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My Blog Migration Story: Part 4

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet

Click here to start at the beginning with Part 1 of My Blog Migration Story.
(It’s a very good place to start.)

I’m baaaaaaaaaack with part 4 of My Blog Migration Story.  A week ago today my lil wordpress.com blog migrated to wordpress.org.  And she’s growing up so fast…{tear}.

Before I get overly emotional, let’s review.  In Part 3, I introduced you to the two lovely ladies behind my new blog design and migration, and I gave you a tour of the new digs.  Then, I left you with this unanswered question:

  • So, you migrated.  Now what?

Today, we’ll tackle that one head on, along with these scintillating questions:

  • What did you learn about yourself through this process?
  • What has been your high point since migrating?
  • What has been your low point?

Are you intrigued?  I sure hope so.  Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Q:  So, you migrated.  Now what?

 A:  I started wondering the same thing!  And then, I paused long enough to realize, “I’m exhausted!”  So, I took a long winter’s nap, woke up, ate something, and then slept some more.

But after my hibernation, I knocked some items off of my to do list.

Here’s a list of little housekeeping things that one might like to do after a blog migration once the site has gone live:

1.  Click on everything.  From your header to your nav bar to your sidebar to your footer…click away.  Click on all the pictures in your project gallery.  Click on old links and new links and see that they take you to the right place.  Since the coding takes place before you have your new url up and running, you can’t really “test” the links until the site is live.  Just yesterday I clicked on my category buttons and realized they led to the badlands of 404 Error: Page Not Found.  Oops!  Situation remedied.

2.  Replace your old url with your new url on your social media platforms.  Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn…wherever you may find yourself sharing, posting, tweeting, snapping, and linking.  Share your new deets with your followers.

3.  Get your blog verified on Pinterest.  Pinterest is the number two referrer of my traffic after search engines, so I’ve been wanting to add my blog url to my Pinterest profile for a while now, but because of the limitations of being on WordPress.com, I couldn’t complete the verification process until now.  I read several tutorials before I finally found one that spelled out the Pinterest verification process in a way I understood.  Here it is: Verify Your Website on Pinterest by Ask Jaime.

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet
The checkmark means I’m verified!

4.  Add your blog to the WordPress app.  I don’t know about you, but I love my WordPress app.  It’s free, it’s fast, it’s easy…I use it to reply to comments when I’m out and about or check things on my site without having to jump on safari.  By simply entering my WordPress.org username and password, I now have access to my current site as well as access to my old WordPress.com site…all on one app.  Super convenient.

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet

5.  Create a list of the things TO DO before & after hitting publish.  Now that I’ve broadened my social media horizons and now that I’m working on the Genesis framework, there are a few new steps I need to take before and after publishing posts.  For example, before I hit publish, I can now use the SEO tools built into my theme.  Click here for a helpful how-to on that.  And after I hit publish, I not only share on more forms of social media, but I add my project to my Project Gallery, which leads me to…

6.  Start taking photos for square layouts.  With my posts now truncated, I have square photo thumbnails that pop up on my homepage.  And if that wasn’t enough to motivate me to move toward a square layout for my feature photos, just look at instagram, craftgawker, looksi square, and link parties.  The square is so hot right now.  And when putting together my project gallery, I quickly learned that most of my photos aren’t really square-friendly; in fact, they’re more like square-haters.  So, I’m now taking my photos with “square awareness.”  Here are two great articles I recommend on taking square layout photos: Reasons to Crop Your Images Square and The Money Shots for Square Layouts.

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet
Square is the new rectangle.

7.  Claim authorship of your new blog.  One of the blogs I follow for blogging tips is Blogging with Amy, and Amy recently did a series called What is Author Rank and Why You Should Care.  I highly recommend you check it out, but basically, because I already have a Google+ profile set up, with a few simple steps, I was able to connect my blog to my Google profile and “claim authorship.”  Now, my face appears next to my blog posts in search engines, and I can start to build what is known as Author Rank.  See:

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet

8.  Prepare to do your own blog back-ups.  Right now, I’m set for manual blog back-ups, but I’m looking into automatic back-ups through free plug-ins or paid ones like Backup Buddy.  Here’s a great post on The Importance of Backing Up Your Blog by another one of my favorite blog-tip-bloggers, The Blog Maven.

Q: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

A:  That I am impatient.  That I hate feeling out of control.  That migrating can be stressful, in part because there is so much waiting involved.  I spent most of the day last Thursday waiting for things to come through.  Waiting for my new url to kick in…waiting on WordPress.com to transfer my subscribers so I could share my first post…waiting on Google Analytics to start working.  Turns out, waiting wears me out and gives me a tight feeling in my chest.  I don’t like it much.  I guess it speaks to my New York ways.  I like things to be quick and easy.  And the funny thing is that I’m learning that most things in life aren’t quick and easy…so there’s that.

I also learned that I have an incredibly supportive blogger community.  So many of you expressed your care and concern throughout this whole migration process…many of you whom I’ve never met in real life.  That takes bloggy love.  Thank you for that.  It helped to know you were rooting for me!

Q:  What has been your high point since migrating?

A:  The moment late Thursday night when I realized that not only had all of my email subscribers transferred over, but so had all of my WordPress Reader followers.  That just doesn’t happen.  I mean, according to everything I had read, it can’t happen.  My blog migration story breaks all of the rules in that regard.  I don’t know why or how, but I am so grateful.

Q:  What has been your low point?

A:  Early Tuesday morning, I got a comment on my Menu Planner post from a sweet blogger named Leslie.  She left a lovely comment, but her first two sentences made my heart sink.

http://weightohealth.wordpress.com/

Wait, what?!

I went to my Pinterest board where I pin projects From My Blog and clicked on the most recent pin.  No problem.  Second most recent pin.  No problem.  Third pin and bam!  I was hit with the evil message.

My Blog Migration Story: Part 4 | The Thinking Closet

All pins after that one came up with that same evil message, and I realized that they were the pins originally linked to my WordPress.com site.  The tightness in my chest cropped up along with a knot in my stomach.  I did some google searching and quickly learned WHY this was happening.  Because my old links redirect to my new ones, Pinterest flags it as potential spam or inappropriate content.  Even though I’m not spammy or inappropriate, and even though redirects are commonly done by folk who migrate from one url to another, apparently it’s a practice done by some spammers and inappropriate sites.  Thus, Pinterest flags all redirected links as evil.

Of course, as the reality of this situation sunk in, I started freaking out.  I realized that now hundreds of pins of my projects would pop up with the evil message when clicked.  And it wasn’t even just the blow to traffic that worried me, it was my reputation.  I hated the idea that my projects and my name could be linked to spam or innappropriate content.  I sent Pinterest a desperate message explaining my dilemma and requesting for their help to take away the evil message.  Then, more waiting.

I was grumpy the whole next day.  Also, my site was “down” or coming up with an error message for a whole half hour, and I didn’t know why.  All of a sudden, I wanted my safe WordPress.com back.  I felt like little red riding hood, away from the safe confines of home and lost in the woods with no clear path to follow and a big bad wolf staring her in the face.  Low point.

Then, this little conversation happened between me and my husband:

Lauren sits on the couch staring at her computer screen, forehead crumpled, arms crossed.  Mark plops down next to her.

M: “What’s wrong?”

L: “I don’t know.  I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

M: “Do you think you’re burnt out on blogging?”

L:  Pause.  “No.  I love blogging.  I think I’m burnt out on migrating and all of the problems that are out of my control.”

M: “Hmmmm….I see….”  A lightbulb turns on.  “I know what you need!”  Mark grabs the laptop off of Lauren’s lap and pulls up the following video.  They watch it.  The ice starts to melt….

Lauren pulls up another video she had seen recently.  They laugh out loud.  Or as the youngins like to say, “lol.”

And just like that, the cats started to heal me.

And I was reminded of the quote that my mother has repeated to me more times than I can count:

“In the light of eternity, it ain’t that big a’ deal.”

Puts it all in perspective doesn’t it?  It really isn’t the end of the world if my pins are blacklisted forever.  I’ll survive.  I’ll probably even live a happy and fulfilled life.  A little over a year ago, I wasn’t even on Pinterest.  It wasn’t even on my radar.  Nor was blogging.

And then, when I woke up yesterday morning, I got an email from customer support at Pinterest apologizing for the problem, assuring me that they’ve removed the redirect block from my site, and that it should go through within 24 hours.  As of publishing this post, I’m still waiting on the evil message to be lifted, but I have faith.  And if it doesn’t, I have cat videos to comfort me.

Along with the reminder that in the scheme of God’s great plan for me and my life, this is so minor.  Ultimately, He is in control, and I am not, and that is oh so right.

Blog Divider

As I prepare for my last and final installment of My Blog Migration Story, I’d like to turn the questions over to you:

Q:  What questions do you  have about blog migration that remain unanswered?

Is there anything that remains unclear or uncovered that you’d like me to share about?  Anything that you’re curious to know more about?  If so, write your questions in the comments below, and the grand finale of Part 5 will be a post solely dedicated to answering your questions, friends.

 Click here to jump to the grand finale of this series, Part 5 of My Blog Migration Story!

This is Lauren, signing off.

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39 Comments

  1. Awesome post! I’m considering moving my blog also but I keep seeing on hosting sites that they offer shared hosting and regular hosting. The shared hosting is usually a great price, but I don’t exactly know what the difference is. Any thoughts?

    1. Hey Tera! Yes, there are QUITE the array of options when it comes to hosting. It can be mind-numbing. I actually shared a bit more about why I upgraded from shared hosting to pro hosting with a dedicated IP address and why it was SUCH a good decision for me and my blog. (There are usually sales around Black Friday you might look out for!) You can read more from me and MANY others here: http://www.twelveskip.com/guide/blogging/1269/unbiased-reviews-web-hosting-used-by-mom-bloggers Hope that helps as you make your decision!

  2. Lauren, thanks for sharing your migration experience. You have some great tips, especially with things to consider once you make the move. I am just beginning to migrate my blog and your advice was really helpful. I love your new blog design!

    1. You’re so welcome, Emily! I’m glad to know that it was helpful for you! And thanks for the kind words; I’m loving life over here on WordPress.org. I’m sure you’ll be feeling the same way soon!

  3. Hi Lauren,
    I know this is an older post but this has been so helpful to me. I’m considering changing to a self hosted WordPress site from my blogspot blog. I’ve just started doing the research and you’ve addressed quite a few of the questions that cropped up for me. A very helpful series of blog posts….Thanks so much 🙂
    Cheers
    Pam

    1. Pam, I’m delighted to hear that this post has been a service to you! It really is quite an endeavor to make the migration, and I figured if my story could even help ONE person in their process, it would make it all worth it. Best of luck with your migration, Pam…and let me know if you have any questions. Although I may not know the answer, I’m happy to take a stab at it, or direct you to someone who will! 😉

  4. Hello! I checked Pugly Pixel’s Launched No. 3 and your blog is included so I came to visit. 🙂

    I actually read the whole migration process from Part 1 to Part 4. And I must say you’ve been in a very long process and I know it’s all worth it. Migrating isn’t really easy and it takes a lot of effort, and days, even months! Good thing there are people and websites that helped you with that. 🙂

    Through reading, I found some things that I am not familiar of, like the cropping of images, the secret board of pinterest, and I think I must definitely look into them. 🙂

    See you around, I just added your blog on my bookmarks. Expect me to be visiting your blog from time to time. :))

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Mei, and for adding my blog to your bookmarks! Wow, I’m honored. And thanks for reading Parts 1-4 of My Blog Migration Story! Part 5 has been a long time coming, and it should be debuting later this week. It seems that I’m just now getting settled into a normal blogging routine after the whole transfer took place, and it’s afforded me time to reflect on what my “closing comments” will be.

      After visiting your beautiful blog, Mei, and hearing about all of the blogs you’ve had over the years, I’m sure that you are a professional now when it comes to migrating. I bet you could write a killer “Blog Migration Story” series yourself! I know I’d love to read it….

  5. Cat videos do have a healing quality don’t they? Hadn’t seen the hairdryer one before! 🙂 This migration story is a rollercoaster of a journey, and yet the trajectory is forward moving. Your website is beautiful and thank for you sharing with us the messy parts of the process…that makes it all even more beautiful.

    1. I know…the hairdryer one is sweet because the cat is blind! So the poor dear is responding to the pressure of the air. Bout breaks my heart.

      Yes, you’re so right about migrated being a rollercoaster. And there have been times where I’ve just felt so drained and exhausted by it, that I wondered if it was worth the effort. But all in all, as you said, the trajectory has been onwards and upwards…and I know it’ll allow my little blog to spread it’s little wings and FLY! (How’s that for a cheesy-but-true-metaphor?)

      And your last line is encouraging. It’s so true. Makes me think of the book by Sabrina Ward Harrison: Messy, Thrilling Life. I should dust that book off and give it a read today….

  6. You woman have the networking skills of a saint. I swear I read your link parties and thought to myself Damn woman you are busy!! I just joined Google+ and Twitter and it’s like a whole other entity. But this is my own fault considering it took me a full year to almost tell anyone in real life that I had a blog and 75% still don’t know.

    1. Busy is one way to put it…or crazy with too much time on my hands! 😉 I’m still getting the hang of Twitter, but so far, I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised, though I’m still figuring it out. And Google+ is still a bit of a mystery to me; everyone says it will be the king of social media in the future, but right now, I’m failing to see it.

      And why does it feel so weird to “out” ourselves as bloggers to people we know in real life? I’ve so had that awkward feeling in conversation when I bring it up. “So, you’re working part-time, what else are you doing?” “Well, I have this blog…” “A blog? What kind of blog?” “Well, it’s a d.i.y. craft blog where I share creative projects…” {Awkward silence.} “Oh…. Cool.” I wonder if it’s because unless you follow blogs or are a blogger, you don’t really get it. I know I didn’t before I dove into blogging last September.

  7. I was all, “oh, no! Poor Lauren has the evil Pinterest message!” Suspense! Then the cat videos totally had me laughing. I <3 you! Mark is such a catch! I am so glad Pinterest is going to remove the evil message. I was really worried there for a second. Now I know that if I am ever in a similar position, it can be resolved.

    Your site really is quite impressive and as I have said multiple times now, I am quite jealous. So here is a question to help beef up a 5th installment of blog migration:

    What is one thing you would have done differently?

    1. The evil messages are still rearing their ugly head, so hopefully Pinterest hasn’t forgotten about me! Oh well, we have cat videos, right? Glad they entertained you, too.

      And I LOVE your question for the 5th installment. I’ve already thought of 3 things I would have done differently…will have to decide which ONE I’ll choose to share about…or maybe I’ll finagle a way to get all 3 in there. Ha ha.

  8. Thank you for so much wonderful and valuable information, I’m now a subscriber to Blogging with Amy as she has so much other good info. I am going to implement a lot of your suggestions asap. By the way, I found that wordpress app a few months ago and its been awesome I love using it to respond to comments and being able to quickly change something if I’m away from my computer.

    1. Yes, Blogging with Amy is a great resource! She’s one of my faves. I’m so glad to hear you’ve subscribed.

      And glad to have found another fan of the WordPress app in you! It’s so much faster than navigating the internet…and great for replying to comments quickly. Don’t what I’d do without it now!

  9. I have no questions from the great instructor other than “Are you a cat person?” If so, that surprises me. I don’t know why but I’ve always thought of you as a dog person, although it’s totally cool whichever way you swing. I actually have a dog and a cat…ok, I realize this conversation looks as though it is one my 5 year old is having, so movin’ on…

    Very informative post! I have learned from this series that I have a very long way to go in the land of blogging, but I’m enjoying learning from you. And it’s so great that you have a husband who knows how to cheer you up so well and keep the focus on what’s important in life, funny animals being teased by their humans. But seriously thanks for all the tips on the Pinterest issue and the author rank and how to get good square pictures. Loved it all, as usual!

    1. Ha ha. Well, we shall have to wait until Part 5 to find out the answer to that question, now won’t we? 😉

      I’m definitely learning a lot of this as I go, Jessica, and a lot of it has come from reading tips and tutorials from other bloggers or learning from making mistakes!

      And yes, I’m so thankful for Mark who keeps me laughing and knows how get me out of the doldrums. Animal videos are definitely a sure-fire way to put a smile on either of our faces. We’ve got plenty more where these two came from….

  10. Thank you for the bit of info on getting verified on Pinterest. I didn’t even know they recently made that option available but I am now verified. 🙂

    1. Sure thing! I had read about it a while back, even tried it, but came up against another WordPress.com road block. It was one of the first things I wanted to get done once self-hosted. Glad to know Project Lovegood is now verified! 😉

    1. Thanks, Kelly! I haven’t forgotten about our email correspondence on this topic, and in fact, I want to address something you brought up about how to do the migration if you already have a .com url. I’m sure it’s a question others have, so that’ll be one of my topics for Part 5!

  11. Lauren, again great post! 🙂 Love how you share your experience with us! So, sorry to hear about what happened with Pinterest! Did they explain to why this happened? I’m sure everything will be OK! what I’m about to write now has nothing to do with this but it’s a similar experience: back in January something similar happened to me; I was not able to leave comments using my wordpress account, I asked Alex@northstory how come my comment had appeared on her blog and she confirmed it was on her “spam mail” and she approved it! thanks to Alex, she made me aware of this! I was so sad and couldn’t believe what happened? at that point: I wanted my little wordpress blog back too! I googled about it, send an e-mail to “askimet” and 48 hrs later they lift this “spam” from my blog. I lived with this for over 48 hours wondering what happened. Askimet, never game an explanation but I guess these things happen and I’m sure everything will be OK on your side very soon! 🙂 & I LOVE the second youtube video of those cats! they made me laugh too and put a big smile on my face! 🙂

    1. Well, they didn’t really explain it, but when you click “more info” on the evil message, it links you to a paragraph on redirects and why they might be suspicious. So, I put two and two together. I’m hoping that it gets worked out sooner or later. And thanks for sharing about your experience. That sounds terrible, but I’m glad that Alex helped you figure it out and that Askimet lifted that ban on your name eventually. You are about as far from SPAM as they come! (Seriously, your comments are always so encouraging and authentic.) Anyway, it helps to know I’m not alone in all of the new drama that can come with being a new WordPress.org blog. I’m getting better and better about taking deep breaths. Ha ha, I know that patty cake video never gets old. So many hilarious moments in it!

  12. 1. You are adorable. “Square awareness”? Love it.
    2. I too love the wordpress app… and the new push notifications really let you know what’s up super fast.
    3. I did not know about Author Rank – thank you! Looking into ASAP!
    4. Your migration posts make it official – I’m not even going to attempt writing about my migration story yet. Mostly because I don’t want to think about all the stress and lack of sleep it caused me… maybe someday! So thank you for sharing your awesome knowledge.
    5. Your mom is a smart lady!

    Last thing…
    You are a tremendous success and I look up to you. For realsies. I totally wanna be you when I (…I means my blog) grow(s) up!! 🙂

    1. 1. Ha ha. Glad you enjoyed that little catchphrase. I sure did.
      2. Push notifications? I always reject those! Truthfully, I didn’t even really know what they were. Guess I should actually find out what words mean before turning them down, ha ha.
      3. Yes, author rank is sort of this “hush hush” thing that Google hasn’t even verified is true. But it’s definitely a thing and something to look into!
      4. I hear ya on the stress and lack of sleep. I’m still catching up on my sleep, it seems. I know you did a lot of it (all of it?) on your own, which I can’t even begin to imagine. So, major props to you. Still, if and when you do decide to write about it, I know it would be a unique perspective because of how much you took on yourself. I bow down to you for that!
      5. I couldn’t agree more!

      Aw, Thalita. I don’t even know what to say. I’m totally figuring out this whole thing as I go along, and it just makes me tickled to know there are folk out there like you who care to follow along and who cheer me on through the tough times.

      Your blog is an inspiration to me, too, girl. You’re doing awesome work over at The Learner Observer, and I get so excited when I see your projects featured on other blogs. I think, “I know her!” And I’m proud of that.

  13. I am so, so, SO new to the blogging world and am no where near migrating like you have, but I have learned so much through these last couple of posts. I will definitely come back to them when I am a little more so ready and pick apart every little sentence to glean every bit of wisdom I can! You have such a wonderful way of making everything so interesting and I deeply admire that! I love what you’ve done with you blog and I look forward to watching it grow more AND building our blogging relationship! You’re so wonderful!
    – Dusty.

    1. Dusty, I think so highly of you, as well…and after poring over your posts the other day and soaking up so much of your creative goodness over at Cliffs and Canyons, I know that we can expect great things from you in the future, girl. I love how you bring so much of yourself along in your posts and really write from the heart. And whenever you leave me a comment, I always walk away feeling like my spirit has been bolstered. Thank you for that. Hooray for building our blogging relationship! Hugs. -Lauren

  14. I can’t even put into words how much I absolutely LOVE this series. It is so informative and fun – AMAZING JOB putting these together. I plan to use each post in this series as a reference for a long time. 🙂

    1. Aw, Leah, thanks for your enthusiasm! Glad that you mentioned FUN in there; I was worried it would get a little too heady. I’m honored that you would use these posts as a reference, and don’t hesitate to email me with any questions that may pop up in the future. 🙂

  15. Thank you so much for sharing all this insider information! You have really been so generous with your knowledge and time and I know this will prove a most useful resource when I make the migration move myself. Your new site looks great! I’m so excited for you to take the next step on your blogging adventure!

    1. Truly, I’m happy to be able to share my story with y’all. And it helps me process everything as well, from the highs to the very very lows. 🙂 Know that you have my support for when you decide to make the migration move. So thankful to know you, Jennifer, and to be following along in YOUR adventures at Brave New Home. Every visit to your blog leaves me refreshed and invigorated!

  16. Lauren, Thank you so much for these four blogs concerning your migration story. They have been so helpful and informative! I really look forward to following you as The Thinking Closet grows and evolves!
    Kenley 🙂

    1. Thanks, Kenley. I’m glad I didn’t lose you in the information overload! I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I know how much I appreciated reading Alex from Northstory’s experience with blog migration and how it prepared me for what was to come. So, I thought it could be worthwhile to do the same for those who might ever contemplate making the jump. Thanks for your support, friend! It means ever so much.

  17. Migration isn’t easy. You’ve done great job. Your blog looks great. I love reading your posts – they are light and funny- it’s like having a chat with a friend over a cup of coffee 🙂 Take care 🙂

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