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The Tree That Grew Too Fast
By: Jonathan Lukas
There are many dangers of having a website grow too fast and the solutions to those problems if they do arise. Just like a tree a website starts out as a seed, an idea. It doesn’t matter what the site is about, it probably started out as a one page website and slowly began to grow.
Some webmasters never intend to have their site become large, because it’s a personal site or something along those lines. However, there are many webmasters who begin sites with ideas that become very popular (e.g. digg). Sometimes they are unaware of how popular these sites can be or begin doing things that weaken the website by branching into too many areas.
The Roots
Every tree has strong roots. So should your website. The things websites need even before a single page of content has been written up and published are a good web host and a good domain name.
Sites with subdomain names usually suffer, because some may not be able to remember the long URL. A good domain name should either be brandable, or catchy or memorable But bad webhosting can wreak even more havoc. One could have a strong site that is highly popular, but it the server is always down people will begin leaving the web site and that kills any growth that the website would have had.
Problems: The problems that can occur here are a poor web host, not a good web hosting plan, or a plan that is too small for the website.
Solutions: The obvious solution would be to change web hosts, or upgrade to a better plan. If money becomes an issue here, it can stunt the site’s growth. Place ads on the site from Adsense or YPN, or better yet charge for independent ads on your site to get needed funds.
The Trunk
The trunk of the tree is the site’s goal or the site’s main purpose. As the tree gets older the trunk gets considerably thicker. The same should occur with your website. As the site becomes reputable, the goal becomes strengthened and people rely on the site to deliver content, products or services (depending on the site).
This is a critical point. If a site’s goal isn’t refined enough or is too vague, the site may not grow as fast. For example, let’s say I set up a blog that will cover sports and politics. You can already spot the problem. My goal is trying to cover too much. Even if my content is amazing, most sports visitors could be put off by the political content and vice versa. In this situation, it would be best to have two blogs: one for sports and one for politics.
However, if your goal is to blog about mp3 players only, and you have good content, you probably will gain visitors from search engines, but not have a maintained readership, because the focus is too narrow.
Problems: The site’s goal is too broad or too narrow.
Solutions: Make sure the site’s goal is specific and simple. Remind yourself of that goal whenever you will do something.
The Branches
A tree wouldn’t exactly be a tree without it’s branches. A website often offers other services or features that are tied in with the site’s main goal (the trunk). For example, let’s take a web design site. One could add live help chat/forum, a free quote service, and even a graphics design section.
However, if these begin to become the main focus on the site, the site’s main goal will suffer. Just as if the branches sucked in all the nutrition away from the stump the tree would die, a site must also be careful that it doesn’t go overboard with its “branches”. Time can become a huge factor. In that example, I now have to answer a lot of questions in my forum, and do graphics design on the side. I now have less time to actually work on the web designing itself. That will cause me to lose customers and now my site is nothing.
So, review what you do and do some trimming. While I have the skills to do graphic design it’s probably best to cut that out so I can focus more time on web designs for my customers. I could even hire other partners to handle questions in my forums.
In short, branches are important to a site, they add features and a bit of diversity. However, don’t get carried away by letting the branches become your tree.
Problems:Focusing too much on the extra frills of a website may cause you to lose focus of the site’s original goal. Time can become a huge factor here and even this frills are games for example bandwidth can also become a problem.
Solutions: Branches have their place in a website. Keep them trimmed short, though. Re-evaluate them from time to time to see if they are making you lose focus of the goal. If bandwidth is a problem upgrade your plan with your host’s provider. If money becomes a problem place ads on your website or sell ad space to come up with the needed funds. And if a branch is deemed to be bad, remove it or limit its use.
In Conclusion
A website needs to grow and evolve. This, however, needs to occur at a pace that is just right. If your website is growing too rapidly, it could be crippled at the roots, or have the branches sucking everything from the rest of the tree. However, even if the roots are the strongest part of your website, that doesn’t mean your site will succeed.
Always plan ahead and keep your site’s goal firmly in mind.
Jonathan Lukas is the owner of Gazotto.com, a blog about the latest gadgets and gizmos. He enjoys technology and building and creating websites. Currently, he is studying Electronics Engineering.
This article is free for republishing
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com
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