One Man Band

My web hosting company, DreamHost, was told abruptly by its landlord that there would be an emergency power shutdown that was to last for three hours.

Every domain hosted by DreamHost was off-grid during the power shutdown, including my own website.

When the power came back, inevitable hardware and software glitches caused by the power shutdown kept my website off-grid for another four hours.

That’s a lot to lose, in Internet-time.

If your entire web presence is represented by a website that can be knocked off the grid in such a fashion, you should ponder how to spread your risk of failure better.

Examples:

• Maintain an email address that is completely separate from your website so that you can still read and receive email if your hosting service is out of commission.

• Look around for compatible or complementary online services that can feed traffic to your website under normal circumstances, and maintain your web presence if the lights go out:

  • Flickr, if your DIY Online Business for One has anything photogenic about it.
  • Café Press, if your solopreneurship’s tagline fits on a T-shirt, mug or baseball cap.
  • Lulu, if your writing fits the template.
  • Etsy, if you’re artsy-craftsy.
  • Squidoo, for just about anybody — an online resumé, if nothing else
  • A listing in the online member directory maintained by any professional organizations that you participate in. (Make sure that the listing includes that independent email address!)

Don’t allow your One-Man Band to operate with a single point of failure.