Welcome to the New Frugal Rules!
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Notice anything different?! š Yes, this is still Frugal Rules, just a much better version of the original. A couple of months ago I had mentioned that there were some big changes coming to Frugal Rules and this is it.
A few know this already, but the wheels completely fell off the bus of the original redesign quite some time ago. It was about a year or so to be exact. Thatās all water under the bridge now as we’ve moved on with a local designer we do quite a bit of work with business wise. To say Iām happy with the end result would be putting it lightly. The previous, and original design, was utilitarian at best.
When I first started Frugal Rules, I remember vexing over spending $50 on a theme and then was hesitant to spend a few dollars per month on a hosting plan. I had no idea where this blogging thing would go or if Iād even enjoy it. Fast forward nearly two years and itās crazy to see whatās happened over that span of time.
Why the Redesign?
While l liked my original site, because my wife and I actually made it, it was terribly limited in regards to functionality. It served my purpose, but lacked color and ease of use. When you have hundreds of posts on a site that can make it difficult to know where to go to find the information you want. That was something I wanted to change in order to make the site more inviting and easier to navigate for my readers.
I believe this new design helps accomplish that goal while also giving me room to add other cool features in the future. It also allows me to highlight more of the content my team of staff writers and I have managed to grow over this time. Again, this was done with the desire to provide greater ease of use to visitors so they can locate the information theyāre looking for.
Iāve also been asked if it was going to be a Genesis or Thesis backed site. While both of those are fine platforms I ultimately chose to go with having a custom theme built so that I would have less restrictions and more control over what I could do.
Whatās New
There were quite a number of things I wanted to add with this redesign. The main issue was to instill more of a personal look to help foster the community here. Beyond that, there are some more practical changes:
A New Logo: This was something I was hesitant to change as I know many knew the site by the logo. However, it needed to be done. We have added some color to the logo, freshened it up and added a piggy bank. That last touch is really meant to communicate the ultimate goal of growing your money through a variety of efforts. I toyed with changing the tagline but just couldnāt come up with something I liked that was short and sweet. Thatās not to say it wonāt be changed in the future, just that itās in flux right now.
Icon Landing Pages: Looking at the bulk of the content on the site, I noticed four main topics I tend to center around: Attacking Debt, Learning to Invest, Frugal LivingĀ and Financial Product Reviews. I wanted to create a special landing page devoted to each of those categories. They give readers easy access toĀ several of the more helpfulĀ posts from each of those four categories. You should notice icons for each of those right under the newsletter sign up on the home page as well as on sidebars throughout the site.
Highlighting Other Important Content: With the amount of content thatās on the site, we obviously talk about other topics a good bit and I wanted to have a way to highlight that. Those are topics like self-employment, budgeting and financial literacy. You should notice a content module right below the most recent posts that allows you to tab through those topics and select a post to read. Again, thatās meant to help make information easier to find.
A New āBlogā Page: The home page is really more of a landing page now and while I do have a few of the most recent posts in the slider on top or in the aforementioned area I wanted something else. With that in mind, we added a āBlogā tab in the second menu bar for readers that simply want to go find a listing of the most recent posts by date.
My First E-book: It isnāt ready yet, but I am going to be adding a free e-book feature to those who sign up for my monthly newsletter. By signing up for the newsletter, readers will receive the e-book for free. The e-book tackles how to start investing when you donāt know where to start. As many know I spent five years in the online brokerage industryĀ and saw firsthand how many donāt know where to start. This e-book is meant to help those whoāre seeking help in getting started and should hopefully be ready in the next month or so.
How to Start a Blog Page: If youāve been a blogger more than a few months then youāve likely been asked about how to start a blogĀ and all thatās involved with that. Iāve created a page for those questions and share some of my favorite resources that help me save time with blogging.
Fewer Sidebar ads: Letās face it, in order to support the site I do so through affiliate sales. However,Ā I wanted to avoidĀ throwing up a bunch of sidebar ads in the redesign. For that reason, you’ll notice fewer ads in the sidebars throughout the site.
Media Page: Iāve had the privilege of being featured in a number of national publications over my time running the blog. Many in the media are on a tight schedule, so I wanted to create a Media pageĀ that would make it easier for them get in touch with me.
There are a number of other changes, but these make up the major onesĀ I wanted to push with the redesign. The large majority of the changes were done, as I noted above, in order to provide greater ease of use to readers. I wanted to provide multiple ways to get to the same information and I believe that has been accomplished for the most part.
With that being said, Iād like to thank my designer (you can see a link to his business site in the footer) as he is the one who made all of this possible. In addition,Ā Iām planning to run a post in a few weeks that coversĀ things to look for when hiring a web designer. I would also like to extend a thankful hat tip to my good friend Grayson,Ā who stepped in at the 11th hour to ensure things with the transition from the old site to the new site went smoothly.
Lastly, but certainly not least, Iād like to thank my lovely wife who not only put up with my neurosis of attention to detail, did a good bit of work on the site and didnāt make me sleep on the couch one night during the past few months. Without her much of what you see wouldnāt be here.
There will obviously be some tweaks and changes made over the next few days and weeks as I see how readers interact with the new site. If you have any questions, comments or anything else please leave them in the comment section.
John is the founder of Frugal Rules, a dad, husband and veteran of the financial services industry whose writing has been featured in Forbes, CNBC, Yahoo Finance and more.
Passionate about helping people learn from his mistakes, John shares financial tools and tips to help you enjoy the freedom that comes from living frugally. One of his favorite tools is Personal Capital , which he used to plan for retirement and keep track of his finances in less than 15 minutes each month.
Another one of John's passions is helping people save $80 per month by axing their expensive cable subscriptions and replacing them with more affordable ones, like Hulu with Live TV.
Latest posts by John Schmoll (see all)
- How to Pay off Debt Fast on a Low Income: 6 Ways to Kill Debt for Good - November 20, 2019
- 7 Best Online Mortgage Lenders to Buy A House - November 20, 2019
- 7 Best Places to Buy Cheap Glasses Online - November 18, 2019
68 Comments
I think it looks great John! The new logo is close enough to the original not to be confusing. And the piggy bank is a nice touch. Great stuff…keep going!
Thanks Brian! I agree, it’s close enough though still unique so that it doesn’t confuse people.
Loving the redesign. So much more colorful and easy to page through. I’m sure it was a lot of work changing things up, but all of that work was worth it!
Thanks Jon! It was, but it’s well worth it in the end.
It looks great! Love all the colors. I also love that you kept your logo and just tweaked it a bit.
Thanks Lauren!
Congratulations! It looks great, and I’m sure it was a ton of work.
Thanks Amy! It was and am glad it’s over. š
I like the new look, John. It’s fresh and bright.
Thanks Liz!
I love the new site design, John! Great job!
Thanks Holly!
Congratulations on the change, John! It looks great!!
Thanks Natalie!
Very cool. The site looks great on my phone, very nice responsive design. Great job!
Thanks Thomas! I was concerned about that, so glad it’s working out well on your end.
Love the new look! Very user friendly š
Thanks Monica!
I love it! Congrats Jon!
Thanks Stefanie!
John, the site looks AWESOME!! Super professional and very engaging. Great job!!
Thanks Laurie! Thank you for your help on it as well. š Congrats on your new gig!
Well, you know I love the site John! Thanks for the mention and I am glad I was able to help out get the site live. I am sure this design will be great for you.
Not a problem, thank you!
I love the new site John and I am excited about everything that you are going to do going forward, especially your eBook. If you need an editor or extra eye on that, let me know. I am a few weeks away from my book launch and I would love the opportunity to read something other than my own writing. š
Thanks Shannon! I’m pretty excited about it as well and just may take you up on your offer. I’ve been reading so much of my writing lately that I feel sorry for my readers, lol. š
Congrats on the new look and continued success!
Thanks Mike!
Love the redesign, John…very clean!
Thanks Travis, that’s the look I was going for!
Hi John.. This new design looks cool! The colors are amazing and I would really agree with Brian, the Piggy Bank in your logo added a wonderful touch to your site’s overall look.
Thanks Alicia! I agree, I like that as well. It was enough of a change to make it different but stay the same.
The new look is great – so much more colorful and eye catching – I love it. Keep up all of the great work.
Thanks Brad!
Looks great! And it gives me some ideas for where I might take my redesign. Hopefully later this year I’ll get that up and running and swapped over to a new host.
Thanks JC! Very cool on your redesign. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
I know I already told you but I think it looks fab! It looks super professional and I love the colors!
Thanks Cat, even if you did get a sneak peek. š
oh my gosh my eyes are thanking you right now. I did have to always lean in to the screen to read the content (which of course has always been great) but I love the big, readable font and colors! Nice job!!!
Ha ha, that was part of what I was wanting changed. I don’t have to squint anymore. š
Wow! Cool new look! Who’s the sexy dude on the top right, though? Is that a male model?
Thanks Joe! Ha ha, I fear my bounce rate will jump to 100% with that ugly mug up there!
I absolutely love the redesign John. It looks great, and the colors kind of draw you in and make you want to read more. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Josh! That was one of the things I was shooting for. š
Hey John…love the redesign. It’s very bright and colorful. I especially love the family pic on the bottom.
Thanks Andrew! I’m kinda partial to that pic too. š
Looks great, John! Very clean and welcoming. Great job!
Thanks Shannon!
Great job with the blog renovation, John! I love your new logo. š
Thanks Anna, glad you like it!
Loving the new design, John! It’s bright and cheerful and easy to navigate – perfect š
Thanks Nicola, that’s exactly what I was going for!
Congrats on the new site design.
Thanks Jason!
I love all the main options at top. The more – the merrier, in my opinion!!!
Good to know Will!
Your new site looks great! I love it!
Thanks Michelle!
I really like it too! Colours are snazzy and a nice new modern look. Congrats! I guess it was a lot of work but it’s (mostly) done now. š
Thanks Deb, that’s the understatement of the year. š
Site looks great!
Thanks Glen!
Well done mate. I love the family feel to the site now. The colours really pop and it’s very easy to navigate my way around. It pays to have a designer who works with you the way yours did. They are hard to come by… that’s for certain.
Thanks Mr. CBB! I was going for the easy navigation, but feared the colors were too much. Glad you like it!
Nice! I really think your site looks super professional, yet still really friendly and personal. Really good job mate.
Thanks Glen! That was the exact mix I was going for.
Absolutely loving the new design and navigation. Great logo and overall look. Awesome job!
Thanks for the kind words Jason, I’m pretty happy with it myself. š