Yes, sometimes it can. If you have not started doing backups or if you do not do them regularly I suggest that you take a moment and think about what it would cost you if you lost all of your data. Or even if you lost a big part of it.

Scary yes. And maybe you want to find a way to run backups that is not such a pain that you stop doing it after a few weeks. Maybe you want to do your backups online. Lots of services trying to do that for you and I often get asked about how to do it and what is the best way or best online service.

But this is not about who “is the best” or how to do it This is about thinking about the hidden consequences.

It comes as no surprise when you read that advertising revenues are down in traditional media outlets. Newspapers and magazines are crumbling. TV and Radio are stagnant.

Movies and of course the music industry are so beat up that few people even notice when another industry player goes under.

Yes the digital media revolution has brutalized conventional media outlets. But that is not the whole picture. There have always been some smart businesses that work through the changes in the system to do exceptionally well, in spite of economic or technological changes. In fact the smart players do not fight the change - they embrace it or even lead the change.

I get asked a lot about building websites. People ask me where to hire a web designer, what do they need in a website, how much does it cost. I've built websites from $500 to $8M and everything in between so I find this to be a vague question.

It is like asking how much does it cost to buy a house in the USA. The answer ranges from $7,500 in downtown Detroit, to the $millions on the beautiful coastline in California or Florida and everything in between.

What you need to do to create your website depends on what you are planning to do with it. Are you creating an online business or just playing around posting pictures and having fun.