Backing Up Your Blog
Many people self-host their blogs and build their websites around the WordPress platform. But what would happen if your web hosting company’s computers had a meltdown. Yes, they probably have back-ups, but how long would it take to get your website back up? I thought about this the other day when speaking to the company that hosts my primeadminsolutions.com domain. They are moving to a new cloud system and offered to move my account over to it (eventually they determined they couldn’t as it didn’t support Dot Net Nuke). I asked if the new system was so great, why not just migrate everyone and the answer was it would take a lot of time, it was easier to do a few thousand at a time. This concerned me as to how long it would take to get everyone back up and running if they had a serious meltdown.
Server meltdowns are not the only threat. Last year I knew one person who had their WordPress site hacked and her site was down for a while while she reinstalled and re-did the site. There was a rash of WordPress sites getting hacked around that time.
Another instance to backup your site is before you make any major changes to it. Upgrading to a new version of WordPress? Backup just in case. Accidents can happen. If you upgrade your WordPress and destroy your database in the process, you may incur charges from your hosting company to retrieve your data from their backups and reinstall.
The answer is to back up your own files. If you have a C-Panel on your account with a backup utility, it’s easy. You just run the utility and you get a zip file that you can download to your computer to keep in your back pocket, just in case. If your web hosting company doesn’t have a one click backup utility, simply copy all of your files (or zip and download if the option exists) to a directory on your hard drive. If you are using WordPress please remember to copy over your database too.
Below is a video that shows how to back up your WordPress database from within WordPress by using a plug in. I haven’t used this yet, so I can’t advise how effective it is, but it would be worth a try. I plan to install it and run it but I am also going to use the backup program on my C-Panel, just to be on the safe side.
An ounce of prevention is a very good thing.
Making a small world smaller
It never fails to amaze me with how the universe can send the right people into your life at the right time. Last year I took VA Classroom’s social media marketing specialist program and really enjoyed it. When VA Classroom offered an updated version for 2010 I signed up immediately. I wanted to learn more about what was new in the industry.
The requirement for completing the course was to create a social media marketing program for a business.
During the course I connected with a lady by the name of Lori Shandle-Fox on Linked In. She has written a fascinating book and is hoping to get it published – it will be the first of a fascinating series of books. Honestly, I can see it as a reality show. She had questions about WordPress, should she self-host or use WordPress’ site. Many people answered her question and she ultimately decided to self host. She then asked questions about themes, customizing them, etc. and again I offered by two cents. Over the course of emails we developed a relationship which ultimately led to a phone conversation. We bonded over the fact that she is a stand up comic and I am a comedy fanatic.
I felt comfortable enough with Lori to offer to do a social media plan to get reader interest, develop a following to hopefully attract the right attention that someone will publish it for her and generate pre-orders for book sales (whether she self-published or worked with a publisher). I told her it was a win-win for both of us; she’d get a social media marketing plan and I have a juicy subject for my VA Classroom assignment.
This morning I received word from Craig Cannings of VA Classroom that I successfully completed the assignment and passed the course. This has led me to definitely decide that I want to market my social media services to authors. Why? Their work is fascinating. I’m a fledgling author, working on my first novel and I love reading. So as they say in the networking world, “you never know who anyone else knows”, if you know authors who would like a social media action plan set up and implemented, please pass my website URL along to them.
I absolutely love how the social networking world has made a small world smaller and how it brings people together and removes boundaries. Craig Cannings of VA Classroom is in British Columbia, Canada. Lori is in Raleigh, NC and I’m in Ontario. Amazing, isn’t it?
Check out: http://www.vaclassroom.com and http://www.laughingISconceivable.com (content coming soon)
Social Media is local too!
When bricks and mortar businesses think of social media, they don’t see the value in it to them. If you have a restaurant, store or hair salon, social media is low cost way for you to engage current or prospective customers.
Local social networking sites such as www.foursquare.com provide a way for people to interact with you and review your product or service. Twitter users number over 75 million people. Facebook has recently outstripped Google as the place people go to find information. Facebook is growing by 500,000 users per day.
Why not engage customers before they patronize your business. It’s a great couponing opportunity without having to spend the money to print and mail out coupons. It’s a way to engage people before they come to your business, let them see your personality and if you have something in common, people will want to do business with you. For example, I’m a dog lover. Everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely adore my dogs. I am much more likely to do business with someone who is also into dogs. I did a website for a realtor (www.duncanmcleod.ca) who has a passion for golf. We designed his theme around golf – every realtor sells houses, many realtors have the typical pictures of houses on their websites, his website will hopefully engage people who love golf. We did the same thing when we set up his Twitter account (www.twitter.com/DuncMcleod).
Search engines are picking up interaction on social media sites. A good comment about your product or service will be picked up in Twitter searches (so will bad ones). What people tweet is out of your control, but being connected in social media will help you handle any bad reviews or issues and take control of the situation. If someone tweets negatively about your service, you can do something to try and make the situation right and turn the situation around.
A really good example of someone using social media to build her brand and business is Kerri Lee of Lee Middleton Gourmet Tea (http://www.completelytea.com). She and I connected on Twitter. She had some really good information on tea and she is now our tea supplier. Just this morning I left for a networking meeting and left a cheque in the mailbox and when got home, the tea was here, as promised. If we were not using social media, she would not have found me as a customer and I wouldn’t have found her as a supplier!
A pizza restaurant in Milwaukee, AJ Bomber’s used Twitter to build their business. The following video is an example of how social media can help build your business.
If you need help establishing a social media presence for your business, contact me today. I’d love to help you get connected!
Are you promoting your use of social media?
I have two questions for you.
- Are you using social media sites such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter?
- Are you letting customers and prospects know that you are using social media?
If you answered yes to question one and no to question 2, my next question is, why not?
I recently received a directmail piece in the mail from the store, Winners. On the back of the flyer was a little Facebook logo inviting consumers to follow them. This is a great idea – it’s a perfect way for Winners to keep people up to date on what is happening in their stores.
So if you are connected with Social Media, shout it out to the world, let everyone know. If you have a Facebook fan/business page, invite your customers to become fans. If you are on Twitter, ask your customers to follow you and follow them back. Keeping conversations going is a great way to keep you top of mind to your customers.
You can find me on:
See you in the Twitterverse!
5 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Consultants
Whether you are a marketing consultant, a manager consultant, business consultant or market research consultant, a virtual assistant should be an integral part of your business. My accountant has a saying, “stick to the knitting”; in other words, do the parts of the job that you make the most money at and delegate the other stuff.
Here are some ways that a virtual assistant can help you:
1. Document formatting
If you work on a hourly billable basis, drafting a document and having your virtual assistant format it for you allows you to move on to other financially lucrative work.
2. Contact Management
Give your business cards to your Virtual Assistant to enter into your contact management database. Consider using an online service such as Zoho CRM, Sugar CRM or SalesForce.
3. Meeting Prep
Your Virtual Assistant can help with reservations, room bookings, catering orders as well as meeting materials. Your VA can coordinate back pre-work (if necessary), preparing name tags, agendas, tent cards, evaluation forms and other documentation.
4. Après Meeting
Your VA can take the flip charts from your meeting and transcribe them into a Word, Excel or Mind Manager document. Do you have meeting participants fill out evaluation sheets? Give them to your Virtual Assistant to compile and prepare a quantitative and qualitative report. Was the meeting recorded on tape or digitally? Again, your Virtual Assistant can transcribe this for you into a form you and your clients can work with. Take a FedEx, UPS or Purolator waybill addressed to your VA along with packaging material to your meeting. After the meeting package everything up and drop the package off at a courier drop off location (for example, Staples) on your way home and have it shipped to your virtual assistant.
5. Invoicing
Your VA can prepare your invoices and send them to your clients on your behalf as well as following up on unpaid invoices.
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