BLOBBY'S BLOG

YES, I'M STILL MOVED

....not that many people would know it.

The change to this URL has continued to present challenges on a number of fronts. Ok, maybe two.

I still haven't recovered most of my archives, let alone got them up and running from the last three years. That is just laziness on my part and I am completely at fault. The fix I don't have, and don't know exactly how to remedy, is getting readers to not use the old URL.

Those using the old URL will invariably hit a brick wall once the monthly bandwidth that I paid for has been met or exceeded. Back in the day, I never had enough readership to come close to meeting (let alone exceeding) the purchased bandwidth. However in the last 3-4 months, traffic has increased by about 40%. Since it is the old hosting site, I'm certainly not paying to increase the bandwidth on an address I plan to scrap.

This is now the third month where readers using the old URL get a message saying the site cannot be accessed and to please try later. What Netidentity doesn't say in said message, is that 'later' won't be until the first of the month.

The first time this happened it was only two days before first of the month - and it was a weekend, so not a huge deal. But again, as readership grew, the bandwidth wall has been hit earlier and earlier in the month.

Last month I thought I had the solution: Anyone going to the old URL got a message about using the new address and to make note of it. I think my mistake was I made it too easy for them. Readers automatically got redirected to the new site after 5 seconds. No one needed to really take note of the new address. Needless to say, traffic to my site plummets - up to 70%!

I'm not talking just the casual visitors here either - even family members used the redirect route as a crutch. ...and don't even get me started on Rebecca not updating the link from her page!!!!

So once I can get access to the Netidentity site (yes, even I don't get access when we've hit exceeded usage) in a few days there will be some changes. I'm thinking a two-tiered approach: the first month is having the new address embedded where users can click to be redirected. The next month the URL will be visible, but not clickable.

The old URL is paid for through March, so eventually the messages will get more pointed and deadlines drawn. I really don't know another way to get the word out. If anyone has other thoughts - I'd love to hear them.