We all love our websites. They’re like our kids sometimes. We helped create them, we’ve enjoyed watching them mature, and if you leave them unattended, they might just blurt out embarrassing personal information. But as much as we love our work, we sometimes need to get away from it. Maybe it’s a business trip, maybe it’s a vacation, maybe it’s a five-day power outage thanks to that extra space heater your sales team plugged in. Whatever the reason, you’re stepping away from the keyboard.
But the Internet Never Sleeps…
You might not be at the helm, but that steady flow of visitors, customers, and Google bots don’t know that. They’re going to keep coming, and if that can be a recipe for disaster if they’re wandering into your store and nobody is home.
It’s very important to get away and recharge—just as any iPhone. And you should never be chained to your desk, that’s just asking for burnout. But when you do leave, take steps to make sure business as usual continues as… well, usual.
Scheduling Is Your Friend
If you’ve been good at posting regular content, and you suddenly stop posting regular content, that’s a red flag you don’t want your regular visitors seeing. Nothing kills a website faster than the impression of abandonment. Sites stop updating and die so often that people are used to dropping their favorites and moving on to a new site at the drop of a hat. Whatever you do, don’t let your site become one of these or even appear to be one of these.
Scheduling content is one way around this. If you usually post every other day around noon, get your content written ahead of time and schedule your posts.
This goes for social media as well. Schedule just enough posts that it appears you’re still home and all is running normally. Heck, you could even do a “best of” if you’re pressed for time. Just keep things active.
Delegating Is Also Your Friend
If you have co-workers or counter-parts, enlist their help. Just make sure they understand the brand, your brand voice, and your content schedule. The last thing you want is for your Facebook comments to go from Ellen DeGeneres to Bill Burr in tone… even if it is wildly entertaining for those at the office.
One thing you can do to help with this is creating a Brand Bible (I call mine the Book of Sean). This document is the one-stop-shop for all things branding. It explains the look, the tone, the schedule, the goals, and any important contacts a co-worker might need in your absence. That way, should you go on vacation, sabbatical, or long-term disability following a freak skiing accident, your site can continue without a hitch.
Sign the Checks
Got bills? Pay’em. Got important clients? Let them know you’ll be out of touch temporarily. Basically, plan ahead for anything that could realistically come up during your absence and take care of it early. The name of this game is “No Surprises”.
Plan to Touch Base
If you can’t completely let go of the site while you’re gone, plan around that. Set aside a specific amount of time you’ll allow yourself to check in, post updates, put out fires, etc. Then stick to that rule. If setting aside 30 minutes a day lets you enjoy the rest of your trip, by all means, take that 30 minutes and squeeze all the work juice out of it that you can.
Just Remember to Recharge
Chances to get away don’t come all that often for most of us, so don’t blow it! Recharge as much as you can, then come back refreshed and reenergized and blow their socks off.
Questions? Ready to Get Started?
If you have questions or would like to get started, please give us a call at (312) 834-7787 or visit our website to request a free quote and consultation.