In a previous life as a systems engineer protecting system data, having the resources to recover from a fatal melt down and frankly protecting clients from the headaches that come with lost data was a daily focus. As many of you reading this, my daily activities rely heavily on the performance of WordPress and its incredible reliability. To that point a significant chunk of my revenue is dependent upon WordPress performing as many of us take for granted.

Let me ask you as question: When was the last time that you backed-up your database? How about your site files?

Do you keep your WordPress up to date with the latest updates? How about any plugins that you make use of, do you keep them updated?

Let me tell you a quick little story.

A very good friend of mine uses WordPress as the foundation for his website and as you would expect WordPress has performed flawlessly. No real shocker there as that is the norm and pretty much what we have all come to expect.

However, as he and I were working together to prepare for a major email announcement that was being sent out for him (to 9000+ contacts) by a referral partner the unimaginable happened. With the anticipation of hundreds of people hitting his website because they were driven there by a highly reputable college we discovered that his website was not working properly.

To make matters worse neither of us had been making any updates to the site, no changes: no WordPress updates, no WordPress plugin updates, no site changes and yet, the site was displaying a solid white page. Even with a minor hint of panic setting in, I made up my mind that I would simply get into the admin section of the site to figure out what was going on.

This is where things got very interesting (meaning more panic) as I discovered that they admin interface was giving the same results as the public side of the site.

With a string of progressively more stressful events, we finally had some good news. A few weeks back I had setup the WordPress Database Backup plugin to automatically email me a copy of the database each day. That’s right, the extent of work that I have to do each day is simply save the backup that is waiting in the inbox of my email.

After opening my database management tool in the web browser, I uploaded a backup from a few days prior and we were back online. For what could have been a major disaster we were back online and running with a sigh of relief within about 20 minutes.

WordPress Database Backup (WP-DB-Backup) has a great admin interface that will allow you to make quick backups of your WordPress Database tables anytime that you are preparing to make updates, but more importantly and a feature I have not used consistently, the plugin will allow you to schedule backups that will be emailed to you on your schedule.

Even though the WP-DB-Backup plugin will allow you the option of saving the backup file to the server, I would strongly discourage you from leaving your database backups on the server. In a perfect world and if all is configured properly, then you or your technical support would be able to gain access to your database backups. However, in the middle of a major melt down I am not so sure that is a chance that you will want to take.

If you are running a WordPress website that contains important information that you would not want to lose or that website is an important component of your producing income, I would strongly encourage take a moment to check out the WordPress Database backup plugin (WP-DB-Backup).

Additionally, if you have plugin that has been useful to you in helping maintain your WordPress website please tell me about it as I am always looking for great new WordPress resources.

To Your Success!

WordPress.org maintains an official directory for themes. As of this writing they have over 1,200 themes with thousands more to be found outside of their system. Each theme in the WordPress directory has been checked and inspected for basic functionality. This is a good start and generally the safest place to get a theme if you are new. In this article we will learn that finding a good theme can be more than finding a “”pretty face”".

If you are a business, it can often be easy to forget that it is not what you want but what your customers want. You may like an edgy black theme but if your customers want more white space and a fresher look, that’s the way you should go. A good way to understand your customer’s preferences is to research similar sites that your target audience frequently visits. Assuming at this point you have a realistic vision of your customers preferences, what do you need to do next?

How do you find good themes?

There are a LOT of good themes available and a lot of them are free. The key to a good theme is not only what the theme does have as much as what it does not. Let’s start with a list of those things your theme “”Should not have..”"

Author is unknown or unavailable – Old themes are revised or used for quick generation of more themes, often they originated with an author that no longer is available.
Not cross-browser compatible. – There are still a lot of people using old browsers.
Does not support Web standardized structure. This is becoming less these days, but it still can be a problem.
Theme that was built over an old theme (and therefore contains some old issues that may cause problems with new plugins or WordPress upgrades) Look for a “”version history”"
Hard to customize – Access to CSS and code should be there for those that want to do something extra.
Malicious intent. (Hidden code with less than benign motives.)

All of that sounds obvious, but given the research required, this can become very tedious process of finding a “”good theme”". Well, it is!! Often you can short cut the process by hanging out on the WordPress forums and listening to the chatter about different themes. The good ones will stand out quickly, because the community can be very hard on those that take short-cuts and produce garbage.

Next, we will assume you have a number of possible themes that you have vetted either using the above list or based on recommendations of others on the WordPress forums.

Choosing a Theme that works for your business

To decide what is right for you, you should develop a series of criteria based on your target market and your basic business needs. Following is a list of ideas that you might consider to get you started. How you weight these issues will depend on your needs, and only you can decide that..
Is this a business or a hobby? If a business you might want to consider a more professional theme with a better chance of long term support.
What is your target market? Your theme should reflect that market.
Does your theme look like a “”WordPress”" site? If you are blogging as a hobby, then that would not be a bad thing. But if you are a business with professional aspirations, then it could be a “”very bad thing”"..
Does your theme provide SEO functionality? Does it use Header Tags correctly?
Does your theme provide the basic functionality you need for your business? It is always good to find a theme that gets you “”part way there”" in the basic structure and design.
Is there support?
Does your theme support widgets and tags?
Does your theme validate at http://validator.w3.org? If it does not, run, do not walk, away from that theme.
Is your theme structured with CSS modifications in mind? Many themes have tools for changing the site without code, but it is very likely that some day you will need to have a professional make some changes. Will that be possible? Will that be cost effective? A well constructed theme that uses web standards structure (CSS) will make this more likely.

A word of warning: Good maintenance of your WordPress website will require regular updates. This means your theme choice has to be compatible as you upgrade. This is what makes this process so detailed and critical. Therefore, do not rush and think through carefully your choices. A bad choice would bring your website to its knees just when you least expect it.

Good luck on your quest for the perfect WordPress theme!

Are you excited about being directly involved in building and maintaining your own website? If so, WordPress may be for you.

WordPress has fast become the most popular website building and blog platform for small businesses and individuals. What started out just as a blogging application has grown with extensive plugin extensions and themes to a powerful tool for building dynamic websites. The keyword here is “”dynamic”" and there is a price to be paid for that feature. That price is a learning curve and a commitment by the site owner to learn and do the work.

Your initial excitement can quickly be dashed as you struggle to figure out the best way to get started. You have three major hurdles to climb before you can feel confident that you are on your way:

How do I get WordPress?
How do I make it look the way I want?
What else do I need?

We will tackle the first step in this article. You have a number of options for getting WordPress. The first point is that you don’t really “”get”" WordPress; you either have it installed or you subscribe to a service that provides a WordPress site. The following outlines your options:

Subscribing to a Service

The most direct way is to go to WordPress.com and create an account for a free WordPress website. Within 5 minutes you can have it running. The downside of this service is that there are limited themes (designs) and very limited plugins. Most of the upgrades have a monthly or yearly cost attached. The plus side is you don’t have to maintain anything, it is all done for you. So if your needs are very simple, this is a good option.

Do-it-yourself

You can go to WordPress.org and download the software and install it yourself. WordPress has some very extensive install documents so if you are technically inclined, it is not that hard.

Hosting Service Installation

Many hosting services have WordPress as either a standard option or as an enhancement option. They have an install wizard that sets everything up for you. This is great with a few limitations: First it may not be the latest version -, it is up to you to check on that. Next because of that version issue, many themes or plugins may not work unless you upgrade.

Installation Service

Many web development companies provide installation services. It is usually advertised on their website. Pricing can vary a lot so you need to fully understand what you are getting

Choose the options that best meet your needs, time, resources and skill level and remember that WordPress is a hands-on website. Now that you know how to get started, you can explore the possibilities.

Enjoy

When I started creating websites via HTML and Adobe Dreamweaver I thought to myself, “”Wow, you really need to have a lot of time and patience to do this stuff!”" I enjoyed creating them but going back and doing updates was really a hassle. Then a colleague told me about Adobe Contribute (wow, what a revelation!) Now I could make updates to my static pages painlessly. Then I got into blogging, but to link my blog to my website was messy.

Then I kept hearing about WordPress websites. For the longest time I just didn’t get it, wasn’t WordPress a blogging platform? At least that’s what I thought because I had a WordPress.com blog. Well, more and more I kept hearing about how great these websites were and I investigated. WordPress.org talked about how easy they are to install and all the great plugins and support available within their community. So I tried it, I installed it on my local system as a test.

Well, I was hooked. I primarily use WordPress now for my clients. Not only is the look professional and consistent from page to page, it is so easy to update. I like designing a website that I can then turn over to my client and with a little bit of training, they can perform their own updates quickly and somewhat painlessly. So here are my top 5 reasons you should convert to or start with a WordPress website:

1. They are easy to update yourself. There are sometimes that you just need to make a small change to your site like you changed a service or you want to add a phone number. Instead of having to wait for your designer, you can go right into the dashboard and make the change. If you can blog, you can make changes to a page in WordPress.

2. There are thousands of free plugins. Plugins are little add ons for your website that add functionality to your pages. There are things like contact forms, flash players, photo galleries and event management plugins. It is easy to add these in and make your site do just about anything you can image.

3. WordPress sites are beautiful. I have seen some pretty ugly static websites, but I have yet to see a homely WordPress site. Even the most simple of these sites has a professional look and feel. The built in consistency makes each page look like it belongs.

4. If you don’t want to do updates, you can easily find someone who can do them for you. Once you have a WordPress website, it is easy to find someone to do your updates for you if you don’t want to. Many Virtual Assistants offer this service.

5. There is so much support out there if you run into trouble. I have yet to have a problem that I haven’t been able to solve by visiting the forums or websites of other WordPress users. There are so many talented people out there willing to lend a helping hand to their fellow users.

This is certainly the short list of reasons to build your next site with WordPress, I could come up with many more. There is so much great information on the web about creating one yourself with the free open source platform found at http://www.wordpress.org that you could have a great site up and running in a short period of time. You could also easily find a web designer who uses the platform by doing a quick search. I hope this article was useful.

Things-You-Must-Do-Before-You-Submit-To-Article-Directories

The importance of articles in today?s websites and internet based companies are immeasurable. They dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic into one?s site. It has become a key element in making a site work and earns a profit. A website operator and owner must have the good sense to include articles in his or her site that will work for them and earn them the many benefits articles can give to their site.

Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.

But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more. They would also be able to recommend your site to others.

Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.

? Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.

The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts. There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.

? Keyword Density

Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to ?feel? its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.

Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.

? Good Article Content

Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.

? Linking Articles

And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON?T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.

Things-All-Articles-Must-Have-Don’t-Forget!

Writing an article doesn?t just mean putting down thoughts into words then typing and writing it. You have to capture the interest of your readers and get them to keep on reading. To send your message across you have to get the attention of the reader and have a firm grasp of their interest and pique their curiosity.

The main ingredient in baking up an article is a large dose of creativity. While creativity may come natural to many people, some just gets into a block or something to that effect that can drive someone crazy. Many writers have literally torn their hair out when they get writers block and just can?t seem to get their creative juices flowing.

Putting words into images in the readers mind is an art. A clear and crisp depiction requires a certain flair that only creativity can provide. Similes and metaphors help a lot, but the way an article gets entwined word for word, sentence by sentence then paragraph by paragraph into a whole article develops the essence of the article.

So just what do you have to do when nothing comes to mind? There is no surefire ways to get the perfect ideas but there are easy ways to get your creative juices flowing. No one can guarantee you of having the perfect mindset but many methods may aid you in achieving that state of mind. Here are five easy ways for that.

1) Keep a diary or a journal with you always. Ideas can be triggered by anything you may hear, see, or smell. Your senses are your radar in finding great ideas. Write all of them into a journal and keep it with you for future reference. You may also write down anything that you have read or heard, someone?s ideas could be used to develop your own ideas and this is not stealing. Remember that ideas and creativity can come from anywhere; it?s the development of the idea that makes it unique.

2) Relax and take time to sort things out. A jumbled mind cannot create any space for new ideas. Everyone must have a clear mind if one wishes to have their creativity in full speed. Get rid of all obstacles that can be a hindrance to your creativity. If you are bothered by something, you cannot force your mind to stay focused.

Try to relax every time that you can and think about your experiences and interactions with others. Your experiences are what shape your mindset and your opinions which could be reflected on your writings. Try to discover yourself, find out what triggers your emotions. Discover what inspires you and what ticks you off. You can use these emotions to help you in expressing yourself and your ideas, with this you can grow creatively.

3) Create a working place that can inspire your creativeness. Your working place can be quite a hindrance if it doesn?t make you feel happy or relaxed. Creativity comes from being in a good state of mind and a messed up workplace that causes distraction won?t be conducive in firing up your creative flow.

Surround your working place with objects that makes you happy and relaxed. You may put up pictures, or scents, objects that inspire, or anything that can get your creativeness cranking. A clean and well organized workplace also rids of distractions and unwanted hindrances. With a good working place, you can work in peace and never notice the time pass by.

4) Set the mood. Setting the mood requires you to just go with the moment or to induce your self to feeling what makes your mind works best. Finding out what makes you tick could help you find ways to get your creative juices flowing. Set the pace and tempo for your mood and everything else will follow.

There are many ways to set the mood. Some writers have been known to use alcohol, a little sip of wine to stir up the imagination. Some would like some mood music while others let the lighting of the environment create the mood.

5) Go on a getaway and just do something unlike crazy. Letting yourself go and have fun produces adrenaline that can make your imagination go wild. Take an adventure or a solemn hike. Whatever it is that is unusual from your daily routine can take the rut out of your schedule. In no time at all, your creativeness will make use of that experience and get your imagination to go on overdrive.

Easy-Ways-To-Get-Your-Creative-Juices-Flowing

There are many people who dread having to write papers or articles. Many just feel like it seems to be too much work and it all just goes to waste when no one reads the. To some people, reading articles seems like work to, especially if the article is boring and very bland. Well, articles are supposed to be read, that?s their purpose to impart your message and information. If it is not read then it is a waste of time and effort.

But all the same, articles have to be written to be read. It?s just a matter of making them good. Making a good article doesn?t have to be strenuous and straining. There are just some points needed to be reminded of, and some guides to follow. Once you get the hang of it, writing articles could be fun, as well as profitable for you and your site.

Of course, writing articles must be about something you know about, that?s why if you own a site, you probably is knowledgeable about that certain topic and theme. When you write about it, you won?t have a hard time because you already know what it is and what it?s about. It?s just a matter of making your articles creative and interesting.

To make sure that your articles get read and enjoyed, here are six red hot tips to get your articles read. These tips will make your articles readable and interesting.

1) Use short paragraphs. When the paragraph are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it It can get quite confusing and too much of a hard work to read. The reader will just quickly disregard the paragraph and move on to much easier reading articles that are good to look at as well as read. Paragraphs can be a single sentence, sometimes even a single word!

2) Make use of numbers or bullets. As each point is stressed out, numbers and bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. As each point, tip, guide or method is started with a bullet or point, readers will know that this is where the tips start and getting stressed. Format you bullets and numbers with indentations so that your4 article won?t look like a single block of square paragraphs. Add a little bit of flair and pizzazz to your articles shape.

3) Use Sub-headings to sub-divide your paragraphs in the page. Doing this will break each point into sections but still would be incorporated into one whole article. It would also be easy for the reader to move on from one point to another; the transition would be smooth and easy. You will never lose your readers attention as well as the point and direction to where the article is pointing.

4) Provide a good attention-grabbing title or header. If your title can entice a person?s curiosity you?re already halfway in getting a person to read your article. Use statements and questions that utilize keywords that people are looking for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.

Use titles like, ?Tips on making her want you more?, or ?How to make her swoon and blush? .You could also use titles that can command people, for example, ?Make her yours in six easy Ways?. These types of titles reach out to a persons? emotions and makes them interested.

5) Keep them interested from the start to the finish. From your opening paragraph, use real life situations that can be adopted by the reader. Use good descriptions and metaphors to drive in your point, just don?t over do it. Driving your examples with graphic metaphors and similes would make it easy for them to imagine what you are talking about. Making the experience pleasurable and enjoyable for them.

6) Utilize figures when necessary and not just ordinary and insipid statements. Using specific facts and figures can heighten your article because it makes it authoritative. But do not make it too formal, it should be light and easy in them and flow. Like a friendly teac her having a little chat with an eager student.

Red-Hot-Tips-To-Get-Your-Articles-Read

One way of promoting your website and product can be achieved for free. As an additional bonus, this ?free? method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income.

Articles. One of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.

How does this work?

Write articles relating to your website and submit them to ?free content? submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.

How can article writing boost traffic and income?

The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.

If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.

The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website?s placement in the search results.

If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.

There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, gets interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website?s topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.

And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.

It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.

Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.

The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little not-so-obvious sales pitch added.

If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.

If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.

Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.

Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.

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We?ve done it through junior high, it expanded longer through high school, then on college it became chapters. No matter how many times a person have done it, writing articles has proven to be a task many has continuously avoided. Now at a time when writing articles could help your job or work, facing the job at hand can be still faced with unfriendly behavior.

While there are a great number of people who do not have the same attitude in article writing as others, there are still those who would rather walk in piping hot coals than do some article writing. What set other people apart from other towards article writing is that they are prepared and has some methods and procedures in writing articles.

One of the methods you can use to prepare yourself when tasked to write in article is creating an outline first. Creating an outline for all your articles makes you prepared. You have an idea of what to do first and make a plan for your succeeding steps. Being prepared makes the job easier and faster. Being organized will allow for disorientation to be shunned away.

An outline can act as the design or blueprint for your article. This will guide you in creating the introduction, body and conclusion of your article. Here in this point, you can write down some of the ideas and sentences that you feel will look good in your article. This could be some of the focal point that could help make your article creative, interesting and appealing to a reader.

A carefully planned and fully prepared project would guarantee and ensure a problem and worry free procedure that can virtually go without any hassles. Creating an outline for all your articles will get you ready and breeze through writing an article in no time at all. Here I will provide you with some tips and guidelines in how to create an outline for all of your articles.

Do a couple of brainstorming and jot down your brilliant ideas first. Think of some ways to attract the interest of your reader. Designate a time frame where you can write down all the ideas that you can use for your articles. By this time you should have done all your research and information searching. Review and reread your ideas and notes, gain mastery and sufficient familiarity with your topic so that writing them down later own would be easy for you.

The next step is to discover your sub topic and sub titles. As you would provide a first sentence for your article, one that would immediately grab the attention of your reader, you would need some as well for your sub topics. To be concise, you would need to get all the facts that will support and go against your point.

These are the frames or skeleton of your article, now its time to add the flesh and the meat of your article. You will need to connect all your paragraphs and sub topics. This will form the body of your Article. While the introduction will usher in the ideas of your paragraph, you will need a conclusion. The conclusion will wrap up your points and drive in what you are saying in your article.

The outline for your article would also require you to write a draft first. This may take more than one attempt but remember that it is called a draft for a reason. Your outline shall be perfected as each draft is written and this draft is meant for your eyes only so there?s no reason to feel ashamed. As you go on, you will clearly see the bigger picture and write an article that will perfectly suit what is demanded of it.

Reread and reread what you have written down. Always refer to your outline so that you wont drift away from what you had first written down. Its not hard to be caught in the moment and get lost in your writing frenzy. Your outline will help you keep in track. All those hours spent in outlining your article will not go to waste. This will serve as your guide in writing articles. Trust and rely on your outline because this will prove to be a very helpful tool in writing all of your articles.

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