Winning the Web Blog Redesign - Goodbye Aston Martin
January 21st, 2008 - Written by Gyutae ParkLearn more about Internet marketing strategy by subscribing to my RSS feed - free and updated daily!
In an attempt to better brand the blog and distinguish myself in the crowded space of Internet marketing sites, I’ve decided to rework my theme and keep things simple. If you’ve visited the blog before, you may remember a large header banner sporting a beautiful blue Aston Martin car zooming towards you. Unfortunately, John Chow has a similar car theme and many times I’ve been labeled as a “copycat”. Of course my content is fresh, unique, and useful but that doesn’t seem to be enough for the fickle crowd these days. 
I actually considered going with a totally new custom theme from the guys over at Unique Blog Designs. But since I already liked the layout of my theme and just needed to rework some of the elements, I just couldn’t justify the hundreds of dollars I’d need to spend. I’m no designer by any means, but I think I like what I have here. What do you think?
Just to be nostalgic and revisit old memories, let’s take a look at the old theme once more.
So what do you guys think of the “new” theme? All of the colors and formatting are the same but I’ve made some small changes that will hopefully make the site look more professional and worthwhile. Below are some of the changes I’ve made:
- Solid color backgrounds (with smooth gradients)
- Rearranged some of the elements such as search box, ad banners, and subscribe buttons
- Goodbye to the Aston Martin car header
- A new store box (coming soon)
- “Advertise on WTW” banner
- Another row of 125×125 ad buttons
- A Winning Sites category for paid links (without PageRank)
- Got rid of WTW Features
- A cleaner font for headers
Any suggestions or issues? I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a comment with your feedback. Also, be sure to vote in the poll. Thanks!
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37 Responses to “Winning the Web Blog Redesign - Goodbye Aston Martin”
Got to admit I like this one. It looks very unique and it sets you apart from the likes of John Chow etc. who also have similar themes to your last one.
Nice one!
I like it. I think you made a smart move removing the Aston, it’s a nice car though.
About the row of 125×125: a bad thing now is that on some monitors they all aren’t above the fold. I’m sitting on a 22″ now, and I only see half of the last row. Not the worst thing, but it could be important to some of the advertisers?
Anyway - good work so far.
Staale aka Vikingblogger
The Aston Martin did make your site a little out of focus. Although it’s the same theme as the older one, it looks cleaner now.
Sly from Slyvisions.com
Gyutae, I was convinced that, based on the great results you’ve had with the T-shirts during the contest you would come up with something such as a WTW store, looking forward to seeing how it works out for you
Alan Johnson
Love the new design! Looks much better. I never did understand the Aston Martin.
Well I wasn’t around for the old one but I remember seeing it once or twice when I found you via John Chow.
People only call you a copycat because John Chow is very well known in this niche, one of the most known so anything he does that a smaller guy does similarly. They will get the flack.
Because a flash car in a header isn’t unique to John Chow. It’s not like he invented that concept so who cares. Just go with what you like.
Anyway I think your current layout and structure is fine, no need to change anything.
The header is ok but more of an actualy logo would do you wonders.
I recommend Logo Samurai dot com.
Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.
I agree on the logo.. But wow, the wonders of a redesign. WTW looks a lot cleaner now.
I would say it is a 10% improvement than before.
The Aston Martin was nice. I must admit without it the site looks cleaner
Hi Gyutae. I like both the old and new, but I disagree with most. I know the car looked like a copycat, but it at least put a visual connection to Winning the Web for me.
I think you need to replace the car banner with another banner. There’s too much white space up top now. If you decide to leave it, I’d at least redo your Winning the Web text logo to really make it pop out for brand recognition.
As for the other changes, I have no idea. I don’t know how to monetize a blog. If you want I’ll come up with one for you for free but I won’t be able to do anything for a few days. There’s a Kevin Smith movie being filmed over here and I’m lending a hand with it.
P.S. I know my current banner needs spucing up too.
Take care man. See you in a few.
Thanks for the tips. I tried fixing the whitespace issue on top so hopefully it looks better now. You must be having some fun with that movie shooting, eh?
Yeah, it was fun. From what I saw, the movie’s gonna be pretty funny.
The top looks much better now. I gotta find a way to make use of the whole screen like you do. I still have those default Kubrick wide margins. Later Gyutae.
I like it now, without the aston martin its much more focused and inline with the content
Both w/ the aston and w/out look good…
I like the fact that all those side-adds are well below the text, but I don’t think it is intended that way.
The ‘Advertise’ bar on top is quite annoying. It can be turned off, but like most people I don’t like to click on things which resemble an ad.
With kind regards,
Fred
Do I also see a place to buy a T-shirt up top!? So you used my idea after all! Shouldn’t I get a free t-shirt for suggesting it?
I think all the changes look great!
I like the look but I think the body should be a little wider. Its a very clean look and seems to load a little faster for me too.
I love the Aston Martin, but I am a car nut.
I’m a fan of WTW, header image or no. However, I think you should definitely consider getting a unique custom logo that pops - the white space at the top makes the blog less memorable to new visitors, IMO. I’ve been reading this blog consistently for a few months now and I definitely connected you with the car, and I don’t think that it was fair of anyone to say that it was a copy-cat image. BTW, who the heck cares if John Chow has a picture of a car on his blog!!?!?! I like his content but he’s definitely NOT the first person to put a picture of a car as a header image on a blog in THIS niche. Just because he’s a blogging celebrity, doesn’t mean that he’s suddenly original.