Hello and welcome to the new incarnation of Effortless Anthropologie! This one’s been a long time coming and I have many behind-the-scenes people to thank (thank you!!).
Over the last few weeks you’ve probably noticed that things look pretty different around here. My last redesign of the look and feel of EA was in 2012, and while that design served us very well for a long time technology has come far enough that it was time to make things new again. Like a breath of fresh air, this redesign reinvigorates me and I hope it does you too.
Perhaps the most noticeable change is that this blog is no longer called Effortless Anthropologie. It’s purely a superficial change, though. You can expect this blog to still be home to all things Anthro, from occasional reviews and Reader Outfits posts to the Sale Guessing Game to articles about the biz side and so on. I love Anthropologie as much as ever and that will not change. Just in case you were concerned, later this week I’ll be launching an Anthropologie giveaway — stay tuned for that!
The name change comes about as I’m getting approached more often for sponsorships. As always, my preference with sponsorship is to partner with brands that give back to the community in the form of gift cards, special promo codes and the like. In the last 6 months I’ve been approached more than ever, but many brands froze the process when they realized my blog name had Anthropologie right in it. Over and over I’d hear, “We love you, we love your community, but we don’t want to pay to put our brand name on a blog named after another brand.”
Tough as that was to hear repeatedly, it does make sense to me. So, without changing the guts of what makes this blog so great, the name change is a win-win for me and for you too! I’ve even got a new Facebook page to go along with the blog, and a new blog URL! (Though effortlessanthropologie.blogspot.com will continue to work and for now, also host the posts.)
Like any big change, this new look will likely take some getting used to. The designers and I are not completely finished yet, there are still some tweaks to be made. However, this current appearance is very close to the final finished version we’ve envisioned. Photos are much larger on posts and the font is larger and easier to read. The navigation bar has been simplified and social links streamlined. I’m especially thrilled with the mobile version, which is much larger and easier to read now! (My parents in particular are delighted by that.)
I’ve also brought back some features, such as the ability to copy/paste text from the posts and comments. This was disabled back in 2013 after a bot site started stripping my RSS feed, reposting my posts on a ghost blog, and dragging down the Google/SEO rankings for the blog while also confusing readers mightily who accidentally landed there. Those ghost blogs seem to have faded away so copy/paste is back!
If you have any feedback on the blog or critiques of it, I’m happy to hear it but would prefer to dialog via email. Send your message to me at hello@effortlesslywithroxy.com.
And, as always, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!
