I recently shared how to set a domain name in blogger to your own personal domain name. When you make the big step and go from a .blogspot address to your own domain, there are several things you can do to help make the transition a bit easier. These important reminders also apply if you are re-branding, changing your domain name from one name to another or even just setting up your domain name for the first time.
Changes to Make When Moving Your Site
The Search Engines! The most important thing to pay attention to when your site moves from one domain to another is to be sure to update the search engines! This will keep you from losing important rankings on your old posts that you’ve worked hard on. You can alert the search engines that your website has permanently changed locations. Google has a whole article on this, so you can find help on what needs to be done here.
Social Media Profiles – Make sure you update all of your social media profiles. This can be as simple as putting new links in each of the “about” sections. If you’ve completely re-branded, then it may mean completely creating new profiles, depending on how drastic your name change was. Some social media account may allow you to change your name without losing any follows. If you do need to create a new account, don’t worry about deleting your previous account right away. Use your old account to alert your fans of the change and help them get over to the right page to be following you under.
Update Directory Listings – If you have linked up your website to other listing services such as Top Mommy Blogs or maybe a site that lists blogs in your genre to help you get noticed, you’ll want to be sure to update your accounts there. If you have been working with blogging companies, you’ll need to update your records with them as well of your new domain name.
Watermark – If you use a watermark to protect your images, it will be important to update your watermark to reflect your site move. You won’t need to go back and change all of your old watermarks on your images since typing in your old link name should just continue to redirect anyone who is still trying to find you with your old name. If you have a few popular posts that bring you a lot of recurring traffic, it would be a good idea to update those photos, though.
Let People Know – You’ll want to let your fans, readers, and any companies or representatives you work with know that you are moving site content to a new domain so they won’t think they’ve just been directed to a strange place and click away before realizing it is still you. It’s a good idea to alert your readers before the change and after as well. Adding a line to your email signature can be an easy way to remind people of the change.
Email Address – If you are re-branding your site, changing your email address will be an important part of the changes. Simply set up a new email address using Google Apps and your new domain name. Then, forward all your emails from your old account to your new address. If this is your first time moving to a domain name from blogger, this is one of the great perks of owning your own domain name! You can now set up a professional email address such as “admin @ yourdomainname .com”.
My next blogging tip posts will cover how to set up your own email address, creating a watermark and how to start self-hosting your blog so stay tuned! If you have questions you’d like to see answered as part of my blogging tips series, let me know in the comments!
Denise Taylor-Dennis
Sunday 17th of March 2013
I am going to bookmark this for future reference in case I decide to get my own domain.