The Grand Re-Think – Or, Why My Blog is Having an Existential Crisis (Again) and Getting a Domain Makeover!

You know that feeling when your digital life suddenly throws a ‘pay up or lose it’ notice at you? That little email that lands in your inbox, polite but firm, reminding you that your website domain is about to expire, and if you don’t fork over some cash, your little corner of the internet might just… cease to exist? Yeah, that was me, staring down the barrel of multiple domain renewals a little while ago.

Turns out, having a collection of domains for projects that don’t exactly fund a yacht lifestyle starts to look a bit… extravagant. Especially when none of them are actually making money – which, let’s be honest, is peak ‘my blog’ right there. My current digital empire consists of more URLs than actual readers, so something had to give. Mostly my wallet.

I’ve decided to tackle the Herculean task of rebranding and restructuring my personal blog. Mostly because the current setup felt a bit like a forgotten attic full of dusty, disconnected ideas, and I’m pretty sure my gran uses more modern fonts on her WhatsApp.

It wasn’t just a whim, you see; it was a financial necessity wrapped in a healthy dose of “I really should sort this out” procrastination. The agony of starting, the endless tabs open on my browser, the sudden, overwhelming urge to clean my oven instead… it’s a journey, folks. A painful, biscuit-fuelled journey. But here we are, at the precipice of change, or at least, a slightly tidier digital existence.

This post isn’t just a navel-gazing exercise in my own digital dilemmas, though it will have plenty of that. It’s about the struggles of maintaining a personal online space, the constant battle between ambition and technical ability, and hopefully, the triumphant (or at least functional and more affordable) outcome of it all.

What Was I Thinking?! (And Why It Had To Change)

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. And in my case, it’s also slightly embarrassing. Looking back at the sprawling mess that was my various online presences, it’s clear I needed an intervention. My digital real estate portfolio was getting a bit out of hand. I had jimhope.me, which was lovely and personal, a nice little digital calling card. But then there were others, all demanding their annual tribute.

And for what? My readership isn’t exactly in the millions – more like dozens, if I’m lucky, and mostly my wife (who bless her, mostly just clicks because she knows I wrote it, probably while sighing internally). As much as I adore writing about my various brain-farts, none of it’s exactly paying the bills. So, paying for multiple domains felt like a particularly elaborate way of setting money on fire. It was less a cohesive blog, more a digital junk drawer. A recipe one day, a rant about my cat’s life choices the next. Cohesion? Never heard of her.

Even though all these sites live under the same beloved WordPress Multisite roof (a setup that’s saved me countless headaches, and probably caused a few too), juggling all those different addresses was just one more thing to mildly annoy me. It became clear that enough was enough. The impending domain renewals were less a gentle nudge and more a firm kick up the digital backside.

If I Only Had a Brain (and a Style Guide) – And a Consolidated Domain!

So, the decision was made: consolidate. The chosen champion of this digital streamlining? jim.jabi.uk. This means jimhope.me is officially being put to bed. Farewell, old friend, you served me well, mostly. But keeping everything under the personal ‘JABI’ brand just makes sense. It’s tidier, it’s cheaper, and it feels a bit more ‘me’ without being quite so, well, ‘me’ in the URL. Think of it as moving house, but only changing the doormat and ensuring the new address is easier for the postman (and Google bots) to find.

The good news amidst all this upheaval is that my beloved WordPress Multisite installation isn’t going anywhere. All the content’s still there, it’s just getting a new address. This saves me the monumental task of migrating everything, which, given my track record with digital transfers, would inevitably end in tears and possibly a small fire.

When it comes to the look of the place, I’m quite happy with my current simple design. It gets the job done and, crucially, it doesn’t get in the way of the actual words. My goal isn’t to win any web design awards – mostly because I’d have to learn about web design first, and honestly, who has the time for that kind of sorcery? My ambition is purely functional: clear, easy to read, and hopefully, not actively offensive to the eyes.

That said, there’s always one fly in the ointment, isn’t there? My ongoing quest to get those pesky Adsense ads to show up better. Like, actually in the post grid. It feels like trying to herd cats while explaining quantum physics to a goldfish. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a web developer. My coding skills extend to confidently copying and pasting from Stack Overflow, and even then, I usually manage to break something vital. So, if anyone out there has magic spells for Adsense, I’m all ears! Seriously, any tips for a non-developer trying to make those little boxes play nice, send them my way.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (and Three Steps Sideways) – And 17 Long Posts!

The rebuilding process has been… educational. Wrestling with DNS records? More like wrestling an angry badger while blindfolded. Pretty sure I almost broke the internet twice during the domain migration.

And don’t even get me started on trying to cajole Adsense into doing what I want. It’s like it knows I’m not a proper tech guru and is actively mocking me. Every time I think I’ve got it, another error pops up, or the ads decide to hide in the footer where no one will ever see them. It’s truly a test of patience, a test I am frequently failing.

Speaking of tech woes, this whole process has brought back painful memories of content lost over the years. Not through a deliberate ‘cull,’ but more by accidental deletion of VPSs (don’t ask, it involved a late night, a misplaced command, and a cold sweat), various technical glitches that cropped up over time, or even just the sheer agony of switching between blogging platforms. It’s truly a testament to my dedication (or stubbornness) that there’s any content left at all. There have been times I’ve considered just giving up and becoming a professional napper.

And if you’ve ever scrolled through some of my older posts and wondered why every line starts with a random ‘n’ – well, that’s a charming little relic from when I tried converting the whole site from Markdown back to WordPress posts. It’s not a feature, it’s a battle scar, a reminder of the digital wilderness I’ve navigated. I tried fixing it. For about five minutes. Then I decided it added character. (Read: I gave up). I do try and fix posts as I link back to them in later posts.

Now, beyond the domain shenanigans and my ongoing tech support nightmares, there’s another slight change in the air. You might remember a while back I wrote a post called ‘The Carnaby Production House… I think’ (yes, the titles are as well-organised as my life). Well, that was technically the first in the series, though I didn’t know it at the time, and now, I’ve been working on a follow-up, which has gotten a little out of hand. I’ve been exploring that ‘dream project’ idea in what is probably far too much detail, and we’re currently at seventeen (yes, seventeen!) very long, very detailed posts. It’s an epic, a saga, a testament to what happens when I get a really big idea and absolutely no self-control. Honestly, I could probably get an AI to write a full-on business plan for this thing now, I’ve gone into such depth!

This behemoth of a series will be taking over the existing Monday 7 pm posts. It’s a big commitment, but I’m genuinely excited about it, even if it means my Mondays are now dedicated to unleashing a torrent of my own ideas upon the unsuspecting internet. And yes, once it’s done, the plan is to replace it with another long-form series – though what that is yet, even I have no idea. Probably something equally ambitious and likely to make me question my life choices.

But fear not, my dear casual readers! I still have things to say about product launches, random ideas, and whatever else pops into my head. These will now be popping up on Thursdays at 7 pm (UK time). This means you get a double dose of my ramblings each week. You’re welcome. Or I’m sorry. Depending on your perspective.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if I find myself consistently ranting about a certain topic on a Thursday, it might just get its own dedicated day, maybe once or twice a month. Because consistency is for people who aren’t me, apparently. Or, more accurately, my brain functions on a ‘bursts of obsessive focus followed by periods of bewildered contemplation’ schedule, and the blog needs to reflect that.

Behold! My Slightly Less Terrible Blog! (Now with a Cheaper Address and Still Fighting with Ads!)

So, here it is (or rather, here it will be, if you’re reading this before I hit publish and pray nothing breaks) – the new, improved, and significantly more consolidated jim.jabi.uk. The design remains, thankfully, simple and uncluttered. My focus was on making things easier to manage and find, not on turning it into some kind of dazzling digital art installation that I’d immediately break with a misplaced semi-colon. It’s streamlined, it’s more focused, and it won’t cost me an arm and a leg in domain fees. Progress!

The Adsense battle, however, continues. It’s an uphill struggle, a Sisyphean task, but one day, one day, I’ll figure out how to make those little boxes play nice in my post grid. Or I’ll just accept my fate as a non-monetising digital wordsmith, content with the sheer joy of putting words out into the void.

It’s not perfect, obviously – I’m still me, after all – but it’s a solid improvement. I think. Please don’t tell me it looks exactly the same, or I might cry into my keyboard and declare my retirement from the internet entirely. This isn’t the end, just a slightly more organised beginning. There will still be tweaks, more learning, and probably the occasional breakdown over a CSS rule. That’s just the joy of being me, online.

So, What Do You Think, Eh?

Alright, dear reader, now that I’ve laid bare my digital soul and the trials of my blog’s rebranding, what are your initial impressions of the new jim.jabi.uk? If you’ve been through a similar blog upheaval, what was your biggest headache? Or perhaps you’ve even battled mysterious formatting issues from platform migrations, like my charming ‘n’ problem? Misery loves company!

And please, if you have any secret tips for wrangling recalcitrant Adsense placements for non-developers, my DMs are open. Seriously, help a brother out.