I’m super excited to announce that “Your Paper Dreams” will soon have a brand-new home on the web!
Yep, for the past month or so I’ve been busy at work creating a brand-new website, and HOPE to have it up and running by sometime around the end of February!
This process has really been a technical challenge for this-here senior citizen, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for the better part of 3 years, and I’m a firm believer that we’ve gotta keep using our brains in order to keep them functioning for us in our later years. But yeah, to say this has been a brain challenge (fraught with more than a moment or two’s frustration and significant concern about my level of sanity), well, that would definitely be an understatement, lol!
So how might this affect YOU? And why does it matter?
Well, eventually the older site that you’ve been familiar with for 12-1/2 years will close down. But before that, *elements* of it stand a potential chance of breaking as I begin the process of disconnecting it from the web address “YourPaperDreams.com”. (So I can ultimately reuse that same name for my new site.) So once I initiate that process, which will likely be in the next few days, I wouldn’t be surprised if some links cease to work, and who KNOWS what other chaos might occur?!? But I will not be
I recognize there are a few elements of the (older) site that my stampin’ friends access regularly, and if this name-extraction process causes those areas to blow up, it won’t be a pretty picture. So short term, I’ll be increasing delivery rate of my emailed newsletters, and in them will include popular information that has resided on this site (in particular, the current host code and the link to upcoming class registration). If you don’t already subscribe to (or read) my newsletters, you might want to pay particular attention in the upcoming weeks so you’ll know what’s going on behind the scenes. I sure don’t want to lose anyone along the way!
SUBSCRIBE TO (or update your preferences for) MY NEWSLETTER HERE.
So what does this mean to ME?
It will give me a more contemporary platform on which to present my communication, more opportunities to display eye-candy, more flexibility to install new exciting features over time, and (I surely hope) that it will rank better with Google searching! (While my old site used to be considerably better in the ranking world years ago, it has dwindled nearly to non-existence over time.) Also, I *think* that once I’m past the initial investment and the new site is up and running, that it shouldn’t cost all that much more to maintain than what I’ve been paying anyway.
One other piece of semi-good news (well, something I’m particularly jazzed about anyway), is that I succeeded in exporting all 12-1/2 years worth of blog posts over to my new site! Several years ago when I first explored the idea, I’d been told it would cost BIG bucks to hire a professional to do it – or alternatively, move the text over myself, but forfeit the associated images. Obviously, that was pretty discouraging to hear. But thankfully, over time, technology has advanced and I got the move accomplished myself – to the tune of only $22! (Plus or minus a few dozen hours, of course.)
But alas, the world is still not perfect. Lots of my former formatting went away during the export/import process, and I have only gone back to just a few of the more recent posts to correct that issue. Likewise, I suspect a bunch of links probably died, as well. But I will NOT be revisiting the other 700 or so old posts to correct whatever may have gone a little wobbly. They’ll just have to live on as they are. Old and maybe a bit creaky. But I’m thrilled that at least they’re THERE at all!
Very loose projected timeline to launch:
I wish I could lay out a fairly firm timeline on this journey towards my new site launch. But I’m DIY-ing this project, and EVERY SINGLE STEP along the way is new to me. So every single step requires intensive study before implementing. Some steps have gone smoothly, but several have not. The worst example of that (so far) was having made NO forward progress for the past 6 days as I struggled with one stupid, picky detail that just would NOT work. But with that frustration finally resolved yesterday (SO grateful to my nephew for writing the code that provided the solution!), I’m excited to be moving forward again. Of course, I’m nervously aware that some similar type of stall could recur and set progress back for another period of time. But that said, I’m still
So as we say good-bye to my older site, I’m delighted to be moving to my NEW home on the web shortly… and it’ll have the exact same name, so you should be able to still find me easily!
In the meantime, watch your email for more updates!
And don’t forget that brand-new Sale-a-Bration freebie items debut tomorrow, February 15th! (But demand is expected to be tight, and as always, they’ll only be available while supplies last. So you’ll want to choose early for best selection!)
