If there is one thing the majority of social media experts – slash – gurus will tell you when it comes to your online identity it is to build strong recognition around your brand. Now I’m not so big on this brand thing anymore but I am very strong on building a good solid reputable identity. For those of us in the tech blogosphere our identity is  deeply intertwined within our blogs.

After all this is where we put up or shut up in full view of the entire Internet. When we start off blogging we all have preconceived notions of who we want all those people out there to be able to relate to. We like to believe that the persona we see in the mirror every morning is the same that readers will see, and relate to, when they read your words.

What happens though when we come to the conclusion that what was good enough in the beginning is no longer any good – or the right one?

People change, people grow.

This means that at some point we become dissatisfied, disillusioned and to some extent – lost. There comes a point when we realize that what we started out with as a home on the web has become something that is no longer who we have grown into. The persona that your blog wraps you in is no longer the persona of who you were.

Change can come in many ways. Sometimes it may only be minor things that change within you or outside of you. Other times it may end up being one of the most important decisions you make. Many folks might fear to the bone the change they now they have to make and yet decide against it out of that fear only to end up stagnating in the long run. Then there are those who know the change has to be made and even though there is always some trepidation accept the need for change and move forward down that road.

Such is the case with this cranky old fart but first a little bit of back history to understand the reasons why I have reached this point. When I first started WinExtra almost ten years ago it was just a server here at home serving up a set of NNTP newsgroups for a group of people who had been stranded by another newsgroup provider. At that time I was going through some real financial hardship but with help from the community I managed to keep the $100.00 a month cable internet service alive so myself and all these really good people would have a home for a community that had built up over the preceding years.

At some point the financial hardship became too much and even with help I couldn’t maintain the server and at that point the NNTP newsgroups morphed into a set of web forums. Sure some of the real old timers resisted but in the end the community moved to their new home, where is still keeps going. During this time I decided to try and bring a web presence for WinExtra to life.

During the next couple of years I tried all kinds of software – DotNetNuke, DasBlog among others – and different ideas for what the site would be about. At this point I had no clear vision of what I wanted WinExtra to be and I have paid for that not knowing. Then finally I hooked into Wordpress and the idea of blogging – but I still had no idea of what direction or what niche I was going after.

Then almost by accident the cranky old fart was born, or came into its own, but it felt right, just as writing about the new world of Web 2.0, blogging and social media felt right. I knew that I could come at this with a broad background in computers and living online but I’d be damned if I would be just another kool-aid drinker because all they do is drag everything down. For me it has always been about looking at thing with a realistic point of view; along with a deep sense of honesty, that comes life experience.

The more I began to feel comfortable with this growth the more I began to realize that while the cranky old fart attitude might apply the fact was WinExtra no longer was relevant to what I wanted to do. After all WinExtra was always intended to be a Windows and Microsoft related opinion and resource blog, but as it was turning out this was no longer even representative of where I was – or where I wanted to go.

I could feel the need to change deep in my bones and even though I was deeply reluctant to let WinExtra go I knew the time had come to either grow and make the change or stay and stagnate. At this point I would really like to thank Chris Brogan, Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins, Alexander van Elsas and Art Lindsey for all their help this past week in getting my thoughts in order about all of this – I don’t think I could be doing this without their help.

So what is going on you ask?

Well the easiest way I can explain it is to use that term I don’t like to let you know that the cranky old fart is under going a rebranding. I already have the domain purchased and I am currently putting all the pieces together in order to move to the new domain and a stronger identity. At this point I am not going to say what the new name will be but suffice to say that after talking with Chris it is totally in line with were I want to go in my blogging career.

What I am also going to be doing is documenting this move as the piece are put together along with the whys and wherefores of each step. I’m doing this so that if anyone else out there finds themselves feeling the same way that I have been they will be able to and a roadmap of some sorts for the journey they will be taking. Some of the things I will be taking about are (and this is only a partial list that will be added to as I find new things to be documented)

• talking about the whole naming thing as this is one of the first things you should be doing but it is something that has to be well thought out.
• design – talking about things like professional logos and why as well as getting just the right theme
• resources for not losing all that Google juice you have accumulated over the years
• dealing with any third party services you might be using ie: commenting platforms because you don’t want to lose all those comments
• exporting your old posts and importing them into their new home.

This is a start of a new journey for me and I hope it is one that my readers will take with me and as much as I might be terrified about this next stage of my growth I am also excited. There are a lot of things that have to be put in place before I turn out the lights on the WinExtra blog and light up my new home so I won’t give exact dates of the change. I will however as I progress through this get a better idea of progress and at some point I will be able to give you a firm date.

Oh and by the way .. this whole thing I am doing is something that most social media gurus would tell you not to do but then I never was one to listen to make believe experts. So lets start the journey eh and have some fun, and maybe a few tears, because it is bound to be an experience either way.

Related ReBranding posts

Picking the right name: [WinExtra Rebranding] The Name game isn’t a game
About the tagline: [WinExtra Rebranding] The power of the tagline
It’s about identity: [WinExtra Rebranding] The who am I question
It’s all in the checklist: [WinExtra Rebranding] Your checklist is your best friend
Just before the jump: [WinExtra Rebranding] One last word