TRANSITIONING| THE MAIN BANGER BEHIND THE SAGA.

Transitioning has not been easy, from the long nights to thinking about the right theme, the appropriate pictures, the standard format like privacy policy, signup forms, pestering the web developer, and so on. Can I talk about SEO for a second? I almost cried after spending about 2 hours optimizing ONE blog post.

The majority says that blogging is easy-peasy with little to no stress, but I am among the few who will tell you that, YES, it is fun, and you feel the joy when your efforts start to yield results, but the energy required to get to that point can be equated to a 5-year old trying to lift a 50-kg bag of rice. It’s doable but INTENSE!

It is with a happy spirit that I welcome you, my dearest, committed, and loyal readers. You’ve stuck with me through the WIX days, and now as we move to greater things, do not go anywhere! If you are new here, I know you are staying, haha! Welcome home.

WHY I TRANSITION FROM WIX

For the longest time, I thought WIX was the best blogging platform. Yes, it is among the best, and it worked for me in my early days, but as my goals began to expand, WIX was no longer appropriate. Before I continue, I’d like to give a quick definition of a BLOG & a WEBSITE.

A blog is a type of website that is frequently updated while a website is majorly fixed once designed. Changes can be made to a website once in a while, but it’s not regularly updated as a blog would. Mind you; a website can have a blog in it; nevertheless, it is still a website.

SARMLife started as a blog, but with the SARMLife Sponsorship Program, Digital Courses, a Marketplace, and Internship opportunities, earlier this year, the need to switch to a website became prominent.

WHY WE TRANSITIONED TO WORDPRESS

WordPress houses about 1.3billion active websites according to Netcraft’s survey. Besides that, most global sites, apart from those built from scratch, are housed on WordPress. With a global mindset as well, I decided to join the community of WordPress users. Of course, the stats were not the only reason. I moved to WordPress for the following reasons;

1. For proper optimization of my blog through SEO. It was difficult, if not almost impossible, to do SEO on WIX.

2. For a better Marketplace option. WIX had a shop option, but I needed to pay before using that option, whereas, on WordPress, I got to use WooCommerce for free.

3. The email provider that WIX partnered with only let me send three emails to my subscribers per month. Mind you, I was on the Premium plan (rolling my eyes right now).

4. There weren’t so many design options. Yes, WIX is a drag & drop website, but options like Astra, Elementor, Blossom themes and the likes that WordPress provides were not present.

5. There were so many limitations; I can’t name it all.

P.S: WIX is a great platform to host your blog if you want to start a hobby blog. If you are a geek, you can code a lot of things into WIX, and make it work for you. But, if you want to make money through blogging, WIX isn’t for you, baby!

THE PROCESS

It wasn’t a comfortable journey, as I mentioned earlier. The strategic planning with my team was top-notch, and I am thankful for every one of them. The web developer brought his “A-game,” too. I remember the first/second week when he thought he was done, haha! When he showed me the website initially, I was irritated because it looked too masculine. I don’t blame him, he is a man after all, and besides, I didn’t give him design specifics.

After another week of searching for the right design, we came up with what you now see; you will agree with me that the website looks super professional a little in-between masculinity and femininity, and above all perfect. My soul is excited as I type these words, and I am glad that weeks of intense work was worth it.

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM TRANSITIONING 

If we all share what we’ve learned during this process, you might get tired of reading because we learned a lot. To save you the energy, here is what my Executive Assistant learned during the transitioning process.

“Transitioning from WIX to WordPress taught me patience. Patience in the sense that I had to keep my fingers crossed and hoped for the best. I also got to know the importance of teamwork. SARMLife team fought through the waiting and transitioning period, and I’m proud to say, we came out better and more energetic. As cliché as that might sound, it is the truth.”

Abosede Olatunji

The transitioning period taught me that positivity/optimism is highly needed. There were times when I felt bothered because I felt like the waiting time took forever. Even in those moments, I had to encourage myself and the SARMLife team to keep on and be positive.

I am glad the transitioning happened because it brought out the best in us, I would say. Ruth showed herself to be a leader indeed; yes, the team had its moments of “back and forth arguments,” but we came back from those moments and saw the light together. There were opportunities we came across as well; there were moments we had to brainstorm together and pen down ideas. I enjoyed these moments because they taught me how good of an advisor I am (lol).

One of those good moments I enjoyed was when I wrote a book, an e-book specifically.

I stayed late at night to make sure I got the right content from our previously used Creative Writing book. I enjoyed the process because it made me believe in myself as a writer.

And yay! I wrote my first ever e-book. I’m excited we waited, and we are back, baby!!!

MOVING FORWARD

Providing you with content to help you LIVE and LEAD a more comfortable lifestyle is what we are about. As usual, our blog section will be updated every Saturday. Also, the job-listing page will be updated twice a month. For any new development, be it our sponsorship program application or an offer, we will update you via email. Remember, our blog content is pretty diverse, and you stand to learn a lot. If you haven’t subscribed, scroll down on the website, and find the newsletter box.

On Saturday, I’d be sharing Mikheala Adarve, a Philippine blogger’s WEEK OF OUTFIT DIARY.

Until then, you can check out other WEEK OF OUTFITS posts, and do not forget to keep carving your desired future.