After a week off I’m feeling rather thankful this Thursday and more than a bit musical as I introduce a few changes around here. I’m bringing sexy back the Mystery Case factor to Agent Mystery Case and I’m spinning around….. move out of my way because I like it like that!
What’s NEW & why things are looking a bit different
First up, I must confess, I had planned to merge Agent Mystery Case over at Ms Mystery Case but in the end, after an insightful and informative workshop with Kelly Exeter through the Australian Writers’ Centre, common sense prevailed and knowing Kelly hopefully had my back with this merge, I took the plunge.
In the process, I’ve moved my blogging agenda ahead six months because ultimately this (self hosted wordpress) is where I NEED to be. I’ve had a lot of fun with Mystery Case on blogger and managed to manipulate that platform to suit my needs but even with my basic coding skills, I was beginning to feel frustrated by blogger’s limitations. After nine months here at Agent Mystery Case with the business of blogging, I was also aware of the huge possibilities and plugin options available by making the move.
In time and using the tips from Kelly Exeter’s Make Your Blog Beautiful workshop, I’m hoping to whip Agent Mystery Case into shape. Whip it real good. I have a vision for what I want the combined blog to look like. Right now it’s not too far off that but it will definitely be a work in progress while my efforts move to tweaking issues from the DIY move, designing a new logo, then ultimately blog content and finding the right mix.
With 500 plus posts on Mystery Case, and two years of blood sweat and google rankings there was a lot of pressure and potential for disaster with the blog merge. While it was pretty smooth sailing, all things considered, a lot did go wrong. With a number of ongoing social media blogging campaigns to consider, especially ones where other bloggers have jumped on board in a big way, like my style challenges and our Worth Casing Blog Awards, I’ve had a rather anxious time of it and my week off was no picnic.
In hindsight and looking at the possibility that I’ve killed over 9000k comments (thanks Disqus), screwed my google ranking, lost my usual (250k per month) blog traffic and have some weirdly formatted blog posts to deal with, I’m undecided if I was right to take the risk and increase the time factor on this by going DIY. Time I could and should have been spending at the beach on finally getting my Virtual Assistant business page up and running!
There is so much to lose when you move blog platforms, especially if you are attempting the DIY approach like me and there is a lot to gain by outsourcing. You really can save a lot of time and money in the long run by employing an expert. For me that expert would be Kelly Exeter from Swish Designs, although I hear her blog design services will be limited as Kelly takes over the role of Editor at Flying Solo from January 2015.
In the blogging scheme of things, handling the merge myself has helped me determine the direction the blog is heading and also given me ample blog content for what not to do when merging blogs. After a lot of consideration, not all of the Ms Mystery Case posts made it across and as soon as I find the time, I’m hoping to go back through the archives and delete even more posts that aren’t inline with the new platform.
I’m in mourning for Ms Mystery Case, ‘she’ really ended up being a big part of the family but I’m excited to be almost starting again here on Agent Mystery Case, combining the best of both worlds.
Please help me expedite the grieving process by having a good look around while you are here and leaving lots of comments.
Have you moved blog platforms and did you survive? What do you think of the new look?
Sharing the social media love with Sarah from Creating Contentment for Thankful Thursday.
What a great job you have done. I love all of it!!
Thanks so much annstuck, I’m hoping to save all those comments in the next day or so and finally get around to emailing winners.
Congratulations – you are far braver than I would ever be! I love the new look – the green door is definitely doing it for me!!!!
Not sure if brave is the right word here. I had planned to have Kelly handle the merge but my timing and Kelly’s current workload didn’t line up.
My goodness this is just so impressive and that you have done it yourself, well played gorgeous! x
Thanks Emily. I still have a lot to do. I’ve managed to save 1/3 of the comments so far and hoping to rescue even more over the weekend.
WOW! Love the new look and well done for doing it all yourself without falling in a heap. I need to think about doing the same at some point (eeek!) but the thought fills me with much anxiety. I love that font too.
Thanks Hugzilla. If you are thinking of making the move, get in quick and book Kelly. 🙂
Congrats on the move! Go you…and again, what fab stats!!
Thanks Lydia, I imagine the stats will disappear for a little while as traffic is still going through Mystery Case for a little while and I’ve disabled indexing. Will have to wait and see.
Cool!
Thanks Leanne.
OMG I nearly died when I realised all my comments from IntenseDebate weren’t able to be merged when I made the switch. There are some very lonely posts over there with no comments and it made me so sad for awhile! I even started to manually enter them (I still had instense debate account, they just wouldn’t show on my self-hosted wordpress) but gave up because it felt a bit creepy! Haha!
It looks great here, though! You’ve done a wonderful job!! Kudos for doing it all on your own!!
So far I’ve managed to save just over 1000 comments. Not sure if I have the time or the inclination for the rest because it’s not looking like an easy process. I hadn’t thought to enter them manually. How would I go about that I wonder? I’m also wondering what would happen if I ditched disqus altogether?
Oh how unfun! I’m about to switch and losing all the comments is my biggest fear. But I’m leaving it to the professionals (the same one you mention in fact – I got in just before she stopped taking on new clients HIGH FIVE) so hopefully that doesn’t happen.
All that said, good on you for making the move. It’ll all be worth it! And I’m so impressed you did it yourself. MORE HIGH FIVES. x
Thanks Emily. I’m hoping your move is smooth sailing. Let me know how you get on.
Your site looks amazing! Good for you! And I must say I am just a tad jealous that you got to do a workshop with KELLY EXETER! Great job. 🙂
Thanks so much Sandra, it’s still a little way off looking like the picture I have in my head.
I just loved Kelly’s workshop, it was great after all this time, to finally meet her.
I’m loving the new look! I moved from Blogger to WordPress in April last year. I lost a few images and some of my posts look a bit screwy because of formatting but other than that I love it. I left it all to the professionals though because I had zero confidence in my ability to do it myself.
Thanks Tegan, I had planned to leave it to the experts too but I clearly had too much time on my hands with my social media free week and one thing lead to another. I just need to find the time for more tweaking. Not sure if I should make the effort to go back and reformat blog posts? Did you attempt this and was it time consuming?
This looks all so wonderful! I’m really proud of you!! (is that strange?)
Why thank you Sarah. Still a lot to do but I’m sure a couple of days social media free will have me right on track.
And, I’m finally getting around to my #thankfulthursday link up. I indulge in binge blog reading on the weekend and LOVE it! So, thank you so much for linking up to Thankful Thursday this week. It is lovely to have you back here. xS
I love #thankfulthursday. I don’t always manage to link up or remember the hashtag love but I do try and pop by when I can.
Kelly is seriously da bomb, when I eventually make the move no one is touching it but her. It looks great though and you despite all the head ache you should be thrilled with the final outcome xx
Thanks so much Sonia.
I am loving the new look and look forward to see where things head x
Me too Donna. Thanks for your support.
I really REALLY love the new look! I’m sure that you would’ve gotten some great advice from Kelly! All upward from here!
Thanks so much Grace. I’m thinking a few more social media free days and I will almost have things looking right. Not sure about all the comments I’ve lost over at Disqus. It looks like it will be a major headache to get them back.
all the best with the new blog merge….very brave!
I have always used WordPress cause its what I started out with….and learnt through a SEO program.
I try to do all of my own work, but outsourcing would be ideal – saves a lot of time, and time is money!
I’ve used WordPress too but wanted Mystery Case on blogger so I could learn the ropes there too as a few clients still have blogger blogs.
Big changes! I hope this week ‘break’ (I know you have been working hard!! It so was NOT a break! haha) went well. We moved to WordPress for some of the same reasons, and are still working it all out, changing the layout etc, but ultimately I am happier that we did. Emailing you now…
xx Jenelle
http://www.inspiringwit.com
Thanks for the email. Looking forward to catching up soon.
What a brave step to take- I have been having a look around and it all looks good so far! Lauren from SAHM I am.
Thanks Lauren. Not sure how brave it was. So far, even with a few issues, I’m feeling like it’s been a good move.
Well done. ! It looks really fabulous over here !!
Thanks so much! I’m hoping once everything is in order I can get back to blog reading. In the meantime, make sure you link up for our Worth Casing Wednesday. 🙂