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Behind the Scenes of A Major Blog Rebrand

  February 16

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BLOG REBRANDWelcome to my brand new website and the reveal of my brand new – or at least majorly improved – business.

 

New site. New, clear mission. New ways to help you to pursue family, finances, and freedom.

 

This business rebrand comes after five months of work and conceptualization. It’s a major step for me and showcases how far I’ve come and where I hope to go in the future.

 

You’ll notice that my beloved BudgetBlonde.com is gone now (may it rest in in cyberpeace) and that I am now representing my business as myself – Catherine Alford.

 

This change represents so much to me and it’s a big step of leaving things behind and embracing a new and improved blogger identity.

 

You might be wondering why I did this and what ignited this change. If so, here’s a recap:

The Idea to Rebrand

 

It was my mentor, Farnoosh, who first brought up the idea of rebranding my business. During a call with her, we were talking about how to improve my business so I could get more lucrative partnerships. As part of the answer, she asked, “How would you feel if BudgetBlonde didn’t exist anymore?”

 

That question scared me, but Farnoosh is someone I look up to very much. She is a seasoned personal finance expert who has been on TV and in print media hundreds and hundreds of times. If anyone else had asked me that, I would have said talk to the hand, crazy…but because it came from Farnoosh, it was worth considering.

 

Obviously, because I built BudgetBlonde.com from scratch to a full time business, I didn’t want to let it go. I mean, I started with a blog hosted on blogspot with a header I made in Microsoft Paint, so the the road has been long, but we’ve always improved and made things better as time has gone on.

 

Ultimately, as much as it scared me, the thought of leaving behind BudgetBlonde also intrigued me, so I told her I would sleep on it.

Finding a Reason for a Rebrand

 

I put my heart and soul into BudgetBlonde. I worked on it for countless hours for years and years. Friends and family members called me BudgetBlonde. I became the brand. There was no separation between who BudgetBlonde was and who I was so why would I ever consider re-branding it into something else?

 

Well, I asked myself that same question and it wasn’t long before the universe started showing me that it was time to move on.

 

Basically, there came a point where the BudgetBlonde brand started holding me back. I started working with an agent in New York who connected me with some corporate clients. We were speaking about creating content for prices I didn’t even know bloggers could make. I was excited, but deal after deal fell through.

 

When I asked for feedback, I learned that the BudgetBlonde brand wasn’t coming across as smart, sophisticated, and business savvy like I was in person. My writing samples were good, but the fact that I was connected with something called BudgetBlonde didn’t quite fit what many of them were looking for nor did it really fit me, which was hard to realize.

 

Somehow, along the way, the appearance, tone, and even colors of my blog didn’t match up to the new mission of my business. It just didn’t go with the businesswoman I’ve become. So, I decided to clarify my message and the way to do that, I decided, was to rebrand.

Defining a Mission

 

The first step I took in the rebrand was defining my mission and my primary goal, the reason I was put on this Earth, if you will. So, you know, #nopressure.

 

Longtime readers knew my story – a girl who left a job to move to the Caribbean and was so broke she started writing articles for $10 a pop…a move that slowly grew and expanded until I was making enough of an income through writing for blogs to become self employed, stay home with my twins, and support my husband throughout his medical school career.

 

Through many struggles, ups, and downs, my experiences have created a new story and in many ways a new woman who is devoted to helping families, especially moms, take control of their finances, develop confidence with money, and start badass businesses of their own so they can spend more time with their kids.

 

This idea – this mission and passion of mine – evolved slowly over time. I realized the name BudgetBlonde harkened back to my earlier graduate school days and my days as a young newlywed where I would find furniture in thrift stores and spray paint it yellow.

 

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – in fact, there are bloggers who make multiple six figures from writing about exactly that – but my mission and goals here have changed. My business/blog isn’t really about me anymore or my adventures. It’s not about the blonde girl who loves to score a deal or find furniture on the side of the road.

 

This blog is now more about you and showing you the path to creating wealth through incredible work ethic, creativity, and grit using my own story as a lens to prove it can happen. I couldn’t be more excited about this new platform and I do believe it will help my business to grow even more now that it portrays me in the way I want to be seen – the way I truly am now. 

 

Please, if you will, take some time to look around.  There is a new intro video on the front page, a speaking demo video, finally a list of amazing resources, and just phenomenal graphics throughout. I love how the site moves and appears as you click on the different pages and scroll down. I am just completely obsessed with it, and I told my web designer, Liz Theresa, that it looks like a $10,000 website. She really outdid herself, and I highly recommend her work. 

 

If you see anything on this site that needs fixing or updating, please just let me know. My guess is that moving six years of work through cyberspace might produce a glitch here or there, so bear with us as we find them and work out every kink. Until then, I’d love your feedback on the design, layout, new clover logo, colors, etc. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m so thrilled to share this update with you.

 

Thank you for your support of BudgetBlonde over the past six years and your continued support of this new venture for many years to come.

 

xo,

Cat

BLOG REBRAND

44 responses to “Behind the Scenes of A Major Blog Rebrand

    1. It was super fun to be the first guest on their show. We had a lot of fun recording that episode! 🙂 I’m glad you like the new look. It was definitely time for a change.

  1. Nailin’ it! This insight is so important and I think a lot of people get stuck where they are because they don’t take the time really reflect and realize when they’ve grown out of their initial brand. We evolve, we have to let our brands evolve. Can’t wait to watch what’s next!

  2. Brilliant Cat, I love it~ I can understand what you mean about BB holding you back and not showing your professional potential. This however does and it makes sense to move up as your business grows. This to you is not a hobby, it’s your career and it should reflect the woman that you are. I’m off to go be nosey around the site now. Great designer too.

    1. Thanks Mr. CBB! It’s definitely time for my brand to reflect my new direction and goals. I’m very excited to see if this change helps me with some of my business goals.

  3. I love the colors (and the sparkles!). I definitely feel like this fits you more. I’ve been thinking about a re-brand the past few months – it’s crazy to think about how we’ve evolved over the years, and how our blog/site names can hold us back. Not only with our business and earning more, but it can become a mental roadblock when producing content, too. So excited and happy for you!

    1. I love the sparkles too! It’s my favorite part. 🙂 I think when you hit that roadblock and it’s stopping your from producing content and growing your business, you definitely need to work toward a re-brand. Let me know if you have any questions, I’d be glad to try and help!

  4. Good luck. I hope you keep a lot of the focus on you, though. Let me put it this way, there are a million blogs or sites out there that can tell me things about money or wealth or related topics, but there’s only one site about you. I most enjoy sites that don’t just tell me about how I should do things, but where the bloggers tell me how they did things and then make it relate to my situation. Your former site did a great job at that. I just don’t want to see you lost that, and hope you find a good balance.

  5. Kind of wonder if it was the domain name itself. Budget makes people think that it’s a site about frugality and that’s pretty much it. A lot of people have this stereotype of blondes being “ditzy” which is ridiculous as I’ve met many talented and well educated blondes, still that stereotype remains. I think it’s a good idea your re-branded. BTW, I really love your new look. Hope your new business ventures work out now!!

  6. Looks fab! I think it was smart to rebrand. I think the people you worked with probably didn’t understand the blogging world enough to know that BudgetBlonde is catchy and memorable. But ya gotta move with the times. And apparently, that includes presenting yourself as, well, yourself.

    Good for you for taking the plunge. It does look like an amazing, uber-professional website. I doubt any more deals will fall through.

    1. Thanks girl! I’m definitely excited to present this more professional looking site, and brand, to help grow my business. I agree that you definitely have to keep up with the times and this seems to be the way things are moving.

  7. Congrats, Cat, on the beautiful new site and the brave, bold rebrand! I’ll miss Budget Blonde for old time’s sake, but I’m super happy for you for taking the big step of retiring that site and embracing your badass entrepreneur mom identity. I hope your new site and brand lead to bigger and better things on all fronts! xo

    1. Thanks! I miss Budget Blonde a little bit too *tear* but I do think this site is more me and I’m excited to have a bit of a fresh start. 🙂

  8. Hey Cat!

    I love the rebrand. This rebrand will certainly add value to your website and your story in the years ahead. Good luck in 2016. Will be keeping tabs. Wishing you success. Great design too…

  9. The new blog looks great. I love how your online presence is growing and changing. I’ve been following you for a while and have enjoyed watching your journey. Thanks for all of the stories and advice. I can’t wait to see what comes next 🙂

  10. This is so great Cat! You’re one of the very first PF bloggers that I discovered and it’s awesome to see all the great things you’ve done because I know it’s possible. The new site looks fabulous! Congrats 🙂

  11. Congratulations! Everything looks amazing! This is something that I didn’t really think about when naming my blog at all so I am glad you brought it up. The feminist in me wonders if that brands recommending you change the image/colors/etc is a female-specific thing and not something that guys in the PF industry really need to worry about but maybe not. Maybe I’m reading a little too much into it but worth a discussion. Thanks!

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