Recently, I made the jump to switch domains for Arche Social from getimagineai.com to archesocial.com
Originally the idea was to create a smart imaging system that integrates AI. I did enjoy building it, and it worked great, but it really didn’t add any value. I felt like it was just a wrapper for an AI.
It was fun building though. Google gave free credits for new businesses and I used it frequently. I find myself however realizing that I crave authenticity. I feel like as we are connected to more and more people, we get to know one another less. However, more on that another time.
Redirect to Your New Site
I find that the best method is to keep both websites for the time being. Once, you’ve finally set up your application and ensure it runs properly on your new website, it’s time to redirect your old website domain to your new one.
I use Cloudflare for this. They make it pretty easy. Once you’re in your domain’s dashboard, make your way to “Rules” > “Overview.” From there you can add the redirect options. I have two rules there. any www will be redirected to arche social, and any https will be redirected.
You can also add http and http://www, however inside of Cloudflare once again, they give you the option to turn any http into https. This saves me the small hassle of creating 2 other rules.
Change Any Internal Links from Your Old Domain To Your New Domain
This is something I will have to fix inside of my own application on a later date, but I had a ton of hard coded links to my old domain. This should really be done dynamically. I had about 100-150 hard coded links that REALLY needed to be fixed. I just didn’t have the time to correct that currently, but in the future we’ll make it dynamic. For the time being, I just used VS Code to change everything and verify in less than 2 minutes.
Match Your Brand Identity with the New Domain
My original idea had everything matching Imagine AI, which obviously was fine at that time. As I transitioned from Imagine AI to Arche Social, it obviously didn’t match. A whole brand change was needed. This is something that you will do over time. I don’t think its a one stop shop. I personally think your business and your brand will continue to evolve, depending on your interests or the things happening in your life.
Correct Your Sitemap
When you are inside of the Google Search Console, it will again ask for your new sitemap. Make sure to change everything from your original domain to your new. If you have it automated, even better.
Tell Google Search Console About The Change
Guess what? You can tell Google “Hey we are changing address.” It’s a fantastic feature that you should definitely use to ensure you don’t lose a ton of traffic or your SEO rankings. It literally takes minutes to do. Don’t forgot about it.