Follow through, follow up, follow the bouncing web search. The first two are crucial to a successful business. The last is evil, and I could have avoided it recently had I paid more attention to the first two. Still with me? Here’s the scoop:
For a few months I’ve been testing the waters with paid internet search ads, trying to drive more traffic to my website. The results have been pretty encouraging; so I’ve ignored it and let the ad do its thing. At the same time I completely redesigned the site, including changing the web address. Once the new design was finished (https://onehillvoice.com) I dutifully went to Google Adwords and changed the site address there…or so I thought. Apparently I failed to save the change. Today when I checked results I was horrified to learn that the old, now dead address was still there, and several hundred people had clicked on a dead link. A month’s worth of my promotional budget was wasted and potential clients lost.
Yes, I know about address redirects but the thing is, it’s so not like me not to follow up and make sure a change like that sticks. I’m usually extremely paranoid about details. For instance: I always request confirmation of receipt from clients when we communicate via email. I try to keep each email trail discreet from the next when I have more than one session or project going with a client. And most importantly, I always check to make sure audio files have been received and reviewed well before project deadlines to ensure against technical glitches. But this time I got careless, and as a result, got burned.
So, to steal a phrase from a company I used to work for, today I learned a lesson from the BSOHK (Business School of Hard Knocks). Come to think of it, maybe the reminder to always follow through was worth the price of tuition after all!