You may have noticed we have been busy the past few months changing the blog. Some of the alterations have been minor but the entire re-branding has been a big move.

We changed our site's name, the setup, categories that we've been writing about and have been tinkering with other aspects here and there. It was a big decision to change the site and one that we have been contemplating for years.

After talking with a good friend who we have deemed a "blogging Guru" we felt like we finally had the push and motivation to dive in and go for it. Mix things up and change our blog so it better reflects us.

So far we are more than happy with the results and ecstatic to see the site's future. It's been a lot of work but also fun along the way.

Changing the Domain Name

The biggest and most obvious change we made to our site was changing the domain name. It was not a move that we took lightly and has honestly been in the back of our minds for YEARS.

So say goodbye to MLMR Travel and hello to Mindful Nomadics. We love the new name even if it's a pain in the rear to switch an entire domain name on an already functioning site.

It was a hard choice to make because the old domain name had increased its DA (Domain Authority) to 24 over the years. In the world of blogging, that's an impressive feat.

It hurt a little bit to almost start over at zero but it was the right choice. We know it will be a lot of work to get back to where we were but it was time to go for it.

Why Change the Name

Changing a blog name probably seems like tossing a grenade into an already decorated room in an offer to redecorate. And honestly, that's exactly what it's like.

So why in the world would we do this to ourselves? Two main reasons that all center around not liking the old option.

1. We weren't happy with the old name
2. Search engines weren't happy with the old name

We might not be experts by any means when it comes to blogging but if the domain name is no longer serving your wants and hurting your reach, it's time to make a change. So even with 300 posts already established on the internet through social media, we felt it was still worth the work.

For years we tried to convince ourselves that the old domain name was fine. When we had another person in our corner telling us it was a good idea, it was the final push we needed to just go for it.

What We Wanted in a Site's Domain Name

If you know a bit of the background in choosing MLMR Travel, you know it was sort of a fluke. What began as a hobby called "minimalist living maximum results" changed to MLMR Travel.

This way it would showcase our love of travel while also going from a complicated long domain to a small simple one. Turns out MLMR Travel is a pain to say out loud.

So after years of telling people our domain name, you can only repeat "M as is Mary" and so on over and over again until it finally gets to you. It was also very complicated to explain where it came from.

Our simple easy domain name was not simple at all which didn't vibe well with our simplicity outlook in life. It also didn't showcase what or who we are deep down.

The acronym was confusing and almost made us sound like a travel agency which we are not. It didn't feel like the right fit for us.

The biggest problem with the old domain name was that it wasn't something we were proud of. We weren't embarrassed about it per se but we never felt excited to tell others the name.

Now we LOVE our name. Mindful Nomadics...how cute is that? And when we told our friends and family the new name, everyone's response has been amazing.

If you know us, then you get that Mindful Nomadics just seems to fit. It really is exactly who and what we are.

What Search Engines Want in a Domain Name

Search engines want things to be simple and to the point. If you are a travel blog, put travel in your name, and travel posts will do better in rankings.

Now we had travel in our old domain name but travel is only about 50% of our site. The other parts about our life and interests were being neglected.

If you knew the minimalist living maximum results acronym then our simplistic way of living was sort of mentioned but there is no way Google knew this. It was hard to decipher from our site's name that we wrote about minimalism, being eco-friendly, mindfulness, and other topics in our lives.

With Mindful Nomadics, search engines, and readers get a good idea of our vibe right away. They can picture us always on the move together while also trying to be the best versions of ourselves.

Changing Blogging Categories

With changing the domain name, we spent hours sitting down and discussing what it is we write about and why. What are our passions and interests that we want the site to showcase?

Before we officially pulled the trigger on changing the domain name, we made sure our blogging categories were solidified and had everything we wanted our site to encompass. Technically, deciding on new blogging categories and picking a new domain name happened simultaneously.

We realized we write about 2 main things: travel and our life. Even though we hate the idea of being a travel and lifestyle blog, that does explain the site decently well.

In an effort to be as simple as possible, we decided on Travel and Life being our making categories and then breaking down each into 6 different areas where we are most passionate or experienced. The whole point of our site is so we can share our adventures and everything we learn along the way.

Changing the categories made it easier for our readers to find what they are looking for since we have a broad umbrella for what we write about. Everything is now more concise and easier to navigate.

Changing the Site's Set-Up

We were already throwing caution to the wind and going rogue on the site so why not just go for gold? After all, the metaphorical grenade of changing the domain name blew everything up anyway so we needed to clean things up a bit.

First and foremost we wanted to simplify things. Since we already made sure to do that by choosing our categories, it was easy to simply change up our menus so someone can navigate our site and get to their interests quickly.

We also wanted a way for our readers to easily see our latest posts so it made sense to change up the front page to be a post list that's updated automatically instead of a static page that would involve more clicking.

Aesthetically we kept things the way they were. Our main images stayed the same and we kept our color scheme as we like the look of it.

Writing More Posts

It was time to decide if we were doing the whole blogging thing or not. We had our site and did a decent amount of work on it in the past but then ran out of steam.

For the past two years we only periodically gave the blog any attention and maybe produced a new post every couple of months. That is not enough to see any growth or even call ourselves bloggers.

So with the excitement and motivation that came with the site overhaul, we decided it was time to get back to writing. Since there are two of us and both of us are writing, it hasn't been that bad.

Originally the goal was a new post a day but with our hectic travel schedule and still working six months out of the year as travel therapists, daily wasn't doable.

Our new goal is a new post every other day and it's been going pretty well. It's been nice to get back to writing and creating.

Enjoy the New and Improved Site

We hope you like the changes as much as we do. It was a big decision to make but it was worth it.

Changing a domain name of a site is not for the faint of heart and in a perfect world, we would have got everything right on the first try. That's not how life works so instead we decided to just roll with the punches as we shift to where we want to be.

Mindful Nomadics is a better fit for us and the site is looking beautiful. At least we think so but we might. be biased. Enjoy the new site and sorry for any confusion the changes may have caused.