The layout is definitely an improvement – it seems much less cluttered than before. But as other’s have said I don’t think it seems quite as ‘personal’ as before. Soften the font on the header and put your picture back up at the top and I think it will be great!

Dan

I’ve now added my picture to the right sidebar.

What do you think? Does it make the place look a tad friendlier?

Cheers

Lee McIntyre

I find that the header is a bit straight in the face thought.

To me it does not look coporate enough and since that your business is producing more physical products, maybe you can have a blog that look more professional.

Just my opinion.

John Tan

@Sam – thanks for the comments. Yes this is still Wordpress, and I use servint.com for hosting.

I have a VPS with Servint which would be too much for most people. I know the owners of D9 Hosting and can recommend their services

(no affiliate link…must be losing my touch!)

@Mark – thanks for the feedback. I might have a play and see if I can make some changes to the header.

I agree it’s a bit bold and impersonal so I’ll have a think what changes I can make.

@Cheryl – great idea on a report! I’ll certainly do this once the data is in and thanks for a great tip.

Lee McIntyre

The less cluttered look works. but it’s just not as “approachable” as it was before. Not sure why…

I know you’re still tweaking and it will be interesting to note the reactions of your new visitors – how long they stay, what they go after, etc.

Will you put togehter a report? That would be great.

Good Job -
Cheryl

Saying that though, there is nothing wrong with the actual layout of the theme. I recon that 2-column themes could become more popular again, for the simple reason that most people just want to read the content, and not everything you want to put into the sidebar! (I might be wrong, and probably am, but it would be interesting to find out!)

And as you asked if I liked the theme, the only 2 parts that put me off is the header and navigation! I’m not sure exactly why, I just dont!

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to conduct a little experiment with my blog, and actually make use of WordPress and the power that it has. However I am a little worried that it could do more harm than good, so I’m not going to try it out!

I look forward top your results too Lee, it’ll be interesting I think!

Thanks
Mark

Must admit the first time I saw the new format I thought I had gone to the wrong website!

First reaction was I didn’t like it. Seemed a bit cold and impersonal. As you say, building a relationship with your readers is vital and, strangely, having your picture at the top makes the site human.

Having said that, you are absolutely right in what you are trying to achieve. I always thought the page was way too cluttered below the banner. Believe it or not I have actually clicked on all the links in the banner of this new look page,which is exactly what you wanted to achieve. That was before reading this post, so well done.

To sum up, I personally think you will have more success with this new format, but maybe you should reinstate your picture in the banner.

By the way, are you still using wordpress for this blog and what hosting package do you recommend to host wordpress?

Cheers,
Sam