I crashed my helicopter last week. One minute everything was fine, then the rotor blade decided to make a break for freedom. The result was inevitable, carnage.
Before you get too concerned, I should point out that luckily it was a remote-controlled helicopter and no passers-by were injured, although the cat has taken to living in a cardboard box.
The terminal failure was caused by a very small screw working itself loose. I suspect it was the cheapest part of the whole helicopter, yet it turned out to be one of the most important, and something I’d never given a moment’s thought to.
Not once did I think, “I’d better check that really important small screw isn’t loose.” If I had, I would still have a helicopter in one piece and not one that looks like it was designed by Picasso.
And your internet business is a lot like my helicopter (see how I did that… amazing!) only as strong as the weakest part.
We can all spend hours every week making sure our business is working well, but if you overlook one small thing, then you could open yourself up to potential disaster.
I once found that, due to my own stupidity, the signup boxes for a guide I’d written weren’t working, and I hadn’t noticed it. I’d usually get 10-20 signups per day from those, and they had been down for over a week. It doesn’t sound like much, but take into account the lifetime value of subscribers, and it could add up to a 4- or 5 figure loss over time.
It doesn’t matter that you have multiple backups of the site, a resilient server, protection against hackers, and the best conversion tracking money can buy, if you don’t pay attention to the small stuff that matters.
The point of this article is to point out the need to know what your priorities are. When I found the signup forms working, mine was generating traffic and subscribers. I should have made sure everything was in place and working properly on a daily basis. I compiled a checklist of what I need to check every day to make sure it never happened again, and I urge you to do the same.
What’s the most important thing in your business?
If you’re relying on Ads then you need to ensure the ads are running every day. If it’s affiliate marketing, make sure the links are still working every day. If it’s list building, make sure your signup boxes work and that people are getting access to what they signed up for. If it’s writing for an audience, ensure the traffic remains consistent or grows.
It’s great knowing you have a 30% open rate, but pointless if you aren’t getting new signups.
Focus on the small things, it’s the stuff most likely to hurt your business if you get it wrong. It’s all well and good having backups of your sites, but if they have a fundamental flaw then the backups mean nothing.
Look after the small things, and the big things will generally fall into place.
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