Welcome to my new online digs woohoooo I’m so excited to show you around.
It took a little while, but TLK has had a full makeover and doesn’t she look pretty? When I started The Luminous Kitchen in October last year, a friend of mine did a few custom tweaks to a free wordpress theme and I was off and away.
I’m a big believer in start before you’re ready. If the path feels good, follow it. Don’t get caught up in trying to have everything perfect before you start because that only leaves you stagnant and in procrastination mode. TLK definitely wasn’t perfect when I started and even though it was only 8 months ago, I kinda cringe at some of my first photos. ( photos that at the time I was proud as punch of), however it felt so right and I have loved everything about creating and sharing it with you.
It’s quite a strange thing having your website overhauled especially when you have a picture in your mind of how you want it to look and must find the words to communicate what you envision to a designer. This is something that I chat a lot about with my girls in the Bright Eyed and Blog Hearted group. You want your online space to feel like home and you want it to be an authentic reflection of you. This is not an easy thing for a designer to accomplish.
Well lets take a look around shall we? Where to begin..
There is a brand new theme with a custom layout and I’m sure you will agree that it looks way better. What I love most is the functionality of the new layout and the way my images have more space to breathe on the page. I chose Foodie Theme ( quite fitting) which works off the Genesis framework and then worked with a designer to fully customize it.
There is a new About page where you can get to know me a little better.. ok a lot better. What can I say? I’m a sharer. You can read about the path I’ve been on, the adventures I’ve had, the adventures still calling my name, my philosophies on food, cooking and eating and yip… a whole lot more.
My recipes now have their own place in the menu header and with the new recipe plugin I’ve used, you can save my recipes to a recipe box and easily print them as well. No more iPads in the kitchen no?
My diary has been filling up with projects from ebooks to commercial food shoots to lovely blog and lifestyle shoots and now my packages can be easily accessed in the Work With Me page.
There are new categories as well which will make my non-recipe posts much easier to find. I’m so excited to share some posts I’ve been working on in some of these categories. Not to worry though there will still be plenty of recipe posts.
Pinterest is a food blogger and photographer’s best friend. It can drive a huge amount of traffic and a whole lot of work your way so now I have made it super easy for you to share my photos to Pinterest with a custom Pin Me button. Just hover over the image and it will pop up and please don’t be shy… pin whatever you feel pulled to.
When you get lost in posts there is now a lovely scroll to top button which will make scrolling so much easier because who else hates taking 2 seconds to scroll to the top of the page?
There are some pretty cool things happening in the sidebar too with Posts You Loved which is a collection of the most popular posts and a Learn How To button – I love How-To posts and I plan on doing a lot more of them. Everything from how to cut an onion properly to how to make lump free polenta… it’s coming.
I have been thinking long and hard about opening up advertising space on TLK. It can be a great way to generate income, but often that comes with a price to pay in the form of reduced readability. I’m not sure at this point if I want to scarafice your experience on my website for some extra moola and have annoying blinking banners in your face. I am however open to giving brands that are aligned with TLK some advertising space.
I also now have a post signature to give the illusion that I personally signed off on each post. I think it’s quite cute I like it when bloggers add a signature. It feels a little more personal.
I know that the look and feel will continue to change and evolve as the journey changes, but for now I am so happy with the new tweaks and I hope you enjoy the new layout as well.
Please feel free to have a look around and leave me a comment with any thoughts you have on all the changes.
Your new home is gorgeous Jo!!! I love it!
xxx
J’adore cette nouvelle interface, maintenant je ne te quitte plus
Thank you so much my darling! xxx
Love the new ‘Online Home’ Jo, looks great. X
I’ll let you in on a little secret Jo, I sometimes pop over here just to become lost in your gorgeous photography. So pleased to hear you’re sharing your talents with the world through your new packages.
Keep shining beauty x