Hi everyone! Welcome to Bake with Bakabee 3.0! I have been so excited working on my redesigned and rebranded website and now, finally, it comes to life! In this post, I’d like to tell you why I decided the time was right for a relaunch and explain the concept behind it. I hope you’ll enjoy browsing the 3.0 version and in the process you’ll find all sorts of wonderful things: my tested and approved recipes, officially loved by everybody; simple and budget-friendly baking tool organisation solutions; plus video tutorials to help you create successful bakes which will impress your friends and family on any occasion. and some useful tips to inspire you. If any recipes catch your eye, why not try them? And it’s all free! Don’t forget to let me know how it turns out, I love getting feedback.
Alright, back to the website. Three words describe the process of creating the new version: REBRAND, REDESIGN and RELAUNCH. Let’s take them one at a time…
Rebranding
The purpose of rebranding the website from ‘Bakabee’ to ‘Bake with Bakabee’ is to signal a change in direction for the business which has happened in parallel to my relocation from Singapore to the UK.
I developed my 2.0 website to focus on selling my customised bakes online when I was running my home baking business in Singapore from 2018. Primarily, it was a showcase for my baking creations and acted as a shop window for my e-shop where customers could order bakes online. ‘Bakabee’ was a brand for my customers that was easy to remember. I got a lot of return business and referrals with this brand – which is just what you want! It was really interesting to see how that built up over time. Each product I added, for example when I added corporate branded cookies, took time to bed in. But the volume increased gradually over time as that part of the market became aware of my existence. By the time I left Singapore, I had a really high volume of corporate business – but it took time and patience to build.
Even while running the business, I did still write posts and create videos to share recipes and organisation tips but it wasn’t my main focus at that time because I was pretty busy!
In March 2022, for a variety of reasons which included a significant tightening of employment regulations relating to expats, we decided to relocate to the UK. I shut down the Bakabee business operation in Singapore at the end of 2021. It was sad in many ways as I felt I had established a real brand identity in the Singaporean market but I am proud of what I achieved in four years – basically taking the business from an idea to an online baker of choice with a strong client base and a significant social media profile.
Here in the UK, in between being too cold then too hot and then too cold again, I thought it was the right time to reposition the website. I wanted to move away from selling bakes online to a primary emphasis on blogging about baking and creating baking videos. As the name says, ‘Bake with Bakabee’ – come bake with me!
What am I?
If you have been following me, you will already know that I am a self-taught home baker. I learned everything by myself, not only how to bake, but also how to organise my baking tools, how to create a more efficient baking environment, how to build a website and all of the associated social media skills. Literally everything that happens behind the scenes, I do by myself (my husband claims he helps with the washing up). For all I have learnt, I’m still learning every day. Actually, that’s what I really love about this baking world and as a result, my slogan has become, ‘If I can do it, so can you!’ I really believe this – we can do what we put our minds to and all you really need is the motivation to take the first step, and then the next one…
So that’s how this 3.0 project started and I had some key decisions to make about the rebrand.
How did I rebrand the business?
- The name – Bake with Bakabee
I had already adopted this name for my Youtube channel and so it made sense to bring the website and the Youtube platforms together under one name. I think this name provides my audience with a clear idea of what to expect to find on the website. If you like baking as much as I do, do some baking with Bakabee and have some fun in the process.
- The tagline – It’s all about baking!
I wanted to find something really simple and catchy that summed up my sense of fun and the things I love to do. I played around with a few options but this line always felt the strongest because nothing describes what my work is about better than this. As they say, it’s just what it says on the tin, pretty straight forward:
It’s all about baking!
I understand that the thought of baking, for some people, can be a bit overwhelming and I think there are a number of different reasons for this. Maybe it’s because of the impression of the low success rate, the need for a wide variety of tools, the different shapes and sizes of baking pans, the wide range of ingredients and so on. Any one of these factors can put you off and many people carry the story in their heads that they ‘can’t cook’. So on the website, I try to break things down into small bite-sized chunks to show people exactly how I bake a cake, decorate cookies or use DIY techniques to organise my tools. The intention is that anyone can follow step-by-step to a successful outcome. Remember those words, if I can do it, so can you!
- The brand colour – mustard yellow
I adjusted my colour palette from the 2.0 version lemon yellow to a mustard yellow. This might not sound very significant but it really made a huge difference to the feel of the website. It’s a darker shade and I have complemented it with grey, white and black.
Why did I change it? It was inspired by my sister-in-law, Rosemary. She gave me a set of towels with a lot of bees on them as a present (obviously because I am the ‘bee’, I get given a lot of bee memorabilia!). I loved the gift and I particularly liked the colour combinations on the towels soooooo much. So the inspiration came to use mustard yellow as the main brand colour, complemented by the grey, white and black. I definitely felt that I needed a new look from the 2.0 site and this has really given me that. But the main reason for this look is because I just LOVE it! Please take a look and let me know if you agree.
- The logo – name plus image
The new logo has two main components – the name, Bake with Bakabee and the image, a little cute rolling pin. It replaces the previous circular icon which just said ‘bakabee’ in the middle, surrounded by a lemon yellow swirl.
I loved that design too and used it as a sticker on all of my bake sales…but it was time for something new. I enjoyed designing the new logo using the Canva app, which allows someone like me to be able to design or create something without any design skills. It’s amazing software and I recommend it if you haven’t tried it out.
Let’s talk about the name first. I used two different fonts to complete the design.
I wanted it to be a bit
- playful … and
- light
to convey the fun and joy of baking.
At the same time,
I also want it
- to be bold… and
- clear
to spell out that is a website for baking.
Finally, I choose the font ‘Barriecito’ to design the words ‘Bake’ and ‘Bakabee’.
Then I used the font ‘Shadows into Light Two’ to design the word ‘with’ in the middle and, like the icing on a cake, I placed a small and cute rolling pin
over the ‘with’ to symbolise baking.
I also saw it as a little bridge connecting ‘Bake’ and ‘Bakabee’. What else to do with a rolling pin? Obviously, it’s for baking! And who are you going to bake with? Bakabee of course! As they say, a picture paints a thousand words…
Ta-da! I had my logo! I hope you like it as much as I do, it’s simple in many ways but that, I think, is what makes a logo great.
Redesigning
This was a MAJOR part of the revolution. There were two parts to the redesign – the visual element that I’ve described above as part of the rebranding – and another, critical technical question.
How do I structure the new website?
This question immediately threw up other questions. What kind of vibe do I want to convey on this website? What makes visitors engaged and happy to continue browsing? How do I make sure that this change allows for new ideas and developments to be integrated without effort?
Honestly, since I first had the idea to rebrand, it took me quite a long time to think about how I would reengineer the structure. I didn’t want to go at it too quickly and cause myself problems in the future, so I took my time and decided NOT to make up my mind until I’d developed a really clear concept.
Do the research
Always a great place to start is with the competition so I did a lot of research on other bloggers’ websites and watched a lot of YouTube videos to deepen my understanding about how to build a website. I wrote earlier that I love to keep learning and although I was proud of my 2.0 website, the new version is just a lot better because my understanding of what I might call the ‘architecture’ has developed. It’s tough but also rewarding when you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Finally, I came up with three main criteria for the technical redesign.
- Good structure
- Well organised
- Easy to navigate
A good structure
Let’s talk about good structure. What do I mean by that? A good structure means a good foundation that is sustainable, making it easy to add on new content without hassle or the need for additional restructuring. I just wanted to focus on creating content once the website was done so it was important to make the technical stuff a ‘one off’ project. Any need for further restructuring wouldn’t just be a pain for me, it would make life confusing for my regular site visitors as well – running the risk that they will become impatient and won’t return.
If I need to add more content or additional headings in the future, it must be easy to add to the existing content. If I do it right, when I write a blog post, I will just need to categorise it properly and it will immediately show in the right place, on the right page automatically.
This leads to the second criterion, well organised.
Well organised
A good system at the back end of the website is vital. It’s something that the audience can’t see but critical in allowing them to see what they want to see, instantly. It’s all about carefully planning the settings, such as properly categorising the posts, correctly setting each section on the pages, etc.
Elementor Pro
I use the excellent visual website builder platform, Elementor Pro, to complete this task. You can find a ton of tutorials online for free to learn how to use it. I’m absolutely not a technical person – I’m a baker – but I’ve learned these settings along the way, so I’ve started to accumulate a little knowledge about it all. It’s important not to tell yourself that you can’t do this stuff – just the same as it’s important not to tell yourself that you can’t bake. You know the saying by now, if I can do it…
Okay, back to the good system! If things are working well, it means that the contents, no matter if it is my recipes, my videos or my customised bakes, are all well organised at the back end. Every section on every page is well categorised. For example, if I write a post about how to organise my piping tips, obviously I will categorise it as ‘organisation’. Then it will automatically go to both the ‘organisation tips’ section on the home page and to the ‘organisation tips’ page.
In this way, Elementor Pro does all the work for me, rather than me needing to place the blog post myself, in the right place, every time I publish a post. It’s like magic and saves me a huge amount of time.
Easy to navigate
The third important criteria is for the site to be easy to navigate. I completely understand that everyone expects instant results and time is money! Every piece of information needs to be easy and quick to find to encourage people to stay on the site once they have clicked in.
Good navigation menu
Browse recipes
To achieve this I really thought about what would help people the most and eventually I decided to place all my posts under the ‘BROWSE RECIPES‘ page. Then I organised them under different categories, such as cakes, cookies, bread, organisation tips and behind the scenes. I think this makes it as easy as possible for my audience to look for the content that they need using the navigation menu.
Videos
Another organisation example is the tab ‘VIDEOS’, under which I placed all my video tutorials under different topics, such as cookie and pastry recipes, cookie decorating, cupcake and cake recipes, bread recipes, pie and tart recipes, organisation, behind the scenes and dietary recipes. So site visitors have a choice between browsing or looking for something specific to inspire them to bake.
My customised bakes
One of the tabs is really a gallery to showcase and treasure my baking creations from my online baking business in Singapore. Although, as I’ve said, I’m now focusing on creating content, I wanted to save these beautiful memories, perhaps showing at the same time that I really do know how to bake! I kept this page name as ‘CUSTOMISED BAKES’ because each bake had its own personal story behind it and I can remember each of the happy celebrants, whether it was a birthday, a wedding anniversary or a baby shower. On this page, you can find all of my customised cakes, cookies, cupcakes as well as my corporate events creations under the drop down menu. My tagline on the 2.0 website was ‘beautiful baking’ and I have always been keen to make sure that my bakes look fabulous as well as tasting great.
For me, this is a special part of my website, I’m quite proud of many of my creations – in fact I even wonder sometimes how I was able to make some of them, especially in that incredibly hot climate! In a way, this is my very personal art gallery and photo album. I hope you’ll enjoy looking through them as much as I do.
About me
Under the tab ‘ABOUT ME’ you can read the story about how I started baking and what inspired me to start running my baking business. I’m humbled to say that I have been featured in newspapers and magazines, sharing the story about my journey. If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to go and have a look! I really hope that my story has been of some inspiration to others to help make their dreams come true. If I can do it…
Additional feature – Slickstream Engagement Suite
The final feature I will mention is the Slickstream Engagement Suite. This special feature is a collection of tools that includes:
- Search (a little search icon on the bottom corner on the right hand side) – it provides my visitors a real-time search on my website which I think is a handy tools for you to look for content in just a couple of keystrokes
- Recommendation ( a carousel bar on top of all pages and blog posts) which appears along the top of the page when you reverse scroll direction. It’s a quick and easy way for you to explore the content on my website.
- Favourite ( a heart on the right hand side in each blog post) – this allows you to express your appreciation and that post is automatically added to your bookmarks.
Relaunching
I decided to write this dedicated post to announce the relaunch of my website 3.0 and I will support it with posts across my social media platforms. It symbolises for me that a new chapter has begun. After settling down in a new country and making the decision to focus on creating content, I’m so very pleased that after all the hard work, website 3.0 has finally come to life. I’m excited to share it with you as a new beginning but also because it tells the story of the important milestones on my journey so far.
- Contact me
I would love to hear your feedback on ‘Bake with Bakabee’ website 3.0 – you can find out how on the ‘CONTACT ME’ tab. If there is anything about baking that I can help with, feel free to fill up the form and hit the submit button. I’m more than happy to reply to you. Let’s stay in touch!
- Sign up the newsletter
While you are there please don’t forget to subscribe by clicking ‘Sign up for more’ to receive new recipes and updates from Bakabee! See you all there!
Happy browsing!
