Tony skinner 00:03
Hi, and welcome to the podcast with www.podcastmybusiness.com.au. And today we have Ivana from www.web4business.com.au. How are you doing?
Ivana 00:16
I am doing really well today. Thank you. We’ve had a few challenges with technology this morning, but I’m glad it all got sorted out in time.
Tony skinner 00:25
Yeah, and you’re a web designer and developer, so I feel better already. 
Ivana 00:30
You know what I mean? technology is can be your friend, but sometimes it’s your worst enemy too.
Tony skinner 00:38
Isn’t that so true? I mean, and you logged on to my website to book in the interview and you had an error from that and thank you for sharing that. I got in touch with the company. And I’m still two weeks later trying to figure it out because they said our it eventually it was well as your redirect because I redirect people from that to my Actual Google Calendar sort of books it in. Because if you use calendar, you don’t link it to your Google Calendar, you’ll get bookings or not know about it. And they set out to redirect. And I said, which redirect? And I said, How do I fix? What do I do? And I’m still waiting.
Ivana 01:14
Yeah, look, I mean, those things are they’re tricky too, unless you very techie. I, you know, oftentimes, I actually put my hand up and I get help with techie stuff as well. So I don’t know everything about everything. But it is like, I think we all face the same challenges when it comes to technology, and you can test things 1000 times and they will still fail. I can I’m happy to share a story if you if if you’d like to hear it. First. Yeah. When I first started in business are around I’m gonna say about 1825 when I created my first website,
Tony skinner 01:52
and only a few years ago,
Ivana 01:53
yeah. And the internet was only very new back then. And So what happened was I had created a form on my website like a contact form. And I advertised and I spent about $6,000. And back 20 years ago, $6,000 was a lot of money to spend on print advertising. And I didn’t get one single inquiry, and I was devastated. I thought I just throw out $6,000 out the window. Anyway, about three weeks went by, and I had a call from a gentleman named Bill. And Bill said, When are you going to get back to me about my website? And I asked him, I said, What do you mean? And he said, Well, I filled out a form on your website, and you haven’t got back to me yet. And I’m like, I didn’t get any forms. And I started digging, and I found out there were about 30 inquiries for website design back then.
And even though I tested the form before I did the advertising the form failed to send me notifications. And I didn’t even think to go and check in the back end, I just assumed that the notifications would come. So I lost a lot of business back then. But it was the biggest lesson that I learned. And that was to keep testing contact forms or any forms on the website and to have other ways for people to contact you. And thankfully, I did have my phone number and up in my email, so bill was able to contact me. And the funny thing is back then bill was about 85 years old. And we went to create many websites for him. And unfortunately, bill passed away only about two or three years ago. He almost made it to 100. And so he was my favorite customer.
Tony skinner 03:48
Wow. Absolutely. No, it does show doesn’t it that technology can fail and it’s all about testers your test test test test. Like with my phone. I started getting feedback. back and unused stuff was coming through bookings are still coming through. And thankfully, that still works. The redirect just freaks people out. And they go, Oh, I got this. And I go, and I’m still in every piece of software I’ve ever used have broken. Okay. I asked, because I asked for more. I expect honor. Do I expect too much should I expect everything that I pay for to actually bloody work?
Ivana 04:30
Well, I don’t know, do you? I thinking, well, I’ll be glad if it works, and I’m grateful if it works, but look, uh, you know, technologies technology, and I think sometimes people do expect the impossible and, especially with what’s going on in the world, even trying to get tech support from people. 
You know, it’s difficult. I mean, we are lucky that we live, where we live and everything that we have unfortunate A lot of the call centers and everything like that they’re in developing countries and it’s just one of those things. I think we just need to be a little bit patient then and you know what? occasional error message is not the end of the world.
Tony skinner 05:15
That’s what I thought when I first started doing that. I thought, you know what, it’s still working. Whatever. But yeah, and you’re right even obviously, it’s VA’s and PA’s and whatever we use as a struggling as well and yeah, with the event, some of us have had little hits to revenue and you go well, you know what, I can’t do everything. But even then I’ve been getting my guys some a little bit of work here and there just to contribute something to help them out.
Ivana 05:43
Well, that’s very thoughtful of you because I know that I’ve had a few people reach out to me too, that I had maybe dealt with many years ago in I think it was India and the Philippines asking for work and I know they’re struggling. so so good. on you for, you know, for giving them extra work and helping us
Tony skinner 06:05
of how to do what you can. It is about surviving, and it is talking about surviving. So for businesses that are going through rapid change and focused, hopefully on what’s next and what’s coming up, what are the key things that so many businesses have had websites built over the years, and definitely need to change them and improve, in fact, even potentially just build a damn new website? So what would you suggest for people in that sort of situation?
Ivana 06:38
Look, the technology just changes so fast. And I think this is where people where people’s businesses fail, and it’s because they’re not willing to embrace the change. So when I first started designing, I used software called front page. You know, you probably a lot younger than I am. So you might not remember that far back, but it was relatively easy to use. And I used it for probably about 10 years.
And then as we started looking at websites on mobile devices, that software no longer worked, and I knew that I was going to have to embrace new technology and I was so afraid my life depended on it or my livelihood depended on it. I was a single parent, and I had to learn a whole new way of doing things. And I remember sitting watching, you know, the show called the block. Yes, And, and I remember sitting there one day thinking about it, I’m gonna have to figure out different software and everything. And as I said, they’re overwhelmed with technology. I was watching these guys building brand new houses, new kitchens, new everything, and they had never done it before. And they had to get it done in a week. And I had a big aha moment. And I thought, you know what, if they can do this in a week, I’m sure I can figure out the software in a month or two. And I just started step by step. And this is what I see with a lot of clients is they are afraid they’re afraid to take that step because they’re afraid of technology.
But unfortunately, unless you embrace the technology or find somebod
y who can help, your business is going to probably fail. I think the other thing is what people do often is they avoid setting up websites and they believe that having social networks is enough. And what I generally say, it’s not your website should be the center of your universe because you have control over it. You have no control over social networks. And if your account gets hacked and they get hacked an awful lot, oftentimes they will actually they will shut you down temporarily. Sometimes permanently.
So if your business depended on Instagram, and suddenly your account is shut down, you might as well close business. And the other thing too, I mean, things change with social networks. Look at Google Plus, for example, hundred and 98 million users, and they shut it down. Or MySpace was another perfect example. People stopped using it. So if your business was relying on my space, and nobody was using it anymore, you had to move to another platform. But again, you have no control. And you Yeah, even with things like Facebook, we think that will never disappear and hopefully doesn’t. But it’s even if you have a Facebook business page, your posts are shown to only a very small percentage of people. So I say to people, you’re going to have to embrace it and get a website created.
Tony skinner 10:00
Absolutely and talking about that. One of the things I’m most impressed about on your website is one of those rare things. And that’s your pricing. Ah, never see that.
Ivana 10:15
Yeah, and you know what I think a lot of developers don’t include it because sometimes the project can be really big and hard to quote. But because I mainly work with small businesses and startups, I and have been doing it for a long time. I know pretty much what they need. So I was able to put the packaging together. And I think it’s important that people do include pricing on their website for no matter what products or services they sell, because if you’ve got somebody looking at your website at three o’clock in the morning, they want to know how much it’s going to cost them. And if they can’t afford you, you don’t want them wasting your time, calling you the next day. So The other thing is if they don’t find it, they’ll go somewhere else where they will find it.
Tony skinner 11:06
Well, that’s exactly right. So, yeah, you got to be up front. Absolutely you possibly can. And I’m glad to see that. And I’m glad to hear you backing yourself. And that’s a sign off. Because I’m telling you, I’ve been through so many web developers over the years, especially in digital marketing, which is my other business. It’s insane. I got a great web developer. I’ve had for years. And look, if you’re lucky enough to find someone as good as well, who I have, and Ivana stick with them. It’s always more that you can do this. All right.
You’re not seriously, a web developer is so critical to business success, because you’ve got your backups you’re talking about before about if Instagram goes down, and the other thing that you’re talking about that social thing I can’t even remember goes disappears, then you do need a website, I come across people that just do installing on here. But where do you take people to?
Ivana 12:06
Yeah, that’s right. And I’ve heard a lot of internet marketers saying, you know, you just need a landing page and run your business. Now, people want to know who you are. They want to know that they can trust you. And the best way they get can get to know you, like you and trust you is if you have a website that addresses their concerns and their problems.
So yeah, I know, I’m a web designer, and I’m, but I will, that’s something that I will always say is that you really if you if you’re serious about a business, you will have a website. And these days if you don’t have a website, it’s kind of like saying, I don’t have a phone number, and people don’t take you seriously. And I’m so glad Tony that you touched on the backups because so many people don’t back up their websites, they get hacked, and their website is wiped out and it happened to me too. I don’t lie. 
Tony skinner 13:05
Yeah, exactly. And look, we’re going to run out of time so I’m gonna take that as a tip because I was asked for tips but we’ll take that one as a tip Make sure your website is backed up to give people a story a couple of years ago there was a major website developer and host in the city they their entire all their websites got white that were somehow hosting on service like GoDaddy. Here to be up front ends they don’t go to godaddy, okay or any of those. el cheapo receives ones. I don’t care if GoDaddy Sue me we actually I hope they do. There we go them you
Ivana 13:47
know, but you get what you pay for and if you paying you know somebody $3 a month, like you can’t really expect fantastic service.
Tony skinner 13:58
Now Exactly. What got that business, though? other businesses that had their website there, they didn’t have backups. When businesses had their websites lost, gone, tried to sue the business, the business goes, Well, we’re going out of business. See you later. And yeah. So, ask your web developer ask. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Ivana. Thanks very much for your time. And yeah, I might get you back on again.
Ivana 14:25
Oh, that’d be wonderful. Thank you so much, Tony. I really appreciate talking to me today.
Tony skinner 14:32
Right. Thank you.
