The other day, I was talking with my sister (an accountant) about how her busy season was ALMOST finished and then she would finally be done working crazy insane hours all week — and all weekend.
And as I was thinking about the end of tax season, I remembered that exactly one year ago today (April 15) I launched my brand new blog, business, and brand.
One year ago, I made the humongously scary decision to totally change my blog and business name from Simple Organized Living to AndreaDekker.com. You can read more about the whole process in the following posts –> part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
To be perfectly honest, I loved the name Simple Organized Living — but I felt like it was just too long, and I felt like the whole “simple organized” concept was being overused on the internet. Plus, it was just time for a change.
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Looking back, I’m extremely glad I made the change — but I will also say that there were MANY weeks and months when I worried if it really was the right decision for me.
Even though my tech guys definitely knew what they were doing, and did everything possible to keep my Google rankings and ad dollars up there, I still lost out on A LOT.
Since my name no longer had those huge key words “simple” and “organized” in it, my Google rankings went down (and stayed down for a while) which also meant that my ad dollars went down (and stayed down for a while).
Although I was fortunate to be able to change my name on Facebook (instead of starting a brand new page) I still lost thousands of followers in the process. This was extremely frustrating for me at the time — especially since the numbers just kept falling and falling for many months after I made the switch. I thought I might eventually lose everyone and have to start all over again. Thankfully that was not the case!
However, it’s now a full year later, and my Facebook numbers are just finally getting back to where they were before I switched my name. And my Google ad dollars are actually still a little lower than they were before — so a little frustrating, but not the end of the world.
I think with any big change, it takes time to get all the details squared away, and I definitely didn’t expect to pull of a total business re-branding without any hiccups or glitches. But since I’m often asked by other bloggers how my name change went, I thought it was important to note that although I’m thrilled with the new name (and I honestly wouldn’t go back), it was a fairly involved and stressful process… with a few bumps along the way.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but if you have specific questions about my re-branding process, you can ask me in the comments or in an email and I’ll try to give you a helpful answer 🙂
It’s been a good year with the new blog and brand name — and I’m SO excited for the year ahead.
Thanks for following along — I know there are many of you who have been around since the very beginning, and I appreciate you so much!
Meredith says
I was directed to your wonderful site when I asked for opinions about changing the branding of my business (which currently consists of my VA business) to my name. I’ve learned a lot from reading about your experience, so thank you so much for sharing! While I like the idea of the flexibility I would get from changing to my name, I’ve always felt awkward thinking of telling others about my business as my name only. How do you tell others about your business? Do you find this awkward at all? Thanks for all you do Andrea!
Andrea says
Hey Meredith, For me it’s not awkward at all to say, “I’m Andrea Dekker, I blog at AndreaDekker.com. My goal is to help people simplify every aspect of their life.” But that’s just me 🙂
Siobhan says
Love your blog! So glad I stumbled upon it last May when I was looking for ideas to help with organizing kids clothes. I had just moved back into my home after being displaced for months after Hurricane Sandy. My home and our life was chaotic. So many of your posts have given me a new perspective; this helped me to put my home back together in a way that is more organized that I could have ever imagined. Our home is such a more peaceful, happier place to be because of this. BTW I also made your tilapia recipe the other night…so good! Thanks again for all of your hard work 🙂
Victoria @ Creative Home Keeper says
Congratulations on the one year celebration! It was actually one year ago when you made the switch that I discovered your blog and I am so glad that I did! I have been loving it every since. Keep up the good work!
Andrea says
Thanks Victoria! SO glad you “found” me 🙂
Lisa says
Hindsight being 20/20, what advice would you give someone starting a blog so that they might avoid having to change their name? I realize you didn’t have to change your blog name, but I wonder if I would have stumbled upon you if you’d had your new name all along.
Andrea says
Hmmm… I don’t think I have any advice for this. I LOVED my Simple Organized Living name — and it was the perfect name for me when I started. But then I changed and my goals and business plan changed — so my name changed too. There’s nothing I would have done differently and there was honestly no way I could have predicted these changes when I first started my business.
ShellyL says
That is exactly when i found your blog. I initially joined because of the name, simple and organized are what I need. A few days later, I was surprised at the change. I didn’t know who Andrea Dekker was, lol, but I stuck with you, kept reading, and I’ve been here ever since. It was brave of you to change in midstream, but it looks like it’s working well for you. 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Shelly — and glad you stuck with me even with the name change!
Debbie S says
Congrats on your name change. I agree with all of the above comments. I think I have been with you from the start or close to it. I found you on Pinterest. You are such a blessing and I hope you continue to grow. I know you don’t travel much, I would love to hear you speak at a conference or something. Wish we could have you come down south and speak at a ladies conference for our church one day. I think you would be great teacher for college girls and young married. ( well all of us haha!)
Audra says
Just curious….what was your first blog post? Is it still up?
Payson says
I am also really curious about that… Can I still read it after the name change last year??
Kelly says
Go to archives! All there! I went back and read from the beginning! She is great right from the start! 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Kelly!
And here’s the link to my archives: https://andreadekker.com/archives/
Barb says
Andrea, I follow because of your content and the wonderful person you obviously are. You are sincere, honest, open and very helpful. I’d follow your blog even if it were called “Spinach”! 🙂
Andrea says
haha — thanks Barb! I don’t think I’ll be making any more name changes soon, but if I do, I’ll keep “Spinach” in the running!
Mrs. W says
I was just wondering why you don’t advertise on money saving mom anymore?- that is where I found you from in the first place. And every day I would go on her site and read her new articles and then when I was done would then click on the link from her page to check if anything is new on your site. Personally, I think you would get a ton of traffic from still being on money saving mom and was curious why you stopped advertising there.
Andrea says
Thanks — and the ad is still there on MoneySavingMom.com 🙂
Mrs. W says
I went and double checked the Money Saving Mom website, and it wasn’t on my page. Since she redid her website to match her new book design your ad doesn’t show up on my computer at all.
Kari says
Congrats to you on the one year mark, but this comment is more for your sister. I’m a CPA and I’m celebrating with her today! Hooray! We get our lives back!
But really, I’ve been following your blog since almost the very start. It is your great content that brought me here and that keeps me coming back. Thanks for all you do.
Anna says
I’ve been a faithful reader since the beginning and I have to say I love your blog – no matter what the name! I’ve learned so much through your posts and look forward to reading every day. Thank you and I hope this year is even better for you!
Andrea says
Thanks Anna!
CJ says
I give you credit for doing what you did. At first when you made the change I thought you were crazy (even though I like your blog very much) because you would be losing your key words in your domain name which can be very important, like you stated. Also it is very hard to have a successful website using only your name as your domain name unless you are a celebrity of some sort and even then I think it can be tricky (unless you are Oprah or someone like that). I think what you did was a very brave and bold move and have been able to keep readers like me in the process because of the content of your blog and not the name. I wish you continued success with andreadekker.com.
Andrea says
well, a lot of people thought I was crazy (sometimes I though I was crazy) 🙂
It was a bit of a journey, but I am glad I made the switch. Also, I think that when I made the switch, I had enough readers to to make the “Andrea Dekker” work. I’m definitely not a celebrity, but I do like the more personal nature of my blog now.
thanks for your continued support… it means a lot!