Tag Archive for: Business Owners

It’s already June, 2020. Where has this year gone, and WHERE have I been?

Well, I’ve been busy. Busier than what I’d hoped for, actually. There was an increase in the need for my services due to the uptake in online trading (re pandemic), placing excess loads on websites that I manage, but all has been running smoothly, and I can now begin to breathe again. I’m still working nights, albeit at reduced hours. I need a break now.

We moved into our new house (it was built over 2017/18/19), and we sold our old place, late last year.

This blog post was not meant to be too long, I just wanted people to know that I’m still active on the forums, and providing assistance to theme developers.

I do want to begin stepping back from this a little this year. I want to focus more on living.

Anyway, that should just about do it for the moment.

I’ll be back, soon.

You’re website ranking has dropped? And?

Rankings are not the Be-All-And-End-All when it comes to business. Does it ‘really’ matter that you cannot be found on Googles’ first results page?

I’ve discussed elsewhere on this website, and have spoken with many people over the years, the ‘importance’ of ranking. I’ve also written about that other ‘thing’ – Brand.

Yes, it’s nice to rank highly in the search results, but in reality, think about the number of websites out there. The live counter (currently) says there are more than 1.7 Billion websites, but of those, apparently less than 200 Million are active.

I’ve always been of the thought that your website is NOT your business, it’s a tool, it works ‘for’ your business. If you’ve established a good brand and you have repeat customers, they’ll talk to people. Don’t think of your website as ‘the’ business.

Yes, I know – there are businesses out there that are purely web-based, but still, the business in NOT the website – the business is the brand. Branding is everything. Even the best looking website on the planet won’t draw you sales, good customer relations and great products sell, not the ‘bells and whistles’ on a website – think Amazon.com, now THAT is a brand.

Functionality and appearance is important when designing a website. Blend your website into your business, just think of your website as a tool – nothing more.

You will have developers out there that WILL tell you that your website is your most important asset, but they are wrong. Imagine, you sell shitty products that break, your staff tell people to ‘piss off’ over the phone, and sometimes, items aren’t even shipped at all – BUT, your website cost you $20,000 and it’s the most pleasing website on the planet. How long do you think it will be before there is NO business?

Over the years, I’ve had to explain this to quite a few people that just ‘thought’ that if you built a great website, and had it ranked high, sales will follow. It doesn’t work that way.

A few months ago, Crain.com.au ranked at position 5 out of a billion pages on Google.com, for the term ‘WordPress Professional’. Today, I am ranked at 86 from 727 million pages.

How has this affected my ‘sales’ – well, it hasn’t. In fact, I’m still telling people that I can’t help them, due to my current load. You see, my work comes from theme developers, community forums and referrals from existing customers. I benefit from my brand, and the level of quality I provide in my service.

When I think about it, I’ve only taken on maybe 3 or 4 jobs over the past 12 months that came to me via this website, and I’ve had to turn away or refer more than 100 jobs in the same period. I could have employed  a couple of people to help me, or passed the work onto other WordPress Professionals, but I’m more concerned with maintaining my brand – it’s worked well for me so far. Also, I can be more selective of the work I do, allowing me to do as much or as little as I like.

For the search term ‘WordPress Professional Australia’, as seen below, I’m ranking at number 3, down from number 1. I can live with that.

At the end of the day, build your brand and don’t worry too much about your ranking – times have changed. Today, your Brand is King.

** I’m going to be missing for a little while, and won’t be posting anything here until after we move to our new home, or after Christmas, whichever is sooner.

Until next time, get busy building your brand and forget about your ranking. Just imagine ranking doesn’t exist, and focus on providing the best service possible, selling the best products you can source / produce. The rest will look after itself.

Don’t forget to share this post, like all my other ones – it helps me with my Brand ;)

We’ve all had those days; You know, when your WordPress Website has been running smooth for weeks and then BANG! It just breaks.

One of the ‘problems’, is when you set plugins to update automatically. Sometimes, just sometimes, plugin updates may very well be good for the plugin, but may not want to party with other plugins, or your theme. Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact that this happens.

Don’t worry though, what breaks, can be fixed – if you know what to do.

The first step, is to get onto YouTube and search for a fix – you may find a solution that was created back in 2011. JUST KIDDING! Kind of. Current updates that cause problems will not have a fix available on YouTube, although if you know what to look for, some simple error messages can be fixed by searching YouTube.

The easiest way to resolve a plugin issue, is to deactivate all your plugins (place your website into maintenance mode if possible first), then reactivate each one, refreshing the website in another tab. When your website ‘breaks’ again, you found the culprit. You can install a FREE plugin called WP Rollback that will allow you to go back to the previous version of the plugin. Then you can just wait until there is a fix from the plugin developer, and update again. Simple.

It’s not always as ‘simple’ as that though.

Sometimes, the best method, especially if you operate an e-Commerce website, is to contact a WordPress Professional, like me, who will pinpoint your problem and resolve your issue rather quickly. It can be the difference between a minor fix, or a more complex repair or total rebuild – that may cost you thousands.

Do you operate a commercial (e-Commerce) WordPress Website that you rely on to pay your bills?

I’ve stated this before – Over the years, I’ve been contacted by people that needed some ‘maintenance’ work done to their website, only to thumb their nose at the price. They’ve gone elsewhere, only to find cheap doesn’t always work right. In the end it’s cost them more. This guarantees me more work, because they know who to turn to when they need to update. Besides, it’s all tax deductible anyway.

I began providing a monitoring service late 2018. I charge $199 per month which gives you access to a cheaper rate for all work required (half price). I also maintain an active monitoring of all websites, and check for updates 3 times per week, and perform all necessary work relating to plugin updates and website security as part of the monthly fee.

It’s called Peace of Mind for WordPress. I’m notified via email as soon as there’s an issue (monitored 24/7), and can perform all work to repair – even when not in ‘the office’, so you’re up and running again as soon as possible.

Protect your Business. Protect your Brand. What price do you put on your future income? I’d like to think most people take their business seriously.

Note* Although I’m notified immediately of ‘problems’, I perform the majority of all work between 11.00 pm and 7.00 am – 7 days. I’m like that guy that polishes the floor at your local supermarket – I work when your customers sleep. Less disruption = more business, for you.

Like always, if you have a question or comment about this post or any other post on this website, contact me. I’d also appreciate a share or 15, to your friends if you believe they may be interested.

Until next time, I hope everything remains calm :)