I started a business. It made me want to drink copious quantities, smoke myself into oblivion and hit my head against a brick wall. Instead I wrote a blog.
Site Launch Day: 5
User Count: 35
Going right: One more user. This time an unknown.
Going wrong: The user calls himself OBD Connector. Looked this up and found out it is part of a car?!
Comment: Name too cool and geeky to be a spambot...I think. If name turns out to be spambot, will feel like a dumbass. Also if turns out to be girl, apologize in advance.
"Don't tell me you're writing your blog online." Said my boyfriend. "My god didn't we learn back in 1992 that you could lose the whole thing by pressing the back button." 1992, being the dark ages of course.
"But I don't intend to press the back button." I said
He grabbed my laptop and said. "What happens if your finger happens to be touching CTRL at the same time as you're deleting something?"
He waved his fingers menacingly over those two keys.
"Most browsers have that command programmed as going back a page. And if you do that and it isn't saved, you lose the whole thing."
"Don't do that." I shouted. "I haven't saved that draft.". He looked at me for a long moment smiling evilly. I said nervously "Did you erase it to teach me a lesson? "
"No, but I couldn't stand you if you lost your work like that. It's so dumb." (Note YOU, not IT)...
Well it's a pity you're having two children with me isn't it." I said, without the slightest intention of changing my habits.
You see, even the threat of repulsion from my boyfriend, can't persuade me to write these blogs offline in notepad and then copy them to put them online. Because it's too much like hard work. To back up my files I use dropbox (It's automated and I highly recommend it - please let me invite you if you want to use it - because the more referrals I make, means the more space I get), but for my blog, I simply write in the online space word press provides and risk the possibility of losing EVERYTHING...
Whether or not I back up, I am absolutely 100% sure that I am not alone with this psychological block. People are inherently lazy. Including me. And it's our being lazy that has surprisingly driven us to such heights of ingenuity. The wheel, for example, would never have been invented if those Chalcolithic dudes hadn't been so apathetic about pushing their own boats into the river to go fishing.
That's why, against all evidence to the contrary, today's diary is not about backing up (to my boyfriend ...MWAH HA HA). Although sure, it's a good idea, but you probably won't. No...it's about making things as EASY as possible for your clients. If they have to jump through hoops to get to your stuff, well, they won't. And on the internet remember - jumping through hoops simply means scrolling down the page an inch further than they have to. Of course I know this theoretically, but there still doesn't seem to be enough room on the page for what you want to say (if you're reading this then you've scrolled down...)
Yes, we may have walked on the moon. But taking a second extra to click, is still a step too big for mankind to make. So if you want your stuff to sell, put it/damn good teasers on the front page, remembering that depending on where you want to sell - not everyone reads left to right....
(PS. Also back up)