The Evolution of Blog

Posted on by Mike Senczyszak in Writing & Blogging

sporkI’ve come to a spork in the road.

Since my blogging adventure began, the design of my website has changed on a couple of occasions. The first change was cosmetic, the second by accident. I was experimenting with WordPress ‘Customizer’ (honestly, just tinkering, no malice intended), when I inadvertently hit the wrong tab and obliterated my old design. The new theme was merciless, wreaking havoc with my site, juxtaposing images, eradicating menus, dissolving uniformity.

A year’s worth of archives, jumbled.

And to my chagrin, the cure-all ‘revert to original’ option turned out to be a placebo, WordPress had retired my old theme.

After hours of editing and re-editing, the current site was born. But, like the creation of the spork; a melding of two divergent streams, an evolution of blog was inevitable.

I’m looking to move away from a standard blogging site, towards more of an Author’s Page.

Which author you ask?

Ha, good one.

With my eventual leap into the self-publishing pool pending, I’m looking to change things up a bit, not a lot, but a bit. Creating a generic landing page, one with a link to my existing blog, creates the perfect environment, a convergence of goals, a practical solution. Like the spork.

Is this simply a tactic to avoid writing?

Perhaps.

Fear not however, my blog posts will continue (I hear the collective sigh of relief –or was that a collective eye roll? – yes definitely eye roll).

But change is a necessary evil, in a world of static complacency and compulsive tinkering.

In the near future, if you happen to pop by the site and discover a new landing page, one that looks like it was designed by a dyslexic Webmaster running Windows 95, I’ve probably hit the wrong tab again.

Be patient, I’m working on it.

And if nothing has changed, disregard this post entirely.

Until next time,

 

 

33 thoughts on “The Evolution of Blog”

      1. Yes, They are so prompt , it’s amazing , the number of times I have sent them mail, they get back to me quick, even if it’s as mundane as a hi or a hello.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Ya I’m still trying to figure it out myself! I see other people sites that look professional, clean, concise, and I’m over going click, “WTF” click, “oh that’s not right” click, “good enough I’m done!”

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    1. I hear you. I’ve debating moving to a self-hosted site with WordPress.org, but I’ve been hesitant to take the plunge. While I don’t mind tinkering with the site, I know I’ll spend more time doing that than writing. Cheers Theresa, thanks for popping by!

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    1. WordPress has good tech support, you can usually chat online and resolve any issues. You should go into Admin and look around a bit, some changes are quite easy, and usually easy to revert back if you don’t like them. Cheers!

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  6. I will probably get a website later this year so I can transfer my archive. It will help me down the road. Thanks for detailing your journey, Mike. It is inspirational. I know success is around the corner for you.

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  7. Just my own little two cents here: Self-hosted sites can be fab, but when you’re choosing a theme keep an eye on the functionality. Some of the themes do not allow a visitor to click “like”. This might seem minor, but I have had so many friends switch to self-hosting, be unable to figure out the “like” situation, and then they lose followers (including me, in some cases) because that instant interaction is gone. Other than that, do what you need to do and best of luck to you. I’ve been fumbling along for a decade now and I still haven’t worked out all the kinks…

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    1. Thanks Brian. I was looking to switch to WordPress.org last year, but that was one of the reasons i didn’t – the ‘likes’ would not transfer over with the switch from .com to .org. It might be a trivial thing, but it was enough to keep me status quo. I agree with you, I often peruse other WordPress sites, and if they don’t have the ‘like’ option, I’m likely not coming back for a second visit.
      Thanks for the input!

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  9. Pingback: The Evolution of Blog – Mike Anthoni's -The Blueprint

  12. Good move, Mike. I did gather that it’s an important first thing to do when you decide to publish. All the best.
    I did the same as I decided to take writing seriously, which is the first step on getting serious with publishing. I do like the WP platform with likes and all the other widgets. I made a mistake of getting my domain via my email SP and it’s worse than .org because I think I need a website developer to add widgets. There are just no widgets available although I’m using WP as the back end. The plug-ins don’t seem to work properly. I can’t even add a Contact widget but I’m more technology challenged than inclined. I’m keeping it though. It does allow people to comment but no likes or re-blog. At least I can share to WP like sharing to FB or Twitter. I haven’t figured out though how to auto-share upon publication as with my normal WP blog sites.

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    1. Thanks Anne. Although I would like more control over my site, I’m hesitant to move to WP .org because I know I’ll spend more time tinkering with the site, than writing. I agree, I like WP platform, I’ve had few issues I couldn’t resolve relatively quickly so far. Thanks for commenting, good luck with your site as well!

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  13. thanks for sharing your experience of tinkering on WP. like some of your other comments, i am too nervous to touch anything. my site works as is and i’m happy. i’ve heard of other people having major problems when making a switch and then spending hours of frustration trying to right things again. but … it may be worth the effort for marketing reasons.

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    1. I’ve been holding off the big switch from .com to .org, but I think I’ll take the plunge of renaming my site, and trying to move the Blog part to a link. Fingers crossed! Cheers, thanks for commenting!

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    1. Thank you! I have great intentions, now I just have to find the time and drive to carry through. It’s been a busy August, and I’m off on another jaunt tomorrow, my writing is f a l l i n g b e h i n d!
      Cheers, thanks for commenting!

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