It’s bona fide, a done deal, it’s so REAL! Cheap Ethnic Eatz has now become officially CulturEatz.
I DID IT!!!!! I have moved my domain and I have survived with only a few minor scratches. The crucial part of my re-branding is done. I am so thrilled and deeply relieved. Besides the new cultureatz.com url the only change you’ll will see for now is the new logo in the header.
By the way did anyone get the Cabaret reference in my blog title ha ha? If you have not seen the movie you really should, and enjoy it with a plate of my Hawaiian Pineapple Ham!
So what does one post the first time on their ‘new’ site? I will post a party and a simple party recipe. We are celebrating after all! The tecky curious can find plenty of useful info below but let’s party first! Sorry they are not the best pics but I had not planned on posting about it.
I had friends over on New Year’s Eve for a 3rd year in a row. This year I added a theme: summer / beach / Hawaii. As you can see from the pics below everyone really got into the theme grove.
The decoration was tropical with beach toys and even a small beach. The music was Hawaiian and some pop hits of 2015. This year I had a huge resolution wall where people could write down stuff. That was a hit. But the biggest hit was my Hawaiian Pineapple Ham. I have never seen people go through a piece of meat like that before.
Hawaiian Pineapple Ham! Sounds like something Peggy would serve on Mad Men right? Confession: I had never bought or cooked a big bone-in ham before in my life! I hate those little rubbery ones but a really big full ham! OMG it is so good, tender, juicy, not too sweet, and really easy to prepare in a slow cooker:
Hawaiian Pineapple Ham
Ingredients
- a bone-in ham that will fit in your slow cooker
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1 can crushed pineapple
Instructions
- Pre slice ham 3/4 of the way around the bone (it should still be in one piece)
- Place 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar at the bottom of the slow cooker
- Place ham on top of sugar
- Poor can of pineapple with juices over the ham. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar on top.
- Cover with foil and then the lid. Cook for 5 hours. Serve.
Some techy details for the curious about moving your domain
Just a note first. I do work in my ‘real job’ for a software company but I am not a programmer. I am self taught over the course of a few website ownerships. I know more than the average blog owner about the mechanics of a blog but I am no expert. With patience I can usually get myself out of a jam with lots of research. If I really f**k up I can call my hosting company because it’s actually a friend of mine. All that said I wanted to do my entire rebrand myself without paying for a professional service. If you have a good problem solving logic and how to play with your website files, you can do it yourself. But if you are unsure just hire a professional to do it for you.
The frustrating AARGGHHHH moments:
Move your files – do not copy your files: My experience is based on moving a wordpress.org domain to a new location on the same server. They said move all the files to the new folder. I thought I was smarter and copied them so if something happens I have two copies. Ah nope…not everything copied so even if I could go in my WP admin, the site cultureatz.com was blank. So I deleted my copy and then just moved all the files…and it worked. Lesson learned: follow instructions to the letter.
New logo not showing up in all browsers: So I changed my logo in my CPanel, deleted all the old ones. I saw my logo in Chrome but every else it was the old logo. The source code was still pointing to the old file I deleted. OMG I was freaking out. The solution: disable Cache plugin, re-activate and empty all cache in plugin. And (2 hours later) voilà!
Wow that was easy:
Changing Facebook was a breeze. I read that if you have more than 200 followers changing your Facebook page to a new name could be a real pain in the arse. Like having to show proof of new site and all sorts of things. But it turned out to be easy. I just asked to change the name and they said it was pending review, up to 3 days. They must have been bored that day because I got my name change done in 5 minutes. All other social media accounts can be changed instantly. Only Google+ is a pain because if you have picked a vanity URL you cannot change it, at least not yet fingers crossed.
Copy and repaste (the right) tracking codes. My current theme has that all saved but if your are changing themes right away make sure to save your tracking codes or any manually added codes in a word file, and then place them on your new theme right away. I only have Google Analytics at this time and I realized I still had the old version of the tracking code. I realised this when I updated my Analytics account so hopefully I will have better tracking info now.
Updating your RSS feed, sorta painless. I use feedburner and you have to be really careful to update your new feed in a way that you DO NOT lose your current subscribers. I will discuss how to do a complete switch more in details when I do my “how to move your site post” but for the basic minimal change all you need to change in the feedburner feed details is the Feed Title and Original Feed. DO NOT TOUCH the Feed Address.
What should you, the reader, expect next?
There is a lot more to do and it’s a work in progress. At some point the design of the site will change too.
Very soon I will ask you to fill out a survey so I know what you like, do not like and what you would like to see that is not here yet.
As always, I will keep you notified in posts and newsletters about all the changes to come in due time. My posts will be less ‘re-branding’ and more ‘recipes’ again but once in a while I will write about the process. And I do plan on publishing an A to Z instruction post on how to rebrand your blog. There are tons of articles on the web but they were all bits and pieces. I had to find the pieces of the puzzle before I could even complete the puzzle. I want to save you that trouble if you want to rebrand in the future.
And if you see anything that is wrong, not working, misplaced, or if subscriptions are not following through please advise me at my new email cultureatz [at] gmail [dot] com
So what do you think about my new web home?
Did you get redirected to the new cultureatz.com automatically?
Please update your bookmarks now and Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I’m thinking of making that delicious Hawaiian Pineapple Ham. Do you think I should host a party too? 😀
Love the name and the new logo! Thanks for the summary of what you went through. it’s a good future reference.
What a fun New Year’s party! Love the theme, the costumes, the pineapple ham, the resolution poster – everything! Great start to 2016!
Thank you so much Mj and glad you love the new name and logo. More ‘how-to-rebrand’ to come.
What a fun party, I know I was there. And the ham was very tasty. Wishing you the best with your new site Evelyne!
Thank you Suzanne, for being there and you bets wishes for Cultureatz 🙂
Well done Eve!! Sounds like you escaped relatively unscathed which is great! 😀 What a fun party you had and that ham sounds delicious.
Thank you Lorraine. yes it was a relatively almost pain free experience. Lots more to do still. Really the ham was the bomb, we were all surprised lol.
Wow Evelyne that party looks fantastic! I wish I lived next door! I would put on my bikini, wear my flip flops and jump right in! The ham would be another good reason to do it! Happy New Year to you and your new blog, to many more lovely posts to come!
Thank you so much Katerina for your good wishes. And if you had been next door you totally would have been invited. I did hope someone would come in a swimsuit but no such luck 😉
Congrats on the new site! It’s a big deal to make this kind of change. I have ideas of doing the same…at some point. Happy New Year to you and yours!
Happy New year and thank you so much! It is a big decision but so happy I took it.
Happy New Year, Evelyne! The ham looks delicious and your party had to be a blast. Good job on your blog transition! Take care
Thanks Pam and yes we had tons of fun 🙂
Awesome! Congratulations on the transition! Changing domains is a huge deal, and I’m glad everything went smoothly! That must be such a relief for you now – you’ve been planning and preparing for it for a long time, and not it’s finally done! And the ham looks great, I love the ham & pineapple combo, like on Hawaiian pizza 🙂
Thank you Melanie! yes it is a huge job indeed and I am relieved. Now I want a Hawaiian pizza lol.
Thanks for all the tech advice and for the great ham recipe. We usually host a “visit to the tropics” party in the middle of February when we are all craving a little sunshine in our lives.
Thanks Wendy if I can help others considering a revamp that would be great. Oh sounds like a fun you will have in Feb!
Great of you to add your notes about the move! This will for sure help someone else along the way. Have a super 2016!
Thanks Tandy I do hope others can learn from my experience to make there move easier. happy 2016!
Happy New Year, Evelyne and it looks like that you had a great new year eve party!!! The pineapple ham sounds and looks really delicious and I love just how simple the preparation is!
Once again, Congratulations on the successful transfer to the new domain.
Happy New Year Angie, and thank you for your ongoing support! It was a great party. Any ideas for leftover ham recipes, I have tons lol.
Congrats on the successful domain move, that is sooooo scary. 🙂 But it looks like you are a coding genius, especially if everything made it across. High fives.
Love the Hawaiian pineapple ham, I like this idea for a Christmas dish, the traditional Christmas food is not really my thing.
Good luck with the next phase of your blog rebrand. Cheers! Anna
Happy New Year and thank you so much Anna. Yes it was scary honestly but it went pretty smoothly, even with a couple of hiccups. We are non-traditional for Christmas meals too, might make it for next year lol. Thanks for your comment.