Web site maintenance, website management and web consulting services

I don’t really punt myself as a website hosting expert, but I have helped out a few of my clients in the past by offering cheap, simple web hosting. Web hosting is a great service for a freelance web designer to offer because it generally costs next-to-nothing to run. Until something breaks.

The strange thing about hosting problems are that they aren’t normally the fault of the person hosting the website. Of the 10-20 hosting support calls I get each month, I’ve only ever had 1 server outage.

So, if you host a website and you’re not sure who does what, here’s a 3-step guide to “who to call when the Internet breaks”.

1. Can you get on to the Internet?

If you can get on to the Internet, try going to a website that’s updated often (I use skynews.com). If the page loads you have an Internet connection. If it doesn’t, your connection is the problem.

Phone the person who provides you with your Internet connection (usually a phone company or ISP) for assistance.

2. Does your email work?

Now that you’re on the Internet, can you receive email? If your normal email client (MS Outlook, Thunderbird, whatever) shows a send/receive error, try going into your email via the Internet. If you have your own domain, this is often done by visiting http://webmail.yourdomain.com and entering your email username/password.

If this works your email is fine and it’s your Desktop software that’s broken. Phone the person who maintains your computer for assistance. If, on the other hand your webmail account doesn’t work and you’ve confirmed that you have an Internet connection, phone your hosting provider for assistance.

3. Does your website work?

If you’ve checked your Internet connection and your Webmail, and everything works except your website, phone the person who maintains your site (incidentally, that person should be me) for assistance.

Thats it. If you follow these 3 simple steps, you should always phone the right service provider and get your problem fixed without having to threaten mass murder.

Bonus step: If nothing works, check to see if your computer is switched on.

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There’s a recession on it’s way and I’ve decided not to take part. I have enough problems in my life without having to worry about the economy. So I’m recession-proofing my website, which is something you should try too. I suggest the following anti-recession website marketing strategies:

1. Increase spending

If you’re like a lot of small business owners, tough economic times are an excuse to cut marketing budgets to the bone. Don’t be tempted to do this. Recently I increased my Google Adwords budget by 100% to make sure I generate more than enough sales leads going forward.

I would consider spending budget on:

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At any given moment I have a pretty long list of website repairs needed on my own site. There’s always something to do, and I’m lucky (a) because my site is built on WordPress, which is a very easy to manage website platform, (b) because I know how to make changes to my website myself and (c) because I don’t charge myself to work on my site.

Of course you’re probably not as lucky and there will come a time when you need to stop spending money on website repairs and invest in a brand spanking new website. Now you may think this sounds odd coming from someone who repairs websites for a living, but it’s really just good business sense.

So when should you opt not to repair a website and hire someone to redesign it instead?

1. When your business goals have changed

If you find that your website isn’t in tune with your business, either because your branding has had an overhaul, your market has changed or your business objectives have shifted, it’s probably time to redesign your site and bring it back in line with your business.

2. When your website repair quote is higher than the cost of a new site

If your website manager rubs his hands with glee every time you phone him and he comes to visit you in his new Porsche it’s probably time to re-invest your web site repair budget in a new site design. Adding/editing content on a small business website shouldn’t be a full-time job for anyone, and if you’ve spent the money hiring someone who knows what they’re doing, your search engine optimization should be pretty much taken care of from day 1.

3. When nothing you try seems to be working

If you’ve spent money on countless content changes and search engine optimization, or your site runs every bit of Web technology known to man and you’re still nowhere to be found on Google, there’s either something fundamentally wrong with your website or something seriously wrong with your marketing plan. Take action and spend a bit of money to change the way you market your business online.

4. When your website looks like it was designed in 1997

If you want to chase people away from your website, make sure it looks (and works) like it was designed before the turn of the century. In the grand scheme of things a website is a cheap marketing tool. Invest your website repair budget in a redesign every couple of years and you’ll probably increase the number of visitors, sales leads and customers your website attracts.

What should you do next?

If you have doubts about whether to re-design or repair your website, send me an email or contact me on Skype with the details of your site address and what you want to achieve online. If you can give me some information about what you’re currently achieving that will help too. I’ll take a quick look and give you my opinion based purely on the facts. I look forward to hearing from you.

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