Wonderful Web Women

At last a resolution to our email problem. You can read about my email plumbing problems Part 1 here:

http://wonderfulwebwomen.com/blog/2008/what-do-emails-and-plumbing-have-in-common/

If you haven’t read it, do that before you read this. It will make a lot more sense.

The Plumber Arrived At Last

If you have been learning about Internet Marketing for any time you will have experienced the feeling I had today. You know, the one where the technology is just too hard and you find yourself questioning why you are doing this anyway and fall apart in tears? Go on, admit it. You’ve had that feeling. And you thought it only happened to newbies!

Let me tell you (for those of us who like to understand what goes wrong with all this technology) what caused a problem and then I’ll talk about the power of the telephone!

This has all just been growing pains

Well I’ve gone from lows to highs today. The problem has just been resolved and it turns out that the problem was caused by us growing too big! Apparently our mailing list has grown so much that we have outgrown the standard settings on most servers. I never in my wildest dreams would have guessed that was the problem. So what we have been experiencing is growing pains.

The techy stuff

OK. If anything techy makes your eyes glaze over, just skip this bit. Otherwise book mark this part so you know where to go for tips if this ever happens to you.

Apparently there is a thing called a php.ini that is on a server. This is the thing that determines how long php scripts have to do their thing on your server before the host automatically stops them. It is usually set at 30 seconds. This is for security apparently. Most hosts won’t make it longer because of security again.

Apparently a php script is responsible for telling the cron job (see previous post) what email to send and who to send it to. The cron job then sends out the emails in groups of 100. Apparently we have so many emails now that it takes longer than the standard 30 seconds to set up to send out the newsletter.

So there you go. That’s the end of the techy stuff. Very much like the plumber explaining about s bends and threads etc. You don’t really care, you just want the plumbing fixed!

The power of the phone

One thing that I have learnt from this experience is the power of relationships when you are growing a business. In my previous post, I talked about the importance of a good web host. Since we launched Wonderful Web Women I have developed a real friendship with Kenneth Fox, our web host. He has saved me so many times I’ve lost count!

On the other hand, I’m often frustrated with the service I get from the help desk from the programmers of our software. To them I’m just another voice, mind you a very demanding voice! I don’t have a relationship with them and this causes problems.

So today, I hunted down their phone number and rang them in India. What a difference it makes when you actually get to speak to someone. I don’t see them as these annoying people any more and they know who I am now. In fact, Kunal, the person who took charge, is one of my favourite people now. We have just spent hours on MSN chat and he really looked after me.

I know who to go to now if I get caught by gatekeepers (watch out Kunal!).

The moral of this story

Too often we forget that our hosts, programmers, even domain suppliers are run by real people. Always choose a host, domain provider etc that has a phone number on their web site. You will need to use it at some stage. Don’t be worried about calling them and finding out a person’s name. It makes a big difference.

Sure, you still need to submit a support ticket, but at least they will know who you are when they read it. And if you were courteous on the phone this is a good thing.

Hope you get to learn something from my headaches the last few days. Let me know if you have had any similar experiences.

Cheers

Janet