Imagine the following, if you will.
Being a smart, savvy blogger, you’ve already installed CommentLuv on your site.
You’ve been spending weeks and months and perhaps years in solidly building up your reputation as THE go-to person in your treasured niche.
And then you realize that like Pokemon
(Oddish, to be precise, ’cause he’s a happenin’ dude)
…it’s time to evolve.
You search about for the very best web designer/copywriter you can both uncover and afford!
My gosh, the days and weeks that follow – it’s intoxicating.
You receive brilliant ideas regarding your new look and feel.
You swoon with delight at the freshly made copywriting that compels clients and readers alike to bash down your virtual door.
And then that magic day happens – it’s time to activate your brand new look and feel!
But then.
Then.
THEN!!!.
Disaster strikes with the ginormous force of microwaving a 3 gallon aluminum cup of coffee in the microwave.
Your site…it has a (gasp!) maintenance notice!
Do you grasp the *utter horror* of that stark truth? Do you understand within the very fibres of your what that means??????
It means that people visit and they go:
- “Jeepers! The site ain’t up! Next!”
And they sadly surf off to someplace new, forgetting about the sorry state of your site within seconds.
All together now….WAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!
But you know….it doesn’t have to be that way.
And I sure know that for a plain fact, because I experienced the above….yesterday.
See, it was a dark and stormy night…no, really, it wasn’t, instead it was a pitch black morning when no mooses were abroad and I realized:
- “Oh gee that’s nice. My site is in maintenance mode!
Isn’t that special! The new look/feel will soon go up!”
And then I realized, hmmm.
All that traffic coming by – I’m losing it!
- I had no optin to gather addresses for folks to be
notified when the site went live. - I had no compelling copy to amaze and intrigue
visitors so they’d tell their friends about it.
For a business woman like myself, this was unacceptable indeed!
Something had to be done.
But what?
During the 3 minutes I had between this realization and having to take the kids to school and run the mooses and brew my 46th cup of coffee…what *could* I do?
And then it hit me with astonishing grace.
I could….buy the Internet and stop ALL traffic!
Alas, as I couldn’t find its listing on eBay, that idea died a quick and painful death.
But then brazen intelligence *did* emerge and suffused
my very being with the following brilliant realization.
Just because my site is down…it doesn’t mean my Facebook Fan Page is down!
In other words, this was a fantastic opportunity to drive quality traffic to my Unleashed Inner Expert page.
So! I quickly crafted up the compelling image you see above, and made that my maintenance picture. Then I made sure to deftly hyperlink it to my Facebook Fan page.
But I wasn’t done yet!!
Oh no, oh no!
I needed to devise some sort of contest so people would be willing to share this exciting event.
And what better contest is there than to simply guess what my new theme would be?
Which brings me to the point of this post…you.
The above story really did happen to me yesterday…and in hindsight, I realize that I truly should have thought about the implications of being in maintenance mode….. ahead of time.
And I figure, I’m probably not the only one guilty of such short-sightedness.
Hence this guest post.
At some time in your blogging career, the probability that you’ll revamp your entire site is greater than the probability Facebook will eat the universe as we know it.
So when you do embark on that journey, follow these three simple steps to make the most of your new transition.
Step 1.) Think to where you want to direct traffic during your down time.
Do you have:
- A Facebook Fan page?
- A LinkedIn profile?
- An optin on another site?
- An affiliate product?
In other words, where else can you direct this traffic that will do you the most good?
Step 2.) Devise a contest to make it worth people’s while to tell their friends about you.
In my case, I used my Facebook Fan Page as part of a ”Guess my theme!” contest. The winners will receive free copies of my products. If you don’t have any products to offer, can you offer free consulting instead?
Step 3.) Create a useful maintenance mode image, and hyperlink it directly to your destination site
I linked my maintenance mode image directly to my Facebook Fan Page, *and* also created a new fan-only tab about the contest to boot.
- NOTE! You can use the Custom Coming Soon
plugin to also gather email addresses directly on your site.
Thus…
When people visit my non-operational site, they still have someplace to explore instead….someplace that benefits me.
And that can be described as only a Very Good Thing Indeed!
Thus….learn from my mistake.
Revamping your site – it’s a brilliant move!
But make sure to have someplace else you can send your visitors. Your bottom line will thank you muchly in the end!
Enjoy!
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
About The Author: Barbara Ling is a 13+ year veteran Internet marketer and entrepreneur who specializes in both making profitable success simple, and quickly turning on a dime no
matter what opportunities for massive amounts of grey hairs emerge. Visit her site at Barbara Ling.com.
Barbara, simply brilliant! This makes so much sense that I am amazed at why no body (at least that I know of) had thought of it. This is what Ande Waggener talks about on her blog, “turning something seemingly negative, into something totally positive”.
Now that I think of it, there are so many things you could do to benefit from when you your blog is down for some reason. Beside what you’ve suggested (linking to twitter, facebook and etc), you could link to your guest posts on other blogs, your articles on article directoires and etc. A great way to promote your work on other websites and blogs.
Thank you very much Barbara.
satrap´s recent blog post ..10 Reasons to Consider Selling Services Online as a Way to Make Money
Thanks for your kind words, Satrap! Honestly, it caught me completely unawares – I remember telling my website developer, “Well now, *that* was a surprise.” I wasn’t unhappy, mind you, it was just one of those “Jeepers, I *really* should have thought about that!” ideas.
And yes indeed, linking to guest blogs is really smart too! Anything that keeps the interest up…and makes people want to learn more.
Hi Barbara,
Well that’s quite unfortunate that it happened to you but it was obviously a great lesson to learn and more importantly you were able to share this lesson with an awesome solution for others… super cool!
These horrible lessons can ultimately be a blessing in disguise. Although it’s probably something you realized in hindsight.
Thanks for sharing this. I will be sure to use your suggestions if ever I were to put my site in maintenance mode.
newbizblogger´s recent blog post ..That’s A Wrap- November 19- 2010
Hey there, thanks so much for stopping by! Everything happens for a reason…sometimes I just wish my character-building would take a break every century or so.
Twitter: Anklebuster
says:
No waaaaay! I had NO idea that was not a post-moose wrangling calculated move on your part! Especially since you had been blogging about shutting down the site
I have to say, good on you for quickly figuring out what to do. You certainly practice what you preach: what can you put on your blog that nobody else is doing? I have never seen anyone redirect traffic to any other site.
One question, my blogs have several links to your domain. Will they still work when you come back up?
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen´s recent blog post ..Barbara Ling to Relaunch BarbaraLingcom
Hi Mitch!
Everything will be back to normal once the relaunch…um….relaunches?
And thanks so much for your kind words – it’s been quite the character-building experience indeed!
Very creative thing to do, I must say. Then again, you’re always changing the look of your site; isn’t this the 3rd time in the last 2 years, or am I thinking of something else, like focus or other sites?
Mitch´s recent blog post ..Sunday Question – Have You Thanked Anyone Recently
Yes indeed! The difference here is I wanted to go for a look/feel that is, well, beyond my photoshop skills. Hence the outsourcing.
Twitter: lavenderuses
says:
Hi Barbara
You are one of those amazingly talented people who is both creative and a geek
I wouldn’t know what to do if that happened to me so I would just panic first, then get you away from those mooses long enough to come on over and help. Brilliant post as always Barbara.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia´s recent blog post ..Lavender Products Galore-Must Be Party Time
Hey Patricia, thanks for your kind words!! And of course, I’ll always help out in a pinch!
Twitter: gilbertocintron
says:
This information is very informative. I downloaded and installed the Custom Coming Soon plugin but was unable to customize it or get it to work on my blog. I’m sure it’s due to my lack of programming skills. The concept is great, and the default Coming Soon page look great.
Thanks for letting me know about this plugin and giving me some great ideas for using it.
gilbertocintron´s recent blog post ..grateful that I can still see at all
What are the problems you’re running into, Gilbert? You can create a ticket over at http://support.cssjockey.com/ and get help….
Twitter: allandouglasdgn
says:
Brilliant as always Barbara! Eagerly awaiting the waving of the green flag over your new and improved speedway of wisdom!
Allan Douglas´s recent blog post ..Simple Living and Minimalism
Thanks Allan! I will certainly keep you posted!
Twitter: avdhessharya
says:
Oh My God!
I have never thought about it before. Yes, it could happen to me as well, I mean with any one of us out there. But now I am aware and will make alternate arrangement for this. Thank you so much for your insight.
May I ask you one more thing, I have just started exploring facebook and internet marketing.
I have created one facebook fan page and want to turn all my friends to join me on that page but don’t know how can i hide (or delete my facebook account if that’s the case) and promote myself on my facebook fan page only.
Would you find some time to advise me?
I would appreciate your help.
Thanks!
Avdhessh Arya´s recent blog post ..Ask for What You Want