Changing our Blog Name-The Pro’s and Con’s!
the ins and outs& ups and downs of changing your website’s name!
Hello, sweet friends! Well, after two VERY long and (at times) frustrating weeks, our blog has officially changed its name!
That’s right. Even though we announced over two weeks ago in our newsletter and on Instagram that we’d changed our name from CD’s Country Living to Pallet and Pantry, it only ‘officially’ happened last Friday.
So why did it take so long? That’s a good question, and I’ll be happy to answer that in just a bit. But before I do let’s start with an even more important question.
why did we change our website’s name?
KEEPING IT REAL!
I started CD’s Country Living way back in 2014. Of course, back then it was more like a journal than a blog. I chose the name on a whim and with our plans to build a new home near our family farm that same year, it seemed to fit. Unfortunately, those plans changed, and instead, we remained in our current home and began remodeling it room by room. So that whole ‘country living’ thing? Well, I may be a country girl at heart but I definitely didn’t live there. Unfortunately, that was what readers expected when they saw the blog’s name. It was oftentimes confusing-especially since none of my posts reflected country living AT ALL!
When I decided to change the blog’s name it took years, not days to decide on one that fits perfectly. And it wasn’t until I’d done plenty of research, talked to you my readers, and other bloggers, along with family and friends that I FINALLY decided to make the change.
My advice? Don’t be impulsive when it comes to deciding on a name. Do the research. Ask for help. And above all else-Keep it real!
STAND OUT!
If you had googled CD’s Country Living in the early days you probably wouldn’t be surprised what came up in your search. Country Living Magazine was the main target. or anything relating to”Country”& “Living” but for sure no “CD” or “CD’s Country Living.”
Of course, that was before the content here started getting shared on different popular platforms and some even went viral. But still. The name was SO generic and definitely didn’t stand out from one of the most popular magazines in the country. Again, this is where doing your research is so important, and why Google(or another search engine) is your friend.
My advice-choose a name that is not only uniquely you, but UNIQUE…period!
what can go wrong? it’s just a name change, right?
Wrong! Even after I researched for months and THOUGHT I was asking ALL the right questions things went wrong during the process of changing our blog’s name. DRASTICALLY wrong!
WHY? I won’t go into the complete process of changing your domain name here today. It’s far too long and drawn out for one post anyway. But what I will say is you MUST be sure that once the change is made your host (or you if you know how) do a 301 redirect so that all your traffic from your old domain name rolls directly over to your new domain name.
A 301 redirect must be done so that Google and other search engines see that the change to your site is a permanent one which prevents you from losing SEO and losing traffic.
But what all the articles and my host forgot to mention is….this redirect needs to be done IMMEDIATELY! Or, what happened to my blog will happen to your site! And what was that?
 all the traffic from my old domain name (CD’s Country Living) was blocked by all search engines. Yes, you read that right! BLOCKED!
Each search engine carried a different message but for the most part, they all declared my site unsafe because it didn’t have a valid certificate and was possibly impersonating CD’s Country Living!!!
Worse yet? When I found this out a few hours AFTER the change was made I contacted my host and was told there was nothing they could do!!!
Unfortunately, the agent who was working with me didn’t put the redirect on immediately after we made the change. In that small amount of time(a few hours) traffic was hitting my blog(old links) and the search engines picked up that there was no longer an active SSL certificate on CD’s Country Living And since it wasn’t being directed to any other site, they flagged it as unsecured.
Which meant every time someone clicked on one of my pins on Pinterest, or a link in their search engine to one of my blog posts, they were blocked with this security message, instead of going directly to my site.
After many frustrating and what seemed like never-ending chats with agents and supervisors, I was left with three choices.
- Forget changing my blog’s name and go back to CD’s Country Living
- Pay for another SSL certificate (that wasn’t happening)
- Change my hosting provider
Well, I guess it’s obvious which option I chose. But folks, that in of itself was not an easy decision to make and involved A LOT more than I was prepared for. Changing the host of your website is definitely just as, if not more involved than changing your domain name. I wouldn’t recommend it without again…doing your research! But in this case, I had no other choice. In the end, I couldn’t be happier with my choice.
what you can ‘normally’ expect when you change your domain name
If you google “How to Change my Domain name” you will most likely pull up hundreds if not thousands of articles that for the most part are quite helpful and at the same time quite confusing. ** See below links for articles I found helpful*** If you’re lucky your host (Bluehost, Siteground, etc ) will walk you through the major steps in making this change. And if you’re even luckier things will go smoothly and you should encounter little or no downtime or lost traffic.
But sometimes stuff happens.
My advice? Be prepared, and when you think you know everything there possibly is to know about changing your domain name-read some more!
would I do it again?
Yes, but…
Don’t get me wrong! I LOVE our new name, but not in my wildest nightmares would I have thought it would be so difficult to change it. Was my situation normal? I hope not, but when I googled the issues I had, I found I certainly wasn’t alone. It happens. But it doesn’t have to. Of course, my situation was different in that I also changed my host company. So on top of everything else I did have to set that up too. And during the transition, I was advised not to create anything new on the blog until the switch was made and that didn’t happen for a week!
But… and this is the silver lining…when it did happen the issue was resolved(thanks to Daniel the best darn agent out there!) and now thank goodness, everyone is directed to our website without any issues!
So yes, I would do it all over again, but I would definitely do things differently.
I recommend if you are thinking about changing your domain name that you read these helpful articles first!
10 Crucial Thing to Do When you Change your Domain Name
How to Change your domain name without losing SEO rankings
How to Change your Domain Name without losing Rankings or SEO
On the plus side, we can FINALLY get back to blogging over here at Pallet and Pantry!
I’ll see you back here tomorrow for a new and SUPER delicious recipe (a bit later than usual) and on Friday for a fun DIY project!
I hope you found today’s post, Changing our Blog Name-The Pro’s and Con’s helpful!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Changing our Blog Name-The Pro’s and Con’s!
This was such a helpful post, Christine! I cannot imagine how frustrating this process was for you and truthfully, I had no idea how involved it was either. The new-look is gorgeous and was totally worth the wait. I’m glad it’s all behind you now and you can focus on creating. You always know just what we need to see and hear! Can’t wait to follow along on all your adventures, CoCo
Thank you so much for your kind words, CoCo! You truly made my week! I am so glad that ordeal is ‘behind’ me and as you said, I can finally focus on the ‘creating’ side of the blog! I’m SO excited for what is ahead! Wishing you a fabulous rest of your week! Hugs, Christine
Hi Christine,
What a very informative blog post. I found your blog through HomeTalk and your DIY Pottery Barn floor length mirror. I loved that DIY by the way! I was wondering if you could share with us why you chose the name that you came up with? I live near a pallet factory of all things and got a bit giddy thinking about you sharing DIY made with pallets. What kinds of “creativity” can we expect to find on your new blog that wasn’t featured on what looks to have been a very creative older blog?
Meg
Thank you so much, Meg! I’m so glad you liked the Floor Mirror DIY! It was definitely one of my favorites to date!
My husband is actually the one who came up with the new name Pallet and Pantry.
When I first started blogging the very first DIY project I made was pallet signs for a friend’s nursery. Michael thought it seemed only fitting, and I totally agreed! As for the pantry part? Well, it was perfect for the recipe side of what we do here on the blog! When we shared the idea with others before making the change, they couldn’t have agreed more!
As for how it will change the content here on the blog? It won’t. We will still be doing everything we’ve been doing. Which includes budget-friendly DIY, Home Improvement, Recipes, Tablescapes, and the odd review from time to time.
So we hope you come back and join us!
P.S. How lucky are you to live next to a pallet factory!Â
Thank you so much for stopping by!Christine
I love the name you decided to go with. Thanks for sharing all the information. I need to keep this in my blog pin. Thanks again my friend.
Thank you so much, Terrie! I love it too! I really wish some of this info had been out there when I made the change, but oh well. At least I can give someone else a heads up! Thanks for stopping by, my friend!