How I Finally Got Jemeems.com Up and Running
They say the road to success is never a straight path, and let me tell you—getting Jemeems.com up and running was a whole journey. What I thought would be a simple process turned into a rollercoaster ride of trial, error, and frustration. But in the end, I found the perfect setup, and I’m excited to share the story behind it.
The Shopify Disaster (Or So I Thought)
When I first set out to launch Jemeems.com, I decided to go with Shopify. It was a reliable platform, and I even bought a $60 blogging theme to make things easier. Big mistake. The theme I purchased was ugly and clunky. It was completely unresponsive, making my blog look like a chaotic mess. I tried tweaking it, but nothing worked. I couldn’t, in good conscience, launch my blog with a site that looked like it was stuck in 2009. Frustrated, I scrapped Shopify and started looking for alternatives.
The WordPress Nightmare
All roads led to WordPress.org, the so-called gold standard for bloggers. Everyone swore by it, so I figured, why not? *If everyone else can use it, surely I can too, right?*
Wrong. 🙄
I wasted three days of my life wrestling with WordPress. I could barely set up the blog; every little change required endless Googling. Thinking a premium theme might help, I paid $29 for one—only to realize it was even harder to use than the free options. What made matters worse was WordPress's complicated user interface. Everything required a plug-in. Even something as simple as updating my profile picture required a plug-in. I wanted to pull my hair out. I simply did not have the patience, mental fortitude, or willpower to continue fighting with WordPress. I had to face the truth: I am not the girl for this platform.
Giving Shopify a Second Chance
After my WordPress meltdown, I found myself questioning whether Shopify was really *that* bad. I was already using Shopify for my other website, TheHiddenScript.com, so while tinkering around, I stumbled upon something amazing—a free blog-friendly template that looked clean, modern, and functional. In fact, I found multiple themes that could work for a blog.
Why didn’t I see these before?!
I tested a few and ended up choosing the Craft template to start. It was simple, elegant, and, most importantly, it worked. And since I had only written one blog post so far, switching back to Shopify was relatively painless. The best part? Shopify had saved all my information! I didn’t have to start from scratch—I just had to reconnect my domain and boom, Jemeems.com was back in business.
The Link-in-Bio Dilemma
With my website finally settled, I moved on to the next challenge: choosing a link-in-bio platform. This was another battle of indecision because I was torn between two options:
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BitLink – Uses subpaths (e.g., jemeems.com/links), which is generally better for SEO.
- Lnk.Bio – Uses subdomains (e.g., links.jemeems.com), which some argue is less ideal for SEO.
After a deep dive into SEO research, I found that Google is smart enough to recognize subdomains as part of the main site rather than treating them as competitors. That put my mind at ease.
What sealed the deal? Lnk.Bio could auto-play my latest YouTube video—a feature I needed for my brand. Plus, it came with an Instagram and TikTok scheduler, which was a huge bonus. So, I decided to use Lnk.Bio for Jemeems.com and BitLink for TheHiddenScript.com. Problem solved!
Feel free to use my affiliate link if you'd like to try any of these platforms. Both have free options, but I may earn a small commission if you purchase a premium plan. I totally appreciate the support.
The Takeaway? Trust the Process
After all the back-and-forth, frustration, and platform-hopping, Jemeems.com is finally live and beautiful! This experience taught me a lot about patience, problem-solving, and giving things a second chance. Sometimes, the first choice isn’t necessarily wrong—it just requires a different approach.
To anyone launching a website, my advice? Be flexible, do your research, and don’t be afraid to pivot.And if something feels way more complicated than it should, it might not be the right fit for you—and that’s okay!
Are you working on a website or blog? Have you ever had a similar struggle choosing the right platform? Drop a comment below, and let’s talk about it! 🚀✨
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