I started blogging about 12 years ago. I just wanted to create a little place where I could write/post poetry and other creative writings as a therapeutic outlet. The more I learned from other bloggers, the more I started tweaking my own site and it was NOT fun. As the years passed, my chronic health issues began to progress and my focus began to shift more into patient advocacy work – my writing morphed into journalistic essays and I’m thrilled to have some ongoing freelance work.
Once in a blue moon, I’ll pop over to my WP blog and maybe I’ll post a little something. BUT, it’s so messy, outdated, unorganized, and I can’t seem to figure out what I could/should do about it.
Side note: I LOVE creative writing and my hope is to save my blog, but my entire vision has changed since I first started. Plus, I hate the name of my blog. I hate the format too. Ugh! Lol!
Honestly, I had no clue what I was doing when I first created it and had no idea you couldn’t just go to settings and change your domain name. I’m not ready to trash any of it “yet,” but I have no clue where to start cleaning it up based on its current state. Then again, part of me wants to scrape it completely and start over with a fresh canvas – I want something creative, eye catching, yet simple for me to design and maintain. If you were to Google my name right now, you’d likely find my name listed in several different places, but you’d probably not be able to quickly find the link to my blog. That’s not good.
So, what to do…
All of my original work is backed up, saved, but I need some help moving forward. I’m wondering how to do any of this – to rename it, to update and repurpose my work without screwing up any SEO matters – if that’s even possible?!?!?
I’m open to hearing any & all useful /helpful suggestions. Thanks in advance for any ideas or feedback you might have for me! Sorry for my long,rambling post. Phew!
Ok, first: don’t scrap it.
Buy the domain you want, and then learn how to do a redirect. I recommend changing the blog to the new domain name and parking the old one, redirecting it to the new one.
Make sure all of your plugins, theme, and core are up to date. Make sure you have security: WordFence and Cleantalk are my favorites. (Unless you are on WordPress.com for hosting…)
Choose a good free theme. A lot of writers I’ve worked with are happy with Kadence. It has a bunch of settings and options without being too complicated.
Then consider tagging your posts by theme. Somehow set up your menu to reflect the different topics. Let it come to life. It is ok that it shows the phases of your life and your interests.
This is actually a fairly common scenario I’ve run into. Embrace the change. Have fun updating it.
And if you don’t already have an email subscriber list, start one! If you do, let your readers know what you are doing.
Enjoy the process of updating. Keep all of that lovely content.
And then, maybe go back and update some of your best posts. Maybe use something like AIOSEO to give you suggestions. I mention this because you aren’t ranking for your name if I read your post correctly.
Make sure your name and tagline are in the header in words, not an image.
It’ll turn around. I’ve seen many authors do it. You’ve got history and content. Use it.
Also before you begin changing make sure to create a back up of the whole site, so that ifyou do break it you can easily revert it back.