photo credit: ColKorn1982

 
 Sing along with me now…

Backing Up is Hard to Do (Not!)

Let’s talk about how to backup WordPress. You’ve put a lot of hard work into your website. Blood, sweat and tears, even. Protect all that effort by getting into a regular backup routine now, before you’re sorry you didn’t.

There are several different types of backups that you need to have in order to really cover your behind. I’ll tell you about the different types, and I’ll tell you how you can back them up. You’ll go out and set up a schedule to make sure it gets done regular-like. Deal?

This turned out to be a really loooong post, so I’ve broken it into several parts. See links to the related posts at the top and bottom of each post. For this first segment, let’s talk about the whole kit & caboodle, the whole shebang, the works, the full deal, the whole enchilada…The Full Site Backup.

Full Site Backup

This is a major backup that will save your bacon if (heaven forbid) some sort of major catastrophe happens – your web host’s entire server center burns to the ground or the server gets fried AND the host’s backups get fried. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No. Ask me about the time my web host just closed up shop and left town without telling any of his clients. Yeah, it happens.

A Full Site Backup won’t enable you, personally, to restore your site, unless you are running your own server. And if you are, you don’t need me to tell you how to do this. Rather, this kind of backup is what you give your new host (after your old one was nabbed by aliens or whatever) so that they can recreate your site. It includes everything you’ve got on your server – your website files, email addresses, redirects – everything.

You can create a Full Site Backup from your web hosting control panel. The one I’m familiar with is the cPanel (very popular among web hosts), so that’s the one I’ll be describing. If your host has a different control panel, search their knowledgebase for instructions on how to do a site backup. Every host offers this service (and if yours doesn’t, stop reading this and go find a new host right now).

This is the most comprehensive type of backup, and it’s important to have on hand. However, it’s not the one you will use to restore parts of your own site if problems occur. Watch for the upcoming Parts 2 and 3 of this series for instructions on how to take care of that much more common problem.

Please continue to the next post in this series for information on the other types of backups you need to be doing!

Not anymore.

These days, web surfers are impatient and demanding and are used to gorgeous websites filled with images to catch their eye. But not everyone is a graphics guru or a photographer extraordinaire. And who can afford to buy images all the time? So, what can we do?

Enter – the Photodropper plugin.

Thank the Internet Gods for Flickr.com. I expect that you all know about Flickr already, but just in case, here’s the scoop. Flickr is a free community site for images. People can upload their images and share them with their friends, link to them and use them on their websites.

Flickr.com

Flickr is an awesome resource for finding fun images to add to articles and blog posts. But you must be careful not to infringe on the owner’s copyright.

Photodropper makes it very easy to not only find an image and insert it into your post, but also to make sure you are respecting the owner’s copyright. Photodropper provides a Flickr image search function right there in your Post editing screen which only includes images that are marked for reuse.

To find an image, you just click on the Photodropper button that the plugin added to your Post toolbar.

Photodropper Button

Then enter your keyword and hit the search button.

Photodropper Search Function

When you find an image you like, choose Small, Medium or Large by clicking on the S, M or L link shown underneath the image. Photodropper will insert the image into your Post and automatically attach the correct copyright label, as well as a link to the Flickr page. Just like this (this is the large size):

photo credit: anomalous4

Just that easy – you have a lovely image for your post and your butt is covered, all at the same time. Thanks, Photodropper!

You can download Photodropper here. Or, from within your WordPress admin screen, go to Plugins>>Add New and search “photodropper.”

Gimme Some Nip: Looking for a particular kind of plugin? Let me know in the comments and I’ll find the perfect one for you.
 

Questions? What’s your favorite image plugin? Have you had a hard time finding good images for your posts? Tell me in the comments!

 

Image Handling Plugins

Foodies tend to be a very visual bunch – they love them some food-porn. But providing lots of mouth-watering images can be challenging. Try these plugins to make it easier:

• LinkWithin is a free, remotely hosted plugin that will create a “Related Posts” widget at the bottom of each article, showing thumbnails and automatically linking to other posts on your site.
   
  Pros: It’s quick and easy to install, and works very well. Great looking
  
  Cons: It is remotely hosted. If you get too many remotely hosted or linked widgets on your site, it can cause a slowdown in your page load times (That said, unless you have some other remotely hosted widgets, most likely you won’t notice a problem with just this one).
  
  Gimme Some Nip: Would you like to see a comparison of plugins that provide this function and are locally hosted (as opposed to this remotely hosted version)?
  Submit a comment and tell me!
   
• WP Smush.It – It is a constant battle to provide large, clear and beautiful images without using too much bandwidth. This plugin helps by automatically running all the images you upload through the Yahoo Smush.It tool, which reduces the file size without sacrificing image quality. You will still need to do some file editing before you upload, but this plugin can almost always crunch that image file a little bit smaller.
   
  Pros: Automatically smushes all uploaded images – set it and forget it. Can dramatically reduce image size. No loss of image quality.
  
  Cons: Occasional errors (on Yahoo’s end) occur which stop image smushing. You may or may not notice this, since you have to be looking in the Media Library to see the error. On the plus side, this doesn’t affect your image at all, other than it doesn’t get smushed.
• Amazon S3 for WordPress – This plugin interfaces with your Amazon S3 account so that your images are automatically hosted remotely through the Amazon cloud, which can save you a lot of bandwidth. The Amazon S3 account does charge you for usage, but it is MUCH less expensive than the bandwidth charges you will get from your web host
   
  Pros: Automatically serves all uploaded images through your Amazon S3 account – set it and forget it. Keeps your web hosting bandwidth usage low.
  
  Cons: If you don’t already have an Amazon S3 account, you will need to get one. This can be fairly challenging to set up (Amazon S3 is NOT user-friendly) but once you’ve got it going, it is hands-free.

Plugins for Recipe Management

Unique to food blogs is the issue of dealing with recipes. Some bloggers just use a standard blog setup and let their readers use the search function to find things. Others like to provide extras such as recipe printing and/or a recipe index. These plugins can be useful for easily adding those extras.

• WP-Print – This plugin allows you to identify which areas of your post should be “printable” and which should not, so that your user can click on a “Print This Recipe” link and just get the recipe (without all the extra post commentary).
   
  Pros: Makes recipe printing user-friendly.
  
  Cons: You will have to take a little time to identify printable vs. non-printable areas of your post for each recipe.
  
• hRecipe – This plugin formats recipes in a way that helps the search engines index them as recipes – making them easier to find. I also think it makes for a pretty good looking recipe format in the post itself.
   
  Pros: Assists in SEO. Provides good looking recipe format in posts.
  
  Cons: Takes a little extra time to enter the recipe details into the correct format when writing a post.
  
• AZIndex – This plugin makes it easy to create a recipe index from tags, categories or post titles.
   
  Pros: Creates an automatically updating recipe index, once you’ve manipulated the settings – set it and forget it.
  
  Cons: It would be best to have this installed before you get started blogging, so you can create your tag / category system correctly. However, even if you have a blog with existing posts, this can still help. It’ll just take a little more configuration.
  

Photography

As mentioned above, eye-catching images are practically required for a successful food blog. If you aren’t already comfortable with using your camera, you need to get there, quick! Even if you aren’t 100% where you’d like to be, just remember – practice makes perfect. Keep working on those food photos and you’ll be amazed how quickly they improve.

Here are a few links to get you started with improving your food photography:

This one is not specifically about food photography (although she does do that, too), but offers some really good tutorials about the basics of photography – what does “exposure” mean, etc. – in a easy to read, understandable style.

• ThePioneerWoman.com – Basic Photography

And here are a few specifically for food photography:

• Food Photography for Bloggers
• Introduction to Food Photography
• Learning Food Photography

Once you’ve got a few decent shots under your belt, one of the best ways to drive traffic to a food blog is via the food-porn sites.

You think I’m joking? Oh, no! They are very, very real, my friend. Take a look at these sites! Getting your images featured on these sites invariably brings some traffic your way. Some are more persnickety than others (Tastespotting, Foodgawker, I’m looking at you), but all are free to submit. So, get in there and start submittin’!

• FoodGawker
• Tastespotting
• FoodieView
• Photograzing
• Food Photo Blog

General Food Blogging Links

A few other links you may find helpful:

• Ready to monetize? Check out the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program for a good program with decent payouts.
• Have questions for other food bloggers? The Food Blog S’cool has loads of them.
• The Food Blog Alliance is like Problogger.net but specifically for food bloggers.

Yeah, I know. There are a lot of food blogs out there already. But there is ALWAYS room for another talented cook to post some drool-worthy photos and recipes that make me want to run for the kitchen. So, get on out there!

Questions?

Do you have a particular question about food blogging? Looking for a specific resource? Have you recently started a food blog or are you thinking about it? Tell me in the comments!

Photo by Underwhelmer

Do you dream of writing the Great American Novel? Of adoring fans and endless royalty checks? Do you wistfully imagine your picture on the back cover of a NYT Bestseller?

These days, just writing the book isn’t enough. There’s a lot of competition out there vying for that publisher’s attention.

To help land a publishing contract, a lot of writers are creating author websites to help build their fan-base and create a buzz. Thank goodness for the Internet, huh?

Today’s case study shows how to use WordPress to create a simple author website.

Case Study: ChroniclesOfSilence.com

Scott is a published non-fiction author, but this is his first attempt to publish a novel. Chronicles of Silence is meant for the young adult audience and is an exciting action story based upon the only female Knight of the Round Table.

Scott’s main business is the Chivalry Today Educational Program, where he shows how the Code of Chivalry can be an excellent guide for modern behavior. It wasn’t a far leap for his interest in the Middle Ages and the Code of Chivalry to lead to a novel, as well.

ChroniclesOfSilence.com Home Page

 
To create some separation between this new book and his regular business, Scott asked me to create a simple website just for his novel.

Site Planning

The first step was to map out how he wanted the site to flow. What pages and information did he want to display? Scott decided on the following:

• Static home Page featuring information about the setting and how his idea for the book came about
• About the Author page
• Contact Page
• Sidebar links:
  • excerpt
  • fan art gallery
  • information about female knights

Follow these step by step instructions to create a quick site like Scott’s.

Step 1: Create Pages

Remember, Pages are different than Posts. See the Post vs. Page article for a complete breakdown of how they are different.

Adding a New Page

Step 2: Static Home Page

Setting a Static Home Page

Step 3: Create Sidebar Links

Scott wanted these links to go to a category, rather than an individual post, so that he could add additional information later. To achieve this, we took the following steps:

Manage Categories Page

Adding a Widget

Create Posts

Now that we’ve created these lovely sidebar links, we need to put something there for people to see when they click on them!

Add New Post page

Summary

As you can see, the steps to create a simple Author’s Website are pretty quick and easy. Many more features can be added with not much more effort. It takes a lot longer to compose the Post and Page content than it does to create the site itself.

 

Questions?

What are your questions about creating an author website? Do you plan to create a website for your novel or book? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it!

 

Ready to Learn About Domains!
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindykids/3815859831/in/set-72157621805999820/

 
 
If you want your own website with your own domain name, you have to register a domain first. Here’s an overview of domains, the terms surrounding them and what’s involved in registering a domain name. Let me know in the comments if you have further questions!

 
 
 
 

Table of Contents

Terms

• IP Address
• DNS
• Domain Name
• URL / URI
• Top Level Domains (TLDs)
• DNS Nameservers

Domain Registration

• Domain Name Registrar
• Who needs to register a domain?
• How to register a domain
• Point Your Domain Name to Your Website

Terms

Whew! That was some dry, boring stuff, huh? Now on to the good part.

Domain Registration

That’s it! I’m certain there are lots more nitpicky details about domains that I could tell you. But this covers the big stuff that you will run into as you learn to host and manage your own website.

Questions?

Did I miss something? Do you still have a burning question? Ask in the comments below! I’m happy to answer questions anytime.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links.

Depending on the theme you use, some of the things in the table below might behave a little differently than what I show here (for instance, not all themes list the pages in the nav bar). But as a rule, this is how it works.

Still confused?

Ask your question in the comments below. I’ll update the table with appropriate info as it comes up!

(Note: In this post, Pages and Posts are capitalized to distinguish between them. If “pages” is not capitalized, I’m talking about pages in the general “web page” sense. )

Today they posted an article entitled 10 Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines. Many times articles like these aren’t much help to those of us who aren’t coding from scratch or full-on web designers. But everything on today’s list are things that we can – and should! – all apply to our web sites, whether they are HTML, WordPress or something else.

Here’s the summary of what you should do to your site today to improve your visitor’s experience:

• 
  Put the form label above the field, rather than next to it.

  Bonus Tip: Don’t bold the label, either. Believe it or not, it actually increases the time it takes to fill out a form.

• Use images of faces that are facing toward the things you want your users to read or do. Users are drawn to faces, and then they naturally look wherever the face is looking. So, plug a face in there and make sure it’s pointing toward the *next* thing you want your visitor to do.
• Make your site look professional. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But studies show that users first judge your site by how it looks, then by the content you provide. Clinch that first impression by making sure your site is clean, error-free and looking good.
• Put the most important information Above the Fold (the area your visitors sees when they first load your page, without scrolling). The vast majority of users don’t scroll down, so make sure you’ve got the good stuff where they’ll see it.
• Use blue for links. Users are used to blue=link. Give them what they expect and they are more likely to hang around and click.
• Make your search box 27 characters wide (not spaces – characters). Apparently, this is the optimum size so people don’t get frustrated and leave. Wouldn’t you hate to find out that a visitor left your site rather than learn your critical info, all because your search box was too small? That’s something that is just way too insignificant to lose visitors over. Fix it now.
• Use enough white space. This is another one of those things that seems like a no-brainer, but it’s all too easy to start cramming stuff onto your site (especially when you’re trying to keep it above the fold). There are so many great features available! But learn to ask yourself – is this really critical to my user? Delete the extra stuff and keep that site clean and clutter free.
• Do user testing. Bottom line? Any testing is better than none. So if you have zero budget, get your buddies, your family or the guy who lives next door to do it. But do it.
• Give your visitors all the information they need. If you have information pages for products or services, make sure that what your users need is there. If it gets too cluttered, put some details on an obviously linked page, but make sure they get what they need to make a decision.
• Don’t confuse content with advertising. If you have any links or info boxes that look like ads – change ‘em out, fast! People are expert at ignoring advertising. So if your stuff looks like ads – that means it’s being ignored.

This is just a snapshot of Smashing Magazine’s much more detailed report. For how-tos and background information, be sure to check out their article.

Now, go tweak your site. I’m starting on mine right now!

But there are a few that stand out from the crowd. That consistently provide good, solid information; solutions to the problems we are actually having.

There’s no point in me reinventing the wheel, so here are links to some must-read articles by the WordPress pros you should be following.

• Introduction to Blogging – direct from the makers of WordPress itself.

• 10 Steps to Develop Killer Blog Articles
• 10 Things Bloggers Tend to Forget, But Shouldn’t!
• 7 Tips for Handling Flamers & Trolls

• 10 Techniques for Finding Blog Readers
• Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) for Blogs

• Keyword Research for Bloggers: A Comprehensive Guide
• Don’t Read This (or the Kitty Gets It!)
• How to Write with a Knife

• Writing for the Web

• 10 Elements of Highly Effective Articles

This may seem obvious to those of us who use it everyday. But for someone just starting out, just getting their feet wet with web applications, it can be very confusing. So, here is an explanation of exactly what WordPress is and how it can be used.

In a nutshell, WordPress is a software that helps you publish a dynamic website. Instead of coding HTML to create a static web page, WordPress uses PHP (another web programming language), along with MYSQL (a database) to dynamically create and serve web pages each time a viewer requests them.

What this means to you, as the blogger or web site owner, is that it is much, much easier to create and maintain your site. Let’s explore the advantages WordPress can offer you as a site owner, especially if you are not experienced with HTML.

Web Based Admin Screen Means No Coding

Once installed, WordPress is managed with an easy to use web-based admin screen. This means that when you want to make a change to your site, most of the time you can just go into your admin screen, change a setting, add or remove a plugin or change your template and you’re done. No messing around with code.

This makes WordPress an ideal web site solution not only for those who do not know how to code their own site, but for anyone who doesn’t have time or inclination to mess with those details. Small business owners, for example, have so many other things to take care of – why waste time tinkering with code when you don’t have to?

Always Up To Date with Dynamic Pages

With a traditional, static web site, each time you add a new page to your site, you have to create the HTML page, then create a new link on an existing HTML page to link to it. Over time, you will probably find that your site begins to get confusing. The more you add, the more you have to go back and fix and add links on existing pages, more opportunities are created for broken or missed links and your content may get lost. The navigation structure that worked fine when you only had 10 pages can’t quite cut it when you have 100 (and what if you have 1,000?).

WordPress is dynamic, which means that the data itself – the words that make up an article, and all the other bits and pieces of your site – are stored in a database. When someone goes to a page on the web, WordPress calls up the most recent information and builds the page right then.

Because it works this way, your site always remains up to date. The standard setup for WordPress is that the latest article is at the top of the page. Instead of your newest article being buried back on some other page, it’s right there on your home page for your visitors to see.

Easy Layout Changes with Templates

Also, because all your data is stored in a database, you can easily change the way a WordPress site looks. With a static HTML site, if you want to change the look, you have to rebuild it completely. With WordPress, you just select a different theme. Voila! Your site instantly looks completely different.

Here is an example site shown with two different themes. Same exact data, different themes – screen shots taken within moments of each other.

A theme is a collection of template files. When WordPress creates a page on the fly, it takes the template files you have identified and plugs the data into the correct spots. So, if you want to change the look, you just change the template files. There are literally thousands of WordPress themes available for free, and many “premium” themes for sale, so it is easy to customize your site to look exactly the way you want it to.

Quickly Add Functionality with Plugins

One of the biggest advantages to WordPress is its flexibility. WordPress is easy to extend and change by adding functionality with plugins. Instead of having to code changes directly into your web site, with WordPress you can just add (and just as easily remove) a plugin via your web based admin screen.

Plugins do many different things. Some of them provide back end functionality like security tweaks to your WordPress installation, or adjusting behind the scenes SEO settings (i.e., meta tags). Others allow you to add features to your site like polls, photo galleries or contact forms. As with themes, there are thousands of plugins available for just about any function you can think of.

Conclusion

Can you tell I love WordPress? I do. It’s because it’s powerful, it’s easy to use, it’s flexible and it’s free! It’s the perfect solution for bloggers, artists, small businesses and anyone else who wants a good looking, functional and easy to use web site.

So, here is a list of some basic Internet terms that you need to know if you are thinking of starting your own web site, in the order I think you’re most likely to encounter them.

• Domain (aka URL) – the address of a particular website. This is the text name that corresponds to the numeric address (IP address) of a computer on the Internet. Basically, this is what you type into your browser to get to a website (i.e., www.ACleverCat.com). A domain name must be registered with an accredited domain registrar so that no exact duplicates can occur. We recommend Godaddy.com. Registering your domain name is the first step in getting your own website or blog.
   
• Host – the computer where the files that make up your website reside. Web hosting companies specialize in providing space on computers that are connected to the Internet 24/7 so that your website can be accessed at any time. In order to have a website, you need to sign up for a web hosting account, or provide your own server that is connected to the Internet at all times. Most people go the web hosting account route.
   
• Nameservers (aka DNS) – the setting at your web host that connects your domain name with your IP address, so that when someone types in your domain name, the correct page comes up. When you sign up for a hosting account, your welcome email will contain the correct Nameserver setting, which you need to set at your domain name registrar.

  Once you have your domain registered, a web hosting account and your nameservers set up, you are ready to start building a website or blog.
   

• Blog (aka Weblog) – a web site or part of a web site displaying posts most commonly in a reverse-chronological order.
   
• WordPress – software that provides an easy to use, dynamic website that can be maintained entirely via a web-based administration screen, and which automatically updates the site without need for writing HTML. WordPress is currently the reigning champion of blogging software because it is free, easy to use, powerful, flexible and has a thriving community for support and expansion. It can be used for blogging, but also for business, hobby and other types of websites.
   
• WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org – Basically, WordPress.com is a free version of the WordPress software on someone else’s account and under someone else’s control. WordPress.org is where you go to download the WordPress software which you can then upload to your own server (at your web hosting account) and use to run your blog or website. Watch for a post coming soon with a full comparison of these.
   
• RSS – RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Basically, it is a way to receive notifications automatically whenever a site posts an update, so you don’t have to keeping coming back to check. It can save you lots of time and keep you updated effortlessly. You sign up for RSS at sites you want to be notified by, then access your notifications in an RSS Reader. There are many readers available, most free. I like Google Reader because it is free and easy to use, but there are lots of others. Just search for RSS reader. To add a site to your RSS Reader, just find the RSS button or link on the site you are interested in.

  Look for this commonly accepted and widely used symbol for RSS, or some variation of it. Also, note that some sites will just have a regular text link.

  For an easy to understand description of RSS, see this article – How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way

I’m definitely forgetting some things here. Feel free to ask about other terms you are unsure about in the comments and I’ll update this post to make it more complete.