Tag Archive for: Business Owners

Freelance Websites Vs Local Business

Great subject. Who would you rather turn to, to get work done on your WordPress Website? Local or International?

I watched the video below, a few days ago – Stefan is worth subbing, if you’re into development, and I’ve been thinking about writing about this subject, discussing what I believe are the Pro’s and Con’s with using Freelance Websites as opposed to a Local WordPress Professional.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working on websites that weren’t based in Australia. The issues I primarily faced, was payment related, and time differences which was a bit of a problem when needing to communicate with the websites’ owner. Chasing someone overseas for payment was pretty much a waste of time.

In Australia, we have a rather high cost of living / standard. Sometimes, if you’re doing work on a US or Canadian, or European Country-based website, the exchange rate can work in your favor, because you can lower your rate to match or ‘beat’ another WordPress Professionals’ rate. Other things that come into play, are the quality of work, and accessibility of communications, so it’s not always price-based that matters most.

The ‘problem’ we, as professionals, now face – and I use that term loosely, is that you have emerging economies such as India / Pakistan, and the Philippines, who have entered this area of work, and are charging ridiculously low rates, and they ARE getting the work. In some ways, this has ‘forced’ some WordPress Professionals to lower their rates, to get any work at all.

This is where your Branding comes into play – and has the ability to benefit you so much more than someone operating in one of the BRIC economies.

Some people with a little entrepreneurial flare have embraced this, and actually build their brand, based on pushing out cheap websites – using people in BRIC economies to build these cheap websites. The issue I have with using these operators, is that people have been left with ‘broken’ websites, that these operators refuse to repair. People like me are left to pick up the pieces and fix websites that are just horribly written, and most need to be built again, from scratch. These operators will take your money and run.

This is part of the reason why I tell people up-front, that I am not cheap – but I get the job done, and will provide assistance free-of-charge, if there’s an issue. Not one customer of mine has ever had to say a bad word against me – because I do whatever it takes to do the job. I don’t leave people in the lurch if there’s an issue.

My name is my brand. I’ve said it before, and will continue to say it.

The option you have is simple – Pay the going rate (based on experience and quality) in the country you live, or pay the penalty through a dud WordPress Website.

We all have choices. Sometimes we make choices based on what we can afford, I get that. But, given the fact that more and more WordPress Websites are used for business, I ask you this very simple question;

What value do you place on your business, your brand, your future?

I often ask people to think very carefully about who they trust with their websites. The consequences can be pretty scary.

In Australia, for example, we have plenty of laws that basically make you liable for security breaches – be it, insurance-wise, or criminally. I for one, work within these laws, because I know that I ‘could’ face charges of not securing your data, whereas, if you (for example) were to have a website built by someone from a BRIC economy, they would be untouchable, whereas you would be completely liable.

I think it’s a very serious subject, that needs greater transparency regarding liability.

Just think about your choices. It could mean the difference between owning your home, or losing it – and going to jail.

Whatever you choose, make it the right one.

As always, I’d appreciate a share or seven, and please feel free to contact me for any information about this post or any other subject I’ve written about.

EDIT – I’ve been asked by a few people where I get my images for websites that I build. If you’re in need of images for a new website, or if you’re updating a website, visit websites such as Pixabay or Unsplash – AVOID using images you ‘just like’, it’s illegal unless the image has been labelled for reuse.

Finding your own images can save you hundreds of dollars off a build.

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Best Time To Backup Your Website

Backing up your WordPress website is one of the most important procedures that you, as a website owner, can perform.

I was contacted by a new client during the week that was extremely desperate to get their eCommerce website back up and running, after being hacked. They had no backup. After spending 14 hours sorting out the damage done, securing and providing a safe backup, it cost the owner almost $1700, when all it should have cost, was the price of a plugin (about $50).

Whilst I enjoy getting paid, I feel sorry for people that become complacent (or ignorant) to the dangers that we, as business website owners face, on an almost daily basis.

About a third of my emails are from desperate website owners whose websites have either been hacked – or are self managed (WordPress) sites, that have been broken, because they didn’t know what they were doing, and had NO backup.

Backing Up is a simple routine that EVERY website owner should do manually, or given the right plugin, set-up scheduled back-ups – at least once a month, or preferably on a weekly basis.

The downside of Scheduled Backups – in my opinion

Imagine you’ve set up scheduled backups to be performed each month.

Now, the problem you MAY face, is a hacked or ‘broken’ website that is backed up, that becomes your ‘go-to’ backup in an ’emergency’. Think about the consequences of having a backup of your broken or hacked website.

Best Time To Backup Your Website – in my opinion

As a WordPress Website owner (personal OR business), you should have your website periodically Updated, Audited and Secured by a WordPress Professional.

If the WordPress Professional is any good at their job, they’ll backup your website for you, after they perform the required work. This way, you will have the most up-to-date Plugins, Themes and Security settings (including an optimized database) backed-up and ready to go, just in case something were to happen.

Remember, there’s a lot of bad people on the World Wide Web, that are out to do you harm. Be prepared.

The BEST Backup solution available – in my opinion

Now, I’m not being paid by BACKUP BUDDY – Let’s make this clear. I’m not getting paid any commissions, nor is this a paid advertisement.

Put simply, I believe that as of the date I posted this, it’s the best Backup Plugin you can buy.

There are FREE Backup Plugins in the WordPress Repository, but many, if not all, have restrictions.

WordPress, as a platform to build your website is FREE. Many thousands of Themes and Plugins are FREE as well.

Consider this. What price do you place on your website, especially if you operate a Business / eCommerce website;

  • Stolen Client Data – hacked website
  • Completely unusable website – broken
  • $50 Plugin
    or….
  • Spend $1700 to get your website secured and back in working condition

Stop being cheap bastards, and spend money where you need to, especially when the security of your data, and that of your clients, is at risk.

Conclusion….

Most people don’t think of backups, until it’s too late. Don’t be one of them. Invest in a good plugin to backup your WordPress website.

Take action today, using one of the options I’ve given you;

Please Note; I don’t like handing out FREE how-to instructions on my website. Past experience has shown that people get in touch when their websites break. But, feel free to try things yourself. There is an abundance of websites that can help you (most are outdated though), if you prefer to do things on your own. One such website is WPBeginner.com, who just happens to provide help with your Backup Buddy Plugin.

You can find instructional videos on YouTube, again though, most are outdated, and WordPress is constantly updating, and things change, so just beware. I’m always here if you have trouble.

Every couple of months at a bare minimum, have your website Updated, Audited and Secured by a WordPress Professional. You don’t need to use me, I’m not cheap (but I’m pretty good at what I do, and guarantee my work)

As always, feel free to contact me about this subject or any other WordPress issue you may have.

I’d appreciate it if you shared this post to someone who may be interested. Simply use the share options below this post.

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Time Management – Website Vs Social Media

So many people. So many products to sell, so many services to offer.

I’ve written about Brand Awareness previously, please check it out.

The purpose of this post IS about Branding, but more to point, your Brand – YOU.

Facebook is a Brand. Twitter is a Brand. Instagram is a Brand. Understand?

By directing people to your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, what you’re actually doing, is sending their attention away from YOU.

Build You. Promote You. BRAND YOU.

It’ important that you build your own Brand. Spending time / WASTING time on social media, is not building your Brand.

Where do you start? By building your website.

EDIT – March 3, 2019.

Wow, time goes so fast, doesn’t it? I started writing this post on January 2nd.

Sorry for the delay in finishing this post, I’ve been just a little busy, but I’ve got enough time at the moment to finish this post!

OK, I’ve written about Brand Awareness Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Depending on your commitment, experience and whether you are serious enough, or not, will determine if you even have a ‘Brand’.

My commitment  for the past dozen or so years to the WordPress Platform, for example, has allowed me to take on as much (or little) work as I like, because I’ve built up a reputation with a lot of theme developers, and I’ve made a name for myself on many online (theme) forums, assisting people with their WordPress installations, whether it be paid or free assistance. I did the work to build up my name, therefore, Crain is a Brand – for WordPress Development, Customization and Security.

So, what does this have to do with Social Media?

Several years ago, I was working with another guy on a project. His emphasis was placed on promoting via Facebook. Engagement through the Facebook page was terrible. He resorted to buying followers which is a total waste of time, money, AND effort. And it’s not a good look – people can see through it.

Think about this for a moment;

You spend money buying, let’s say, 25,000 followers. These followers usually aren’t ‘real people’ interested in what you have to say or offer. ‘They’ don’t plan on engaging with you – at all. Chances are, some con-artist has paid groups of extremely poor people from third world countries a few cents to set up fake Facebook accounts, and set up a business selling followers at highly inflated prices – and making a killing, financially.

So; You have all these 25,000 ‘followers’ that aren’t real, following you. You put up a post, that gets seen by a complete stranger that likes your post – but doesn’t follow you, and most likely will never visit your page again.

Let me get this straight. I’m not here to bash Facebook, I’m merely using it as an example. If you like posting about your personal life and keeping up with family and friends, Facebook is not that bad. Buying followers also happens on other social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, and other, less known social media apps / websites.

Now, This is interesting. There are some very big businesses, like Envato, a digital assets business (that for one part, provides a platform for WordPress Theme Developers to sell their themes online), well they have a Facebook page which currently has about 215,000 followers. On February 26th, they put up a post that gave them 16 likes, 2 comments and 5 shares.

Then we have the globally known airline, Qantas, that has more than 1.4 million followers, yet only pulls in a few likes per post – well, compared to the number of followers, the number of likes are really insignificant.

It has been suggested that social media engagement with your posts should be no less 5% of your followers. What happened here? I don’t know. But what it DOES show, is that you DON’T need social media to be successful, and they didn’t use social media to boost their brand. Remember that.

My Opinion; There is nothing more ugly than a social media account with hundreds / thousands of followers, that has little to no content / or lots of content – but no likes / comments on posts.

Just think about the time it takes to build up the followers via lots of money from your pocket, then the time you are wasting through posting, with extremely little or no engagement whatsoever.

You really are wasting your time and money. The ONLY people that will disagree with me on this, are the con-artists that are making money off it, and the ‘believers’ that are holding on for some kind of miracle to happen.

Yoast uploaded a post June 7, 2018, titled “Is Facebook getting less important?“. Have a read, you may find it interesting.

I have commented on this website, that having a social media presence is important – you need to be found. It’s also important to have that ‘Brand Name’ across all platforms, but in saying that, it doesn’t ‘have’ to be your actual business name, but you need to associate it ‘as part of your brand’ ON social media, if your actual business name has been taken. For example, I’ve chosen RobertCrainWP as my social media name.

Whatever you do – DON’T register different usernames. Keep them all the same – it makes it so much easier for people to find you, and it doesn’t look ‘messy’.

Remember – social media is not your business. It is a way for people to connect to you. The best way for people to connect with you is via ONE place – your website. Spend your time, and resources, on building a great website that showcases your business, displaying your products and services in a way that social media cannot.

This website is really quite basic. There’s no bells and whistles. It puts my message across, and that’s my only aim. Best thing is, it works! You’ve been to Amazon right? It’s not the best looking website – and in my opinion, it’s almost ugly. BUT, it works – REALLY WELL. That’s all you need, but you can spice it up a little. Images work wonders.

And be careful of dodgy developers that build you a website, using plagiarized content. I won’t name any, but there’s plenty out there. Any developer that copies content from other websites, then expects payment for work completed, is a con-artist, and it’s not good for your Brand.. I wrote a post about this here > Creativity v Plagiarism.

Be unique. Be you. Be your own Brand

And please – Stop wasting your time on social media. Spend time where it really counts. An hour wasted on social media, is an hour wasted from building YOU.

Brand building doesn’t have to cost much money. If you have a great product or service, if you’re great at what you do, you’re half way there already.

If you’re not serious about what you do, or are out there to make a quick buck, feel free to waste your time and money on social media.

When building a Brand, only serious people need apply. Loyalty and Respect will follow you, if you treat customers / clients with the respect they deserve. Remember, they are deciding whether or not to give you money. If they refer people to you, you’re on your way to building your Brand.

As always, feel free to contact me if you like. There are plenty of ways to share my content to your friends on social media, if they’re interested. I’d appreciate you spending a few seconds clicking that share button.

Until next time, have fun!

 

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