Has anyone here done a blog name change? I'm considering it (although I'd keep the current name active and use forwarding to keep links from breaking). Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions about "gotchas?"
This Post was written by Kevin from
Seriously Good
12 comments:
Hey,
Never considered it. I think Sam did for a while.
What's the new name and I'll tell you whether it sucks or not. It'd better not be Kevin's Cucina. Or, Kevin's Gourmet Kitchen. And I'd better not read, Kevin's Seriously Good Gourmet Cucina.
?
Do you mean just changing what you call your blog or do you mean changing your web address?
I changed the web address of my personal blog about two years ago (went from blogspot to my own domain) and it never quite recovered the previous readership and I certainly lost all the traction from my links.
I have a nice domain for my candy blog but never changed from my personal domain for fear of losing readers and technorati rating. I do use a pointer though for the easier to remember candy blog dot net to my domain.
Doc,
I think you'll like the name if I change it, at the moment I'm just pondering.
Cybele,
Both, but I'd certainly hold on to the current domain to avoid losing any links -- they'd just be forwarded. But you raise an interesting point, there may not be any real need to change the domain. After all, it's a subdomain anyway.
I think you could have lots of problems changing name, with loss of indexed data, break of links, etc. Why not just change the title you display but leave the name of your blog the same? They don't need to be the same.
"why not change the title you display but leave the name of your blog the same" -- well, Kevin, since day one I've had "what's for dinner" scrawled across my blog banner, with 'stephencooks' in much bolder, bigger text...and from day one there's been a bit of identity fragmentation...I'm listed in a lot of people's blogrolls as What's for Dinner instead of Stephencooks...is it a problem? not really for me, due to my don't care (sort of) attitiude about traffic, but I think if you are trying to build a strong identity that people can google and recommend verbally to their friends, etc, and remember after they meet you somewhere, you want the blog name, domain name and email address to be the same, and unique enough that you have a reasonable chance of being found on google...just my 2¢...have fun...Stephen
I changed my blog name last November and no one batted an eyelid, but I did change the whole look at the same time too. Kalyn reminded me to change my name in the RSS as well and that was about it for me, no problem at all.
i have never considered changing my blog name - I wouldn't for all the tea in CHina/ However I have regretted calling it B&P in the first place, but that's a different story.
All,
Thanks for the comments. Seriously Good is in it's 4th year, and I don't want to start over so I'm giving the idea careful thought.
My blog is called Fresh Approach Cooking, but for reasons beyond my initial control my url became Fresh Catering. Since I am not a caterer, and that isnt what I call my blog, its a bit confusing to people. I have thought a lot about switching to my own domain, but ultimatly, I just figure it is MORE confusing and more work to switch it.
Rachael, see the post about about switching to your own domain once your're in new blogger. I'm going to investigate that very carefully before I do it, but if it works as people have told me, that would completely solve your problem, everything would switch over, you could use freshapproachcooking.com, (assuming it's available) and the blog would still be free.
This almost sounds too good to be true doesn't it. I am praying that it is.
I switched both blog name and domain (to keep them consistent) last fall, and haven't regretted it at all. Sure, there are still straggler blogrolls out there that say Cookbook 411... but they get redirected to the updated site automatically, so I don't have an issue with it.
Technorati rating for the new domain is creeping back up (not quite at my old rating... but I don't care that much), and if anything my overall traffic has increased.
The only really annoying part is that the new domain seems to still be in the google doghouse. I don't have a google ranking on it yet after quite a few months. I think it probably takes 6 months to clear from the sandbox.
A few things to look for if you decide to change:
First, do a google search on the new name. I had no problem getting the domain, so I forgot to do this. And, of course, there was already a Cook & Eat blog out there... on blogspot. Luckily, it hadn't been updated in a long time, so I don't think it pissed anyone off.
Next make sure you do a really good job of backing up all your old content if you are moving domains. I moved from wordpress to wordpress, but to a different server. I was able to bring over all my previous posts with their comments, but I lost all my traffic statistics.
Also, make sure you keep the old domain to forward the traffic. You shouldn't lose any readers if you do that.
hope this helps!
-L
I would consult Google Keywords for a few ideas since later on you will go here to plan out the future SEO direction. Why not start at the very first step get stay ahead.
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