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How To Automate Your Blog’s Entire Backup Process

John Hoff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:02:46 +0000

So why is there a picture of me and my boys kicking back in the mountains the other day on a post about backing up your blog?

Simple.

It illustrates how easy I’ve made it for my blog to be backed up. I figure this is where I was the other day right about the time my computer kicked on and backed up my blog for me.

How easy have I made this process? As easy as me doing nothing after the initial set up.

Yep, that’s right. My entire blog’s backup process is on autopilot and takes no further work from me to do–and in this article, I’m going to show you how I do it. (Note that SyncBackSE links are affiliate links)

2 Methods You Can Use To Automate Back Ups

The best two methods I know of to automate your blog’s full backup process is either:

A combination of a free database backup plugin and the program SyncBackSE . . . or
The BackupBuddy plugin

Each method will cost you a little money up front, but hey… your blog is worth it, right?

I use method #1; but let me first explain how these two methods work and then I’ll explain why I use method #1.

Method 1: Using SyncBackSE and a Plugin (way I do it)

Cost: $30

Backing up the database on autopilot

There are a number of database backup plugins for WordPress you can use. If you don’t already have one, Google “WordPress database backup plugins” and I’m sure you’ll find a few. I use the WP-DB-Backup plugin by filosofo.

Make sure whichever database backup plugin you install lets you run “Scheduled backups” and then set up the plugin to email you your database backup once or twice a week.

Okay… database backup set on autopilot, now let’s move on to your web hosting files.

Backing up your hosting files

To create a full backup of your site, you need both your database backed up and your web hosting files.

SyncBackSE is an AWESOME program.

There’s a one time fee of $30 to buy the program (free to try) and it’s well worth the money. Imagine one day if you or a developer mess up your blog, or your blog gets hacked… this one time charge of $30 could save you hundreds, if not more, down the road.

Here’s a screenshot from their site of some of the things you can do with SyncBackSE

Once you got the program, use the scheduling feature to automatically download all the files on your web hosting account to your computer. You can even have it zipped up. The scheduling can be set to back up your site however often you want, and it’s so easy to set up.

One question you might have is, “How does this program automatically back up my hosting files if my computer is turned off?”

Yes this is a program which runs on your computer, not your web hosting account like plugins do. So the way around this is to simply tell your computer to “Hibernate” rather than do a full shut down when you turn off your computer. It’s perfectly safe.

This will let SyncBackSE automatically turn on your computer and run its scheduled backup.

Pros: For $30 you can back up an unlimited number of any kind of website–yours, your clients, test blogs, html sites, blogs, etc. Also, you don’t have to store backups online, they can be downloaded to your computer automatically.

Cons: You’ll have to make sure your computer is on for a scheduled back up. This can be worked around through the use of putting your computer in hibernation mode.

Method 2: Using the BackupBuddy Plugin

Cost: $45-$150

This is an excellent premium plugin (hence the cost) and it will back up your web hosting files and database. You can even set it up to run on autopilot. Here’s a screenshot:

Backing up the database

Just like other database back up plugins, make sure to set this one to regularly email you backups of your database. Database file sizes are usually small enough to do this.

Backing up your files

Have the plugin scheduled to automatically back up your hosting files and store them on a web server. From there, you’ll then be able to manually download this zip file to your computer. For security purposes, I highly recommend that you don’t leave full backups of your site on a web hosting server, so be sure to delete the backup which is stored online once downloaded.

PROS: Since the plugin resides on your web hosting account, it doesn’t matter if your computer is turned on or off, the script will run either way.

CONS:

More expensive to set up than Method 1 and without shelling out $150, you’re limited to a specific number of sites you can use this plugin for. Also, this plugin only works if you have a WordPress blog. If one of your other sites is an HTML site on another domain, it won’t back it up.

Conclusion

If you don’t have a good system in place for backing up your blog, find one! Keeping regular backups is extremely important and as a blogger it’s something you need to put on your to-do list.

I personally use Method #1 because for $30, I can use a plugin and SyncBackSE to automate the back up of however many sites I want, regardless if they’re a WordPress site or not. BackupBuddy is still a good option, though.

So pick a method and check that item off your blogger’s “to-do” list.

Blog Hacking Alert and What You Need to Do Today!

John Hoff — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:52:47 +0000

Those of you who follow this blog know that from time-to-time I take breaks from blogging… no secret there. I wish I could say it’s been a restful break, but the reality is I’ve been quite busy.

But that’s a good thing, right?

However, something (or some group, rather) has pulled me out of my blogging break early and these A-holes have really pissed me off!

It seems there’s been a lot of talk around blogosphere about WordPress blogs getting hacked lately… and it’s been even more than the usual. Whoever is doing this doesn’t seem to be targeting your site specifically, but rather the web hosting companies, and their hacks infect all files on your hosting account ending in the .php extension.

Most of you know I’ve recently written a WordPress security ebook, called WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do, and packed it with a ton of things you can do today to better secure your blog from WordPress crackers.

Unfortunately, there’s one problem here.

Lately these assholes have been targeting the web hosting server itself and since you personally don’t have access to that level of your website’s security, it’s kind of out of your hands to thwart your site from being infected.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Go Daddy being hacked and how they have been denying the problem resides on their side, but to be honest I’m not so sure; in fact, it’s not just Go Daddy lately, it’s also been hosting companies like DreamHost and Network Solutions that *seem* to be getting hit.

What These Hacks Might Look Like

Fortunately, the hacks are easy to spot.

Just log into your web hosting’s File Manager and open any file ending in .php. If the file is infected, you should see code at the very top looking similar to this:

Those dirty little rats!

What You Need to Do Today

Make sure WordPress is upgraded
Make sure your plugins are upgraded
Back up your database and set up an automated backup process for it
Back up all the files contained in your web hosting’s File Manager
Implement the security upgrades I talk about in WordPress Defender

The Good News For WordPress Defender Users

Even though there is little you can do to stop these hacks from happening, all is not lost as long as you follow some of the advice I give you in the WordPress Defender book.

The key to being able to recover from such vicious hacks is being:

Aware of the problem
Notified asap that your security has been compromised
Prepared for a quick recovery

I think I do a pretty good job at showing you how to do these things in the ebook.

If you find that your blog has been infected with a virus or some other malicious code, the quick fix checklist is to:

Put your blog / website into Maintenance Mode (click here to see how to do that without a plugin)
Restore a clean backup of your database (see how to do that here)
Restore a clean backup of all your web hosting files and folders (you have a recent backup, right? Click here to see more on that)
Change your WordPress, FTP, and web hosting passwords

WordPress security is not an exact science.

Protect yourself the best you can and be prepared for the times you can’t.

It’s not difficult to implement, but at times it seems difficult for me to get through to those of you who are easy targets.

WordPress Defender Review

Not sure what this WordPress Defender ebook is all about?

Clive McGonigal of Blog Briefing has done up a wonderful review of my book. The video below will show parts of my ebook as well as a little of what you get in the video tutorials. Be sure to view the video in full window view.

If you find the video helpful and want to purchase the ebook, please use Clive’s affiliate link to purchase the ebook by clicking here.

Questions?

Shoot them my way by commenting below.

10.5 Reasons Why WP Blog Host is the Web Hosting Samurai

John Hoff — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:53:32 +0000

Image by Men with Pens

In the middle ages, the Samurai were Japan’s warrior class and were highly specialized in the art of war. They also carried with them a specific code of ethics and rules they lived by.

Although WP Blog Host is not at war with anyone, I do see them as the Samurai of the web hosting industry… especially for anyone looking to start a blog.

They are highly specialized in the domains and web hosting industry and the code of ethics which govern their system is based around taking care of their customers (see #9 below).

I’d like to point out real quick, too, that just because they brand themselves as the place on the web to host your blog with, their hosting and domain products really cater to anyone looking to build their online presence… from beginner sites to the most advanced and highest traffic generating sites.

10 Reasons WP Blog Host Kicks Other Hosting Companies Asses Like a Samurai

1. Security

When you purchase web hosting from a company, you’re not only getting a place to store your website, you’re also purchasing email accounts, FTP connections, ability to create online communities with logins and passwords, etc.

Over the past 3 years I’ve been blogging (and 15 years online), I seem to of earned a reputation around Internet-ville for being the guy that knows a thing or two about web security, especially WordPress security.

If you’re a blogger, realize that web security goes way beyond simply locking down your WordPress blog. Choosing the right web hosting company to host with is crucial to keeping:

your website secure
your emails hidden from view
your FTP connections encrypted
viruses firewalled from attacking your home computer

That’s where WP Blog Host kicks butt… security!

Hosting with them you can:

Run your email through SSL encryption (even your iPhone’s email). That means your emails will be encrypted with the same technology used to encrypt credit card numbers online.
Connect to your FTP account through FTPS (File Transfer Protocol Secure). This means your FTP username and password will never be transmitted in the clear and will always be encrypted.
The servers used to host your website are upgraded to the latest and best security hardware/software there is.
Customers can purchase SSL Certificates for their websites at a very affordable price which encrypts data sent to and from their website. So for example, if you use WordPress, you can log into your blog and work in your Dashboard area under the protection of SSL encryption.

2. It’s Easy to Find Customer Support & Help

This is a big one for me.

Recently, I did a WordPress upgrade for a customer who hosted their blog with a different company. The customer had a question related to their web hosting and being the good guy that I am, I tried to find the answer for them instead of telling them, “You need to contact your hosting provider.”

So I went to the customer’s hosting provider’s page (a relatively reputable company) and clicked on the Get Support button.

From there I was hoping to see a tech support phone number which I could call so I could get my question answered quickly. To my disappointment, there was no phone number to call.

To make matters worse, their “Get Support” page consisted mostly of links to tutorials so that hopefully you could answer your own question. There wasn’t even a clear area where to click to email their tech support.

Inevitably, this was the “Get Support” page option I was faced with:

What the heck? PAID support? Isn’t that what this customer was paying for when they purchased web hosting?

The WP Blog Host Alternative . . .

Simply head over to the Support Area of WP Blog Host and you’ll immediately find:

24×7 email and telephone support for hosting / domain products
Extensive online help resources with a ton of downloadable pdf files
WordPress help via this blog, contacting me, and WP Blog Host.tv

And what’s awesome about WP Blog Host is the fact that they have a really cool and experienced WordPress blogger (me) available to hit up when their customers have a WordPress or blogging question. I live and work right in the trenches doing what bloggers do everyday.

It’s my job. Not bad, huh?

3. Full Line of Hosting & Domain Products

We all hope that one day our blogs will explode and we get to become the next Darren Rowse of blogging. If that happens (lucky you) it would be nice to know your hosting company can stick with you no matter how much traffic your site receives or how popular you become.

WP Blog Host customers can choose from the following types of hosting:

When you become a problogger you need a web host who can stand by you and back you up no matter how popular your blog becomes.

GZip Compression for Speed

And if the speed at which your website loads is a concern for you, WP Blog Host’s servers are set and ready for gzip compression. Check out how with one simple copy and paste I sped up my blog’s load time here at WP Blog Host as much as 4.6 times!

4. Over 50 Free Simple Installations of Popular Programs

WP Blog Host has their own set of easy to install scripts, much like the Fantastico bundle of software you might see with other hosts.

I won’t bore you by listing out all 50+ programs you can easily install on your hosting account, but here are a few of the more popular ones:

Blogs: WordPress, Geeklog, Serendipity, Lifetype
CMS: Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, MODx, Nucleus, anyInventory
e-Commerce: Zen Cart, osCommerce, nopCommerce
Forums: phpBB, Simple Machines Forum, Vanilla Forum
Misc: MediaWiki, phpFreeChat, phpmyvisites, phpMyFAQ

Click here to see the full list of the over 50 free programs.

5. Domain Names Come with Free Hosting & Free Email

You actually get a lot more than just free hosting and free email with each domain name, but those are the two most popular free products I see people use.

The email address comes with a full 1 GB of storage space and is personalized to your domain name. The free hosting is ad supported and comes with all the features found in the Economy Hosting Plan.

This is awesome because if you’re new to blogging and not sure you want to stick with it, you can purchase a domain name for under $10 and you can test your skills at blogging when you’re on a tight budget (though $6.95/mo. for hosting won’t set you back much).

6. Blog Security Upgrades Offered

If you’re a WordPress blogger, wouldn’t it be nice if your hosting company had someone on staff who knew a thing or two about blogging and WordPress?

That’s why I’m here at WP Blog Host.

My job is to simply be a blogger and do all the things a WordPress blogger does. By doing exactly the kinds of things our customers do and go through, I learn… plain and simple. I then can pass on my experiences to our customers through my blog, social sites, other blogs, etc. in hopes that I can help them succeed in this venture we call blogging.

Now what other hosting company does that?

Oh right… blog security upgrades! I was getting to that.

Because I’ve been there done that in blogging and have gone through the horrible experience of having a website hacked and broken before, I’ve spent the last year learning how to better secure a WordPress blog from intruders.

I now provide two services for customers: 1) A very informative ebook called, WordPress Defender, which includes nearly 2 hours of videos detailing how to systematically secure your WordPress blog and 2) forget reading the book, hire me to do it for you.

Again, what other web hosting company does that for their WordPress customers?

7. Economical Monthly Web Hosting Pricing

There’s one thing which really upsets me in the web hosting field… it’s when I see companies advertising things like $6.95/mo. web hosting in big bold letters only to find out that customers can’t really pay month-to-month, they must pay semi annually or annually.

Grrr… that gets me going.

They’re advertising something in big bold letters which they don’t really offer… monthly hosting.

It’s just a ploy so they can advertise the “low cost” of hosting.

On the flip side,

WP Blog Host not only offers truly affordable low cost month-to-month hosting (starting at $6.95/mo.), but they go the extra mile to make sure their customers always feel safe spending their hard earned dollars with them.

I’m not just talking security, I’m talking about making sure their customer’s money never goes to waste (see #10 below for more details on that).

8. Very clean and simple to use File Manager

It’s no secret web hosts share the same bundles of software which they use to allow their customers to connect to things such as their File Manager, FTP accounts, databases, etc.

Many web hosts use the cPanel program for such services; however, we’ve found that many new bloggers find the cPanel program’s File Manager to be a bit confusing. Take a look at the comparison.

cPanel File Manager (more confusing)	WP Blog Host File Manager (simple)

To this day I still have customers who host with other companies ask me what the difference is between the WWW directory and the public_html.

WP Blog Host’s File Manager is very clear, easy, and simple to use and figure out.

9. WP Blog Host Really Cares About Their Customers

If I could sum up in 3 sentences what WP Blog Host is about, it’s…

Take care of the customer.
Take care of the customer.
Take care of the customer.

Of course they are a business and they need to make money to pay paychecks, lights, connectivity, etc., but their philosophy is that the best way to accomplish this is to focus on taking care of the customer.

If you focus on that, it’s only inevitable that money will follow.

I don’t work in the technical support department, but I know those are some of the nicest folks you will chat with and are very patient.

For me, I know I always try to take care of my fellow bloggers when they have questions, but when I know someone is a customer of WP Blog Host, I really try to go that extra mile when I can.

10. Web Hosting: You Only Pay for What You Use

How cool is this . . .

Let’s say instead of paying month-to-month for hosting you decide you want to pay for 1 year in advance (or any other number of years); however, after two months you decided “Ah, this really isn’t for me.”

All you’d need to do is call WP Blog Host’s tech department and let them know you wish to cancel your hosting and have the remaining 10 months you prepaid refunded back to you.

Done.

Just take care of the customer… it’s that simple.

Bonus Reason WP Blog Host is the Web Hosting Samurai – Backups!

Your website is safe and easily recoverable.

If you accidentally delete something from your website, or even worse crash it, fixing it is a snap.

WP Blog Host makes nightly backups of all hosting accounts and it’s easy for you to restore any part of your website back to 30 days prior. Just log into the File Manager, click the History button, and choose a date from which you’d like to restore a file, folder, or the entire site.

Now go get yourself a domain name and hosting account and start your website off with a web hosting company that kicks butt like a Samurai.

Increase Your WordPress Blog’s Security By Running It Through SSL

John Hoff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:49:13 +0000

SSL Certificate

I know, it sucks.

There are a ton of people out there with nothing better to do with their time than snoop around on the Internet watching for people who send login information, such as Usernames and Passwords, unsecured through the webs of the Internet.

Then when they capture someone’s login credentials, they take it upon themselves to easily log into the person’s account and fill it up with spam links and viruses.

Like I said, it sucks.

Unfortunately, it’s true and unless you take steps to protect what you’ve spend so many hours away from your family building, someone some day may take great pleasure in destroying. Even worse, they don’t even care that your website is what helps put food in your children’s mouths or collect donations to help fight cancer.

The worst part is many times they don’t even know who you are.

They use automated scripts/bots/spiders or whatever your choice term is for automated programs designed to sniff you, the unprotected WordPress users, out.

Where They Find Your Username & Password

As a web host, we have to deal with protecting customer Usernames and Passwords when they connect to their web hosting control panel, but when it comes to 3rd party programs like WordPress, it is up to the user to secure their program.

But that’s why I’m here, right?

When it comes to WordPress, there are 3 primary ways your Username and Password will be sent to your web hosting server unprotected:

When logging into WordPress
When changing passwords and/or adding new users to WordPress
Through your FTP connection (independent of WordPress)

In this article, we’ll discuss how to protect your Username and Password through SSL when logging into WordPress and doing things like adding new WordPress users and changing passwords.

In a follow-up article, we’ll discuss our FTP problem.

Encrypting Your WordPress Session

I know, no body wants to spend more money on something that doesn’t immediately get them a return on their investment.

But what does a business owner of a brick and mortar store think when she purchases a security system for their shop? That’s how you should think about your WordPress blog’s security.

The best way to encrypt your WordPress session is through SSL.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and basically what it does is allow for transfers of information over the Internet, such as your Username and Password, to be done in an encrypted manner.

You can buy one from our company by visiting our SSL Certificate page.

If you’ve ever purchased something online where you had to enter in a credit card number, chances are the web page you were on was encrypted with SSL. You can easily spot if this is so by looking up into the address bar and seeing if the web address starts with https:// as opposed to the standard http://.

The https:// means that when you fill in your name, address, credit card information, etc., it’ll all be transmitted over the Internet encrypted.

We can use this same method e-commerce sites use to encrypt our credit card information to encrypt our WordPress login information.

Setting Up SSL

To set up WordPress to work under SSL, you’ll need the following:

Your own domain name
Web hosting with WordPress installed
A dedicated IP address for your web hosting (purchased through your web hosting provider)
An SSL Certificate ($30/yr. if purchased from us)

Assuming you have your own domain name and WordPress blog already set up, the next thing you’ll need to do from the list above is purchase a dedicated IP address for your web hosting. To do that, you’ll need to contact your web hosting provider or visit their products page and purchase one.

Setting this up is easy. For the most part all you need to do is purchase it and tell it which domain name you want it applied to.

Once that is done, you’ll need to purchase an SSL Certificate. Some web hosts sell them while others do not. You can also find other companies that sell them, such as VeriSign; but in my experience, those companies are usually more expensive. Notice how they don’t even advertise the price on their landing page, you have to contact them for a quote.

How to install an SSL Certificate on your web hosting server is beyond what I want to get into in this article, but after you purchase one what happens is you will download the certificate and need to upload and install it on your web hosting account.

The process typically isn’t fun for those of you who think SSL was some kind of Saturday Night Live skit, but your web hosting company should help you get it installed. If not, tell them “Hey . . . thanks, buddy!”

The good news for WP Blog Host hosting customers is that we make this process very easy for you!

What else would you expect from a company whose target customers are newbie bloggers?

If you are a hosting customer of WP Blog Host, we will include free with your SSL Certificate (when purchased from us) a dedicated IP address and best of all, we’ll even install everything for you so your website is SSL ready.

All you’d need to do is wait for an email informing you everything is set up.

From that point, once you have managed to get your website SSL ready, you can move on to the next step and actually apply it to your WordPress admin area.

Setting Up WordPress To Use SSL

Now that you got SSL set up to work on your website (i.e. https:// is available), you can move on to the simple step of telling WordPress it can use SSL to log you into WordPress securely and encrypt the stuff you do from within your Dashboard (write posts, create users, change passwords, etc.).

Log into your web hosting control panel and head over to your File Manager.

From there, locate your wp-config.php file and open it up using your control panel’s file editor.

Once opened, paste this code anywhere inside it:

/* Force Login and Admin SSL */
define(‘FORCE_SSL_LOGIN’, true);
define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’, true);

Source: WordPress.org SSL

I know adding security to your blog is not fun, but it really is a necessity.

I think $29.99 a year for an SSL Certificate is money well spent. I know it might suck getting it set up (unless you’re a hosting customer of WP Blog Host), but once it’s done, it’s done – and you’ll be logging into your blog over an encrypted channel from now on.

You can see that I’m using SSL for this blog, just go up to the address bar and add a “s” to the http (i.e. https://wpbloghost.com/blog).

I don’t run my frontend encrypted because many of the images I have linked to are not https and would cause Internet Explorer to pop up a warning box to users which I feel might scare some of them away. It just tells them there are some items which are secure and some which aren’t (like pictures).

Questions:

Do you think your blog’s security is worth $30 a year?

How many of your are convinced this is something you really should do but in reality you probably will never get around to it?

UPDATE: I forgot to mention WP Blog Host is running a few promotional codes you can use when purchasing products. If you purchase an SSL Certificate, you can save 5% or more by using the promo codes below. Codes are good through Thanksgiving.

Promo Code	Description	Start Date	End Date
100CN15	15% discount off any order $100 or more	11/2/2009	11/27/2009
50CN10	10% discount off any order $50 or more	11/2/2009	11/27/2009
5NC25	5% discounts on orders $25 and over	11/2/2009	11/27/2009
Visit our Product Catalog to view all our hosting and domain products.

6 Things I Tell People Who Are Looking To Start A Blog

John Hoff — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:00:08 +0000

When thinking about starting a blog, you are sure to have a whirlwind of questions.

Here are a few tips I give to newbie bloggers when they’re just getting started. Please note that I have included a bunch of links in this article in case newbies are looking for more in depth discussions on the topics below.

1. What is it going to cost you?

Ok, I stoled this question from a buddy of mine, James Chartrand. I really like that question because as an experienced blogger it’s my responsibility to educate newbies as to just how much time and sacrifice goes into blogging. Blogging takes huge chunks of time away from your family life, personal time, and just about everything else.

2. Get a self-hosted WordPress blog as opposed to a free one.

I’d say this is probably the one I hear the most – “I want to start a blog but I’m not really sure if I’ll like it, so I’ll start out with a free blog and then purchase my own down the road.” It’s even worse when they tell me they want to start a business and they want to know where they can get a free blog.

I have way too many issues with this logic. Just thinking about it makes my toe hairs itch.

I mean, who builds a business, empire, or something else you plan to invest such a large amount of time in on something that is free and limited?

There are many advantages to a self-hosted WordPress blog and with our company you can start one for around $10 and then $10 a month (hosting and domain name). That’s a small price to pay for such a big investment. Many people say they want to “test” it out first before they spend lots of money. It really doesn’t cost that much.

Ok – like I said, I have way too many issues with going the free blog route. If this is what you’re considering, read these other articles for more information on why free blogs are a bad idea:

3. Choose the right hosting company for your needs.

A while back I wrote an article, How To Choose The Best WordPress Blog Hosting Company. In the article, I mentioned how you should pick a web host which is in line with your needs.

Do you need:

Phone support?
Someone there who knows about blogging?
Someone you can talk to when you have WordPress questions?
Do they provide services that allows you to grow if your blog becomes successful?

Also, don’t believe people how say you need cPanel with Fantastico if you plan to use WordPress. Someone somewhere started that nonsense. While Fantastico is a nice feature because it has an auto installer of WordPress, it’s not necessary because it’s not the only option for easy installs of WordPress.

Our company doesn’t use Fantastico, but take a look at the programs we offer which installs are as easy as giving usernames and passwords.

4. Focus what you write about and are you passionate about it?

Blogging is an on ongoing process. You might think you have a lot to say but trust me, it fades quickly. Imagine writing 3 articles a week for 5 years. Do you really have that much to say? Realize that the ongoing process is all about you learning and converting that knowledge into something useful for others.

To stay the course, make sure you’re really interested in that topic. That’s the key to longevity in blogging, if you ask me.

5. Why do you want to start a blog?

What’s the purpose? Is it to make money? Gain fame? Learn something?

You first have to understand what you want to get out of blogging; only then can you devise a plan to get you there. Work your plan backwards if you have to.

Also, realize that the goal of your blog may change down the road. That’s ok, but always remember why you are blogging and strive to reach that goal you’ve given yourself.

6. Try installing WordPress on your own.

If you plan to be a WordPress blogger, I suggest you try installing it on your own when you’re first starting out. Doing this will give you a jump start and insights into how WordPress is organized.

Got any other tips?

Share below.

UPDATE: Not sure why, but for some strange reason I forgot to mention blog security. I always urge new (and seasoned) bloggers to think about securing your blog. The easiest time to do security upgrades is when you first install your blog.

Though I stress this point, most people skip this step until they get hacked. It’s kind of like the person who never cares much about installing a home alarm system until after they get robbed.

So point 7 is think security.

1 Great Reason to Use blip.tv vs. YouTube for Videos

John Hoff — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:00:42 +0000

A few days ago I published a post, How To Install WordPress Manually and Why Beginners Should Do It. It was my first time using blip.tv to broadcast my videos and I have to say, I’m very pleased with the results.

The one great reason I think to use blip.tv to broadcast your videos over YouTube is video quality.

Basically, when you upload a video to blip.tv, it seems the video quality remains pretty much the same as what it looks like right after you record your video and watch it on your computer. When I upload videos to YouTube, on the other hand, I get a little loss in video quality.

Take a look. The two videos are the same videos I uploaded from my computer to both sites. You’ll notice in addition to a little better video quality, blip.tv did not resize my video when I copied and pasted in my embed code.

blip.tv version

YouTube version

YouTube does have one distinct advantage over blip.tv.

Can you guess what it is?

Popularity.

I’m sure more people will see my videos on YouTube than blip.tv simply because YouTube is so popular. So for now, I’ll upload my videos to both sites, but the ones you watch from my blog will be embedded from blip.tv.

Have you started video blogging (vlogging) yet? If not, you might want to consider it. I think we’re on the road to seeing a lot more of it.

WP Blog Host Domain, Blog Security, & Hosting Promotions – Get'em While Their Hot

John Hoff — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:07:47 +0000

I just wanted to let my blog readers know that WP Blog Host is running a number of promotions right now on domain names, package discounts, and blog security updates (security updates are done by me).

Some promotions expire and at different times, so if you see a promotion you like, check the promo’s expiration date.

1. Promotional Codes

Promo Code	Description	Start Date	End Date
100CN15	15% discount off any order $100 or more	6/21/2009	7/6/2009
50CN10	10% discount off any order $50 or more	6/21/2009	7/6/2009
5NC25	5% discounts on orders $25 and over	6/21/2009	7/6/2009
Visit our Product Catalog to view all our hosting and domain products.

Who doesn’t like promotional codes? These codes are good through the 4th of July weekend (2009) for any of our domain and hosting products. Great to use when you purchase web hosting annually.

2. $3.99 Domains with Purchase

Purchase any non-domain product from within our product catalog and register domain names at a discounted price of $3.99. Great if you’re looking to start an affiliate site or start a blog.

3. Register a .US tld for $7.99

This promotion was inspired by the upcoming 4th of July holiday. Register .us domain names for only $7.99. This promotion ends July 7, 2009 at midnight Pacific time.

4. FREE Private Registration with 5 or more domains

Register or transfer 5 or more domains with WP Blog Host and receive free private registration for those domain names. Note: Privacy must be added to the order in which the domains are purchased in order to qualify for the free offer (i.e. add private registration to the cart).

5. $1.99 .INFO tld Discount

Whether you want to promote information about your businesses, organizations or yourself, .INFO is a great way to create an identity on the Web. Get .INFO first year registration for just $1.99/yr (you save $8.00!).

6. 20% Off WordPress Security Upgrades

One of the services I provide here along with an associate are WordPress security upgrades to lockdown your WordPress installation some and help prevent malicious jerks crack into your blog. In my experience, many bloggers don’t think their blog is a target so they don’t worry about it. But they’re wrong.

Get 20% off (~~$49.95~~ $39.95) from now through the 4th of July weekend 2009.

Why Purchase From WP Blog Host?

If you’re not yet a WP Blog Host customer and you’re a blogger, here are some reasons why you might want to consider joining the club.

Full range of hosting and domain products you can grow with.
Live 24/7 phone and email technical support for our hosting and domain products. (480) 624-2500
Resident WordPress blogger (yup, that’s me) who helps customers when they need WordPress or blogging help.
We’re the coolest web host on the planet!

Fantastico & cPanel Are Not Your Only Options For Easy WordPress Installs

John Hoff — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:37:23 +0000

As a web host whose target market are WordPress bloggers, we are always monitoring the web for conversations relating to WordPress and web hosting.

One of the topics I see all around the web is how WordPress can be installed easily with Fantastico. And yes, in fact it can. However, just to set the record straight, if you’re looking to start a WordPress blog and someone tells you that you need to look for a web host that has cPanel and Fantastico, there’s no reason to listen to them.

Trust me, as a guy whose been online for a long time and knows a thing or two about web hosting, there is no reason to limit your options to web hosts which only match this criteria. There’s a lot more you need to consider and understand.

What is Fantastico?

Fantastico is bundled set of software which can be used to install several different applications to your web hosting account. One such program is WordPress.

Are There Issues with Fantastico and WordPress?

If you visit the WordPress Forums and do a search for problems with Fantastico, you’ll most definitely find a lot of people have problems using it to install and upgrade WordPress; however, I think using it to install WordPress isn’t too bad (you can do better), but using it to upgrade WordPress wouldn’t be something I’d do. For that, use the WordPress built-in auto upgrade feature.

Why You Might Not Want To Use Fantastico

Security

If you’ve read my blog for awhile now or you look up to our main menu, you’ll see one of the topics I’m constantly talking about is WordPress Security. One of the major problems with WordPress when it comes to security is that every default install looks exactly the same.

The primary folders start with wp-, your login page is located in the same place (directory-wise) as the next guy’s, your database table prefix is 9xek3pd_, etc. In other words, the default installation of WordPress is very “cookie-cutter”.

And how does Fantastico install WordPress? The cookie-cutter way.

You miss out on the learning experience

Another reason why you might not want to use Fantastico to install WordPress on your account is the learning experience you’ll miss out on. By installing WordPress yourself (it’s not difficult and I’m always here to help), you’ll learn a thing or two about the program you’ll be working with for many years to come.

It’s like my days back in college and the time when I took Calculus. We learned a very long and difficult way to do derivatives. I remember doing the homework and hating every second of the long drawn out process of figuring out the answer. Then the next day our instructor showed us a very simple and quick way to find the answer (instead of the long drawn out process). At first I hated the fact that he made us go through such a difficult process to find the answer when in fact there was a much easier way to do it.

But you know what? I learned something. I learned how and why the shortcut worked, which made me understand.

Now I’m not saying you should never use an easy installer to install WordPress. If you do, fine. But if you first experiment and try installing it on your own, you might find you are learning something.

Alternatives To Fantastico For Easy Installations

WP Blog Host’s Alternative

WpBlogHost does not use the script library Fantastico; instead, we use a bundle set of applications included free with all hosting accounts which allows you to easily install a number of programs (nearly identical to Fantastico). Of course, one of the programs you can easily install is WordPress.

The thing I like about our installer over Fantastico is the fact that your installation, although not 100% secure, installs a WordPress blog a little less cookie-cutter than Fantastico.

Elefante Installer

Some hosting companies use a program similar to Fantastico, called Elefante Scripts. It basically works the same.

EasyWP Install Script

Through my Google Alerts set up to notify me about things around the web on WordPress, I found a blog article called EasyWP – Install WordPress in Seconds! by a young web designer named, Joel Drapper. Thanks to Joel, I’ve learned there’s a program out there called EasyWP WordPress Installer.

The installer, though not as easy as Fantastico or our installer, can simplify the WordPress installation some. The one downside is you still have to create your own database, which in my experience is probably the most difficult part of installing WordPress people have. It’s actually not difficult, but since working with a database is foreign to most every day web users, this seems to be the part they hate dealing with.

My Take On Fantastico

If your web host has Fantastico, by all means use it to install WordPress if you don’t want to go through the learning experience of installing it yourself. But whatever you do, don’t let the fact if your web host uses Fantastico or not sway you from your decision on which web host to host your blog with.

Some companies, like ours, offer easy alternatives.

If you’re looking to start a WordPress blog and are trying to figure out which web host you should go with, check out my article on How To Choose The Best WordPress Blog Hosting Company.

SEO Q&A: Does It Matter Where My Website's Server Is Located?

John Hoff — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:00:21 +0000

The short answer is, yes, the physical location of the web server your website is hosted on can slightly determine how well your website will show up in search engine results.

Whoa, wait! Don’t go crazy and start changing your web hosting to other companies based on where their servers are located.

Here, let me explain.

Google Wants To Be Relevant & Knows Where You Live

When someone types a search query into Google, Google wants their search results to be more relevant to what you want and need than any of its competitors. One of the things Google will do (as do other search engines) is look up the IP address of the person who typed a search query in their Google Search.

Your IP address tells Google where your computer’s modem is located; say Las Vegas, NV USA.

What Google also knows and stores in its database are the locations (IP addresses) of web servers. That is, the computer which your website or blog sits on which your web hosting company uses, also connects to the Internet through a modem.

So just like your computer at home has its own IP address, so does the computer (or server) your website’s files are on.

What Google will do then, from my experience, is consider that if the Google user lives in Las Vegas and is searching for a landscape company, it will take into consideration a landscape company’s website which might be hosted on a server in the same city or surrounding area.

Now most of you who run a blog probably aren’t trying to geo-target your customers in one specific location down to which state they live in. You’re probably looking more at either targeting a specific country or anyone worldwide.

And if that’s the case, I’d suggest choosing your web hosting company based on things like the services and products they provide as well as other factors like pricing and technical support. I would, however, keep in mind that if my primary audience is located in a specific country, I would try to find a hosting company whose servers are located there. Not super important, but would be nice.

Of course if you plan to host a blog, you might want to take into consideration how well your hosting company knows things like blogging and WordPress so you can ask questions aside from the technical aspects of web hosting.

Conclusion

So to summarize, yes the geo-graphic location of the web server your site is hosted on has a small impact on how well your website will show in local returned search results. However, there are many other and more important factors to consider which might include your domain name, TLD, backlinks, and website content.

To illustrate, my family owns a local landscaping company here in Las Vegas. Our site is hosted on a server which is located in California. When I go to Google and type in Las Vegas Landscape Company, I find that we are in position #1.

We didn’t get to that position for Las Vegas Landscape Companies because of the geo-graphic location of our web server. In fact, our PageRank is only a whopping 1.

*Bonus Tip: If you plan to target your readers or customers by country location, you can tell Google where your customers are by using the Geographic Targeting option inside Google’s Webmaster Tools.

How To Choose The Best WordPress Blog Hosting Company

John Hoff — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:20:19 +0000

Note: Although our company is a web hosting company tailored around WordPress hosting, I will do my best to make sure this article remains unbiased (minus a few frustrations that mislead people) and will inform potentially new WordPress bloggers what to look for when searching for a web host to start a blog with.

Web Hosting Advertising Hooks, Claims & Sites You Should Beware Of

1. Ignore the word, *Unlimited*

This is the most common word you will see thrown out there in the hosting industry which will entice you to “buy from us.” Of course nothing in this world is infinite, except maybe our imaginations. However, don’t let this form of marketing scare you away and make you think web hosts are lying. They may indeed offer you unlimited, however what you don’t fully understand as a new user online is that other aspects of your hosting will probably cause your site issues before you ever actually reach the so called unlimited bounds (your CPU usage, for example).

If you’re new and just starting a blog, make sure to have at least 5 GB disk space and a couple hundred GB of monthly bandwidth or transfer. You won’t really need that much – by a long shot, however it gives you room to grow over the years.

2. False claims of monthly payment plans

Again, this one boils down to a marketing strategy, but I have to say, of all of them – this one really irritates me the most because it’s misleading to new bloggers and hosting customers. Being clear is great and to be honest, is what you really want; however, being clear isn’t always the best marketing strategy for business.

For example, there is a well known hosting company out there I know many bloggers host with. They advertise in large font “$6.95/mo. with Free Setup and No Hidden Fees.”

Come to find out, they don’t actually offer a monthly hosting payment plans – you have to pay for a number of months in advance at a time. That just makes my blood boil!

Ok, moving on . . .

3. So called “Hosting Review” Sites

As someone who is an experienced online entrepreneur and know a thing or two about making money online, this is another one that upsets me. You’ll recognize these sites as they are a dime a dozen. They’ll have headlines like:

Top 10 Best Hosting Sites
Best Hosting Reviews
…etc.

They will also likely feature a column or row of banners like you see to the right.

Realize This: 99.9% of these sites are only designed to make the website owner money, plain and simple. They don’t truly care about your well being and making sure you get what you really need; they just want you to click on one of the banners so they can earn some affiliate sales. It is more likely that the top host they rate as #1 is the one that pays out the highest affiliate commission sales rather than the one this person truly feels is the best hosting out there.

What you’ll also see on these “hosting review” sites are a lack of personal experience in working with the different listed web hosts. The site owners simply copy and paste from the hosting company’s website a list of features.

And if that’s not enough to make you scratch your head, consider this as well – how in the heck does some guy who lives who knows where and knows who knows what about WordPress knows what YOUR hosting needs are? What your passion is in? What you need help with?

They don’t. So don’t listen to them.

Ok, my heart is starting to pump just thinking about these guys making money off of you, so I better move on.

4. Cheap looking hosting sites

If the web host’s site looks like it was built by a teenager next door and/or on an extreme budget, they may be here in a year, and they may not be.

5. No phone technical support

6. Don’t get suckered in by specials

Special promotions are great and hey, we offer them from time to time, too. But don’t let that be the deciding factor on whether to buy or not. Special prices are usually only for a limited time. Don’t squabble over saving 5 or 10 bucks to host with a company who might not be the best fit for you.

What To Look For In A Web Host For WordPress

If you are new to the web hosting industry and product line, realize that just about every web host out there offers the same basic features. In choosing a web host to host your WordPress blog, much of what you will want to rely on are feedback from friends and other users, the list above of “what to be aware of”, and the overall feeling the web host’s words speak in understanding if they can help you ultimately achieve success in what it is you’re trying to do.

1. Do they know anything about WordPress or do they just provide web hosting?

This is one that most people miss. Think about it for a moment, would you hire a web designer who knows nothing about WordPress to build you a WordPress designed site?

Of course not. You’d hire a designer familiar with WordPress.

So why in the world then would you want to host your WordPress blog with a web host that knows very little about WordPress? Remember, a product for everyone is a product for no one. The best products out there alienate lots of people but highly focus in on helping a select crowd.

Basically, look for high value while getting a good price.

2. Monthly payment options

Watch out with this one, many companies advertise $$/mo. in big font but in reality don’t offer monthly pricing. That was just a breakdown of the price if it were paid monthly.

3. Services that allow your blog to grow over time

As time goes on, your blog may begin to grow and gain tons of traffic. It would be nice if you had a web host who could provide multiple hosting and domain options for you when that time comes (e.g. virtual and dedicated hosting, domain forwarding, etc.).

4. Hosting allows for .htaccess files

Most hosting companies these days allow your website to have a .htaccess file. If, however, after signing up with them you find out they do not, jump ship! You need this file as a WordPress blogger.

5. Testimonials are always a good thing

6. Do they offer WordPress related services?

Blog design? Security enhancements? Ability to fix your broken blog for you?

No, these aren’t typical web hosting tools, but it would be nice if you could get everything you need from one convenient place.

7. Easy installs of WordPress

8. Help tutorials for using WordPress with their hosting

WordPress is a great community and you can find a lot of help online, but it sure is nice if the help you can find shows you step by step what you need to do and where to click using your hosting company’s exact control panel and services. If you’re new to WordPress and hosting, this will help immensely.

9. Linux web hosting

WordPress can be used with both Windows and Linux web hosting; however, you’ll soon find there’s a lot more help out there for those of you on Linux servers as that is the most common kind of hosting. If you have the option to choose and you have no specific reason to go with Windows hosting, we suggest Linux.

Your turn to share. What suggestions might you have for new WordPress bloggers looking for web hosting?