Every New Year’s people set resolutions…but rarely do they follow-through beyond a couple of weeks (or less!).

Sometimes it’s because they aren’t really committed, but more often, it’s because they don’t have a system in place that makes it EASY.

That’s because of The Law of New Year’s Resolutions

The more you have to DO to keep a resolution,
the less likely you are to keep it.

That’s all well and good for some things, but not when it comes to your WordPress website.

So…I want to invite you to set one, simple New Year’s Resolution -

To back up all your websites on a frequent and consistent basis.

That would be a nuisance if you had to ftp your entire site once a day or week – and even worse if you had to rely on yourself to remember to do it, right?

Me, too. Although that is what I relied on for a long time. It wasn’t pretty!

Now I recommend – and use – BackupBuddy, the 3-in-1 plugin from PluginBuddy.
It does all that for you – making it much more simple to keep this critical New Year’s Resolution. I like to make things easy…hence the reason I like it so much.

And to make it even easier to keep your resolution, the company is offering 25% off through January 31st. That’s pretty awesome.

BackupBuddy:
(Use the coupon code: RESOLVE2011)

The team at PluginBuddy isn’t doing this just to get you to buy it…though of course I’m sure they’d like it.

They are actually doing it to get you to do what you know you need to do anyway – back up your site frequently and consistently.

They know what happens when you don’t…and would rather you not have to go through what they went through.

BackupBuddy is an all-in-one solution to backup, restore, and even migrate your entire website. You can even choose where you want the backup to be sent – to your server, Amazon S3, FTP accounts, or to you and your team by email.

For an overview – and to see it in action, go to the dedicated website.

Remember to use the coupon code RESOLVE2011 for your 25% discount – available through January 31^st.

Yes, I do work with PluginBuddy and help them promote their products, but I couldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in how good they are. I’ve met these guys personally, have visited their offices in Oklahoma City, and have picked their brains halfway to Tuesday. They know their stuff – and they are known for World-Class customer service.

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The More Tag is a great way to keep your blog looking fresh and crisp.

It’s important that your blog be as reader-friendly as possible. You want people to find the information they are looking for quickly. That means not overwhelming the reader by forcing them to scroll forever just to get to your next post. The purpose of the non-single-post pages (such as the main blog page, categories page, etc.) is to give the reader a quick overview of the posts so they can select which one(s) they want to read in full.

It usually looks something like this, though you will see it customized any number of different ways.

(Note, this is a graphic of what it looks like, not an actual link to read more.)

The More tag is used to provide an intro to your blog post on your primary blog page or archive pages. It’s a great tool because it allows you to display multiple posts on your blog page without forcing the reader into “scroll” mode.

You’ll find the icon/command for the More Tag on your editor.

(My editor window may look different than yours due to the WP Super Edit plug-in I use.)

To insert the More Tag, simply write your post, then place your cursor where you want the “excerpt” to end so people can click to read more, then click the icon pointed out above.

Keep in mind, you want the opening section of your blog post to be as exciting and enticing as possible so that people will, in fact, be motivated to read the rest of the post. In other words, write your post to lead into the More Tag.

If the phrase “Read More” just isn’t exciting enough, or you want to have a different word or phrase in a particular post, editing the More Tag is quite simple.

First, insert the More Tag following the instructions above.
Then, switch from “Visual” view to “HTML” view in your edit. (You’ll find these tabs at the top right of your editor area.)

Look for the code that looks like this:

Then change it using your custom text so it looks like this (inserting your own custom text where it says “Your custom text”):

This is the easiest way to change the More Tag on a per-post basis.

If you want to use a specific phrase on ALL your posts – meaning it will be a site-wide change – you can change the settings of the More Tag in your theme files.

You can also add images to the More Tag, or simply use an image for the whole thing.

Word of caution, though: Changing the More Tag on a site-wide basis can be a bit tricky because you may have to replace it in several places, and every theme is different. You may also be able to add a hook to your function.php file.

If you aren’t familiar with editing your theme files, your best bet is to have someone do this for you.

If you want to try it out yourself, contact the support forum for the theme you are using to learn exactly where you need to change it. You may also want to view the information in the WordPress Codex on the More Tag.

And, as always, make sure you make a copy of any and all theme files before you start modifying. Otherwise it can turn into quite the nasty mess. [superemotions file="icon_cry.gif" title="Crying"]

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What’s the big deal with being hacked?

It’s more than just an annoyance.

Among other things, a hacker can  insert spam links and keywords on your site that will be invisible to you, but major red flags for search engines. When Google finds a site with this content, they drop if from their search engines…along with any ranking you’ve built up.

This slideshow, from Brad Williams of WebDevStudios, is a top-notch training on what to look for (how to recognize if your site has been hacked), how to evaluate the “hackability” of your site, and how to fix any damage that gets done.
(You’ll probably want to click on the menu button – bottom left – and select “view full screen”.)

Let me know your thoughts. And, of course, let me know if you want help with any of this.   [superemotions file="icon_exclaim.gif" title="Exclaimaition Mark"]

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WordPress 3.0 is live and rarin’ to go!

If you’ve been a bit out of the loop, here’s a post I wrote about some of the cool new stuff coming in 3.0.

And of course you’ll want to be ready for it – so make sure you take a look at the tips I gave for preparing for the transition.  Specifically I recommended using a plugin that helps with the backup process, so you won’t lose any valuable info if things go a wee bit kaflooey.

You’ll probably want to take a look at the official release announcement for a thorough understanding.  There is a video from Matt Mullenweg giving a “State of the Word” address, so you can understand where this release fits into the history. You might think that would be too geeky, but truthfully it is really fascinating, particularly given this is all done via open source, with volunteers. Pretty impressive.

And if you’re impressed, and grateful, that you get to use such impressive and constantly improving software for free, consider a donation to the WordPress Foundation.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the newest features and functions of WordPress 3.0.
If you have any questions, please let me know.

Oh, and if you are using the themes I recommend, from iThemes, or any of their plugins, you are good to go for 3.0.  [superemotions file="icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"]

Here’s the video:

Let me know what you think!

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready for WordPress 3.0?
2. Cool changes coming with WordPress 3.0

Actually, WordPress 3.0 will be super-exciting and I can’t wait for it to get here. There are some major changes that will make it easier for the average WordPress user to modify their sites, but if you generally aren’t an “early adopter”, then you may want to wait for the first revisions to 3.0. It has gone through painstaking testing, but once it is out among the millions of users, there are sure to be a few glitches found.

So what do you need to do to get ready prior to WordPress 3.0 being released?

First, if you are not already updated to version 2.9.2, then update lickety-split. (By the way, if you are not using 2.9.2, the latest version that was released 4 months ago, then you are most definitely not an “early adopter”.) While not all hosting companies will make 3.0 immediately available, you want to be in control of what version you upgrade to when. If you make sure you are on 2.9.2 now, you won’t have to worry about jumping from 2.5 to 3.0.)

Second, update all your plug-ins – even the ones that you currently have deactivated. There’s always the chance that you could run into a snag updating your plug-in after 3.0 comes out. If you update now (as in asap), you can rest assured that you have the latest version that works with version 2.9.2.

And third – as always, make sure you are backup your site on a regular basis.
But not just the database – which only includes pages, posts, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags – you also want to back up all your site files on the server.
(For just the database, log into your dashboard, then go to Tools>Export. You will save the export file to your hard drive.)

To back up your entire site, some hosts, like hostgator, have a wizard to walk you through the process in the admin panel (cpanel) – remember you’ll be saving the backup to your hard drive, so remember where you save it.

Or you can use a plug-in like BackUp Buddy.

If you take care of at least those three tasks, you’ll be sitting pretty when 3.01 comes out. [superemotions file="icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"]

Curious about what’s coming? Read about some of the changes with WordPress 3.0 in this post I wrote, or check out  WordPress.org.

Related posts:

1. Are you ready for WordPress 3.2?
2. It’s Alive It’s Alive!…WordPress 3.0 is here
3. Cool changes coming with WordPress 3.0

This is a major update to WordPress software, full of lots of exciting changes. Some of the changes are more exciting to developers and designers than anyone else, but there are some that the average user will be thrilled with right away. (Plus you’ll be thrilled with what the developers find exciting, too, because it means they can do that much more for you!)

• a very cool drag and drop menu feature (like on the widget management page) based on the navigation styling from Woo Themes. Not only will it make it easier for you to order what goes where on your menu, you’ll be able to easily combine pages, categories, and even specific posts or other links, on the menu. So if you wanted a link to BasicBlogSetup.com to show up on your site’s navigation bar, you could do it in a snap!
• a new default theme – “Twenty Ten” – way more fun than the Kubrick and Class you’re used to.
• custom background support – so with a teensy addition to the code to the default theme, you’ll be able to upload your own custom background. (Some themes, like many of the iThemes, already have this. But for people using the default theme – and others that support this function – this will be huge.)
• author specific templates – so not everything has to look the same.
• new support for child themes, which may not be relevant for everyone, but will be if you are using a theme like Builder.
• and a Welcome Guide to help users get familiar with WordPress. That should make many new users very, very happy.

There are some other new features, such as the ability to host multiple sites on one installation (sort of like WordPress.com does – there are thousands of sites, all on the same domain, WordPress.com) and Custom Post Types, but the average user won’t get going with these right away.

Release of WordPress 3.0 is anticipated in mid-June, which means any day now! Look for my post this afternoon on how to get ready!

Let me know if you have any questions or need help getting ready.

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready for WordPress 3.0?
2. It’s Alive It’s Alive!…WordPress 3.0 is here