As standard we install the DB backup plugin and set this to email a database backup weekly.
This backup is vital in restoring your website / blog should some unforeseen disaster happen.
Obviously, we don’t expect disaster to strike and we make provisions for our own backups. This is administered by the company(s) that we use for hosting and is done weekly.
Although we feel secure in this knowledge we think it is always good to have a second independent backup and that is why we set our WordPress websites to email a backup.
What is this backup file?
The file that arrives in your email is a zip’d archive containing a database of your posts, pages, comments and more.
If you only had this file you could restore all of your pages / posts, however, none of the design elements are included in this backup. This kind of back up would be much, much larger.
Full back up
A full back up, i.e. one that would enable you to restore or move your website requires a full copy of the websites graphics, pages, photos, media content etc.
This requires a big download from the server and would be large compared to the database backup.
This download along with your database form your complete website.
Now, ideally you should never need to use this but in my opinion it is a good insurance policy to have this on DVD. This way if an unforeseen disaster occurred you have a copy of your website.
If you are updating and adding posts with pictures / media content on a regular basis you may consider having the backup repeated every few months as your website grows.
As a service to our clients we offer a full website backup delivered on a physical medium such as a DVD or memory stick. Prices start at £60 +vat. Get in touch for more information.
We all know how many usernames and passwords we have to keep track of nowadays. It can be a nightmare to remember them all. Just do as I do and never lose or forget a password again. Keepass is a little program that is free and open source.
It stores and protects all of your passwords with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and the Twofish algorithm to encrypt its password databases. Both of these ciphers are regarded as being very secure and AES is apparently used by the U.S. Federal Governments National Security Agency (NSA) for protecting top secret information.
Don’t risk losing your data, especially if you use a laptop. What if your hard drive fails, your laptop gets dropped etc. Can you retrieve your data easily? Carbonite is an easy backup solution that backups to the cloud using encryption to protect your data. The program runs in the background and is very easy to use. You just set it and forget it. It is also only about £42 per year for unlimited backup. This is an insurance policy worth having.
Dropbox is great if you work on multiple machines or in multiple locations. Transferring work onto a data stick and having multiple versions in several places can get very confusing. Dropbox solves this by creating a folder that backs up to the cloud into your account. You can then install Dropbox on your other machine(s) and it will automatically synchronise all of your dropbox folders. Anything you add or update in your dropbox folder gets added or updated in your online dropbox and then gets updated on your other machines. What’s more it happens automatically. It’s easy and has a free account that gives 2GB storage.
Don’t fancy spending on Microsoft Office? No problem, Open Office is an open source version that offers a great alternative. While it is not identical to Office it does all of the same things, albeit slightly different to use. It offers all of the usual stuff such as spreadsheets, word processing, presentations etc. and it exports / saves in all major formats.
Gimp is an open source free graphics editor. It is a little on the advanced side if you have only ever used Microsoft Paint, however, if you are interested in getting into creating your own web graphics this would be the software to master. It is free and is said to be as good as many of the high-end graphics packages such as Photoshop. Not only that, there are loads of tutorials for it on YouTube.
With this small collection of tools you have your data and passwords all safe and secure, you have nailed multi-location working and have all the documentation and graphics software you will ever need. Check them out and feel free to leave comments or links to tools you rate highly.
We know the feeling, this used to be us. Thankfully, we are now experienced webmasters and can cut through the hype.
What is the answer for newcomers to web promotion?
It is difficult out there. You can easily go down the wrong path or worst still an expensive wrong path. People may have good intentions, but bad advice can be expensive and waste your valuable time if it does not improve your web position.
Our Thoughts
Some time ago we started work on our online marketing course, but found that many people did not really have the time to complete the lessons. While it is good to know the techniques and theory of SEO most people care little about the detail and rather just get the results. Right?
Stepping it down
Over the next few months we are restructuring our course to break it down into a step by step, hour by hour approach.
We are ditching the background and theory and offering one hour activity packs aimed at giving people the bricks and mortar of good SEO. We aim to get you moving forward on the web with small one hour action packs.
If you are interested in finding out more get in touch and please leave your comments below. Tell us how we can help you.
Using photographs and images in your blog posts can really help you stand out and get noticed. It is a fact that people are drawn into content that has a visual aspect. Solid text is less likely to be read if not accompanied by an intriguing image. Additionally, photos can help you in the search engines – see article: SEO Tip: Optimize your Images for Search
So, here are some resources for free and paid for images. With the quality and abundance of free images and photos there is no reason for not using images in your blog posts. The following video covers photo and image resources available and below the video you will find a list of links to them.
In my experience, the paid for ones are usually better quality and there is more choice, however, the free photos are really great too if you are prepared to do a little searching.
Feel free to share this post using the Share/Bookmark link at the bottom of this post and it would be great to read your comments about your image and photo resources.
The following links are free photography libraries mainly sourced from Photoshop Support. It may be worth looking there too incase they update their list.
Thinking about creating a video, but don’t have a camcorder, video editing software or the time to shoot a video? Well, you don’t have to, at least not with Animoto.
Animoto is an online video slideshow service that allows you to combine photos, short video clips and music to create professional looking videos. I am definitely a big fan of Animoto… and it just seems to get better and better in terms of development and quality of the video production.
It’s free to create short 30-second videos, but I definitelty recommend purchasing a pro-membership if you are a business and going to be creating a lot of videos. These days, video should be a serious consideration for any business wanting to market themselves online.
With Animoto, you could have your first of many videos online sooner than you think. It’s a fast, easy and fun way of creating professional quality videos online. Go ahead and give it a go!.. Here is an example video published by our sister company Media Music Now, who provide video producers with royalty free music, voice overs and audio production services.
Many local business owners may not consider online marketing as a high priority when it comes to their business. Or they may have thought about it but don’t know where to start. Well, these days with more and more people searching for products and services on the Internet, online marketing has never been as important to local businesses.
For me, the days of flicking through the Yellow Pages or Thompson Local to find local services is a distant memory, simply because the speed and accessibility of the Internet makes it so much quicker and easier to find local businesses online that provide the products and services I am looking for.
It surprises me though that here are still local businesses that don’t see the business potential of marketing themselves online, especially when you think about the potential revenue opportunity that could be available to them if they developed an online presence; all those potential clients and customers searching for products and services they sell. It is an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.
Don’t just take my word for it, download the report below to learn more about creating an online presence and how this could help your business to attract more clients and potentially generate more revenue.
Image by Bright Meadow via Flickr Now, I am no expert on article marketing, but our website has definitely benefited in a small but steady way from a small flow of clickthroughs and linkbacks over the years as a result of submitting some of our pre-written articles. I get better returns from other forms of [...]
This is a step by step guide on how to go about registering your own domain name. I use GoDaddy for purchasing .com domains so for the purpose of this post, I am using them as the domain registrar. Firstly, you should know the domain name that that you would like to register. For tips [...]
When using images for your website’s content and any posts or articles you publish, it is important to make the most out of your images by optimizing them for search. This presents you with another opportunity of being found in a search engine’s image search. Below are some key points to action when adding images [...]
In previous posts, I have metioned the Google Keyword Tool a few times and how this is a free keyword tool service that you can use to research keywords / phrases in your marketplace. Well, Google have given it a new look. The old tool is still available via the link ‘Previous Interface’ in the [...]
I had a good, but non functioning website to promote my novels and writing, however it soon became apparent that to make any changes or updates was going to be very expensive, and so I asked Lee at WebCentric360 to take a look and see what he could do. With little fuss, and expense, Lee and WebCentric360 took the core design of my existing website and reproduced it in an all functioning, blogging, selling website that more than suits my needs. I can update as I wish, have a functioning online shop and can make changes as I wish, all...
As standard we install the DB backup plugin and set this to email a database backup weekly.
We know the feeling, this used to be us. Thankfully, we are now experienced webmasters and can cut through the hype.
Using photographs and images in your blog posts can really help you stand out and get noticed. It is a fact that people are drawn into content that has a visual aspect. Solid text is less likely to be read if not accompanied by an intriguing image. Additionally, photos can help you in the search engines – see article: 
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