It’s been dark here for about a week as I decided to give myself a birthday gift (yep, it’s today!) and finally integrate my blog into my website – kinda like an all-in-one package, It’s only taken me two years to complete this phase of the journey – what do you think? Thanks to New England Multimedia for all the hard work to make it happen, too.
This redesign and integration of the blog with the website (so each has the same look and feel) doesn’t happen overnight – unless you’re absolutely brilliant and can jump ahead about 10 growing pains.
Understanding your back-end or the inside of a blog is important to knowing how to build your blog. You need to consider the following as you grow and take your blog to the next level:
- Hosting. When bloggers start out, it’s really easy to jump onto WordPress.com, Blogger, or other free’ish platform and begin blogging in five minutes. I did that and had my first post published in 20 minutes, but it felt wrong. I didn’t want to market a third-party platform while I was blogging; I wanted to brand myself in my own house. That means you should self-host your blog on a domain name you own and purchase a hosting package alongside. You can do that on Posterous or Tumblr, too.
- Domains/Branding. This is tricky and takes some thought. If you’re blogging for fun, then it becomes more for business, think through what to call your blog, your company, your domain, and all your social media identities, too. (That’s also branding.) When you get too creative and have a name for Twitter, one for your blog, one where you work, and a different domain name, then no one knows what you’re marketing or where to find you. Right, AlaskaChick?
I registered Soulati.com many years ago and had no idea how I’d ever use it. I had no website and it was pre-social media. When I began blogging two years ago, I titled the blog Soulati-‘TUDE! and registered it on soulati.com. The branding was simple, and people knew it was me.
- Design. Here’s the rocky pathway. Premium WordPress templates are wonderful, yet they take some tech knowledge to launch. Free WordPress templates are, well, free. You get what you pay for. I have paid for Thesis, Genesis, and Headway along with some skins for the latter. (I’ve been running two blogs.) I’ve tried a few freebies, too, and immediately saw the limitations.
Finally, I engaged with a tech person who helped me grapple with the existing themes. After a bit, he offered to design a fresh skin for me with my input. I loved it because it was totally different. That stayed in place nearly nine months or so with many tweaks to update and keep things fresh.
Mind you, the blog design never synched with my website! I spent money redesigning my website with a new logo mark I love, but the blog didn’t match. So, I never promoted my website; ever. I promoted the blog url because that’s where 99.9 percent of the activity was. My website was flat; no analytics or SEO; and no visitors.
- Analytics. Everyone knows how much I’ve left this area of the internet alone. I wasn’t in the business of monetizing my blog, or wanting to earn new business. Having a blog that didn’t match my website was an embarrassment. I knew that until I did something about it, I’d continue to be in the dark; no inbound marketing for me.
- Developers. To take the next leap, I knew I had to work with someone who knew what they were talking about. I am so glad I created a relationship with New England Multimedia on Twitter because it was a no brainer to invite them to help me. Scott produced this new house in two weeks; I was intricately involved, of course, but the process was give and take – beautiful. I invested some coin, but what it got me was integration and a trusted advisor.
- Commenting Systems. I already received a question why I switched from Disqus to LiveFyre. As I explained, LiveFyre is a BMW and Disqus is a Cadillac. They’re both sweet, but Livefyre is going to work the comments harder for me and keep the community growing. (Besides, I get to rack up points faster…heh.) I love the responsiveness of the LiveFyre team, too. I wrote a tweet calling for help in a Sunday evening, and, lo, they were all over it. Very impressive.
- Software/Backups/Hosts. Another reason you elect to go with a larger developer when you’re serious about growing your blog is because that team needs to know about software on the back end. There are back-ups, copies to make, developer sites to create and play with, uploads, kinks, plug-ins, and more to grapple with. No web host is the same; there will be hurdles. If you don’t have confidence in your business partner to deliver on the back-end, you’re as good as dead. No blog functions without tech glitches. (That may be a very good reason to stick with Blogger or WordPress.com, if you’re afraid of IT!)
- Plug-Ins. When you start anew, take a look around the plug-ins on your favorite blogs. What are they using? Is it cluttered? Do they need to have both Digg-Digg and Sociable? What’s your view on Buffer, as it’s becoming more popular? Instead of throwing plug-ins on your blog just to be trendy, dissect these and think of how your visitors will use them. Considerable time was spent between Scott and I on this topic. I was educating him more on the usages of the plug-ins and their importance, while he was cautioning me on load times (and did we really need to have another one to slow down the site?).
These areas may give you some food for thought. I glossed over each, but if you’d like more info, please ask. And, BTW, welcome to my new digs! Happy, happy to have you.
Love the new vibe and integration, and livefyre is pretty awesome, though I believe we had a mix-up in our earlier thread 😉
Congrats on completing something you wanted! Success!
@Jason Fonceca Thank you! It’s been a learning journey; not kidding. So much to know, and people don’t have an appreciation for what blogging is and what it takes to succeed.
Yes, LiveFyre glitches were happening; seems better today now that it took a nap! Thanks for your incredible support and comments, Jason! It’s so cool we’ve only just met.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing They have more of one now 😉 And it’s a pleasure , thanks for the space 😀
Girl, you looks good, won’t you back that blog up…heh could not resist.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
@jennwhinnem Now Jenn, was that a Drake reference or a Juvenile reference 🙂 (and yes, Happy Birthday, Jayme!)
@Jason Fonceca @jennwhinnem You two talkin’ on different wavelengths — is that, OMG, Drake and Josh? Jenn, that flew right over my old head…Thanks!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @jennwhinnem
Drake’s Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxdwxUS1JIQ
Juvenile’s Version: https://youtu.be/z_ehXjZ_2D4
@Jason Fonceca @jennwhinnem Well, Jenn, which was it? I just watched, uhmm, both.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing @Jason Fonceca Juvenile FOR SURE
Happy birthday and happy new blogsite:) Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough Thanks so much, Kaarina! XO
Happy Birthday. I really like the look and feel of this new blog.
@TheJackB Thanks, TheJack! Kinda likin’ it myself, too. Onward and upward to drive a little more my way!
Happy Birthday and congrats on integrating the blog with your business site. Agree that for most of us using the blog as a marketing and communications tools for our businesses, it only makes sense. As a dork, I have a little fun playing with the backend of WP – provided I don’t break anything. It’s why I need to do this as well, improve the website to better integrate the blog. FWIW.
@3HatsComm Girl…I got just the folks to help you out! Very happy with the services and the outcome! Can we DIY? Sure; can we DIY well? Nope.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Not so much the know-how (plus I want to learn) as the ever elusive, does-it-really-exist ‘free time’. 😉
Happy Birthday, Jayme. And congratulations on your new blog-site!
@Faryna I appreciate that! Thanks, Stan!
Love you, love the blog and love the lessons! Happy Birthday, dear friend!! Enjoy your day!
@EricaAllison I think we’re finally growing, eh? Onward, upward and see what comes from the sky. XO
Happy Happy Birthday, Jayme, and nice work getting all inta-ma-grated. That must feel excellent!
@Lisa Gerber It is an amazing feeling! You know more than anyone how frustrating the tech is…when it comes together (and it only does when knowledge happens). OMG, I just got a blog post out of that…thanks for the inspiration, Lisa! Great seeing you here, too!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing That will be $75, please. 🙂 (My husband always says that when he gives me a good idea. He’s contagious. Ugh.)
I like your new parlor, Lady J–look at all the social bling everywhere, and the snapshots are fun! Thanks, nemultimedia. Thank you for taking the time to share the things bloggers should think about in advance–even though I think we’d all prefer to let people like Michelle and Scott worry about it for us…
@ShakirahDawudnemultimedia It’s all about timing, you know? My inspiration from @Lisa Gerber for a post is exactly that…first comes love, then comes marriage. Or in my case nothing like that at all! Can you see a pattern?!
Jayme, this is an excellent post about the differences between a starter blog and one that’s growing up! Now your community — and potential clients — can easily find all your great content in neat categories and completely searchable with keywords. Potential clients will end up here, see the amazing community you’ve built around your blog, discover your wealth of knowledge, and also find everything else they need to make a decision right here in one place. Your “space” has become customer-centered. Kudos to you!! ~Michelle
@New England Multimedia Wow. That’s an incredible mouthful and so cool. I have great expectations…said Dickens. Thanks!
And…HAPPY BIRTHDAY to an amazing lady!
Yes I do like your new house. Sweet. Glad to see you happy on you Birthday, and again best wishes to you. A good uncommon sense approach and result. A house to suit you and it does that and more.
Nice…Billy
@Billy_Delaney Thanks, Friend.
First of all, happy bday Jayme! Hope it’s a great one.
I’m in the middle of my redesign, so these are some good pointers. Amazing how much there is to think about between design and development sides. I’m already well in with a team but I’m definitely going to keep Michelle and crew on the short list for future projects.
Great news, Adam! I think you come to mind most of all when I think of the blogging journey. Rather than wait for your first year to come and go, you jumped in to change it up rather quickly. I like a man with a clear direction and a carpe diem attitude. Can’t say enough good about Scott Quillin…and @New England Multimedia . Their depth of knowledge is amazing. I’m sure he doesn’t even know what a resource he is. @adamtoporek
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Appreciate that Jayme! Once you see the right path, I believe you shouldn’t waste time trying to force the wrong path to take you where it can’t.
I know I wished you on FB, but since I didn’t get here yesterday, happy belated birthday!
I’m SO glad you made these changes. Btw, I love the way you compare Livefyre & Disqus to a BMW & Cadillac respectively… LOL!
FWIW, I started out with a free theme and am still using it. I paid for Headway, Genesis, you name it, but did not find those as easy to customize as they say they are. Fortunately I had help with a little bit of customization over at WUL, and for me, it still works great.
Don’t know if it helps, but over at WUL I started a series a while back called “Blogging for Grasshoppers” that has what I’ve been learning as I’ve been blogging, and even my own low-tech hacks for stuff like customizing your 404 page (very importan!). So if it’s helpful to you, check it out.
And happy birthday again!
@Shonali Wonderful. I always wondered about your skin at WUL and have liked it, too. Great to know there’s a resource at your house — who knew to customize the 404? Great tip! Thanks, Shonali! I can already see a difference with my BMW selection of commenting systems. Oops…maybe I should Buy American.
Ya know Jayme, it’s amazing how much there is to learn to maintain an effective blog platform!
It would be interesting to see what specific plugins you use to optimize your blog…
I’m sure I wished you “Happy Birthday” somewhere around the social web yesterday – lol!
We share a February B. day – mine is the 16th – woo-hoo!
@Mark_Harai HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK HARAI!!!! Yes, I am indeed screaming!
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Hey, this is your Birthday page!
How cool is that, thanks for sharing it with me – you’re a sweety : )
XXOO : )
Looks like you got yourself a nice birthday present! And yes, I like how you sorted out the basics and got rocking! 🙂
@Hajra Thanks, Hajra!
I enjoyed reading this story. I will not say it was something surprising, anyway it was fine. Anyway, merci for your post. Move ahead doing well