Here are four keys to website maintenance you MUST do to stand a chance in the virtual battlefield.
Charles Howard fixed and sold bicycles. He viewed them as a wonderous invention at the turn of the 20th Century — unfortunately they were purely recreational. Not at all a practical means of transportation for the hills of San Francisco, California.
Then one day a man needed a repair.
A repair for his black, dull, loud, achievement of imagination. When this man asked Howard if he possessed the ability to fix whatever it was ailing his steel horse, a thing called a “Motorwagen?” Howard responded, trying to convince himself—
“Sure.”
The Motorwagen eventually got a new name a few years later — the automobile.
Howard went from fixing bicycles to becoming one of the greatest Buick salesmen ever. The man was a visionary. A pioneer who eschewed the processes of conformity at a time when people like him were so desperately needed.
He took a chance on what he once described as, “the future.”
As this blog is being written, a business owner just received a notification from a web designer that their website is now “live.”
Once the virtual front door is open and the “sale” sign is posted in the window, excitement and anxiety are unable to be differentiated in the entrepreneurs nervous system. Then, in the beat of a heart and the blink of an eye, they shift into expectation. Thinking to themselves,
“Wait til people see this.”
Not realizing, according to Mill for business, as of Januray 2019, there are 1.5 billion websites in the world today.
Our entrepreneur is ill-equipped for the harsh reality which faces them — you have a website and no one cares.
Charles Howard realized pretty quickly, at least in the movie, that he was not aligned with the mentality he overestimated the need for his services. Then, by happenstance and movie magic, he was smacked in the face with his own hard, hard truth…
Time to get with the times.
In this blog, we’re going to examine four actions necessary to assure that you stand a chance in the digital playground which creates e-commerce. Four components assuring you don’t have your feet in Quickrete, but feet dancing on hot sand making your way to the sea.
They are:
1. Site Maintenance
2. Site Security
3. Site Content
4. Site Marketing
Simply put, four things assuring you’re not trying to sell bicycles in a time when people need cars.
Site Maintenance
Imagine this, you’re the proud owner of a brand new restaurant. Your dream finally fulfilled. Gone are the days of counting tips because now you’re counting checks. Instead of serving bland cuts of London Broil, you’re presenting beautiful plates of Beef Wellington in a red-wine reduction.
One problem — you have rats.
Another problem — asbestos.
Oh, and one more problem — nobody knows you exist.
Restaurants are all too familiar with the reality of short life expectancies.
The same is true for websites today. And one way websites crumble like the Walls of Jericho, they don’t keep current with the latest updates.
WordPress is one of the most trusted content management systems out there today. By being so, they frequently perform updates to keep your website current. Keeping it fast (which effects SEO), and keeping it secure (which effects, well, security).
By ensuring your website is properly maintained, you assure your visitors a safe, smooth ride.
These updates are frequent. And by missing just one, you may be missing the one which could ultimately affect your site in terms of your…
Security
Security isn’t all that important right? God knows no one has been affected by security compromises in a very long time…
People are leery of their data/identity, and justifiably so. If there is even the slightest chance your website may be compromised — the world may be informed in the form of a Yelp review, Google review, or social media comment.
If and when this happens, there will be an eternal raincloud hovering above you and your site like a downtrodden cartoon character in a Sunday morning comic strip.
Being proactive and making sure your site is safe takes effort, time and knowledge. (Yes, we’re setting this up for a payoff later.)
Meanwhile, a way a site may be infected is by putting infested information out there. Information in the form of…
Content
Whether it’s video, image, podcast, and god-forbid, a blog — content is a surefire way, in a world of pay to play algorithms, to show up in searches. Plainly, by creating content, you are drastically more likely to have your site found in a search query.
Imagine your shelves are full, but no one has any idea what it is full of. Or why they should care about this shelf. Or why they should care about you — content provides them answers.
What exactly is the service or good you offer? Here is a blog about that.
How can this serve their lives? Let us show you a video of a real-life situation of us using it. .
Why would they buy it from you as opposed to going to the corporate store down the street? Because he is a picture of our family. Turns out your kids go to the same school as theirs.
Content on your site provides a behind the curtain, human element in a world of automation.
Face it, there is a ton of information out there on whatever good you hock or service you pitch, and now, it’s your turn to promote your flavor of it. Content does that.
Many a company suffer from paralysis by analysis.
Wondering, scrutinizing and ultimately dipping their toe but never diving into a specific type of content. When in reality, the answer to whether you should do a blog is – yes.
Whether you should do a podcast – yes.
Whether your should do a video – yes.
Whether you should show behind the scene photos – yes.
They all serve a purpose…
They show the world that you know what the hell you’re talking about. And the answer to the question is your first blog is going to suck – Yes!
Is your first podcast going to be lame – Yes.
Is your first video going to be you reading awkwardly from a script – Yes.
Is your photo of you doing a selfie in your seat with the hashtag #RiseNGrind going to be cringe worthy – Yes.
And that’s the way it should be. Because that is the basement to the skyscraper of getting better.
After all of that on content, you more than likely have two questions:
• Who has the time?
• And what the hell is all of this for?
We’ll help you with time in the conclusion, however, to answer the latter first…
Marketing
Earlier we acknowledged the pay to play algorithms. It’s true. Organic reach has been a target of the two superpowers in this modern day digital cold-war: Facebook and Google.
Let’s focus on Google since they’re where your website will appear when a query of your category is launched.
Google has Google My Business. A service devoted to all things your business.
You can create posts which tell people of your latest sales, events, or even a sexy pic of you taking a selfie saying #Unstoppable. Even though the hashtag won’t do squat…You do it anyway.
Anyway, within this world you can manage your insights, reviews, messages, photos — everything someone can see upon discovery.
GMB also provides you analytics on searches, how many views and clicks your sexy pic received, it also provides you the ability to create and launch a Google Ads campaign. (Whole nother subject for a different day.)
And this is just Google.
Truth is, when you finally have your own URL, you’re going to be out there whoring it on every digital street corner from here to Budapest. This is where creating Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and of course, Facebook pages comes into play. All of which have their own algorithms. All of which come with their own paid advertising components.
All of which are necessary for your business to survive in a world where people are constantly looking towards, “the future.”
Yet, the stark reality is this: All four of these create an obstacle for which there is no answer — you don’t have the time.
Conclusion
In the film Seabiscuit, after Charles Howard said “sure”– He tore apart the Motorwagens engine and tried to figure out how the whole thing worked.
That sounds a whole hell of a lot easier than figuring out how you’re going to maintain, secure, create content, and market your site. All while running the day to day operations of your venture.
Here is the thing though, there are people out there who specialize in each and every single one of those hurdles.
People like Jon at JEG DESIGN INC to monitor and secure your site. Jon has an exquisite track record of keeping his extensive list of clients sites maintained and uncompromised.
People like Chris at SIX Marketing. Chris has and currently markets his clients, ranging from massive boat dealers to in-home carpet cleaners, successful and current with the latest marketing trends.
Or content creators like me. I possess a wealth of knowledge from writing well over a thousand commercial in a variety of fields. Also creating long-form content for marketing, e-commerce, and of course, web design companies.
All of us have one thing in common: We save you time.
Oh, and we make sure you’re not out there talking about how efficient riding a bike is to work while sitting in your car.
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Written By Keith Hannigan
Keith has over a 11 years of copywriting experience and has been blogging for companies in the advertising, design, boating, and marketing industry. For examples of his work or to contact him with any questions, please email Keith at [email protected]