Mamas, we’ve been doing some serious spring cleaning here on the website. We just celebrated our 7th “Blogoversary,” which means we’ve been publishing DAILY on this website for seven whole years. (Just to put this in perspective, our oldest kids were in kindergarten when we launched nwaMotherlode, and now they are… wait for it… TEENAGERS who turned 13 this year. Yes, we’re still in denial. The good news is we haven’t aged a bit.)
To mark the website’s blogoversary, we’ve freshened up the look with the following new features:
New, wider template: In blog terms, this is kind of like moving into a house with soaring ceiling heights. It makes 
everything feel light and airy. Hope you love it as much as we do.
Mobile-friendly design: We know many of you are glued to your smartphones because we are, too. So we wanted to make sure it’s super easy to read nwaMotherlode on the go without enlarging the text to be able to see it clearly. When you visit us on a smartphone or tablet, everything will be sized exactly right for your viewing pleasure. (Don’t forget that nwaMotherlode also has an app, available for free in the App Store or in Google Play. Click here for info.)
Fun new colors: We’re girls so we can’t help ourselves. We love playing with colors and design, so we brightened up the colors in our logo and website. Do you like? We used the pretty color palette on the right for inspiration.
Related posts: When you click on the headline of any post, you can read it and then — at the bottom of the post — you’ll see a section called “Related posts” which will take you to even more awesomeness. Hope you enjoy it. (And remember you can always type something in to the search bar, located at the top right-hand side of the site, to find anything you want.)
New content and old favorites: We’re constantly tweaking the mix of content to make sure we’re delivering what moms in Northwest Arkansas really want. Just recently we did a list of Restaurant Recommendations from Local Food Lovers which got tons of likes and views on social media. We’re working on more great features like that one and can’t wait to publish them this summer. Here are more of some of the new and/or updated things you’ll find on the website.
- Slightly Tilted: This blog by Jen Adair will make you laugh AND think. She covers everything from crazy dreams about fish to split personalities. Check it out by clicking here.
- Savvy Banking: Most of the time, it’s the mama of the house who’s making sure the family’s finances are in order. We’ve asked our friends at First National Bank of NWA to help us out with this new feature that’s all about the money, honey.
- Tweens & Teens: We’re bringing back this popular feature because, even if you don’t have teenagers right now, you will one day and we all need to get
ready for this phase of our kids’ lives.
- Picture Mama: We LOVE photos so we’re hosting another fun snapshot contest this summer sponsored by Bedford Camera & Video. Look for more details on the snapshot contest in May.
- Fitness: We recently published a series of articles on training for a marathon and it got LOTS of views, so we’ll be giving you more info on all kinds of fitness topics in the months to come.
- So Funny: We love rounding up funny articles and videos we find online, and now we’ve lined them up in one handy category called “So Funny.” You’ll find it under the Topics tab on the main navigation bar above. Motherhood is hard sometimes and we can always use a good laugh (or two or three.)
We’re continuing some of our readers’ favorite regular features on nwaMotherlode, like the monthly Calendar of Events, Five Minutes with a Mom, Mealtime Mama, Beauty Buzz, On Your Mind, Fashion Fairy Godmother, Good Gossip, Devotion in Motion, Inside His Head, Healthy Mama, Baby Gear & Gadgets, Pet Parenting, Gardening and more. We’ll also continue to write about our own lives and kids in blog posts you’ll find listed under Life with Ladybug and The Rockwood Files.
We bring a taste of nwaMotherlode to our daily radio segment on Magic 107.9 called “Mamas on Magic,” which airs at 7:45 a.m. every weekday. We’d love for you to tune in while you’re driving kids to school, driving to work or having breakfast at home.
And, last but certainly not least, we’ve developed a bit of a reputation for bringing local moms some crazy good giveaways from local mom-friendly companies. You can find those in our Giveaways category, listed under the Topics tab. One of our favorite things about this job is telling a local hard-working mom that she just won something really cool. The excitement of that moment just never gets old.
Stay tuned for more fun giveaways, and we send our deepest thanks to the website sponsors shown above and on the right who make those cool giveaways possible. (Please let our sponsors know that you see them here on nwaMotherlode.)
If you haven’t done it already, be sure to get on our Email Newsletter List and we’ll send you a quick note any time we’re giving something cool away on the website. Once you get on the list, you’ll never miss a thing. Click here to get on the list.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the website’s new look and we’re ALWAYS open to ideas, constructive critiques and requests for different types of features. Post a comment below or send us an email by clicking HERE. And as always, thank you for being a part of this online community of moms in Northwest Arkansas.
