CNCKing.com – move all done
One of our supporting sponsors recently rebranded to CNCKing.com. They dropped us a line to provide us with some learnings from their move, including some tips they wanted to share with Engraver Register businesses who were contemplating rebranding.
Move all done!
It has taken the better part of two weeks but now that I’m done rebranding and moving my company to CNCKing.com – here are some helpful lessons you may wish to share with engraver register businesses if they are contemplating the same. Hopefully will save them lots of time and aggravation.
- Have a plan
I knew from the get-go that the move wasn’t going to be any fun. My blog along has over 750 entries, my products database over a thousand SKUs… I was helped in this case because the domain I was going from was different to what I had but the server my old stuff was on was broken… so I knew data would be lost in the process – which happened. That added another few days of surprise data entry on my shoulders!
- Make it ugly first
The goal with the move wasn’t to have everything 100% from the start, it was to move everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Even if things aren’t the way you want them to be, like moving a house, give yourself time to organize things after the move. It’s quicker to dump everything in the middle of a room and organize later than to place things as you get them.
3. Expect problems
Even the best laid plans will have problems. When they happen, don’t panic, take your time to think of a solution then act upon it… don’t waste your time thinking about what you are losing, spend your time thinking about what you will gain after the move is done! Did I lose money and customers while my domain forwarding was broken for a week (instead of a few hours) in the middle of a large international competition I was a sitting judge on? You bet! I rolled with the punches and knew that eventually, it would resolve itself.
4. Rebranding is best avoided!
If at all possible, avoid rebranding your company, once is more than enough if you do! I know for me, I’ve lost lots of traffic and sales in the process but I knew going in that it would bounce back a few months down the road. When you rebrand a company, you don’t just lose the name, you lose all the promotional and SEO value you put into the previous name. The advantage is that, if done right, you will end up in a far better situation with fantastic growth potential.