Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this day is finally here! This project began last Fall when I was about two months pregnant. Needless to say, it’s taken me nearly 9 months to get to this point, but here we are! The new Megan Kelsey website and blog is LIVE and ready to roll! I hope for this to be the perfect online home for my images, offerings, and blog posts for years to come.
The last time I redesigned my website was nearly EIGHT years ago. When I launched that site in 2016, Justin and I had just gotten married. I wasn’t sure what the future of my business looked like. I had actually just turned down a full-time job offer at a fancy office in downtown Washington DC to grow my photography business instead. Consequently, I felt a strong sense of urgency (and self-imposed pressure) to make sure that my creative endeavors were successful and profitable for our family. Part of that meant creating a polished and professional online presence for the Megan Kelsey brand. My 2016 website was beautiful. It served me well for the last 8 years! However, after encountering multiple coding issues on my blog, and seeing that my branding elements were beginning to look a little outdated, it became abundantly clear that it was past time for something new. There were several key goals I had for this next rebrand.
First, I knew that I wanted to merge my website and blog under one domain. I started my business in 2010 with megankelseyphotography.com as my photo website and megankelseyblog.com as my personal & photography blog. This choice was entirely due to my following in the footsteps of other photographers that I wanted to model my business after. They had separate sites, so I set mine up in the same way. This isn’t ideal for SEO or design purposes. I knew something had to change. However, I didn’t want to lose my 400+ posts from over the years. So, I had to find a service that could migrate my entire blog to a new domain, megankelsey.com. Without going into boring technical details, having my website and blog under ONE login using the SAME web builder & design would make my life much simpler in the long run. This was long overdue and it just had to happen. I’m so relieved that this step is done and that I can move forward with everything in its rightful place: one unified online home.
Secondly, I knew that I wanted a website builder and template that were extremely easy to work with due to my time constraints and limited budget. So I turned to ShowIt and Tonic Site Shop. ShowIt migrated my blog and offered a drag-and-drop website builder that I mastered using in about an hour’s time. Tonic provided a gorgeous template that I was able to customize with my own images and copy quite easily. It did take me a couple weeks altogether (spread out over the course of 9 months… #momlife). But the process was almost completely seamless, and I didn’t feel like I was encountering some technical difficulty at every turn. I’m actually so thrilled from my experience using Tonic that I have an entire page here on my new website dedicated to how awesome Tonic is. I even have a referral code (MEGANKELSEY) for 10% off all Tonic templates and products! Thank you, Tonic Site Shop!!
Lastly, though I am currently a portrait and wedding photographer serving the Tampa Bay and Central Florida area (as well as a boutique photo editor), I wanted a website that could stand the test of time not just aesthetically but also practically. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that as a creative entrepreneur, I’m prepared to pivot. I’m actually EXCITED and EXPECTING to pivot! My life has changed drastically since I first started my business in 2010. While I’m still incredibly passionate about serving people through the art of photography, my heart has grown to make room for a few new passions of mine… home birth, education & emotional support for new mamas, long-term wealth building for every family, homeschooling, and raising children who love Jesus… just to name a few! I don’t know exactly what my endeavors will look like in 2, 5, or 10 years, but I am prepared to channel my creative energy into new arenas through this online home that can easily accommodate much more content beyond a photography portfolio and editing services information. I’m excited to see where God takes the Megan Kelsey brand in the years to come.
I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of where my heart’s been at regarding my business and its online presence. It’s taken me years to get just a couple of blog posts up since becoming a mom! Real life moment: I had to tell my 4-year-old about 32 times to let mommy work as I was writing this post. Being a working mama with *no* childcare is quite the experience. Yet here we are. I’m content with the little bit of blogging I’ve been able to do over the last four years, but I do hope that having this new blog inspires me to carve out a bit more time to write and share what I’ve been working on. Though if motherhood has taught me one thing, it’s that we take things one day at a time. I don’t know if I’ll be blogging weekly, monthly, or semi-annually, but this gorgeous new blog is here and ready to go whenever I am. Whew. I’m so relieved and so happy.
If you read this far… wow, thank you. I know reading blog posts has practically become an ancient practice for the average person, so I really appreciate you taking time away from the social media feeds to hang out here with me instead. Part of me believes there is a shift occurring in the digital culture that is bringing us back to places like blogs, email lists, and niche communities… but that is another post for another day. For now, thank you for being here. I hope you’ll be returning many more times in the future for personal and curated content. Here’s to blogging in 2024 and beyond… cheers!
