think a revamp every now and again is a good idea. I’ve just bought my domain name too but have yet to do anything with it.
#11 by Sally Jenkins on August 31, 2015 - 11:01 am
Thanks, Wendy. I look forward to seeing what you do with yours!
#12 by stuart127 on August 31, 2015 - 9:25 am
Nice new look Sally. Easy to navigate. I like it. Well done.
#13 by Sally Jenkins on August 31, 2015 - 11:02 am
Thanks, Stuart!
#14 by juliathorley on August 31, 2015 - 2:59 pm
It’s already been said, but I think your new look makes you look very professional – which of course you are.
#15 by Sally Jenkins on August 31, 2015 - 4:46 pm
You say the nicest things, Julia!