Forum Moderators: martinibuster
"Companies should take practical steps to minimise the impact of a potential bird flu pandemic on their business, analysts have warned"[news.bbc.co.uk...]
What seems most relevant to Adsense Publishers from this article, although not put in these terms, is having documentation or information to help someone carry on the business whilst you are ill, or if worse happens. I guess many medium sized publishers rely on Adsense income, but also run the risk of having the main knowledge locked in the heads of one or two individuals. If this person becomes ill, is there someone who can check the Adsense account and website to make sure things continue to run OK, and can respond to emails or deal with any problems that occur?
Perhaps Adsense Publishers ought to consider putting together some kind of emergency manual ("to be opened in the eventuality of being ill"). The detail required in such an manual would perhaps depend on the level of knowledge of the people who would take it on. Other family members, for example, may need a lot of detail. Such a manual might include:
This needn't be a long document, but would enable someone to take over your site either temporarily or permanently, should the worst happen.
Also you may need to draw up contingency plans for you to implement, eg: shifting your site quickly if your hosting company goes under (we've obviously seen in the last few weeks on WW the impact that can have), or how you would cope with a financial downturn.
One corollary of the BBC article's recommendations, if widely accepted, would be that more transactions are done via the internet rather than in person, so one might think that Adsense Publishers could benefit. However, the BBC News website warns:
"A bird flu pandemic would lead to 'enormous global costs' for the world economy, a new World Bank report says."[news.bbc.co.uk...]
This suggests to me that Adsense Publishers (along with most businesses) are going to take a big hit. Imho, business contingency planning for a potential pandemic is something we should all be thinking about. Financial survival, though less important than physical survival, is nevertheless still an important issue in its own right.
I do still believe this to be a fair discussion of what may be coming down the pike since a pandemic will affect us all.
Thank you, 21_Blue, for restarting the discussion.
We need a 'living will' for websites
Y2K
What a disaster that was. Did you have your business plans in order?
I'm assuming everyone is smart enough to keep something like this in a safe deposit box ; )
Very well written and thought-out post.
I've recently started writing articles regarding the threats in my Blog.
This idea will provide some food for thought, for sure.
This is to cover me should I get knocked down in the street, finally crack up because of Google, or something completely unforseen happens.
A couple of times I've had to ask one of these friends (a webmaster who taught me a lot of what I know) to cover things for a while and 'do as she sees fit' while I could not reach a computer. The first time she couldn't quite bring herself to meddle, and got a lecture on there being 'more danger in failing to exercise her judgement than in exercising it'. The next time she did just fine.
Another is a next-of-kin type person with some technical knowledge who most likely will be automatically alerted if anything happens to me. He knows to alert the other two and deal with financial matters himself (while keeping my family as far away as possible from my affairs).
The third is a good friend who can run our joint projects by himself if needs be, and more or less take over if anything happened to one of the other two.
I'm as sure as anyone can be that if I were abducted by aliens and returned after a few years, that it wouldn't be to a complete disaster. Even if I never returned they know what to do.
My web business can run on auto-pilot anyway, mostly, with only screw-ups and strategic planning actually needing any attention.
This system has been tested and flaws somewhat ironed out. I recommend other people test their contingency plans with dummy runs or when they go on holiday or into hospital - and remember too much security is every bit as fatal as too little! You do not want your helpers frozen with trepidation at the thought of tinkering in your affairs at the very moment they need their wits about them.
Therefore, no bird flu, no problem :)
What if my friends took over while I was in hospital for six months and I came out and they were better at it than me?
I have more than a slight suspicion that would actually happen.
The simplest way to avoid illness is to be a work at home recluse with everything being delivered. Pass money under the door only, never open the door until after the delivery person has left so the drippy nosed coughing pizza boy can't launch a direct biological attack on your person.Therefore, no bird flu, no problem :)
Your trust in the people making the pizza and the putting it in the box is commendable. :)
Just to be sure one should really invest in that UV automated germ killer air lock you saw on eBay. ;)
This is a good idea - just from the point of view of being able to go on holiday and enjoy it. Perhaps there's even a niche for a consultancy firm that will look after email and adsense whilst the website owner is away.
