Because there are some treacherous roads you need to cross. Namely, plug-ins and WordPress updates. When you log into your WordPress dashboard you’re typically greeted with what plugins need to be updated and if there is a core WordPress update. Because they’re basically automatic updates you go ahead and do them. 9 out of 10 times this works fine. The 10th time however you blow away your website entirely or screw up functionality or display.
Here are 3 cases that illustrate my point:
Case number one:
I had a simple WordPress point release. I had done this update to 20 other sites. But on this one site I clicked update and all of a sudden the screen went white. Nothing, zero, zilch, ugatz. Site was gone. Fortunately, I back up my sites on a regular basis, and in this case had just taken a full backup. Getting it back was not as easy as you might think even with backup plugin. Restore failed. I was forced to FTP the backup files to the site. Luckily this took care of it and the client site was only down for a matter of minutes. But, imagine Joe client who doesn’t have the skill set nor the ability to get their site back, their business literally could be crippled for days.
Case number two:
I had a notification that an e-commerce client had an update to their UPS plug-in. Seemed like a very simple update, according to the documentation. I made the update, to the site did some testing. It seemed to be okay. But, I was wrong. When you added something to your cart, you got a PHP fatal error. Again, luckily I had just taken a backup and could restore the plug-in to the prior version. If not, a business which relies almost 100% on their website would have been down. While I am not a genius, I do know how to backup properly and I do know how to restore. And if push came to shove I had the whole site backed up on my server daily. So I could’ve gotten the client back up and running relatively quickly.
Case number three:
I have a client which uses a web calendar. The plug-in update came and again seem pretty minor. Well, this update actually disabled the backend. You could not get to the dashboard! And now luckily, again I knew what to do and once I disabled the plugin I could go back and grab the backup and again restore the old version. If not, the client would have been out of luck.
Bottom line:
Managing a WordPress site is not as easy as they make it sound. There is a lot of things you need to know in order to keep it running smooth 24/7/365. So make sure you have someone on your side helping you manage your website. That doesn’t mean you can’t do certain tasks yourself and save money. But you need someone in your corner to help you, especially in those times when you have problems. Not to say that that experts don’t have problems as well, we do. But part of being an expert is knowing how to solve those problems which at times can seem insurmountable. If you need help with your website management, please contact us at RooSites. We are happy to help.
HealthCare.gov – Huge roll out tainted by performance problems, and defects. Now while there is plenty of blame to go around, to me it comes down to some basics. Someone had to signoff on the website, with the knowledge about the remaining open bugs, as well as the performance issues. Every big company does performance testing, including longevity tests, capacity, etc. Someone high up had to say “GO”.
What you can take away: No matter how good your website developer is, typically websites have defects. As a website owner, you can do your own user acceptance testing. Don’t go live until to are happy with your website. Do not allow your website to be launched with bugs you deem to be high severity.
Chevy Nova – This may be more urban myth than reality but its still a good lesson. The story goes that Chevrolet tried to sell their car in Mexico but failed due to the name. No Va translates to ‘No Go’ which is obviously not a great selling point!
What you can take away: Names are important. In terms of websites, when picking your name, consider competition. Don’t choose a name that there are 100s with the same name. For one thing, you won’t get a good domain name, and you will have people finding your competition when searching by name in search engines.
AAA – This is story defies common sense. I had Triple A for many years. I then bought a car that had free roadside assistance and my insurance company offers it as well. So I didn’t need AAA. But with a daughter in college, I wanted the added protection. Here is the amazing thing. They won’t let me get Triple A Plus, which is MORE money. I wanted plus as it includes 100 miles towing. Truthfully the 3 mile towing you get with basic is useless. So here is what they said, you have to have basic coverage for 2 years before upgrading no matter how long you were a member for. So they won’t let you pay MORE. In this economy they are turning away money and worse, lost a potential customer since I will now go elsewhere. The dumbest part of this? This is a regional club rule specific to Southern NE AAA. They even send me their rule book. Horrible customer service.
What you can take away: In this economy do everything you can to meet the needs of your customers. NEVER refuse your customer’s needs and wants. If your website restricts users from actually upgrading their order, fix it. Fix it fast. And customer service means the customer is always right (remember that old adage?). You may not be the biggest company but you can have the best customer service.
BlackBerry – This was the single device you had to have as a business person. They lost their way and tried to compete with iPhones and other touch screen devices and lost their core audience. Now they can’t get back the business user and is a company in free fall.
What you can take away: Stick to what works. if something is selling on your website, or if your informational site does well, don’t get away from what is working. A new site isn’t necessary better and getting away from selling what people have bought from you is business suicide.
Western Union – Western Union had a shot to buy the patents from Alexander Graham Bell for $100,000 but said no. This is considered the worst mistake of an American CEO.
What you can take away – Be open to new things. Especially on the web. It wasn’t that long ago that we had no such thing as responsive design. Now it is almost mandatory building a website. Flash was a staple, now it is rarely used. Things change, be nimble and accept that this industry is always evolving.
Bottom Line: Fortunately small business errors aren’t under the microscope and publicized like the larger companies and agencies above. But to a small business an error can be crucial and mean the difference before survival and being forced to close.
