How did you start?

Get a domain name related to your subject. Using a keyword is great if the site name is not too long or confusing. Make certain you have a good website host. You would hate to learn when you lots of website traffic that the web host is down regularly or has serious problems.

Are you secure?

When you set up your WordPress blog, make certain your user name is not admin. If it is admin make a long complicated password and create another user for you with a name and password you can remember. Almost every WordPress website has the same login page, admin was the standard user for years, this makes an easy combination for a hacker.

Do you have the latest version?

Try to reduce a hacker’s ability to hack into your website by making certain you keep your WordPress version up to date.  Also if your theme says the version of WordPress at the bottom, do yourself a favor and remove it or have someone remove it if you do not know CSS coding.   Better yet, get a new theme.  Any theme that does show the version of WordPress that you are using is probably an older theme and may not be reliable.

Are you backing up your website?

Make certain to get the WordPress Backup plugin and use it.   Setting up will take just a bit of time and will allow you to back up automatically without worry just read WordPress Plugin For Gmail Backup to learn more.

These are tips and hints that should help keep your WordPress website safe and online.

Unfortunately I was out of town so my series on backing up your WordPress site had a minor break. I did schedule some posts to appear but did not have time to write the posts that needed to follow the back up.

Why BackUp Your Blog?

As discussed in the previous posts, you want to back up your posts regularly. This protects you should anything happen to your blog. You also want to back it up when you make major changes as they may cause the system to crash. While a crash should not occur, things do unfortunately happen.

Are you using the Back Up Plugin?

After our discussion last week I hope you are using the automatic backup program. If not go back to WordPress Plugin for Gmail Backup post. With it, your blog will be automatically backed up as frequently as you like. You will need to visit your email account and download your backup file onto your computer. Note where it saves.

Finding phpMyAdmin

Ok, so you have your backup but now you need to restore it. Log into your cPanel. This is your back office assigned by your webhost. Look for a box labeled databases. In it you should see phpMyAdmin. Click it, and you will be taken to a strange looking place.

Time To Find Your DataBase

From the main menu, underneath My SQL or localhost, pick Databases. You will then see your database(s) depending on how many you have. Click the one you need to restore.

Importing Your Data

Across the top of the screen will be a row of tabs. You need to click the Import tab. The next screen will have a “Location of Text File” box and a Browse button. Click Browse and find your backup file. Make certain you have the SQL radio button checked and press Go. If you need more information visit Codex WordPress.

Time to check your Blog!

Your blog should be restored. You will probably need to make some adjustments on your WordPress blog to get it back to your previous settings.

Finding your phpMyAdmin

Log in to your cPanel, or back office as provided by your webhost. You should see several boxes grouping similar programs together. You want the one called Databases. There you will see phpMyAdmin.

Finding  Your Database

Now click Databases under MySQL or localhost (depending on your host). You may see a list of Databases here if you have several. Decide which one you need it, and click it.

You should see a series of tabs on the next screen. You want Export. In the box on the left you will see all the tables in the database that you have selected. If you have other programs in the database you want to choose only your WordPress tables. These will start with “wp_” However most people only have WordPress, so you can leave it as is. Make certain you have the SQL radio box checked.

What boxes you should check

Check “Structure” and then the following boxes below it.

• “Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION”
• “Add IF NOT EXISTS”
• Add AUTO_INCREMENT’ and
• ‘Enclose table and field names with backquotes’

Next make certain the DATA section is checked. No need to check any boxes inside this box. Then check the “Save as file” option but leave the template name as is. This will allow for easier transitions. Now you can click go and depending on your database size this may take a few minutes. Also note exactly where this file is saved, you will need it for blog recovery or import.

A bit more about this backup.

You can save it as is or as a zipped file. If you are doing major repairs to your blog, you will want to save as both just in case. This will back up all your posts and comments, however this does not back up your folders, which means your images and other uploads.   Tomorrow’s post is how to recover or import your data.

When is my blog vulnerable?

While changing themes is very often a minor thing, it can cause problems. As long as you get your theme from WordPress you should be safe, same with plugins. However you could overload your blog with plugins or have two that conflict which could crash your blog. In addition if you do not upgrade your WordPress to the latest version at least somewhat frequently, then an upgrade could lock you out of your own blog.

What can I do?

If you are planning a change to your blog, add a few extra steps. Most people do not want to add extra unnecessary work, however this can mean the difference between having a blog or not. Just like saving a document on your computer gives you a backup for later use, exporting your blog gives you a backup should you need it.

Is it hard to export WordPress?

This is an amazingly simple task. Simply go to your WordPress dashboard. On the left you should see a box called tools, click it and in the new menu you will see export. Then you can decide to export all authors or just one. For most uses you want to export all. Click the Download export file. A window will appear that asks if you want to save. Note where your file saves. Now you can make changes to your blog, because you have a backup if needed.

How do I import WordPress?

If you upgraded, or made changes or something happened that made you need to start over, then you will need to use the import tool. Right above the export button is the import. Click there and suddenly you have a list of places to import from and at the bottom, WordPress. After you click there, you will use the browse button to find the file you exported earlier. If you have multiple users you will want to make certain they are in place before you do this. Now you should have all your posts from before!

~ MJ Schrader

Would you like an automatic backup?

Forgetting to backup WordPress is a common problem. Plus it is not like you plan for your blog of 2 years with hundreds of posts to suddenly become unstable. Then sometimes a server becomes unstable, so a backup to your server will not help. This is where the plugin WordPress Database Backup (WP DB Backup) will save you.

Why WordPress Database Backup?

Set it and forget it is a great reason to get it.  After you set it up, you can have it automatically back up your blog, after every post, hourly, daily or weekly. Then as added security rather than send to your server you can send it to your email account.

Why did you recommend Gmail?

You want to use an account that has plenty of storage.  It is also a free email service and you could set up an account just for your backup.  You can also filter the backups into a folder. You can save all, or some or just two of your latest back ups.

How do I set it up?

The simplest way is to go to Plugins on your WordPress Dashboard. Click “Add New” then type “WP DB Backup” in the search.  Austin Matazko is the creator of this plugin so you want to make certain that is the one you get. Click install then again in the pop up. You want to make certain it is activated.

How do I configure it?

Now visit tools and backup. In the first box with some options on things to save, which depend on your website needs. The next box allows you to save right now. This is a great thing to do when you first install it. But the last box is the most important. Here you can set a back up schedule. If you have many comments per day, you might want twice daily.  For 365 Online Tips, we post daily so we back up daily.  If you post once a week, you could have it save weekly.  Add your email address for backups then click schedule.

What happens now?

You now have the comfort of knowing you are automatically backed up. If you are planning on doing a lot of work or moving your blog then you would want to use the export and import, which is tomorrow’s post.   However for an emergency this is a great worry free solution.

ROCK ON!!!

~ MJ Schrader

The post for today was going to be what should you write about in blog posts.  Well, here is a case of changing your posts to fit a situation.  Thanks to Connie Ragen Green I have made a new friend, Vernon Harleston.  He’s a very positive and motivating person who shares beautiful information.  (See the bottom of this post for more information on Vernon.)

Taking the High Road

However Vernon had a problem.  Like any blogger should, he upgraded his WordPress to the newest version, (this is very important for security and other matters).    The problem is his theme and the upgrade duked it out and HighRoadism lost.  But he had faith in the high road and through friends we connected and I offered solutions to help him.

A blog is a lot of blood, sweat and tears.  You might not realize it until it disappears, but that’s not the only way it can happen.

Almost 2 months ago Kelly Maria Clark and I had enough of the back office problems on 365 Online Tips. As the WordPress Rockstar I had studied all of our options and found the only solution was to kill the site and start over.

Late Night Brilliance (or lack thereof)

The thing is, we didn’t want to kill the site during the day.  Fortunately I was working until 12:40 at a job, so I destroyed the site at 11:30 pm.  Mental note, plan and test ALL (Please repeat with me ALL) of the details before destroying a website that you want to recover.   After deleting the old WordPress website, and reinstalling I realized I could not reinstall the posts as planned.  OUCH…

Thank God for Back Ups

While I fixed 365 with a back up, the plan was export and import, however things went a bit off kilter.  As they they did whilst I was moving things around in the file manager in my cPanel and deleted a blog.  Yes, total and complete melt down there. I thanked God for back ups as my 2 year old blog of weekly posts was restored.   Kelly and I cried happy tears as the back up saved our 45 + posts on 365.

What saved me and what can save you?

A plugin. Yep, a plugin saved me.  As did knowing what to do.  So for the next few days, you can read some emergency blog-saving techniques that can keep you sane in an emergency and in general.   This will help you stay on the high road!

Thank you,

MJ Schrader

Please follow Vernon Harleston @TheHighRoad on Twitter

Please visit his blog at HighRoadism.com where he shares the high road with you.

He has a Success Blog Talk Radio at blogtalkradio.com/thehighroad