Well, one thing is for certain. I really know how to kill a blog, besides all the other things I've already been doing for years. I did one other thing that might not be the best idea. When you have been blogging under the same url for seven years, changing it is most certainly the kiss of death. Why would anyone switch from one blog spot to another blog spot anyway? Switching from a blog spot to a dot com, well that totally makes sense in the blog world these days. If you haven't already come out like gangbusters with your own domain to start at some point, once you get your blogging legs you switch to the dot com. You hire someone to help you make the switch, and there is a re-direct and all of these things that are supposed to help minimize your drop in traffic. Or so I've heard.
I went from blog spot to blog spot because having a blog name that didn't match my url has bugged me. Always. When I first started blogging, I picked becauseeverybodyhasastory because it was available, and it seemed to fit what I was doing at the time. Just telling my story, which I still am. Then I changed my blog name four times. Ready for this? Frugalista Getting Married, became Frugalista Married; so embarrassing!, became Pink Sunshine, became Mahogany Drive. I actually thought Pink Sunshine was the one, but I hesitated to switch the url because well...what if it wasn't? Also, I didn't want the hassle and I worried that I would lose any hard earned follower I ever had. Well, Mahogany Drive is 100% most certainly the final final name forever and ever. I know this for sure, and it was tolerable at first that the url didn't match until it wasn't. Until I couldn't stop thinking about how it was way, way too long, and how if I ever decided to tell anyone I know what my blog name actually is I wanted it to be just one thing, so one day I changed it to Mahogany-Drive.blogspot.com. Then I thought, oh maybe I should have let people know before the old url and every trace of my blog disappears. Sometimes I forget that there are people out there who may actually like my blog and might wonder if it was gone or they never got any new updates after a while. I was able to reclaim the old url to add an updated url post and that was really all I could do.
As a blog spot blogger it's easy enough to change your blog name a million times if you want to. All your links remain intact. Nobody has to update their feed readers. Google recognizes the switch pretty quickly, and because the url hasn't changed there is no total break in traffic. Switching your url however, is another story, and even as I was thinking that I might regret it, I knew I had to do it anyway, because it was bugging me and I couldn't leave well enough alone. I'm pretty sure that half the traffic I was getting was spam bots anyway, so in that respect having a new url is like a clean slate. It's also a clean slate for people reading your blog which is good and not so good at the same time. I figure, if they like my blog, they'll update their readers, if they don't then who needs 'em anyway right? In this internet world where numbers are everything I was getting a numbers boost from followers who don't read, but again, who needs 'em anyway? I am not a blogger for money, so traffic is and should be a secondary concern, but damn it sucks that when I google my own blog name it doesn't show up on the first page like it used to. Bummer. I can say I blog for me all I want (and I do), but I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't want somebody to read it.
So, why don't I want my own domain? This may sound really weird, but I have this vision of something happening to me. Anything bad, where I'm not well or where I am too preoccupied with something bad to think about the expiration of my domain. I miss the deadline to renew and my entire blog disappears. Or, when I die, maybe a little morbid, but c'mon we all know it's going to happen, and don't pay that bill my entire blog disappears. Honestly, I don't even know if that's how it works, but with a blog spot I don't have to worry about that. I do nothing year after year and this blog is here. I don't have to be fully responsible for hosting issues. Every year people who don't profit from their blog or don't blog as much as they used to have to think to themselves...do I really want to pay for another year of my domain? I don't want to have that thought every year. I blog a little or a lot, pay nothing, and my blog is here. I don't have to do anything, and I don't have to rationalize the expense or wonder if it is really "worth" it. I remember when bloggers first started saying that having your own domain makes you look more professional. I was that blogger thinking...for what? Why do I need to look professional? Why do I need business cards, a newsletter, and a media kit? Well, now I know. Blogging has turned into a money making empire for some. Having your own domain supposedly helps increase traffic and SEO and all of those other things that I have mostly ignored.
So I asked myself. What would make me happy despite all of the inconvenience and hassle that goes along with it? The answer was switching my url, and so I did. Anything I ever linked on twitter, or Pinterest is dead. Any links I have ever put within my blog posts is dead. I updated a few links on Pinterest, and in some series posts and recent posts, but I have published 726 posts so I'm not gonna get 'em all. Bloglovin' was easy enough to switch without disruption, but anyone who ever got updates in blog reader or any other readers I don't know about will not.
As far as google is concerned this blog doesn't even exist anymore, but you know what? My blog is not dead to me. Hello out there, I'm still here! I'm only a blog spot blogger. I don't make money, I don't get free stuff, and I don't have a gazillion followers. I also don't have to pretend Scotch-Brite's new disposable toilet scrubber has totally changed my life. I do show up here to write things because I love to write things so I'll just keep doing that.
Hello out there, I'm still here.
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I still read your blog. I just ain't blogging myself and I can't seem to figure out how to do so without being angry right now, so reading other blogs is great for my soul.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I think I'm forever in the blogspot train with you... Seeing as I've hardly touched my blog for 2 years now. That could be step #2 in "how to kill your blog" 😉. Im right there with you though, writing is more for me than anyone else... But it really is nice if maybe someone else on God's green earth reads it too!
ReplyDeleteMy URL doesn't match my blog name either and it annoys me so much but I refuse to change it. I say it's close enough, lol. But yeah, if you intend to blog professionally or for money it makes sense to get your own domain, but since I have no intentions of doing that blogspot works just fine. Glad you're still here, haha.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit girl, that was a mouth-full. :)
ReplyDeleteBut...I have you keyed into Bloglovin' so will continue to get your posts, regardless of what url you choose. Maybe pimp that a bit?
I switched a couple times and I'm sure I have lost followers, but the ones that actually want to read will still be there. You'll hit your stride again, promise!!
I totally remember Pink Sunshine! I've never had a URL for my blog even though I've thought about it (a lot), like you said it just seems like such a commitment, and when you put money into something I've worried about it feeling more like a chore vs something I'm doing because I enjoy. Your blog still comes up in my BL feed, the only thing I noticed is that your linkwithin at the bottom goes to your old URL?
ReplyDeleteThat bit about Scotch-Brite made me chuckle. High five from another blogger who doesn't make money or get free stuff, and is quite glad about that fact. I'm glad you're still here!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteHeh, I've changed my blog URL more times than I can count. But I've been blogging for 14 years now, and the one my 15 year old self wrote was very different than the one my 29 year old self writes, so it's for the best, really. Don't worry about the numbers! Blogging isn't about the numbers! (Well, not for everyone.)
ReplyDeleteI changed my name a bunch of times too! I hate the name of my very first blog (which is still my blogspot url, btw! ** cringeing) and contemplated changing over to a new blog spot long ago, but I ended up just getting a domain and linking. It's been ok for the last several years luckily. Though every once and a while I'll get someone emailing me as my first blog name. Everyone will find you in time =)
ReplyDeleteI like your blog and I totally think it's still alive :). We are here, blogging and not pretending to love things we don't love but then again we are not making any money (hehehehehe)
ReplyDeleteGirl, this post speaks to me on SO MANY LEVELS. I've legit had 5 different blog names now, each with a domain name. I feel like I've found something perfect now, something so simply me that I can't imagine feeling that "burning need" to change it again. But I think you hit the nail directly on the head when you said "What would make me happy despite all of the inconvenience and hassle that goes along with it? The answer was switching my url, and so I did." Despite all the SEO and domain and making money stuff, it's gotta be about what makes you happy. No matter what happens, you can always build from happiness. All the other stuff is replaceable.
ReplyDeleteKari