I (like you) struggle to find topics to blog about sometimes. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and sometimes it seems like I’ve covered every topic that exists in small business website design, development, and management.
What works for me is taking the time to write and letting the topics come to me. As with writing in general, when you push too hard you just can’t get anywhere. For me, I like to take a walk, and not even think about writing. When I stop pushing, I tend to have ideas.
I was recently at the RooSites location in Dunedin Florida and I was walking along this beautiful old street in the Gulf of Mexico. The street is made up of all these wonderful houses, many of which are over 100 years old. Almost all of them are meticulously maintained. Every time you walk past someone is taking care of the house or its outdoor space.
So it got me thinking, what can I learn from these beautiful examples of Florida architecture?
So it hit me!
What is good in one place may not work in another. These houses are so beautiful that they really correspond to the neighborhood in which they reside. However, take one of these houses and try to stick it in Boston, New York or other metropolitan areas, they will look out of place.
So you ask, what does this have to do with website design and development?
Good question!
I was recently working on a new site for a lawyer specializing in helping families with special education. The lawyer asked me for some examples that she could look at in order to set up her content. That’s when it hit me. Showing him great sites that have nothing to do with his field of activity is really not helpful, and while some sites are nice to look at, they won’t work in his field of expertise.
So like those gorgeous homes that fit so well along the Gulf of Mexico in Dunedin, Florida, they wouldn’t look too good in the Beacon Hill area of Boston or in my current hometown of Foxborough. , in Massachusetts.
Meticulously maintained
Then, as I mentioned, the properties have been meticulously maintained. This of course reminded me of website maintenance, which as you know is a specialty of RooSites. Although these houses are quite old, their upkeep and upkeep has kept them standing despite many storms and other factors that usually destroy houses of this age. Well I’m here to tell you it’s the same with websites. I manage and host many sites that are several years old. Because we never miss a beat in terms of updates, the sites remain viable and have saved their owners a lot of money that they should have put on hold to create a new website. As with these older homes, a newer replacement would NOT have been an improvement. In my blog post: Sometimes it’s better NOT to start a new website, we covered this topic. Don’t get me wrong, there comes a time when your site has lost its usefulness and newer technologies allow you to do things better, faster, and more efficiently. But you should take years out of a new website before you have to do a total overhaul. Good maintenance will allow you to have a long life for your website.
Final result
When you think of a new website, you tend to take inspiration from the sites you love. That’s fine, but make sure the design matches your type of business as well. I generally recommend looking at your competition, but also looking at businesses similar to yours across the country for inspiration. In terms of maintenance, make sure you are working with a company that will not only build you a great site, but also maintain your website, so that you can be sure that your site is up and running and secure. Unfortunately, a lot of companies like to design sites, but few want to maintain them. This is where RooSites can help. We specialize in website maintenance and have service plans to suit the budget and needs of each business.
