Another Turnkey Online Business Disaster Report
08 Sep 2011 | Category: continuity-disaster-recovery | Author: admin
Case Study Background Information
A single Mom with online business ambitions became a website design client after experiencing total disaster the previous two years. The client is foreign born and speaks conversational English, so without adequate pc skills or the ability to create business correspondence in English, over the course of time she fell victim to what I would characterize as online scams. Many decisions were based on late night television commercials, and trusted advisors were what she really needed. Each of her 8-10 www domains made zero dollars over two years, yet she continued ignoring my advice in the hope of salvaging these cookie cutter sites into a profitable business.
Here is the message sent by email. Company names have been replaced with their product or service to avoid identifying them or her.
You shouldn't do too many web sites all at once. Success on the internet takes more than just having web sites. If you don't have products from companies that you can trust, you will be lost and your money will be lost, too.
I'm not sure if you have someone giving you advice, or if you search the internet and decide what to do next, but the success you imagine can't happen by magic. It takes knowledge and experience, and then long hours and hard work. The commercials on television late at night are often too good to be true, and with them you have one web site that looks like 1000 others (or 10,000 in the case of the gas pill company).
The gas pill business was a big disaster no matter what happens with their legal case later this year. Like the wholesale products company, buyers have 1000's of online stores that all look the same, so you need to understand competition, and how to win this battle.
Here is what you need to succeed:
1. A popular product that is unique
2. A web site to promote the product and get listed in search engines
3. Traffic to your web site to see the product
4. Marketing to get more people to your web site
5. Return visitors to buy the product
6. Customer service by email and phone
People will never buy from you the first time they visit your web site. You need something SO exciting that they will return to your web site again and again. You need customers that are so happy they will tell other people about what you do. Finally, you need to improve search engine ranking to drive traffic to your site, or take on personal marketing like mailers to promote your online business.
A designer can help with the web design and graphics. Many do not have time to do marketing. Repeating what I said above, "It takes knowledge and experience, and then long hours and hard work." It will be difficult or impossible if you do not have the knowledge and experience, or make the mistake of trusting people who will take advantage of that fact. You can get help to know what to do, but you must be prepared to do the long hours and hard work.
For example, any new web site usually takes 6 months to one year to get listed in search engines, and a one-page website may take years (or never). The answer is pick one business, have a big web site that is search engine friendly, do personal marketing immediately, and realize that traffic from search engines will take 6 months to one year (or longer). Your personal effort will determine success, so you must do more to have sales quickly.
Sites like wholesale products or the gas pill include 1000's of owners with similar content. Search engines see that they all look alike, and you can never end up on page one when people search for those products. Search engines absolutely hate web site names with "super" or "best", etc like the Super Realty site. People may not find that type of site with search engines. You keep writing about all these web sites and new web sites. You need one web site that makes money. After it succeeds, then you can look at new ones using the profits. Otherwise, you do not have enough time to promote 10 web sites and so in the end you make no money.
Next, you have ideas about web design. The first impression is so important that your visitors need to feel comfortable at your web site. A cute blinking picture of your daughter smiling is not what people want. People spend money to solve problems. They go online for information, not to spend money. They visit web sites and compare information. Once they do that, they return to what they feel is the best solution. Gas pills? Clothes? Gifts? Real Estate? If you don't understand the competition and how to get some of that business, it will be difficult. Your web site must convince visitors to return after they are done comparison shopping. A one-page site or portal to 8-10 web sites can't do that. They shop, they compare, they gather information, and then they return to buy. If you can't get them back it won't work.
Each of the 6 items in the list above takes a plan. The strategy is critical to success. Make a mistake in any one, and making money will seem impossible.
The brutal comments to new marketing wannabes are made as a friend, not to make anyone feel bad.
Many web designers will take your money without giving advice, especially marketing advice. For me, trying to help some clients is very difficult if they already trust the wrong people, and don't have the experience to do this without help. Website designers may not have the time to teach you everything you need to know. Think about what you want for one project, and make that the priority. It's better to spend $1000 on one web site than to have 10 at $300 each.
Conclusion
Be cautious with online turnkey offers. Realize that the formula for success seems simple; offer a quality product or service at a fair price and deliver on time, and then follow up with exceptional customer service to ensure referrals. The process listed in the 6 steps above is more complicated, so my advice is do your research and seek out trusted advisors. The writing skills necessary to succeed may require the work of a freelance writer, so investigate copywriting specialists. The investment in making a professional first impression often determines the difference between success and failure.
Do You Have a Disaster/Recovery Plan?
20 Jul 2011 | Category: continuity-disaster-recovery | Author: admin
Do You Have a Disaster/Recovery Plan?
With the recent onslaught of ice storms and flooding happening all over the US and Canada, as well as the hurricanes that ripped through Florida and the south earlier this year, many people are finding themselves faced with tremendous losses regarding both their homes and their offices. Most people have some type of homeowner's and business insurance to help rebuild and replace personal and business items, but what about your business records and critical files? If your office was destroyed today, would you be able to continue serving your clients and running your business, or would your business come to a complete halt? If you were sick or incapacitated, would anyone else know where to find important files on your computer? Is everything documented so someone could fill in for you until you were able to resume working?
Terence Kierans, Principal, Cyberspace Virtual Services, Western Australia http://www.virtualservices.com.au made the following statement regarding a disaster/recovery plan while participating in an International Virtual Women's Chamber of Commerce (IVWCC) Meet & Greet. He said . . . "In essence it is an essential part of Business Continuity Management (BCM).This is not just about disaster recovery, crisis management, risk management or about IT. It is demonstrably a business issue. It is definitely an area where proactivity is the keyword - as in not shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
It enables you to identify and manage those risks which could result in:
- Inaility to maintain services to your clients.
- Damage to your image or professional reputation.
- Failure to protect your business assets, tangible and intangible.
- Business control failure.
- Failure to meet legal or regulatory requirements."
He then quoted The Business Continuity Institute, "Business Continuity Management is the act of anticipating incidents which will affect critical functions and processes for the organization and ensuring that it responds to any incident in a planned and rehearsed manner."
His comments sure made a lot of sense to me. Here are some of the things I thought of when considering a plan for my business.
o Take a complete inventory of my hardware; know what I have.
o Know where my CDs (software, backups) are located and keep them in a safe place.
o Know where the licenses are stored (keep a list as well).
o Take regular backups and test them occasionally. Make sure they are readable and that they are backing up the data I need.
o Rotate my backup media and always keep a copy off-site.
o Keep critical files in a safe place.
o Keep passwords, user names, etc. in a safe place. Document what I have.
o Keep a list of all clients, vendors, and who I use to help run my business, with current phone numbers, contacts and account numbers
o Know what my insurance will cover; keep contact names and policy numbers handy.
o Have an alternate place to conduct business in case of an office disaster.
o Have someone in place to fill in for me if I became ill or incapacitated in any way.
o Make sure I'm not the only one that knows all of the above information!
This is by no means a comprehensive list of things to consider when putting together a disaster/recovery or business continuity plan, but it should help to get you going in the right direction. Consider your individual business and what you need to do to stay in business should something unforseen happen.
So keep in mind, If disaster struck tomorrow, would you have everything in place to get everything back up and running in a short period time, or would your business be stopped dead in its tracks?
Copyright 2005 Terry L. Green, GVA
Total Solutions or Total Disaster
31 May 2011 | Category: continuity-disaster-recovery | Author: admin
Business relationships need to provide you with the business you need. Whether you use an alliance, a leads group or a Power Team, you need to make sure that you are dealing with someone that is reliable, honest, and ethical. There have been many horror stories with relationships that have gone sour because one person did not live up to their side of the bargain. I worked with a person a few years back that wanted to develop a publishing house. He had the money and I had the expertise. This was great, but I was blind as to the pitfalls. The first thing we did was form a fifty-fifty partnership. He decided that I could be President of the company and he would take up the vice-presidents position. It worked well for a few months until he decided that he did not like the way I was managing the business. Since we were fifty-fifty partners, we were at a stalemate. I could no longer do what I thought was best for the company and he could veto everything we tried to do.
As a result, the company failed and we were both out of pocket. If we were experienced in this type of scenario, it would have been better to appoint a CEO or President and let them have more than fifty percent so they could effectively lead. The moral standards of both parties were excellent but we were not able to work together which resulted in a disaster both financially and personally. Even though I do not believe in burning bridges, if we ever meet again, it would be extremely awkward.
Sometimes even the greatest of intentions do not bring the business. Business relationships need to be taken care of and even pampered at times. If there is a sense that the relationship is not working, you will need to avoid any disaster by letting the other person off the hook and moving on.
When Do I Need A Disaster Recovery Plan For My Company?
11 Apr 2011 | Category: continuity-disaster-recovery | Author: admin
There are many questions that may arise when an individual embarks on a new business venture. Whether the individual is starting a new business or revamping an old business, there are certain steps that should be taken to protect the individual's investment in their company and ensure that business can continue as usual in the event that something adverse happens to affect the business. Many individuals have turned to using a disaster recovery plan to ensure the fast implementation of procedures that will help a business recover and continue to satisfy clients if anything happens to affect the business. So when is a disaster recovery plan needed for a company? Preferably, the company should have a disaster recovery plan in place before a disaster strikes.
A disaster recovery plan is an outline created by the principals of a company, or those they choose to hire, to detail how a business will deal with any potential disaster that may occur. This may include any adverse events from server failure to an earthquake leveling the building. Because a true disaster is typically unforeseen, it is best for the company to have a disaster recovery plan in place prior to a disaster occurring within the company. The disaster recovery plan will outline the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the customers will be taken care of in a timely manner and return the business to operation as quickly as possible.
A proper disaster recovery plan will need to be formed only after an intense review of business practices has been conducted. Any business procedures that are found to be ineffective or unneeded can be corrected at this time. By focusing on the business methods that bring results and including them in the disaster recovery plan, the business will be focused on completing the steps that will bring the best results if any type of adverse event affects the course of business. The disaster recovery plan may cover several different types of disasters and the steps that may be needed to recover from each.
There are many types of businesses that could benefit from having a disaster recovery plan, but many business owners either believe that a disaster recovery plan is not necessary or they put off creating, implementing, and testing a plan for so long that a disaster strikes and disrupts their business before they have a plan put into place. This is the catalyst that many business owners need before they decide to create a disaster recovery plan, but unfortunately much damage could be done and much revenue lost because a disaster recovery plan was not in place before the disaster occurred.
Business Continuity Testing Starts with the Risks
20 Feb 2011 | Category: continuity-disaster-recovery | Author: admin
All business continuity analysis should be risk based, and risk prioritised to deal with the important business risks first. This means that any risks to your business need to be identified, examined and dealt with.
There are 4 options for dealing with each risk:
1. Reduce the risk. Reducing the risk falls into 2 categories - reducing the likelihood of the problem occurring and reducing the impact of the problem if it does happen. A simple example is that by having a fire alarm you are reducing the likelihood of a fire spreading unseen and by installing a sprinkler system you are reducing the impact of fire.
Reducing the risk is often referred to as mitigation. For example, data backups are a form of mitigation. They reduce the impact if a problem occurs which affects the primary data source. Any mitigating actions require testing to provide assurance they work when required.
2. Transfer the risk. This is an interesting option which may be seen as a get-out, but which is a perfectly valid thing to do. By transferring a risk it becomes someone else's problem and you therefore have the risk covered. We are not talking about blaming someone else, or even transferring the risk to someone else in the company.
For example, there could be a risk that office space will not be available in the case of a disaster in the main location. Therefore the risk can be transferred to a third party company which organises office space for disaster recovery and keeps offices available for companies who need such a recovery service.
3. Accept the risk. By accepting the risk of a potential problem you are at least aware of its existence and can plan for it happening. If it is a risk that would have no impact for an acceptable period of time it should still be noted but you may decide to take no action until it occurs.
Almost by definition, accepting a risk is also reducing the impact of the risk as you are aware of the potential problem and can write it into your business continuity plan.
4. Ignore the risk. This option should never be selected. There is never a reason for ignoring a risk once it has been identified. A risk can be accepted (acknowledged) but must never be ignored.
Once the actions for each risk have been identified, then anything put in place to help cope with a risk needs testing. However, many companies either test nothing at all or try testing every facet of a business continuity plan. Both methods are doomed to failure. The answer is to adopt a risk based testing approach from two perspectives: the business continuity plan is fit for purpose and it will work when invoked.
A health check (testing the plan is fit for purpose) needs to be performed by someone other than the authors of the business continuity plan. Ideally it's performed by an independent third party that specialises in testing business continuity plans, but it could be a disinterested party from another part of the company. Independence is essential here for an objective assessment.
Testing the plan will work when invoked, must be viewed in a business context and the elements of the plan prioritised so that the risks with the most business impact and likelihood are tested first. This approach and the techniques to perform business continuity testing in a cost effective manner are the subject of other articles.
Copyright Acutest UK 2005
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