Stunning Blog Design For Garden Betty

Project Highlights

Design

The Garden Betty redesign brought a beloved, high-traffic gardening and homesteading blog into a new era of performance, usability, and style.

Linda Ly, the founder and author behind Garden Betty, had built an incredible online resource for home gardeners, but her theme had been discontinued and was no longer supported. She needed a secure, modern, and mobile-optimized site that leveraged the latest WordPress and Kadence features — without sacrificing the warmth and personality her readers love.

We rebuilt the site on the Kadence Theme, streamlining navigation and reorganizing her extensive archive of gardening, homesteading, and recipe content into user-friendly silo pages. The refreshed design blends freshness and familiarity, introducing a bright, welcoming aesthetic with intuitive layouts that make exploring easier than ever.

“It’s so easy to navigate on all devices—I love the responsive layouts, the new Shop and Book pages, and all the different conversion boxes I can now use throughout my site. The design feels fresh, warm, and friendly, which was exactly what I was going for.”

About Garden Betty

Founded by Linda Ly, Garden Betty is one of the most respected gardening and sustainability blogs on the web. Since 2010, it’s become a go-to resource for millions of readers who want to learn how to grow their own food, live more sustainably, and embrace the joy of backyard homesteading.

Linda’s content covers everything from seed-starting and preserving harvests to raising backyard chickens and surf travel — all delivered with her signature warmth and authenticity.

With this redesign, her website now reflects the depth of her expertise and the vibrancy of her brand, setting her up for continued growth and engagement.

Initial Challenges

When Linda reached out, she faced several key challenges:

• Her previous theme had been discontinued and posed security concerns.
• The site needed a refreshed design that took advantage of modern WordPress block functionality.
• The user experience needed improvement for mobile and desktop visitors.

“My theme was discontinued and no longer supported, so I needed a new theme for security issues. My site was also a few years old, and while it was built using Gutenberg blocks, I wanted a site that took advantage of all the new WordPress functionality.”

Deciding To Hire DIY Dream Site

Linda first discovered Katy through the Mediavine Publishers Facebook group, where multiple bloggers praised her expertise with Kadence and her track record for high-performing blog designs.

“I liked that Katy specializes in Kadence, which I’d already been leaning toward using for my redesign. She has a great portfolio of sites that showcased her abilities really well, and her aesthetic is clean and modern without being cookie cutter.”

After their first Zoom call, Linda knew it was a perfect fit:

“Katy’s attentive, approachable, super professional, and clearly knows what she’s doing.”

What Linda Loves Most About The New Site

She loves the improved navigation, the responsive layouts, the refreshed aesthetic, and the expanded page structure. Highlights include:

• Easy browsing on all devices
• A completely updated Shop page and dedicated Book page
• Multiple new conversion box designs that she can use throughout her site
• A layout that feels warm, friendly, and aligned with her brand

The final design reflects exactly what she was aiming for.

Transformation In Her Business

Beyond aesthetics, the redesign fundamentally improved Garden Betty’s user experience, speed, and structure.

“I learned that good design (and attention to how things look across different screens) is key to making information flow well on a page, especially if you have a lot of it to convey.”

The streamlined site architecture, silo pages, and new call-to-action placements position Linda for higher engagement, longer site visits, and more conversions for her book and affiliate offerings.

Favorite Part Of Working Together

“I loved that I knew exactly what was going on with my site at every stage of design. Katy’s project management system, and all the documents and videos she’s put together to guide her clients through the process, are incredibly detailed and organized.”

Linda appreciated how structured and transparent the process was — every milestone was clear, every deliverable on time.

“She made me think hard about what I wanted to get out of my site, and I appreciated the deep dive I had to take into my business before we could start.”

Final Thoughts From Linda

Linda shared that the redesign not only elevated her site visually but also renewed her confidence in the direction of her business. She felt supported throughout the entire process, appreciated the clear organization and guidance, and was impressed by how well her ideas were transformed into thoughtful, polished layouts. As someone with a design background, handing over creative control was a big step, but seeing the final result confirmed that the investment was completely worth it.