I had several sites hacked… repeatedly.

I had to have one of my computer's reformatted and a new Operating System installed.

I had the databases for a couple of sites crash (who knows why!).

I am still waiting to see the final outcome with one of my problem sites.

While living thru the whole process I have learned a LOT and I am in the midst of implementing changes based on those lessons.

Here are some of my hard earned but valuable lessons…

I am VERY happy with the advice and help from my computer support guys. An enthusiastic shoutout here to Freddie and Maria at Kentucky Trade!

I am happy with the timely help and respectful communication from my hosting company. HostGator Rocks! Thanks, guys!!!!

It is much less stressful to face potential disaster while saying *Gee, I am glad I…* rather than saying *Oops! I am sorry I didn't…*

After spending so much time and effort writing my Survival Course, *Disaster-proof Your Online Business*

, I am happy to be able to say, *Do as I DO*.

One of my dearest online friends took the time to help me evaluate the process and my actions and grade my strategies. I was pretty happy with the results.

The bottom line is… bad things will happen to your online business.

Do the best you can to prepare for them, and accept
that you can't anticipate everything.

Having the various elements of my sites backed up on a regular basis was a god-send. It is much less stressful to contact the Support Desk at your hosting and be able to tell them that you have full backups available if they need them.

I am happy to say that the fates were with me and my backups were not necessary, BUT the important thing is… I had them available in a worst case scenario.

Do keep your information available in multiple media formats, when applicable.

I talk about this in depth in *Disaster-Proof* and I provide both text file templates and spreadsheet templates. Over the last 4 weeks, there were many times when I found myself using BOTH formats.

Since the people who know me best sometimes accuse me of being overprepared, I will admit to wondering a couple of times if I was going overboard. ..

I am now happy to say… No, I wasn't! LOL As I said at the beginning, I am still evaluating the process, so look for one or two more posts sharing my experiences.

Sharing the road to success,

Tink

Interestingly enough I had two women attending that class, both of whom have retail stores with web sites. They are both in the process of rebuilding the web sites.

One web site was lost as the result of an acrimonious divorce (the husband kept it and since the poor wife didn’t know any of the info she needed to retrieve it… it is GONE)

The second woman is a widow whose husband died unexpectedly. He had been her web master and had created a lot of custom code for her site…

So… here is yet another reason why my Disaster-proof Your Online Business is SOOOOO important!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

They serve several purposes:

1) They reassure potential customers who are leery about doing business online

2) They provide a nice opportunity to add Search Engine friendly content

3) If you are using a template, it just might be easier to fill it in rather than struggle to remove the page

Now, a recent study:

http://library.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?ident=28532

shows that spending your marketing efforts on the About Me page content can be an extremely worthwhile investment!

Both Needlework and Quilting are PERSONALITY DRIVEN industries… so your About Me page SHOULD be focused on YOU and building YOUR brand.

For retailers, the About Me page can provide additional opportunities to develop your online Unique Selling Postion (and USP is a important, upcoming topic on the Retailer membership site).

The About Me page can also be an excellent way to add a personal touch about your employees… again, a vital issue when marketing a company in a personality driven industry!

So, take a look at your About Me page… consider giving it a face lift and work it to its FULL potential!

Tink