I knew something was wrong the moment she stepped out of her car. Merrie Wilner, founder of DietarySoftware.com had the look of many of the digitally oppressed. She was being held hostage by her web designers. It was time to make a break from the past. Her magazine ad was due to be published in 48 hours. Her website still displayed the old content. She was both overwhelmed and frustrated. So instead of a technology coaching session, we embarked on an emergency webectomy. WordPress, the free open-source web development platform makes rapid design and deployment easy. It's greatest strength lies not in speed but in giving business owners control of their web publishing. Merrie could hardly believe we could publish a new site in just a few days. She was blown away by the idea that she would no longer be held hostage by a web designer.

Website Hostage Breakout

It took all of 48 hours to capture her existing text and visual content and use it to publish a new WordPress powered site. Next she updated the text content. Updated visuals were added and the new site was ready for new customers. Using some WordPress development tricks of my own, I was able to work with Merrie to develop the new site behind the scenes while maintaining the existing published site. When she was ready, we simply killed the old site and replaced it with the new edition in just a few minutes. I could almost see the relief on Merrie face when we published the site during a phone conference. She broke free, jumped the fence. Now all kinds of new opportunities are available.

Planning Your Getaway

Are you being held hostage by a website that contains outdated content, images from a decade ago, promoting products and services you no longer provide? Here's some tips for planning a digital breakout: Document What You've Got - Print your web pages and scribble your updates and ideas. Lay them out on the floor, rearrange them to create a better path of engagement. Make Improvements - This is a great time to add a Call To Action (CTA) to each page. Where should your prospects go next? Install WordPress - Place it in a sub-folder while you develop your new site. Build new pages and copy/paste the original content from the current site to the WordPress editor. Add Bright Shiny Objects - Your design can be quite simply to start. Just add a banner and add your existing photos to the new site. Make a Break For It - WordPress.org contains documentation on how to move a site from a sub-folder to the top of your domain. It only takes a few minutes. Once you're done, you're free!

The Sweet Smell of Freedom

Merrie is relaxed when she contemplates a site update. She's in control, and it gets done on her schedule. She still calls on me for strategy, but no longer is she being held hostage by her web presence.

Insight

It takes some effort to switch to WordPress. Gaining control of your web publishing is worth the effort.

Resources

I always install WordPress in it's own directory, then follow the procedure outlined by WordPress.org to publish a new site.