Paula G. Web Design

Anyone who has ever seen a computer die knows the importance of backing up data. Did you know it is just as important to back up your blog?  Imagine all those months of posts, images, categorizing, and SEO work gone in a flash.  Oy, it makes my stomach churn thinking about it.  If you have a reliable host it shouldn’t happen, but then again… neither should lots of unforseen things, right. That is why there is insurance. Well backing up your blog is insurance for your blogging efforts.

Note: I am only talking about Wordpress blogs here. The self-installed kind, not those hosted at Wordpress.com. Blogger and TypePad automatically back up their systems (and your blog) for you. That is both the good and bad news (consider: they have control of all your content and backed up data, not you).

There are actually 2 parts to backing up your Wordpress blog completely:

1. The Wordpress databases (your posts, user configurations, comments,  etc.)
2. Wordpress files (themes, plugins, your uploaded photos, etc.)

 Backing up the Wordpress Databases

There are several different ways you can back up your Wordpress databases. You can read all the nitty gritty in the Wordpress Codex.  Unless you are a geek it’ll make your head hurt.  However, there is a great little article complete with Pro’s and Con’s at “2 Quick Ways to Backup Your Wordpress Blog” which I found worth reading.

Personally, my favorite easy backup solution is the plugin approach using the Wordpress Database Backup Plugin.  Once you get the plugin installed and configured (quick and easy, especially for your website guru), you can schedule it to run automatically. There is nothing better than backups that run regularly and automatically.  If you have to THINK about it, you won’t DO it.  Sort of like an automatic savings plan, right?

In the event that you need to restore your blog from this backup, it is not quite as easy as pie as backing it up.  However, a good web person with Wordpress and phpAdmin experience for mySQL can help you. If that sounded like alphabet soup to you…trust me…someone with capabilities like myself can do it for you with reliable results if you have good backups.

 Backup Up Your Wordpress Files

Backing up these files is akin to backing up your regular website.  Using a piece of software called an FTP client (basically a big ole file manager for a remote site) you can download your files to your computer and back them up.

I personally use the FTP software from Ipswitch which is probably overkill for most uses who aren’t using it day in and day out.  For reliable and free FTP solutions consider FileZilla.

Once you download them to your computer, make sure you put them in rotation for getting backed up with the rest of your machine’s data (You DO have regular backups for your business and personal data, right?!? If not, do so NOW or you will really freak out if and when your computer dies one day.).

It is not “hard” to do regular backups.  It is sort of like brushing your teeth every night.  It’s not a great deal of fun to do and if you have those electric toothbrushes like I do it seems like a downright pain at times. Yet, you will be VERY glad you did so.

Need help putting together a backup plan for your blog? Contact me and I’ll help you navigate through the process.

Photo by Waffler.

As far as blogging platforms go, I am a strong proponent of Wordpress (installed).  It simply gives you as the serious business owner a lot more power and control over your blog as a marketing tool. To me the top reasons to use it over other, hosted solutions (especially the freebie ones) are the ability to:

• Access and maintain backups of your blog data and files.
•  Host your blog within your existing domain for SEO power.
• Use a myriad of plugins to enhance your blog capabilities (though I do believe in choosing consciously and wisely).
• Customize to your heart’s content for consistent branding.

Recently I had the honor and privilege of migrating a client, colleague, and friend’s blog from Blogger to Wordpress.  It was a resounding success.

Karyn Greenstreet who is a small business expert I greatly admire had been blogging for a few years but wanted to get more control over her Passion for Business Blog for the reasons I spoke of above.   So, I got to work giving her blog a new home and helping the old content move in and set itself up in its new home. Here’s a screenshot of her blog in its new home:

 Her branding and strategies were already solidified. My job was more tactical than it often is when I work with clients. That being said, it was important to ensure all the old content of 400+ posts and comments made the trip to the new home intact.  I ran into a few snags in the process, but overall it went extremely smoothly.  My message to you is — if you’re thinking of migrating to Wordpress it is worth the time, investment, and effort.

Not sure if migrating is for you? Or, know you want to migrate but don’t know how to get started? Contact me and I’m happy to chat with you and co-create a plan that works best for you and your business.

People often ask me if they can quote other content and bloggers online using small snippets and a link back to the source as a modern day footnote if you will. This is certainly acceptable practice under the fair use exception to copyright law, unless of course the source you’re citing is the AP.

TechCrunch shared the madness of AP’s stance in their post “Here’s Our New Policy on AP stories: They’re banned” :

They do not want people quoting their stories, despite the fact that such activity very clearly falls within the fair use exception to copyright law. They claim that the activity is an infringement.

A.P. vice president Jim Kennedy says they will issue guidelines telling bloggers what is acceptable and what isn’t, over and above what the law says is acceptable. They will “attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.”

Those that disregard the guidelines risk being sued by the A.P., despite the fact that such use may fall under the concept of fair use.

The A.P. doesn’t get to make it’s own rules around how its content is used, if those rules are stricter than the law allows. So even thought they say they are making these new guidelines in the spirit of cooperation, it’s clear that, like the RIAA and MPAA, they are trying to claw their way to a set of property rights that don’t exist today and that they are not legally entitled to. And like the RIAA and MPAA, this is done to protect a dying business model - paid content.

It makes no sense to me that an organization whose purpose is to disseminate information wants to limit its distribution. I certainly understand paid content is the business model they employ, but a few sentences quoted with attribution and link back? I smell frustration and desperation…but most certainly will steer clear of them when it comes to content sourcing.

So the moral to the story is… link away and share the wealth when it comes to information on the web; except if you see the source is AP. Then, you can just scratch your head, wonder about the old school mentality, and move on.

RSS is at the heart of blogs yet many people don’t know what it is and why it is so great. I want to help you better understand not only the term but how you can use it to your advantage.

RSS stands for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary. It is an XML format for delivering Web content. What that means it follows web standards in a way that is accessible across many different technologies. Think of it as one of those universal adapter type thingies you might buy for the house. Whether you have one brand or another, it works just the same.

RSS is at the heart of blog content allowing updates to be delivered to other Web sites and individual’s RSS readers as new content is added. This is the most exciting and important part of it.

Why?

Well, information coming at us from all sides on a daily basis. You might wonder, why do we need yet another delivery channel? Read the rest of this entry »

If you are in or around the Doylestown, PA area (just outside of Philadelphia, PA in Bucks County), here’s the scoop on a speaking engagement I have coming up this week…

Blogging is all the rage and part of a savvy Web 2. marketing strategy. But, it is right for you & your business? Join me as I  share with you the ins and outs of getting started with blogging. In this seminar you will learn:

• What a blog is and why it is such a popular marketing tool
• Questions to ask yourself before you get started
• How to get started with your own blog and what tools to use

When:      Wednesday, June 4th, 2008    8:00AM
Where: James Lorah House, Doylestown, PA
More Info: http://www.womensbusinessforum.org/

This event is free and open to the public as part of the regular monthly meeting of the Doylestown Women’s Business Forum.

So you’ve set up your email newsletter publishing system and you have launched your blog. Now you need to come up with regular, valuable content. It is at this point that I often hear the screams “What do I do? How will I ever figure out what to write about?” It is a worthwhile concern. After all, one of the things that make email and blogging effective marketing tools is the fact that it is regular and consistent. So if you’ve decided that a blog and email newsletter is right for you, you need to stick to a schedule.

Sticking to a writing schedule, for some, might seem like a neverending bad nightmare of last minute paper writing in college. However, it doesn’t have to be hard. In fact it can be fun. If you’re not having fun with it (at least most of the time) it is not the right marketing tool for you (but that is a different topic altogether).

So, here’s my top ways for beating writer’s block and keeping your blog posts and email newsletter content flowing.

1. Pick a reasonable schedule for you. Sure there are blogs out there that update content 24/7 multiple times each day. Unless that is how you want to live and run your business, I suggest picking something a little more in line with what you really want. The important thing is to make sure it is regular and consistent. At a minimum — at least weekly is recommended for blogs and every other week for email newsletters (although weekly is better there too).
2. Write about what you know and enjoy. If you’re in business for yourself I surely hope you enjoy what you are doing because you’ll spend a lot of time doing it! If you don’t enjoy it — well, that’s a question for my coaching business. Write about your expertise and write in a way that feels good to you. This isn’t English lit… relax a bit and let your personality come through. Stay professional of course but let your written voice align with what you stand for.
3. Content is everywhere. Running out of things to write about? Not possible. Read the rest of this entry »

When you’re updating a blog, website, or sending out an email newsletter, one of the great things you can do to personalize your message and make it look good is by adding images. It doesn’t have to be difficult or complex, but you do need to edit and save them appropriately if you want them to look good and work well on the web and in email. That means no more:

• Funny cropped picture
• Incorrect file types
• Incorrectly resized photos that look horribly unprofessional
• Massively large image files that grind your email to a halt

Working with images can be a career unto itself. Many fancy software programs exist for experts to do magical things. However, for the average person it is total overkill. For those quick do it yourself situations consider using a tool like Google Picasa. It is free and easy to use for your most basic image tasks. Read the rest of this entry »

Technology comes flying by us at crazy speeds. While we sleep at night it seems like little gremlins are out there toiling away creating new and often better things for us. Perhaps it’s just the fact that so much development (especially in the open source community) is done globally that makes it seems like no one sleeps. Either way, we are each faced almost weekly with the question Shakespeare never got to ask “To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?”.

Even though web standards don’t change frequently (that’s why they are foundational, right?) the other goodies that help make our websites and online marketing run do change. An example of that is the recent announcement of the new 2.5 version of the popular blogging platform Wordpress .

So, let’s use this new Wordpress release as an example. Should you run right out an upgrade? Read the rest of this entry »

Often times clients will come to me frustrated and at the end of their rope because the formatting of text in their blog posts or web updates is all askew. Or, they might be working with PayPal (or other shopping cart) and find that their “Buy Now” buttons don’t work when they cut and paste them into their site.

The solution is often very simple, but unless you have an intimate knowledge of working with computers, text, and code, it would never even cross your mind. In fact, I can remember the first time I did some web programming about 12 years ago and no matter what I did it wouldn’t work. Was it my code? Nope. It was the way I was handling the text.

In a nutshell … Don’t use Microsoft Word to cut and paste any text on blogs or your website. Feel free to use Word to write your articles and compose, but you need to take an intermediary step before you post it to the web. Why?

Microsoft Word often inserts stray hidden characters or dirty code behind the scenes that makes everything go awry when browsers and blogging software interpret the text. Read the rest of this entry »

With the popularity and promises of fame and fortune some people make with respect to business blogging, so many people ask me - “Do I need to have a blog?” It is a great question to ask but one that doesn’t have a hard and fast answer.

There’s no denying blogs are a great tool to use as part of an overall Internet marketing strategy. Why are they so great? For starters they offer you benefits like:

• Easy to use and update content yourself.
• A great tool to have prospects get to know you better as you write in your own unique voice and offer them value.
• Great way to build your network by linking to other bloggers and commenting on related blogs.
• Search engines LOVE them and you can get big SEO points.
• Build you credibility as an expert.
• Low cost and low barrier to creating and maintaining one.
• Can be easily integrated with your existing website (or be your web presence entirely).

Sounds like a total WIN doesn’t it? And it can be, but there is a catch. Read the rest of this entry »