Rebranding My Website
Hey, everyone!
This week I took on the project of rebranding my website. I changed the name, the URL, the purpose, the theme, and created a logo.
The name changed to Student Aid Struggle from How to Pay Off Student Loans Faster. Clearly, the new name is easier to remember. With the old name, I was targeting a keyword phrase and I figured I'd get a little extra traffic that way. Then it occurred to me that sharing my website by word of mouth would be a lot easier with a more memorable name.
The URL is the same as the name. The old name was quite a bit to type and could easily have been mistaken for another URL, howtopayoffstudentloansfast.com. I figure this new URL would have less confusion since the name is easy to remember and doesn't copy other site titles.
The general purpose of my last site was to help students find ways to pay off student loans. The new purpose is to provide student aid alternatives and methods for paying off student loans. I throw in a little self-improvement content as well. I think the new purpose is more appealing to my potential audience and covers a wider niche while still being targeted.
I changed the WordPress theme for the site as well. I was using Nisarg which provided a clean and responsive theme. I ended up switching to Siteorigin's theme North and started using the Siteorigin Page Builder plugin. This allows for much greater customization of each page and post but it is a little confusing to build pages. I've still got work to do on the theme to make it look better, but I think it's okay as is.
The last thing I did was create a simple logo. I had to rework it a little bit to fit the theme header. At first it was angled, but then I had to straighten it out. The end result was this:
Hopefully, with these changes I'll be able to pull in more traffic and have higher conversions.
Some things I will continue to work on is rewriting parts of posts and pages and reformatting the way I made each page.
What do you think of the changes I've made? Have you ever had to rebrand one of your sites? Let me know in the comments. :)
Thanks for reading,
-Nigel
Recent Comments
2
I have never rebranded a site but I think your changes will make a difference. I love your logo and your niche will help a lot of people. It sounds as if you are on target with your changes.. I wish you much success with your new website.
Thank you, Stephanie. I'm glad it's not just me that feels like this is the right direction. I really appreciate the feedback!
Thank you again,
-Nigel