Some Trusted Expert Stuff – Where Do We Go From Here?
| Share |
So you may have noticed that the Trusted Expert series has dropped off a bit…well, alright, it’s stopped completely. And that is completely my fault. We’re so close to the end (around 5-8 posts left…I think) but my motivation to get them done has just kind of disappeared.
And I even know what it’s happened. The rest of the posts that I has planned for the series all dealt with the maintenance of your site – the importance of testing, what to do, the importance of fresh content, etc. All of these things are very important to the continued success of your site, and in making sure that your customers continue to view you as a Trusted Expert. There’s just one problem, the thing that prevented me from getting the posts done and finishing the series:
It’s boring!!!
And isn’t that the way it always happens?
It’s easy to get motivated and excited in the beginning – coming up with your niche, developing buyer personas, getting content and building your customer base. But once you’re up and running, and you’ve achieved your initial goals, the work involved is not as exciting. And even worse, there’s no end in sight. Unlike getting up and running, it’s harder to have definite goals when it comes to maintenance. “Continuing to do well” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Get website running and turn a profit of X”.
This is a trap many people fall into. The site seems to be doing well, there’s lots of small tweaks you could make, but it’s time consuming and the results you get aren’t as dramatic as when you first started. This lulls a lot of people into a false sense of security, that they can let these small things go because the site is doing fine.
This is a slippery slope. Sure, you can let things slide for a little while, but little bit by little bit your site will suffer if you don’t do the required maintenance. And if you’ve achieved the goals you first set out for yourself, it’s time to set some new ones. Always be striving to improve your business – it’ll help keep you motivated and keep going, even when the tasks aren’t as much fun.
So, it’s a new year, and it’s a time of renewed motivation. So I’m becoming accountable to you all here, that I will finish all the nitty gritty details of testing and maintenance and how it relates to being a Trusted Expert. Just because it’s not flashy and fun doesn’t mean that it’s not just as important to the success of your website as all of the setup was.
So be looking for the continuation of the Trusted Expert series every week until…well, until it’s done.
Click here for the list of previous Trusted Expert posts.
Thanks for sharing such a stuff of business and marketing field of experience; I think we should go for the path which look more relevant to the nature of human being