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!

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!

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.