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Maintenance is important too
By admin | January 23, 2009
Well it is that time again to do a major tank cleaning for the turtles. This will involve removing most of the water, cleaning both filters and replacing the filter media for both filters.
Not one of my favorite jobs but a definite necessity if you are raising turtles. Much prefer the time I spend watching them interact and chase fish. Watching some of the things they do like stacking on top of each other which are quite funny looking. In this picture they are in their train formation stacked like connecting cars.
Cleaning the tank is yucky, messy and often postponed.
Okay how does this lesson apply?
There are certain maintenance tasks your business requires too. Not fun like launching a new site or watching payments come in but necessary none the less. Here are a few and some are for protection and some will actually improve your business.
Maintenance items
If you have a blog you should be backing up your data base. In fact every data base you have (examples – blogs, membership sites, trackers, etc.) should be backed up on a regular basis. In my case that is Monday.
I can recover if I lose a couple days data but lose a blog like Mike Paetzold Recommends with over 400 posts and I just lost a lot of traffic. Yes I know quite a few hosts back up your data bases but I want a copy for me if there is a problem.
Same with your web site files even if they are not dynamic. Keep an off site back up or use an off site service like Carbonite or any of the others that will back up your computer automatically.
This way they have a copy, my computer has a copy and my server has a copy. Guess the turtles have made me paranoid but if that stuff gets lost my income is gone.
Download your autoresponder list too. Hey I use Aweber and have great confidence in them but…
That list IS my business.
Now to the things you need to maintain not for maintenance purposes but for improvement purposes.
Going back to the autoresponder. Check your stats regularly. Is there a specific email that your unsubscribes are significantly higher than the others? Think it might pay to change that one?
Which offers in your series are working? Which aren’t?
If you have built good traffic systems improving these things can add to your wallet.
How are your traffic systems working? Still getting traffic that is converting and which sources are converting best? Think that could help improve the bottom line if you add more that are?
In summary maintenance for the most part sucks but…
It is necessary and needs to be a regularly scheduled part of your routine. I hate cleaning the turtle tank but do want to be able to see the other side of it so it gets done. Maintenance will pay off in various ways but is easy to overlook so DO IT even when you don’t want to and make it part of your routine.
The Turtle Dad
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Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don’t personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.
Topics: lessons | 3 Comments »
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This may seem like a really dumb question, but how do you actually back it up?
Earl Netwal´s last blog post..Is your web page a billboard on a deserted highway?
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
It is covered in a video I did on WordPress Made Easy on upgrading your blog.
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I really like the idea of backing up your sites. I know I have worked very hard and would probably cry like a baby if I lost what I had. Thanks.
Andre Arnett´s last blog post..You Can Be Out Front Of The Newbie Invasion