Many experts and online entrepreneurs dream of the day when someone with a big fan base or database mentions them or promotes them.
Few are ready for what might occur next.
This week a client released her first product and the night before it was released her WordPress site got hacked. When she phoned up the people at the help desk of the company who hosts her site she may have well of been speaking Swahili.
They a) couldn’t even see the problem and b) even if they could – they would have had no idea how to solve her now massive and stressful problem.
When big opportunities come our way – we must have good systems in place and be ready for the onslaught of visitors.
I have an even sadder tale to tell – I remember I had something going off one time = people were hitting my site AND purchasing AND my scummy hosting provider automatically shut my site down because my plan ran out of bandwidth. It ran out because abnormal numbers were hitting the site.
At the time I didn’t even know what bandwidth was, but I suddenly became very aware of the consequences of not having enough because people stopped buying!
When you consider that you pay for a service that allows people to hit our sites, you might expect that they might give you some time to sort the problem out before shutting you down. Most will send an automated reminder to tell you that you are nearing your limit and if you are getting loads of visitors, that little extra you had up your sleeve is gone in 5 minutes due to high visitor numbers and BANG they shut you down!
So to make the most of the dream of hundreds of people visiting you and your website – this is the minimum you need in place to ensure you don’t get shut down or that your system doesn’t fold under pressure.
Back up – Back UP – BACK UP!
A hacked or attacked website usually means one thing – a complete reload from a clean source to ensure everything has been removed. If you don’t have a backup of your current website files (yes including that small change you made yesterday that took hours to complete) then you may need to re-write the whole site! OUCH!
I have all my files on my GoDaddy* server, on the hard drives of my TWO Macs and then use Dropbox to store all my hard drive files using cloud technology. Total overkill *yes* but it means I can access my files anywhere in the world that has the Internet if I need to reload my site.
Extreme perhaps – but you will thank me the morning your site gets hacked and now looks like a porn site and you are due on stage in 30 minutes to sell a big event and your website is the point of entry for the hundreds of people in the room.
Pay for unlimited bandwidth
I still don’t know what bandwidth is, but I don’t have to care because I’ve got the problem covered - again GoDaddy* sorted that for me. All you need to know about bandwidth is that you need a lot of it if you do get a rush on your site so it won’t fold.
My best advise is to pay the price for an unlimited service and never worry about it again!
Get reliable hosting
Use a company to host your website that is available 24/7 AND their staff are experienced.
I have the GoDaddy* unlimited bandwidth and website package. They promise to fix your problem on the first call and have 24/7 support staff who have always fixed my challenges in one phone call. There are many other great suppliers you can use – and these days the cost is very low – it truly is a case of invest before you need it.
Who ever you use, make fine sure they are set up to handle big volume traffic – and be aware most hosting companies are set up to take the traffic like you might expect the local hardware store to generate. Ensure all your suppliers can take a worldwide online product or event release.
Its also good policy to have some of your eggs in one basket. Most tech companies will start blaming each other when you have multiple suppliers. There are pros and cons from having one supplier host everything - but when there are problems it is nice to know a) they see how everything is functioning together and b) they can't blame third parties and c) you won't end up the one with a massive problem and no idea how to solve it.
Capture those hot leads!
Have a way to capture visitors to your site by way of a free product or offering that collects their email address so you can stay in touch once the hoop-la dies down.
These days just offering a newsletter isn’t enough – you need something unique and appealing to your target audience and you need to be able to follow up. People don’t start to purchase until they have had at least 7 “touches” from you. If you haven’t friended them or collected their email address you can’t touch them again – the magic is in the follow up.
Stay tuned
Be around to respond quickly to queries or problems that come up – just before an event or product release is not the time to take that vacation or go sit on a mountainside to chant.
Use companies who already have big name clients and are used to high volumes.
You MUST HAVE a good customer relationship management system (CRM)
OK so you’ve got it all down to date – you have a robust website that will take whatever is thrown at it – you have a free product and the visitors are sucking it up like ice cream on a hot day and BANG! Your CRM tells you that you have reached your capacity and it has stopped letting visitors sign for your free program.
When this happens anyone who comes to your site will visit and go and you have no way to stay in touch with them in the future – in fact you won’t even know who came by!
Mail Chimp is an excellent free service that allows you to store up to 2,000 people for free. Those numbers make most people think its "enough", but when you consider at any given time there are millions of people on Facebook and there could be millions watching an ad roll past and decide to click on it, then 2,000 people simply isn’t enough.
You are going to fold pretty quickly if your system won’t allow those people to give you their email details so you can stay in touch with them in the future.
I have a system called Infusionsoft and a package that starts to tremble at 500,000 people – no that’s not a typo that’s half a million people securely stored before it even starts to get antsy.
There are many other great CRM systems out there but always be certain you can talk to someone who can answer your questions very quickly. Always check their customer service hours and rates before you sign up. Some now charge you big bucks if you want to speak with them – they have you over a barrel if something does go wrong and this then becomes an expensive mistake on every level.
Don’t just sit idol
Be promoting the event yourself, just don’t sit back and leave it to the promoter – help the promoter promote you by promoting them! It’s a win for everyone if you do.
Ensure you are wired to stay in touch
Link up your Facebook, twitter, newsletters, blogs etc to your website (tell me you have those!) – we want to create as many opportunities for new people to interact with you as is humanly possible.
Are You Mobile Friendly?
High numbers of people now view your website via mobile phone devices or iPads - make sure they can see you and not just a jumble of rubbish that they will click out of fast.
You have 10 seconds or less to impress
Stats show you have around 10 seconds to interest and hold the attention of a new web site visitor. Ensure your site is ready to serve immediately – that your core message is communicated within the first 10 seconds - hello and welcome – is not a good opening – they need to understand immediately what’s in it for them to stay.
If you fail to captivate and capture that 10 second opportunity you can be assured it will be a lost opportunity unless you can figure out how to get them back. Think about it, why would someone return to anything that failed to appeal the first time - this really is the time to get it right the first time.
Form meaningful relationships
Then once all these wonderful opportunities are harnessed – you need a way to go back and form meaningful relationships with your new Facebook friends, Twitter followers or newsletter subscribers - or by whatever means you have captured them. Again if you want to keep these new people in your circle of light for the next few years, you are going to have to start reminding them who you are and how you can serve them …. without scaring them away with hard sell tactics.
If you've built it - they can come!
Great opportunities need to be taken seriously and you need to take yourself seriously.
If you want to be seen as an expert and present yourself to the world as someone worth working further with, you need to be ready, have invested in systems that not only work but will take the load.
Now is not the time to rely on free services that are patched together with band aids. If you want people to take you seriously, you need to take your IT seriously and learn what you need to do to be successful out in the big wide world of the internet.
All too much??
Best book a complimentary session with me if this overwhelms you but you know you need to get this right. Not being ready for opportunites can cost you in SO many ways. It may be the one time in your whole career where you have the world come to your doorstep. You need to be ready to offer a big slice of home made cake and a big soft comfy sofa to sit your guests on.
Most fail to offer their internet friends and visitors even the most basic of hospitality and wonder why they don't stick around for a chat.
Show em you care, form meaningful relationships and give extreme value and they will stick around for a very long time ….. and isn’t that what we are about – being of service to others for a very long time?
*GoDaddy’s CEO has taken a lot of flack from PETA over the elephant shooting incident. I don’t condone the shooting of anything, but sometimes things get so far out of whack I can at least see why it is necessary to protect villager and their food supplies. You can read his response on his blog and discern if his product is right for you. As for the racy ads – well those women have choice and they are being well paid for the sponsorship and why should the guys always get these highly paid sponsorship deals – again discern if this is right for you.
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