Charlie Page's Marketing Blog

You have probably heard the saying "When life give you lemons, make lemonade!"

I believe that one of the keys to success in any situation, business or personal, online or offline, is the "can-do" spirit epitomized by that saying. People who overcome problems are the people who rule the world.

What about your online business? How do you make lemonade when the Internet hands you lemons in the form of emails that bounce, pages that don't display, and more?

I'm glad you asked. ;)

Here are three things you can do today that will make a serious difference in your online business, and help you turn lost files, 404 errors and more into digital lemonade.

=====> 1. Prepare for mistakes

No matter how hard we work or carefully we plan, mistakes happen. We rush to get the sales letter just right and then put the wrong URL in the ad that goes out. Or you name the page .htm and not .html, and it won't display.

Or a million other things that humble us and remind us that, after all, we're only human.

The good news is that you can prepare for these common mistakes, and minimize the impact they have on your business.

Here are two things to do today that will help when things go wrong.

#1 Have more than one host. Some hosting runs under $10 a *year*. Having a second hosting company means that you can change the DNS settings on your site in the event that your primary host lets you down or goes out of business. In just 24 to 48 hours the change will be effective, and you will be back in business.

#2 Keep a copy of your website on your machine. This one is big. And you'd be surprised how many people don't do it. Always keep a full copy of your site, and your mailing lists, on your computer as a backup. When a web server crashes things get lost, and sometimes all you get is "sorry".

=====> 2. Be open and honest when things go wrong.

Life happens. When a mistake occurs simply send a message to your list, or post a message on your site, stating the mistake and apologizing for the inconvenience.

Over the years I've made a ton of mistakes, but they haven't cost me because I responded quickly and was transparent about the situation.

NOTE: Some marketers are now sending an Oops message (You know - Oops, I sent the wrong link.) after every selling email. While this second email might make more sales, over time it will make them look bad and *cost* sales. Not a good strategy.

=====> 3. Turn mistakes into opportunities.

There are two great ways to do this. And both are free.

First, create a custom error page that visitors see when a mistake happens. It's super easy to do and can pay *big* dividends.

Here's an example I created this morning. This link is not valid and creates the infamous "File not found - 404" error. But look at how much more useful this page is than the standard message.

http://www.directoryofezines.com/ajejuue

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SUPER HOT TIP: Add your subscription box or offer a free download on your custom error page. You'll be surprised at how many more sales you make over time this way.
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Here's a great site I found this morning which shows how to create a custom 404 page. It's the process I used.

http://www.plinko.net/404/custom.asp

Second, create a standard email that is sent to everyone who emails you. We all deal with bounced email and many of us change addresses occasionally. But what do you do with that old address?

Since a picture is better than a thousand words, and since Rosalind Gardner does this better than anyone I know, I've put her email on a web page for you to see. This works for her and it will work for you as well.

http://www.directoryofezines.com/rosalind-email.htm

No matter how hard we work, things will sometimes go wrong. This is the Internet, and computers, after all. What really matters is how we respond when things happen, and how prepared we are in the meantime.

With a little preparation you can turn the lemons that the World Wide Web hands you into digital lemonade. In the case of a custom 404 page, you might actually make a profit when people can't find pages on your web site!

And that's a beautiful thing indeed!