When the Going Gets Tough
Posted On: 2008-11-06
So your sales are dropping like a stone and you really don't know what to do about it? Well join the club ... it's inevitable that your sales and every other guy's sales are dropping to. It's a sign of the times ... we're living in a time of economic recession and it's world-wide so everyone is going to be feeling it.
Of course if you mention your sagging sales on any of the adult webmaster boards out there you're going to get one or two heroes who will scoff at you and tell you that their sales have never been better ... but don't listen to them. They're basically wankers of the first order and the fact is that everyone's sales are going to be down.
It's quite possible that the last seven days or so have seen the biggest decline ... and that's quite normal too. Just before a Presidential election like the one that's just occurred in the United States it's quite common for people to stop spending because political uncertainty has that effect on people.
Now that the election is over we may see a slight increase in sales as people become more confident but don't get too excited at that increase. We are facing some very serious financial times ahead and a new president in the White House won't change matters in the short term.
How can he fix the credit crisis before he even assumes power and even after he takes over it's going to be months before he can make a major difference. So things are going to be tough for some time to come. Of course, I could say here that when the going get tough the tough get going but you don't need platitudes ... you need solutions and you need more sales ... but most of all you need to survive.
So what do I suggest that you do to survive?
Concentrate on your core business. Concentrate on whatever it is that makes you money and for now spend less money and less time on projects that are looking to the future.
Be prepared to spend more money on advertising, traffic generation and acquisition.
Be prepared to make your sites ... or one of your sites ... very sticky so people will keep on coming back. Sure, you're going to be feeding a whole bunch of free loaders and they will keep coming back for more but if you make one of your sites sticky then when people do have money to spend again they'll be buying from the sites that they've kept going back to during the time when they had no money.
On a personal level, rein in your spending. Don't go out partying so much ... don't live an extravagant lifestyle and be prepared to spend more time generating income than spending it.
There's a new cell phone out or a new game or graphic card but don't be tempted to rush out and buy whatever that fancy new tech bauble might be. If your phone old cell phone is still working and your graphic card is still making all the colors appear in the right spots on the screen then don't spend money on something unless it's going to increase your productivity and make you more money.
Reduce your debt levels ... cut up your credit cards and learn to live without them. Get a debit card instead and use that to make your online payments because that draws on your own money rather than credit which ultimately costs you a lot more.
Now some of those things are going to be tough to do especially if you have a partner who doesn't understand that the good times have dried up for a while but if you want to survive then you really do need to cut back on your personal spending.
The third point I made might sound totally foreign to you ... especially if you have based your business model on getting surfers off your site and over to a sponsor as quickly as possible. But the fact is that in times like these you are going to get a lot more traffic to your site and fewer sales so you may as well do something positive with that traffic rather than just trying to get rid of it as soon as you can.
And above all, don't give up. Sure the times are tough and likely to even get worse before they get better but just do not give up. The good times will come back ... perhaps a little differently than before but they will come back and you need to be here and be ready to take advantage of those good times when they return.