Information Sells

Are You Ready for Disaster?

Are you ready for disaster?

How recent is your most recent backup of your blog? (You do back up your blog, don’t you?)

WordPress is complicated.  MySQL databases are complicated.  Your web host is probably complicated.

Is it really wise, then, to rely on fate to keep your blog safe?

Backing up a WordPress blog is not difficult.

You can do it manually by following the backup directions on the WordPress Codex. The directions are explicit, illustrated, and relatively easy to follow if you are comfortable navigating the back end of a web site.

If the thought of messing about with MySQL databases or phpMyAdmin makes you queasy - there is another solution:  a plugin.  WP-DB-Backup is the most popular, although there are others.

WP-DB-Backup simplifies the process while still giving you control over what (in addition to the core database) to include in the backup. If  you worry about statistics or other data stored by plugins - add the plugin’s tables to your backup.

If a truly complete backup is necessary for your peace of mind, you can do a full backup of all tables and data once a week and a core-only backup on the other days.

WP-DB-Backup also offers the choice of where and how the backups are stored. You can save them to your server, download them to your desktop, or have them sent by email.

In fact, if you choose to email the backups to yourself, you can select a regular set-and-forget backup interval and automate the process.

If you accept the defaults (core databases only) , the backup file will be well under 1 MB. Choose a backup schedule that matches your posting frequency, save the last 5 or so backups, and you should be well armed against blog eating gremlins.

Photo by visulogik Releaed under Creative Commons License

Flame wars destroy

I have lost track of how often I have read a blog post entitled something like, “10 Tips for Boosting Traffic” that includes the advice “Be controversial.”

Please, don’t.

Be honest, be straightforward, be blunt, be yourself.  But please, no - please do not be controversial.

It’s hard to build a community. It’s easy to destroy one.

Screaming matches add nothing to a blog. Snide and snarky remarks do not sway opinions. The shouting match culture of cable TV is not entertaining - it’s adolescent.

I don’t know of any studies that show the number of blogs and forums damaged by flame wars vs. the number of blogs and forums made successful by controversial posts. I do know that I no longer visit a number of former favorite hang outs because of the ugly atmosphere created by internet bullies.

Why would you open the flood gates to toxic sludge just to boost your stats?

Use Offline Manners Online

It may not get you to the front page of Digg, but using your offline manners can be surprisingly effective if you want to participate in an online community, rather than a mob.

• Address people by name.
• Ask, don’t demand
• Say please and thanks
• Give others the benefit of the doubt

In short, even on the internet, treat others the way you’d like to be treated.

Photo by Esther Kirby Released under Creative Commons license

Blogging With WordPress

Back in the fall, when I released my eBook, Blogging With WordPress, I promised that there would be a free, full, follow-up report on WordPress v2.7  for anyone who bought the eBook.

I posted the new report - WordPress 2.7: Redesigned & Easier To Use - to the Members Only area of GhostLeg yesterday, along with a 1 hour video preview of WordPress 2.7’s new features.

If you are looking to upgrade your blog, and want a concise, heavily illustrated look at the new features and how to use them - as well as a guide to the the sometimes confusing, occasionally nerve-wracking process of  installing WordPress 2.7 on an existing blog - I think you’ll find the bonus report quite useful.

WordPress 2-7 Upgrade Bonus Report

The PDF report will not be sold (or given away) separately. It is only available as a bonus when you buy the original eBook, Blogging With WordPress.

The ebook, the report, and the video might make a nice last minute Christmas gift for the aspiring blogger on your list. Or yourself.

Instant delivery - no driving in the snow required.

And, as a holiday Thank You to Information Sells readers and subscribers - if you purchase the ebook before December 26 from GhostLeg, I’ll refund $10.00 of the purchase price. (But you must use the links in this blog post to make the purchase and you must buy before 11:59:59 PM, Dec. 25.)

Information Sells Upgraded to WordPress 2-7

Oh boy! I just upgraded Information Sells to WordPress 2.7

So far so good.

THE UPGRADE

I’ve been upgrading my plug ins conscientiously, as new versions are released. Sadish announced that all his themes are WP 2.7 ready. So, although I’d planned to wait at least a few seconds before upgrading, I jumped right in.

I used the Automatic Upgrade plug-in as I always do. The only problem I encountered was that, once I’d upgraded the database, WordPress dropped me back to the new WP 2.7 dashboard instead of the Automatic Upgrade Plug-in control panel. I had to manually re-activate all my plug-ins.

FIRST USE BUG REPORT

In Firefox 3, on a Windows XP notebook with a 1024×768 resolution monitor, the right hand side of the Add New Post window is covered by the Publish, Tags, and Categories windows. I’ve had to roll them up to write this post.  That’s pretty annoying, actually.

The Upload/Insert Media process isn’t as smooth as it was in WordPress 2.6, either. I had to manually adjust the size of the image 3 times before it fit correctly.

Maybe WordPress 2.7.1 will arrive tomorrow.

I went to WordPress.com this morning to help a friend diagnose a problem with her blog - and discovered that WordPress.com blogs have been upgraded to WordPress 2.7

(No - WP 2.7 wasn’t what caused the problem. It was just some misplaced text.)

WordPress 2.7 Release Candidate 1 appeared on Dec. 1. The final version, for all of us WordPress.org users, must be near. What new feature are you most looking forward to?

WordPress is a very powerful, highly customizable tool. The folks behind the scenes and the thousands of active developers are very responsive to the needs and requests of ordinary users.

But WordPress suffers from one weakness endemic to the Open Source community: there are no easy to understand instructions.

Very little about PHP is intuitive. Many difficult to understand commands, operations, and even menus in the WordPress Admin panel are made worse by bad designs and an interface that sometimes goes beyond minimal all the way to non-existent.

The soon to be released WordPress v2.7 will address some - but not all - of these problems.

In the meantime - here’s a hidden in plain sight, secret answer to a frequently asked question that can take hours of Googling to discover:

Yes you can have both a traditional home page and a blog with WordPress.

You can quickly give your blog a static front page without writing a line of code. You just click on “Settings | Reading Settings | Front page displays” and then choose “A Static page.”

Hidden In Plain Sight

That’s the easy part.

But most bloggers don’t want a home page that leads nowhere. We want a home page that serves as an introduction to the blog.

A BLOG AND A WEB SITE ALL IN ONE PACKAGE

When you click on the “A Static Page” link, a drop down menu shows all your pages. You pick the one you want to use as your front page. Nothing complicated or difficult there - you create a home page with a single mouse click.

But how do your readers find the blog after landing on this static page?

When you click on the “Posts Page” menu - you once again see all your Pages. That can’t be right, can it?

In fact - it is “right” - but it is also dangerous. If you click on a page and click Update, your page’s content will be replaced by your recent blog posts.

Here’s what you really want to do:

1. Create a new page. Name it Blog. Do not write anything but the title. Leave the page blank - just title it and click Publish.
2. Go to “Settings | Reading Settings | Front page displays”
3. Click the Static page radio button
4. In the “Front page” dialog, select your home page
5. In the “Posts page” dialog, select “Blog” (Your newly created, blank page)
6. Click Update.

Now check your blog. If your theme displays links to other pages, as most themes do, there will be a new page called “Blog.” When you click on it, you’ll see the traditional WordPress Blog.

Please join me today for a free webinar preview of the upcoming release of WordPress 2.7

We’ll be doing a special sneak preview of the WordPress 2.7, as well as reviewing some helpful techniques for the current version of WordPress.

If you’d like to join me on today for  this one hour webinar, go here and sign up:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/138235611

No strings attached!

WordPress 2.7 Beta 2 Demo

Janelle Elms of OSI Rock Stars will be hosting a webinar with me on this coming Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 12 noon Pacific Time. Among other things, we’ll take a special, backstage sneak peak at WordPress 2.7’s new Dashboard and Plugin features.

I’ve installed a beta copy of WordPress 2.7 on my web site just for this webinar. So here’s your chance to get a look at all the new goodies - and when you see them, I think you’ll agree that some are very good indeed.

If you’d like to join this free OSI Rock Stars webinar, sign up here.

Tips from the Top Podcast

I was honored to be the guest for a three part series on the Savvy Seller’s “Tips from the Top” podcast.

We talked about blogging with WordPress, and we covered a lot of ground, including:

• 5 Questions to Answer Before You Begin Blogging
• Which Wordpress is right for you?
• Themes, Plug-Ins & SEO
• The Art of Blog Writing
• Profitable Blogging
• How to make your blog your own
• What to look for in a theme
• Template do’s and dont’s
• How to optimize your blog for the best search engine rankings
• Plug-ins and customizations
• Blog subscribers and RSS feeds

And quite a bit more

All three broadcasts are available from the Savvy Seller or from iTunes

You can also tune in right here on Information Sells:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Talkshoe Podcast on Thur

Part 2 of the Tips From The Top podcast about Blogging With WordPress will take place this coming Thursday, Nov 6th at 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time / 11:00 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Part 1 was recorded and is now available. You can listen to it by clicking on the Play button below. The podcast is approximately 30 minutes long.

If you tuned in for Part 1, you know there was a special $5.00 off coupon for anyone who ordered Blogging With WordPress. That coupon is expired, but there will be a new bonus offered on this Thursday’s live broadcast. Tune in live for big savings, because these bonuses really don’t last.

Part 3 in this series, with a final special offer, will take place on Thurs, Nov 13, at 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST

Finally, Janelle Elms will be hosting a free Online Success Institute Bloggers’ Bonus Class, also with me as the guest.While the Tips from the Top podcasts are audio only, the OSI webinars will feature live video demonstrations as well. These broadcasts should complement each other.

That’s a lot of opportunities for free training for anyone who wants to learn more about WordPress - and don’t forget the special surprises for Tips From the Top listeners.

Time Melts Away

If you live in the US, today marks the end of Daylight Savings Time, at least until next year.

If you blog with WordPress, you may need to manually adjust your time stamp. Log into your WordPress Dashboard, click on Settings, then make sure you are on the General tab (the first one). Scroll down to Time Zone.

WordPress uses UTC for Time Zones, which confuses a lot of people. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is an international, language independent, scientific standard based on International Atomic Time. In other words, UTC isn’t short for some phrase in English and it isn’t based on a time set by an observatory in colonial England. It is very, very precise.

If you look it up in Wikipedia, you’ll find the whole explanatiion - but for non-technical purposes, you can think of UTC as pretty much the same as Greenwich Mean Time. So, for Americans on the west coast, for example, UTC -8 will give your posts a local time stamp, just as GMT -8 will. The US west coast is 8 hours behind London time.

WordPress doesn’t automtically change time stamps when Daylight Savings Time begins and ends. So if the time stamp on your posts is suddenly off by an hour, you know why. Just go to Settings | General | Time Zones and choose the new setting.

Image: Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion
1954 © Salvador Dali

Blogging With WordPress has officially been released. The deadline for the half price special has been re-aligned with the release of the book, so that folks ordering through the official download link don’t feel screwed.

If you pay with PayPal and order through the official download link before 6:00 PM tonight, Pacific Time, I’ll send you an immediate refund for $15.00.

Sales pitch over - back to content blogging tomorrow!

Order Now for 50% Discount

If you enjoy the posts here on Information Sells, I think you’ll enjoy my new eBook, Blogging With WordPress.

About 25% of the content has previously appeared on the blog - and about 75% has never been published anywhere before. The PDF ebook has 81 pages describing everything from installing a WordPress blog on a web site to making money with AdSense.

I have to admit, I am pretty excited about this book and I’m really looking forward to others’ reactions.

The book isn’t officially on sale yet - but I’d like to offer you, Information Sells’ loyal readers and subscribers, a chance to get in early and a chance to get in cheap.

The retail price is going to be $29.99. I expect the book to go on sale on either Sunday or Monday.

UPDATE - The book has been released. This offer has expired

So, until 12 noon, Pacific Daylight Time, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008,  you can receive this eBook for half price if you order directly from this blog. Just fill in the form below and I’ll email the ebook directly to you.

GUARANTEES, PAYMENT DETAILS, DELIVERY OPTIONS

The book is a 3 MB PDF, so if you can’t receive attachments that big, just let me know in the sales form, and I’ll send you a custom download link instead. Payment is through PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, let me know and we’ll figure something else out.

I realize you haven’t even seen a sales page or Table of Contents for this book - so, of course, there is a 100%, No Hassle, Money Back Guarantee if the book disappoints you. Just tell me you didn’t like it, and I’ll send you a refund. Simple as that.

Finally, I am not set up to accept payments on this blog. When you fill out the form below, I will send you a PayPal invoice. When you pay, I’ll send the ebook. (When the book is officially published and for sale, sales will be handled through E-Junkie, so there will be less fuss. But all E-Junkie sales will have to be full price. This little PayPal dance allows me to offer this blog-only discount.)

Thank you all!

THE DISCOUNT EXPIRED BUT IT’S STILL WORTH BUYING!

Yes, I’m sorry, the half price offer is no more. But there is a ton of worthwhile information in this book. If you are interested, please click here to visit Ghost Leg Press to learn more or just

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Learn From Great Speakers

Great speakers are great writers.

If you want to learn to communicate, there is no better teacher than Winston Churchill. You can find MP3s of some of Churchill’s most famous speeches on the web.

Churchill is a master of rhythm and repetition: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…” His sentences are vivid, declarative, full of strong words. You don’t read Churchill and wonder what he really thinks.

George Orwell, Churchill’s political opposite, in an essay entitled Politics and The English Language, sets out 12 simple rules that will serve every blogger well.

First, ask yourself:

• What am I trying to say?
• What words will express it?
• What image or idiom will make it clearer?
• Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
• Could I put it more shortly?
• Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly

If instinct fails to answer those questions, do this:

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Why am I using examples from politics rather than marketing? Because it is unexpected. Because so much internet marketing is stale, predictible, formulaic tripe.

Make your blog fresh. Give it a voice.

If you want someone to pattern yourself after, start with the best. Would you really mind being known as the person who wrote, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” ? Haven’t you seen enough yellow highlights, spurious testimonials, and doctored pictures of Clickbank pay-outs to last forever?

Very few have the artistry of great writers, but we can all follow Orwell’s simple commands:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

If you do just those three things, your blog will immediately be better.

Photo by southtyrolean Released under Creative Commons License

At WordCamp in New York, Matt Mullenweg listed the Top 10 Plugins for WordPress, measured by the volume of downloads. The list isn’t really surprising, but it is instructive. If you want to know what other WordPress users find useful, take a look at these plugins:

10. cforms
9. wp-polls
8. WP Automattic Upgrade
7. wp-cache
6. wp-db-backup
5. WordPress Stats
4. Nextgen-Gallery
3. Google-Sitemap-Generator
2. All-In-One-SEO-Pack
1. Akismet

They can all be found in the WordPress.org Plugin Library