Has it ever happened to you? You log on to your blog only to find some sort of error on the page where your beautiful creation should be? If you’re on a cheap web host, and let’s face, a great many of us are, then you will want to take precautions to back your blog up. There will be nothing worse than facing the day when you experience data loss and your host is very apologetic, but can’t do anything to help you.

If you haven’t thought about blog backup, then start thinking about it now with these easy pointers, because if you aren’t backed up then you could lose out on some serious money:

• Plugins are your friend: There are a number of plugins designed for Wordpress that specifically deal with backing up your blog. Use these plugins, as they often allow you to work without having to use a PHPMyAdmin. The Wordpress Database Backup plugin is easy to use. Just install it like any other plugin and then use it via the “Manage” tab on your dashboard. This will back up your posts, comments, categories, and so on, but it won’t back up your pictures and themes.
• Backup everything: Most hosting services have an option that allows you to back up all your files. If you’re using cPanel then it’s simply a case of hitting “Backup” and waiting for the file. Once you’ve got the file on your server, you’ll be needing an FTP client.
• FTP: FTP clients are incredibly useful tools that allow you to move the files of websites you have access to. With an FTP client you can move files between your hard drive and your website. I use the open source FTP client Filezilla. It’s easy to use. Once you have it installed, fire it up and enter:
• Address: yourblog.com
• User: the name you use to access your domain
• Password: the domain password
• Port: enter “21”
• Now you can access your backup file and drop it into your hard drive. An FTP client is also useful if your host does not provide you with some sort of control panel.
• Backing up using PHPMyAdmin: When you access PHPMyAdmin you ought to check if any of your databases have overhead, or else they might stop working. If any of them have overhead then select the appropriate check boxes before selecting “Repair table” from the dropdown menu. That’s one problem taken care of.
• Click this, check that: To backup a database, click “Export”. Highlight the “WP” files and check “Add DROP TABLE” and “Complete inserts”. Then check “Save as file” and “None” for compression. Click “Go” and save away. Easy. Some blogs have problems running the Wordpress Database Backup plugin, so you may have to use PHPMyAdmin.

So… back up, back up and back up.

Tags: Bloggers starting by Angel
1 Comment »

Have you ever thought about the relationship you have with a blogger as a reader? I’m not talking any sort of real world encounter, but about the emotional attachment and one-way connection you build up with your favorite bloggers. What is it about them that makes you like them?

Everybody wants to be adored

The blogosphere is such a shallow and fickle place because everybody wants to be loved. There is a kind of false friendship that exists between all bloggers and their readers. If this were the real world, there would be some serious bitching going on about who keeps and real and who doesn’t.

When you blog, whether you like it or not, you project a persona out into the world. Your online persona is a reflection of everything you think is ideal in a blogger. You want your readers to think they are your friends, and you want everyone to “like” you. I’m sometimes disgusted by the incredibly lame comments people leave on other people’s blogs; I’ve been guilty of leaving a few myself. Everybody has to be friends, because making enemies in the blogosphere is unwise unless you can roll with the punches.

So how do you get people to like you? From studying a number of blogs I’ve come up with a few ideas:

• Write with an authoritative voice: What this means is that you need to assert yourself and make it clear to your readers that you know what you are talking about. Even if what you write turns out to be wrong, write everything in a manner that shows you believe it to be true. Research your facts too. Most people are quite naïve when they read a blog and will take whatever is presented to them without challenging it. When you do get challenged, you’ll have some good discussions to get in to.
• Be successful: A successful blog makes you the envy of everyone with less success than yourself. If people think you are good at what you do, then they will keep coming back for more. If you aren’t successful, then you can at least write like you are successful by being sure of yourself.
• Give your readers something: This is fundamental for achieving success as a blogger, and it works on a number of levels. By giving something to your readers, they benefit and will want to give something back to you: loyalty. Give useful, clear content. Give away prizes in contests. Give your readers something they can’t get anywhere else.
• Have a sense of humor: One major turn off for me as a reader is reading a blog that is strictly business. I link to her often, but Kumiko is a prime offender of this. When she writes, it’s not always fun to read. She might argue that only serious bloggers make money, but when I read a blog I want to establish some sort of connection with the author; I want to see that they are human. One of the best ways to do this is by the use of pictures of yourself.

One extreme way to make people like you is to offer them something similar to what a lottery ticket offers. By having blog contests with ridiculously huge prizes, you not only generate interest, but people will be impressed with your generosity. Conversely you can come across as a bit desperate, like Ashwin Khanna does with his $2,500 giveaway, but what he’s done is so simple that he will surely benefit in the long run. People are commenting on his blog saying how much the money would mean to them and their families. Ashwin has hit people’s emotions, including mine, hence my entry into his contest.

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

What do you think? What makes you like a blogger?

Trust: For the truth about Ashwin’s content, see this post.

Tags: Tips and tricks by Angel
2 Comments »

It’s always a shame to see a good blog go down. Desi Baba has succumbed to the real world and sold his blog. After making more than $1,000 from Adsense in recent months, Desi’s blog became just too much work and he put it up for auction.

I made a couple of bids on the blog and went all the way up to $240, which I thought would have been a good investment, but once the bids got higher I wasn’t prepared to big because there weren’t enough stats available and I noticed that Kumiko wasn’t bidding, so I followed her lead. For a start, the task of taking over a popular blog, especially one that was in decline, is not going to be easy.

The blog was eventually bought for $420 by Vinay Kumar, a 30-year-old Indian chap living in Dubai. Vinay has been blogging on his own blog for a couple of years, but I don’t see much evidence of any solid game plans to blog for money.

Moving on

Ever since Desi announced he was selling the blog I was thinking of what I could have done with it if I had made the winning bid. How could you possibly take a blog molded around a person and make it your own? I came up with a few pointers:

• Carry on as usual: This would have been my first priority, and this is what I recommend Vinay to do. Desi has built up a great blog, Page Rank 4, more than 100 RSS subscribers, a Technorati ranking of about 15,000, and tons of good, quality content. People liked the blog, so carrying that on seems like a good idea.
• Aiming for a smooth takeover: As soon as I would have got that blog I would have made a big announcement that I was the new owner and changed some of the graphics and layout to reflect that. Vinay is going to want people to warm to him, and fast!
• Start adding content right away: Desi has been out of action for more than a week. His blog has suffered. The damage is reparable but it needs fast action to minimize the workload.

What would you have done with the blog, and do you think it was worth $420? It’s not a guaranteed money spinner, but there is potential there. I just hope that the domain does not go to waste.

Tags: Around the web by Angel
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