First off, if you are reading Raising Arrows in a reader or via email, you have probably wondered why in the world you keep getting a multitude of my old posts over and over and over and…
If you decided I’d lost my mind and ditched me, I don’t blame you. If you stuck with me…THANKS A MILLION!
Some of you know the agonizing I have done over moving to WordPress. I even mentioned it in a BlogFrog discussion. Honestly, what held me back in the end was not the money as much as it was the memories.
You see, I had just moved to Blogger when Emily died. I will never forget writing that agonizing post just 2 days after her death. I will never forget how “Be Thou My Vision” by David Nevue played in the background of my blog as I bawled my eyes out again and again. Even though things changed on my blog over the next couple of years, I still hung on to the fact that Blogger was where I was when Emily died. I knew Blogger. We were old friends, and all the troubles others said they were experiencing there I managed to avoid.
That is, until I broke my blog.
After that, trouble came and kept coming, until I was swimming a sea of trouble. People couldn’t comment, comments were disappearing, certain browsers thought my site ought to be arranged in a crazy fashion, and the list goes on and on.
Meanwhile, my husband and I did some talking and decided to go ahead and pay for a designer to move me to WordPress. I had a lot reasons to make the move, but the ones that stood out are the ones that involve you…my readers. Because all of you are a big part of my decision to move, I wanted to share with you some things you’ll find here at Raising Arrows now that the move is complete:
1. Threaded comments. Yes, I know Disqus has them, but sometimes Disqus can be a pain. Here, all I had to do was press a button on my dashboard and suddenly I can reply to each and every comment and you don’t have to sort through to see how I replied to someone’s question.
2. Replies to your comment via email. For a while I was having trouble with this one, but I think I have the right plugin now. Basically, what this does is sends you an email when I reply to your comment on the blog. I love that! I try so hard to email those of you who have email addresses available, but sometimes I want those who read the blog to be able to read my reply to you as well (don’t worry…your email address is totally secure and never visible to others). Now I have the best of both worlds and I only have to reply once!
3. CommentLuv. I LOVE seeing what your latest blog post was. I am fascinated by all the different ideas and topics people who comment here write on. And I want you to have the opportunity to get some traffic from other bloggers who see a post of yours that piques their interest.
So, those are the biggies for me. I love dialoguing with people and moving here to WordPress afforded me a better way to do just that.
Yes, there are still kinks to be worked out here and I still have lots to learn, but through it all I’ve realized what has mattered to me all along wasn’t the place I was blogging at, but the people I was blogging with. There are many of you who have been here from the painful beginning, and there are those of you who have just arrived. I adore each and every one of you and the comments you leave and the time you take to meet me, cry with me, laugh with me, journey with me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
abba12 says
Glad the move worked out! Hope the multiples stop soon though, I almost missed your new posts today 😉
I can understand the reasoning, I’m a very sentimental person too. I’m glad you don’t regret the move!
amanda says
where ever you blog, is totally fine with me. i truly enjoy reading!!
Nicki Bourgeois says
Looks great, Amy! Hope you’re having a good day!
Rhonda says
Thanks!
I’m new to your blog and am at THINKING about blogging myself. I appreciate knowing how others got into it and why they have blogs where they do.
Saidah @ aproverbswife.com says
You are such a sweetie Amy. I am so glad to have found your blog during the SavvyBlogging Twitter party. Keep being true. You are a gem to your readers.
I am 60 days or so into my new WP site and it’s unbelievable how attached we are to our blogs. Moving to WP helped me realize that it wasn’t actually the blog it’s self, but the friendships that mattered. Great post.
Amy says
Awww, thanks so much! I’ve enjoyed getting to “know” you on Twitter too. 🙂
Mama Mirage says
I definately like the look of Blogger better than I liked the look of WordPress (I have both but just the free versions) and I found Blogger to be more customizeable but the Google-related features are so glitchy. You have to do what is the best overall and if Blogger was causing problems then it sounds like it was the right time to move on.
Just wanted to say I have not ever noticed any glitches on your blog though- no repetitive feeds or missing comments or strange layouts. 🙂 It’s looked great to me and worked great for me throughout your move.
.-= Mama Mirage´s last blog ..Religion and Legalism =-.
Mama Mirage says
*more customizeable for a newbie to blogging and design like me. 🙂 I need the “for dummies” version.
.-= Mama Mirage´s last blog ..Religion and Legalism =-.
Amy says
You know, I’m glad to hear it all worked for you. My hope was that it would be seamless, but there were a few seams, I’m afraid. Oh well, that is life. 🙂
JenT says
You know, I was wondering why I kept seeing the same posts in my google feeder. 🙂 Glad it worked out.
Karen says
Tell me about the better things about WordPress than blogger. I must admit, I’m tempted to move now that I can see your blog here. Can I still follow other blogs like I do now with blogger?
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Can’t believe its been so long since I posted.. =-.
Amy says
Karen,
I’m on the WordPress.org side of the house (as in the WP you use when you’ve purchased hosting). the .com is NOT as user-friendly or customizable. I tried it once and wondered what all the hype was about only to realize they are two totally separate animals.
Most WP blogs are adding in the Google Friend Connect which is the same thing blogger uses to “Follow” people, so yes, you can follow in the same way. Otherwise, you sign up for feed in a reader or email if they don’t have that option.
There are a lot of “perks” to WP including the way the commenting system works. Besides that, WP’s ability to get your blog posts out there in Google land is much better. They call it SEO or Search Engine Optimization and it means Google has an easier time finding you here than at Blogger (which is really weird considering Blogger is a Google entity.
WP also has tons of “plugins” which are basically like apps on an iPhone. If you want to do it, there’s probably a plugin for that. 😉
Hope that helps 🙂
Kate says
I wanted to see your new site. I like it! I’ve been curious about WordPress too, although I’m now at Squarespace. It’s fine. And I do love CommentLuv! 🙂
.-= Kate´s last blog ..Fruity Kefir Popsicles =-.
Grace Wheeler says
I just love sound of “CommentLuv”! 🙂
And getting some of your old posts has just given me a chance to catch up on posts I’ve missed out on! So I haven’t minded at all!!!
.-= Grace Wheeler´s last blog ..Getting A Vegetarian to Eat Meat =-.
leah says
It looks great; I love that you can see what other peoples last blog post was too, what a great idea 🙂
.-= leah´s last blog ..Meditating Mothers =-.
Fruitful Harvest says
Hi Amy~
I know change can be hard…..I remember when I first started coming to your blog about a year ago or has it been two?
Anyway…..you had the purple background with the washer lady in the weeds! I just loved it!
(I miss it) I have your blog button on my blog from way back when and it still worked after Lynnettes daughter gave you a blog makeover.
You created a new button….but I was thrilled to pieces when you old button still worked for me!
I know….I’m a corn ball! But its true! I am sad now to know my button (with the picture I love)does not work now!
Know that you have changed to Word Press your/my beloved button no longer works!
Can you make me a new button….with the old picture?
I still have the old one on my blog if you forget what it looks like!
I know change is good…..but I can be stuborn! LOL Sigh~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blessings and Prayers,
Georgiann
.-= Fruitful Harvest´s last blog ..Second Wind~ =-.
Amy says
Aw, Georgiann, you’re so sweet. The reason your button still worked is because it has the blogspot address attached to it rather than my domain and blogger would just redirect it for you. All you have to do is go into the box where you placed the button and look at the html code. Where it says: http://raising_arrows.blogspot.com change that to: https://raisingarrows.net Let me know if that works! 🙂
Milehimama says
I wondered what was going on! I linked to you a couple of days ago and it went to a blank page, then I got about 47 of the same posts in my reader. I love WordPress too!
Amy says
Thanks for sticking with me despite all the weird stuff that was going on here! 🙂
Debbie says
Was it a difficult and time consuming switch? I am also having trouble with my comments posting to my blog and am impressed by what you write about WP. Is it free and easy to switch or difficult and time consuming? Did you lose anything in transfering over or is it like starting all over?
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Has Anyone Else Had Trouble Posting Comments? =-.
Amy says
I switched to the wordpress.org side of the house. It costs, but it does allow for a lot more flexibility. I had so much riding on moving here that I decided to hire a designer so I wouldn’t lose anything. The only thing I lost was 200 subscribers, which is slowly catching back up. You also have to pay for hosting on the .org side (The .com of wordpress is free).
I definitely feel like it was worth it, but it’s probably not for everyone. Hope that helps!
Debbie says
This does help. Thank you. Why the .org and not the .com?
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Has Anyone Else Had Trouble Posting Comments? =-.
Amy says
.org makes you in charge. .com has wordpress in charge. The .com isn’t very customizable. My site would look nothing like this on the .com side. Glad to help! 😉
Debbie says
just wanted to let you know that I am switching to wordpress.org. I found a host for $8.95 a month with the first 2 weeks free through Dream Host and I found a designer who will switch me for free. She can be found at http://www.goodtrueandbeautiful.com. I am sharing this info with you in case you wanted to let other readers know who are debating about switching to Word Press. Thank you for your help today. I enjoy reading you blog.
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Has Anyone Else Had Trouble Posting Comments? =-.
Amy says
Wow! Wonderful! Let me know when you are up and running!