If you have not noticed yet, we have moved on from blogger (woodooz.blogspot.com) to a custom domain (www.woodooz.com). Today, we take a certain amount of pride in having effected this migration to a custom domain. All credits to you for relentlessly visiting us and giving us your words of encouragement through your comments and visits. There are few reasons why we were compelled to move to a custom domain and we thought it is only apt we share it here.
1. We are serious about Woodooz
While we started making projects for our own use, we were also happy to honor requests from friends and family, who incidentally were willing to pay for it. We realized we were in love with this obsession and noticed we were putting in more seriousness, passion and commitment into what we were doing. Thought this was a way to show the world too that we are indeed serious about Woodooz.
2. We didn't like our E-mail address
woodoozmagic@gmail.com it was. Though we would have preferred Woodooz, it was sadly taken by someone else :( We believed in having the same identity across platforms and somehow this email thing was irking. But now, we have contact@woodooz.com for general queries and we thought it will give the blog a more professional distinction.
3. Country specific domain didn't go well with us
Sometime in the middle of Jan, Google was oddly sending blogspot traffic to .in and other country specific domains. We had statcounter installed for .com and .in and there were variations in traffic stats reported. And though blogspot.com was configured as the canonical version, we feared that crawlers may look at our content as duplicate in each of these domains.
4. Our organic traffic began to decline
We could not relate this to anything other than Google's decision to do country specific redirection as organic traffic pattern began to waver sometime only after Jan. After having done so much of on-site optimization, it was sad to see search traffic go down and hence we didn't want to leave anything to chance.
5. SEO demanded a custom domain
This may not be true as long as one is able to consistently provide quality content. However, we had given utmost importance to meta descriptions, meta keywords, keyword, alt texts and other SEO techniques for all our posts and thought why leave out having a custom domain. If it will help us in our quest for optimization, then why not.
6. Our Alexa ranking began to sky rocket
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| Alexa Ranking - Lower the better |
Now, we really do not understand how Alexa ranking works and how it affects traffic to our blog. But it is a benchmark that many use to measure the effectiveness of a blog and so we monitored it. Notice how it has grown manifold starting Jan ? Interestingly, Alexa looks at .in and .com as seperate pages and hence it ranks them both seperately. We wanted to know if a custom domain can help us here.
Other not so significant reason
If we decide to move to a different platform, say wordpress, in the future, we are well insured.
We had been toying with the idea for a long time and then decided to take the plunge last week. We indend to continue with our DIY projects and their related how tos and tips @Woodooz. And in the process we seek your support and encouragement to keep us going.
Now over to you,
- Do you look at SEO before making a post ?
- Did you have apprehensions about country specific domain redirection too ?
- What would be your single most reason to move to a custom domain ?
Linking in : Colours Dekor
  to a custom domain (www.woodooz.com) . Today, we ta...){kind=link}
Hi
ReplyDeleteI must commend you on your website. I did notice that it was redirecting me to woodooz.com. Congrats on setting up your own domain. Wish you the best success. Your blog has been an inspiration to start my own woodworking blog and now a website too. May your hits increase :-)
Hi Vinay, thanks a lot :) Am glad you have been inspired to showcase your work through your blog. I have been following you since you put up your blog and have loved all your work. Hope to see you post more of your DIY projects :) Thanks again dude !
DeleteAwesome as always! You lead the way and we follow...Thanks for being such an inspiration somu...All the best in all that woodooz does! :D
ReplyDeleteHey Shiv, thanks :) Really appreciate you for the consistent feedback and motivation you give us.
Deletegr8 work as usual Somu :)..wish u best luc for new domain :)
ReplyDeleteHi Aparna, Thanks a lot for your wish. :)
DeleteCongrats ro the new domain,,,
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot :)
DeleteAwesome!! :) a .com will def help and def gives a more professional outlook. Best of luck
ReplyDeleteTrue, it does give a nice feel to the blog... I have friends who remember Wodooz but always have trouble remembering blogspot. Now I guess I need not worry about it :) We had been holding the domain for more than 3 months... and then took a cue from you and migrated. Realized there is no better time than now to move. Thanks as always :)
DeleteWow.. this is extensive.. and wow!! wow!! for all the research that you guys have time.. I'm surely not this tech savvy.. and am not sure I know this much about blog traffic.. Truly impressed!!
ReplyDeletebut yes, i've surely heard that .com does help.. I do like the email id too.. Its professional for sure!! Just depends on what you see of your blog, or where you see it headed.. :-)
Thanks for being the first one to link in.. Surely makes my day!!
Actually I am in a phase where I am seem to be very obsessed with traffic. I remember when I started my personal blog 7-8 years back, there was a time when I went through the same phase. But it eventually died down. All said and done, it is consistency and quality that brings traffic to blogs. And those that focus and consistency and quality, don't know and bother much about how many are coming in. Know who I am talking about ? :)
DeleteI always wait for your Monday posts. Sometimes I even add the "Linking in" to my post, and add the link after I know the URL. :)