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Permalink Reply by Emily Graham on November 14, 2015 at 9:54am

There are 2 things that jumped out at me. First, there seems to be a lot of white space. What about a logo versus just text at the top to add some more color/interest? I found someone on Fivver. Paid a little more to get what I wanted (I think $65). I got a logo for the site as well as Twitter & Facebook.

I love your photos. However, as I go to read a post I want to click on it to take me to the post, but it doesn't. I'm sure other people do that too. So there may be some struggle to figure out how to get to your post as you have to click on the actual title or "read more".

Otherwise, it looks clean, professional, easy to read. Photos and layout are good (in my opinion).

Hope this helps! 

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Permalink Reply by Emily Graham on November 14, 2015 at 10:39am

Make that Fiverr.com (I always type it fivver). Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by Tiffany Benyacko on November 14, 2015 at 5:29pm

I am a lover of white space but Emily is on point about a logo. If not a logo, try some different fonts with your blog title. Check out Etsy, there are some great designers there that create logos for a low price, some even around $25! It just depends on what you want. I would even suggest Canva to create your own. Might be a good idea to have a selfie over on your sidebar profile. Your pics are lovely, wish I could take crisp, clear pics like that! 

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Permalink Reply by Karla Gibbs on November 16, 2015 at 9:36am

Thanks for the critiques everyone. There just isn't any $ right now for a logo. I had one for my old blog, but since I had to redo with a new title, I'm at square one. 

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Permalink Reply by Emily Graham on November 16, 2015 at 1:54pm

Then definitely check out Canva as Tiffany mentioned. Free! You can play around with some pre-designed text/images to create your own. Really easy!!

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Permalink Reply by Janice on November 17, 2015 at 11:24am

Karla, good job on your blog! Your content is helpful and useful which is key. I do agree about the white space at the top of your home page. Is there any way you can move up that first blog post a bit? What shows up above the fold on all website home pages is important. See if you have possibly fix that. You also could place a sign up box for email on the top right side of your blog for people to sign up for your list. That way you can alert them of new content, helpful tips and promote offers to them in the future.

What is the main goal of your blog and what is your plan for it?

Again, you have some really good content -- good job! I love the layout. It's clean and easy to read. The only issue I see is just on the initial arrival to your home page. If you can decrease the white space, it would be better for your readers so they scroll less.

Also, I don't think you need a logo at all. Just keep doing what you're doing. The logo can come later. No need to invest money if it's not necessary to do so.

Janice

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Rockwell on November 17, 2015 at 12:20pm

Your blog looks nice, clean, and easy to browse. I love white space, but I do thing there is a little bit too much on the top, and since I am getting late to this party I see you already made the images to click to the post, well done lady!

I love your photography, I am interested on hearing how you get such good light on your photos.

-Pamela

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Permalink Reply by Karla Gibbs on November 18, 2015 at 8:26am

I used a downloaded template and cannot seem to find the padding code to minimize the white space at the top. As far as the photos go, I only use natural light. We have almost NO windows in our house, so anything taken inside has to be done right in the AM to get it just right. 

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Rockwell on November 18, 2015 at 11:59am

Found it in the css file, do you have access to it?

.header-wrapper {

1. _background-image: none;
2. max-width: 960px;
3. margin: 100px auto;
4. padding: 50px 0;

If you change the padding to just 0 it makes it smaller.

In regards to your photography pic, I guess I just need to be more organize and have everything ready in the AM to take pics :)

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Permalink Reply by Karla Gibbs on November 18, 2015 at 2:18pm

Ah, thank you. My eyes go so cross staring at it.

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