Posts Tagged: Open Giveaway

In case you didn’t hear me chat about it all week on Twitter – and since I kept my design the same like I wanted – I’m now on WordPress! Yay!

*Firstly, there will not be a Fresh Batch post this week – been too busy with the move – and FYI old posts may look weird until I can get to them! :)*

Why did I move?
I don’t know if you heard but Blogger has been on a rampage lately in shutting down blogs. Though I’ve only confirmed 3 because they were blogs I knew, I’ve heard of 8-10 book blogs were shut down in 2 days this week. This finally pushed me to take the leap that I have been worried about making for a year, now. I’ve never felt 100% safe on Blogger where Google basically own your blog, which means if their spam filter decides you’re spam, you’re out! Sure you can usually get your blog re-instated within a few days if you’re lucky, but is that something you want to have to deal with? Also I run a business now with Xpresso Book Tours, so it’s even more important to have a website that is 100% reliable and owned by me and no one else. Though even if it wasn’t for Xpresso Book Tours, I would freak at my own blog being down for hours, let alone days or even ever – nothing is a guarantee with Google and there’s nothing you can do about it if they remove your blog. Well, you can file a ticket to tell them  you’re not, in fact, a spammer, and hope they give a crap.

Why did I not move sooner?
Honestly I was mostly stressed and concerned about the move itself. I heard horror stories of bloggers who switched to WP and almost lost all of their hair because of how complicated it was. I also love my design and I didn’t know it was possible for me to keep what I had. But you know what? Get someone to help you! It’s not expensive (and there is a monthly fee for your web host which starts at 5-8$ a month) but also hiring someone to switch you to WP is affordable and more than worth it! This is where I’m coming in to pimp Ashley at Creative Whim (Nose Graze)! Dude! She made the move totally painless – she went way beyond my expectations of how much help and guidance she would give me throughout the process, plus she completely customized the book blogger plugin for my crazy review template design which I didn’t think possible. From helping me with deciding which host to go with (also a big shout out to Steph from Cuddlebuggery who was a big help as well!), to design detailing, to the actual WP implementation, she was just a doll to work with. And you should know I have to be one of the pickiest person on this planet. I nitpick at the tiniest of design details, and maybe she cried without telling me – which is possible – but she stayed so patient through my neurosis and really she deserves an award (like, I made her lower a font to a half px)! So don’t hesitate to go with this girl!

I’m writing this post right now literally hours after my very first look at anything WP and I already feel right at home! Sure it’s a learning curve and I still have lots to see, it is incredibly different from Blogger, but once you get the hang of it and see the new interface, it’s not as overwhelming as you may think – especially with Ashley’s Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin which is a MUST! Believe me! Posts take half as long as blogger, and the extra details you can add to your blog are just so awesome; genius, this girl is!!

Ok now that I have given the girl the God complex she deserves, let’s celebrating me finally moving on in Book Blogger life and joining the self hosted gang! How about some books for y’all? 😉

Also, I know it’s possible to keep with a hack but I’ve decided to do away with GFC. So why don’t you show me some follower lovin’ through another method!? 🙂 Links are on the sidebar here———->

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