If you followed me from the beginning, you’ll know I started my blogging journey under the name Louboutins and Love. Eventually I traded in the “and” for an ampersand, and after three years, I gave up the name altogether. It was a terrifying and somewhat emotional switch. Not that I cried over it, but I did feel a sort of loss. I had spent three years marketing myself as Louboutins & Love. I used to introduce myself like that even to celebrities I met at New York Fashion Week. I would hand out little strips of paper with my URL to strangers on the street. I’d ask questions at panels just so I could casually slip in my blog title. To this day, I still have people recognize me as Louboutins & Love and I feel almost a pang of regret that I worked so hard to build a name I completely replaced.

I was never truly sold on the name Louboutins & Love. Even I had to Google it first to find out the correct spelling. That should have been my first red flag. So many people butchered the pronunciation and it gave the impression that I was girlier than I am or wore only designer clothing. I didn’t even own a pair of Louboutin shoes when I started blogging. The biggest push I had to switch over though came from the fact that I was marketing myself under another brand’s identity. I would never, could never own the name. My dream is to one day have a capsule collection at Nordstrom or Zara and I would never be able to do that as Louboutins & Love. Once that was clear, it was only a matter of figuring out the best time and way to reinvent Louboutins & Love as EstherSanter.com. I chose New Year’s Day through an explanatory blog post that was published after a couple months of preparing my followers for the change all over social media.

A lot of people reach out for tips on making the switch, so here are my best 8:

1. Make sure you’re completely satisfied with the new name since you don’t watch to change it more than once. I spent close to two years trying to think of another cute blog title until I decided to just go with my actual name. So happy I did that.
2. Prepare your followers. Give them a solid one to two months where you mention the change in your captions and speak about it on Instagram Stories.
3. Have an email prepared to send to all your current subscribers, as well as all the PR people you’ve worked with in the past, to give them the update.
4. Create a blog post explaining why you decided to make the switch and post a link to it on all your social media sites.
5. Keep your old URL and just redirect it to your new site.
6. After you change your name on all your social media pages, quickly create new accounts using your original name and use the bio to direct people to your new site.
7. Don’t erase all traces of your old blog name. Keep it in your bio for at least 6 months to a year until people are accustomed to the change.
8. After you change your Instagram handle, if you see people you know unfollow you, it’s okay to message them privately and let them know it’s still you.

Feel free to reach out with any additional questions!

OUTFIT BREAKDOWN:
Purple Sweater: Urban Outfitters (c/o)
Black Leather Skirt: Free People
Choker: Kendra Scott (c/o)
Bag: Brahmin (c/o)
Black Over The Knee Boots: Ivanka Trump (c/o)

xx Esther