It has become more and more important to do some routine maintance to your Wordpress blogs. Many people love the fact that Wordpress is easy to get started with and to use to post articles. But, most of the newer users of this blogging platform have no idea of the maintenance issues involved with their website. I also have heard recently that keeping your blog updated may help with search engine results (more about that will be in another post).

Here are a few things that are recommended to do – especially for those of you that host your own blog:

1,  Keep your version updated

2.  Update/ugrade your plugins

3.  Backup your database

Easy Way to Get the Latest Version of Wordpress

The older, unpatched versions of Wordpress (older than 2.8.4) are not secure and are vulnerable to being attacked by a worm that will infect your site. This is what Wordpress.org says about it:

Right now there is a worm making its way around old, unpatched versions of WordPress. This particular worm, like many before it, is clever: it registers a user, uses a security bug (fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.

These things are similar to doing routine maintenance on an automobile – and the ones I am recommending are as easy as putting in windshield wiper fluid or adding oil to your engine. I won’t recommend the ones that would be as difficult as doing a complete oil change (because I am too busy to do any of these things the long and boring way). So, my recommendations are to use more automated methods (which have been created by brilliant programmers for people like me to use – I am not a programmer).  I have written before about a plugin that helps you upgrade your Wordpress to the latest version in an automated step-by-step process. And really, this is so easy! You don’t have to download software and know anything about programming. All you need to do is download a plugin and put it in the “plugins” folder. To get the plugin go here: Download Upgrade Plugin. Then you log into your wp-admin (Wordpress admin) dashboard. Click on the Plugins on the left, activate your new plugin. Then, at the top of your Wordpress administrative dashboard a prompt will appear that says, “Click Here to Automatically Upgrade WordPress to latest Version.” Basically, if you click that there will be instructions that walk you through upgrading. It’s so easy to do, and it will keep your site more secure.

Update/upgrade Wordpress Plugins

I also think you should try to keep any plugins updated. Here is some good information on the Wordpress.org site about site maintenance – http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Site_Maintenance. Ugrading plugins usually only requires you to click the “update now” links on the plugins page. Sometimes you may have to actually download the latest plugin and then upload it to your hosted files.

Keep Backups of your Wordpress Database

After you get your site upgraded, there is also a plugin to use to have backups of the database (which holds all the posts, comments, user and other data for your blog). If you were ever to experience a site problem or hosting problem, you can use the backups to set your site back up. My favorite plugin for scheduling these backups is the WP-DB-Backup plugin. This one is really easy and can be downloaded here: Wordpress Database Backup.

Technorati Tags: database, latest version, maintenace, Plugins, security, update, upgrade, virus, wordpress, worm

Personal or Business Website Builder with e-commerce capabilities that won’t “break the bank”

The Internet is becoming the only “real estate” worth investing in at the moment. So many people are trying to sell you on how to make money online. The websites that sell products or have a shopping cart that is integrated for taking payments are called e-commerce websites. Websites used to be time consuming to create and many web owners had to depend on a webmaster to fix things or changes things. Those days are over!

I have built websites from scratch and have started using tools that help build them faster and easier – to save time and money. There are several that are not worth the time, and I’ve noticed a trend of large companies coming up with “make a website” kits. Some of these are probably good, while others may not have the options you really need. I want to recommend one website builder (for business or personal websites) that is a great, low-cost solution with tons of features. The place to go for building your own website is Quick Pro Website Builder.

Free 15-day trial – Full featured service to
make your own website with customizable templates.

Wanna know what features are included?

Here is a summary of the features and they are compared to other popular website builders: Compare Website Builders. A few of those features are:

• Builder starts by helping you build a site for your industry
• Domain registration included
• Hosting included
• Customer Database and Stats
• Add Appointment Schedulers, Calendars, Feedback & Contact Forms
• Auto Responder, Article Pages, and Event Calendars
• Ecommerce Shopping Cart  integrated
• Easily Add Product Pictures and Descriptions to your Ecommerce Shop
• Configure Shipping and Sales Tax
• Merchant Account

And there are more features that you won’t need at first but can grow into. They have a package that includes hosting and there are many templates to choose to start building a website in 5 minutes. Then, you can upload your own photos or website banner and change everything. You can also add e-commerce (a shopping cart) easily because they are one of the few services that have that ability as a built in option. Again, you don’t have to worry about what to do with hosting because they host your website for you!

If you are thinking of making a website to promote your business (such as a doctor’s office, dental office, vet services, real estate, automobile sales, beauty salon, books, gardening supplies, etc.) or sell your own products (including crafts, knitting, clothing, beads, or gifts), please check out this great place to make a website! I also want to add that their customer service is excellent – something that is hard to find online these days. Ask for any kind of help, and you will get a detailed reply (plus they have online help available).

Note: for selling affiliate products, read this post: My Secret Weapon – Building Affiliate Marketing Websites

Technorati Tags: affordable, Best Website Builder, Business Website Builder, easy, ecommerce, Ecommerce Package, Ecommerce Shop, Make My Own Website, online, Shopping Cart Hosting, store, templates, website builder

If you are an internet marketer, graphic designer or domain buyer/seller, at some point you will find that you have to re-assess what you are spending on domains and website hosting. Here are a few tips on what has been working well for me as far as buying domain names and website hosting (and also for my blogs).

I want to recommend the easiest to use (and a low cost option) for buying domains (domain registration). For buying domains, I totally recommend Namecheap. Their interface is really easy to use (I have never gotten confused with it, as I have with other places I have bought domains). Compared to 1 and 1 (which is awful) and GoDaddy (which is just ok) I think Namecheap is far superior and the domains cost less. For the first year, the privacy feature for your domain is free.  There are many coupon codes available – look them up online whenever you are about to buy a domain – one place that seems to keep them up-to-date is retailmenot.

For hosting, I have never had any problems with HostGator – in fact I like this hosting company a lot! You can host one site for less than five dollars a month – of course, few people do that anymore. For multiple (unlimited) domain hosting (with all the bells and whistles) it only costs 7.95/month – though there is a slight “catch” – you have to pay for an entire year to get that low price. Still, there are other payment plans (monthly or every 6 months). And there are often coupon codes to be found to save extra money, so don’t forget to look those up before you plan on paying for hosting. There are also reseller hosting accounts that are great and don’t cost too much (for you webmasters and graphic designers).

I hope these tips help you when you start building your web empire

Technorati Tags: companies, coupon, domain, domains, host, HostGator, hosting, namecheap, register, Tips, url, web, website