Hi guys! Once again, I’ve been pretty quiet over the last week, but behind the scenes I’ve been working my booty off on the blog rebrand, migration, and some technical issues that popped up. As I mentioned a few posts back, I finally transferred the Blogger blog to self-hosted WordPress, and I’m so happy with the result!
I’m still learning, perfecting, and updating, but I’m getting close, and it feels great. Do you use WP? I’m always open to your advice if you have any. What helpful secrets do I need to know about? What plug-in has saved your life?
Tonight I’m sharing some of my newbie thoughts and my migration experience.
WHY WORDPRESS?
I have heard WP is the way to go forever, and now I know it’s true. WordPress is the BEST. There are so many reasons why (and I know I will learn so much more as I go). Interested in learning more? Click here for a helpful Blogger vs. WordPress Comparison and here for even more advice.
The main reason I switched is because I was so limited by Blogger, and knew I had outgrown it. It just wasn’t working for me any longer. I should have started on WP to begin with. Lesson learned.
This chart from Nosegraze.com sums it up pretty well I think.
My favorite improvement so far? I love how much more organized my DIY, Freebies, and Home Tour pages are now. They used to be a jumbled mess. I was so embarrased. No matter what I tried in Blogger to fix them, they just didn’t work (or look good). That feels pretty shitty as a graphic designer, ha. I love how simply categorizing a post, automatically organizes it on the proper page (ie: my DIY posts go to the DIY page, my freebie posts the Freebies page, etc). So easy.
Here’s a snapshot of how my new DIY page is organized. I wish I had a screenshot of my Blogger DIY page for omparison (it was brutal).
THE PROCESS
I purchased a super cute theme from appropriately named Pretty Darn Cute, and worked with Pauline over at TwelveSkip.com to get the blog transferred. She was seriously amazing! I mean seriously. From the very beginning she handled every question, issue, you name it, with a super quick and friendly reply and/or solution.
We ran into some hosting issues, and I decided to switch from my old host (Network Solutions) to bluehost, a much better host (in my opinion), so that slowed me down by about a week. It was so well worth it though.
Pauline took the extra time to make sure everything was officially transferred and running properly, and explained things to me a long the way. I felt so confident with her handling the technical part. She has 8 years experience after all, and I am one week into the whole WordPress world, ha.
She was so wonderful, and so patient with the issues that popped up (out of her control). She would never say it, but I know my transfer had to be one of her most pain in the arss ones ever. Her customer service was so unmatched—after it was all done I decided to pay her an extra $150 if that tells you anything. 🙂
Last night I messed around with some more advanced coding, which crashed my site. At almost midnight my time, 1 a.m. her time. I was sweating bullets, freaking out, fumbling around with my ftp and cpanel (yuck!!!), so I emailed her. She replied back in minutes and had it fixed for me (one of the many reasons I chose to pay her extra, ha).
I plan on hiring Pauline to help with my future site update needs. Do you need assistance? And want it done right and super quickly? Hire her (she even offers an affordable al a cart rate).
Anyhoo….after she officially made the complete transfer, I finished updating the design, logo, and branding (the fun part). Here is where I am now. I decided to stick with my signature turquoise, and added some gold foil to fun it up a bit. I added a coral color to my buttons since it works so well with turquoise, and is another one of my fave colors.
It’s still a work in progress, but I’m happy with it. What do you think? I’d love to hear your feedback (good or bad), and am always open to suggestions on how to improve.
xoxo
Audrey
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Thanks for all your efforts that you have put in this wallpaper. This is very interesting and looking gorgeous. I like with express my support of your ideas in your article, and looking forward to your next article.
I love it.
Thanks very much, Rebecca. I’m so glad the transfer is complete. Now I can actually focus on a little bit o blogging. 😀
Love it!! Looks amazing! 🙂
Thank you very much, Kate! Thanks for takinng the time to stop by and comment. 🙂