The Fire That Keeps on Burning

A few coworker friends and I ventured to one of Pennsylvania’s oddities over the weekend– Centralia, Pa.  In the late 60s, a mine fire started in the town dump.  Since then, the fire has still been burning– you can see smoke and gas billowing from the ground throughout the area.  To make a long story short, over time, the state of Pennsylvania reclaimed the land in Centralia and pretty much tore down everything.  A few mile stretch of Route 61 was destroyed– looks like an earthquake split it down the middle. The highway was closed off and rerouted.  A church, a municipal building and just a few homes/residents remain– at their own risk.  Centralia’s zip code was even revoked!  A lot has been torn down since I first ventured there as a kid, but it’s still a cool site to see.

So is this a Pennsylvania history lesson? Or does this blog post have a point?  Well both, I guess.  On the drive home as I drifted in and out of sleep (please note that I was not the driver), I was thinking about this perpetual fire and how it keeps burning, and thinking how it relates to business: 

How can e-commerce business owners keep their own fire burning after all these years? 

A coworker and I presented on gaining repeat business at our last Solid Cactus Boot Camp- and I’d say that’s the best way to keep the e-commerce fire going. Do everything you can to retain customers by providing great customer service, continuing to market to them and in all, providing and easy and fun shopping experience so they want to come back.

To keep that e-commerce fire burning, you must also continue to market your site to gain new customers.  Are you maximizing your marketing budget?  Are you doing any PR?  How about SEO?  Don’t settle at one point- keep on luring traffic.  Don’t stop advertising.  That’s one way to fizzle out right there!  If people don’t know you exist, they aren’t going to find you. 

You can keep that fire alive by keeping your website up-to-date with the latest in greatest in e-commerce.  Are you following best practices?  Are there new trends you aren’t keeping up with?  Are there cutting edge features available that you aren’t using?  Is your code outdated? Is your site stale?  If you haven’t had a redesign in several years, be like Madonna and reinvent yourself! Industry experts (like us) recommend a redesign every few years. 

If you don’t keep adding fuel to the fire, it could burn out.  Instead, tend to that fire!  Keep it hot!  Like the Centralia mine fire, let it burn out of control for decades to come.