Check out the Theme Test Drive plugin from Vladimir Prelovac. This allows you the blog administrator to give a trial run for any theme while your users view your normal site.  If the theme has special configuration options, you can play with those as well. Now you can test drive that fancy new WordPress theme safely and easily, without a lot of work or a loss of sleep.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-test-drive/

My initial thought was to set up an FTP script to do this. However, this would not get any of the mysql databases. What about e-mail account settings, defined sub-domains, and other settings for which I have no record? If I had an account go belly up, I was sunk to remember all of that.

I knew there had to be an easier way to tackle this problem. After a few quick searches, I found a php script that would do a full cpanel backup, and FTP it to the location of your choice. The script can be found here. To set this up, it requires editing the file with your cpanel and FTP credentials, as well as a knowledge of using your cpanel to schedule a cron job (basic instructions for this are in the linked article). Don’t store this file in your public_html folder, as it will contain credentials you don’t want to have compromised.

After discovering this great solution, I ran into another problem: how do I address a growing number of these backups I will have created with ease? I only needed to keep a week of any given site’s backup files. After more searching, I was able to piece together my own script to traverse a directory and delete any files over seven days old (today plus six days):

<?php

//Calls function to traverse the given directory,
//then run the delfile function on any files found

dirtree (“/home/myroot/mybackupfolder”, delfile, array (“date” => date( strtotime(“-6 days”))));

function dirtree ($root, $callback, $params)
{
if (!is_dir ($root.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR)){
return false; // root directory doesn’t exist
}
$d = dir ($root.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
while (false !== ($entry = $d->read ()))
{

$path = $root.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$entry;
//If it is a folder, recursively call the function again,
//else if a file AND if it ends in file extension gz,
//call the delfile function
if (is_dir ($path) && $entry != “.” && $entry != “..”)
dirtree ($path, $callback, $params);
else if (is_file ($path) && (substr($path , strrpos($path , ‘.’) +1) == “gz”))
$callback ($path, $params);

}
$d->close ();
}

function delfile ($fn, $params)
{
$ft = strtotime (date (“m/d/Y”, filemtime ($fn)));
// delete files on or before the date parameter
if ($ft <= $params['date'])
unlink ($fn);
}

?>

Put this code in a file, modify it to fit your own needs, schedule it with a cron job as well, and you now have a web content backup solution that will maintenance itself.

I chose the iShowU HD Pro version, primarily because of the watermarking feature, as well as the ability to record keystrokes on the screen. Those features work well, and the video quality turned out well. I have noticed a few issues with this software, specifically with using the Presets feature – a way to save different setting groups. A quick look in the support forum revealed to me that that Neil (the developer) was aware of the problems, and correcting them for a later release.

The second is Stomp. It’s purpose in life is to make video smaller. So if it’s a recording from iShowU or any other video you have lying about – then Stomp can be used to crop it, scale it, clip parts out and also perform a myriad of color corrections and filters.

Stomp did exactly what I would expect it to do. I have only needed to use it a handful of times, and its flexibility in settings as well as its quality output made me glad I had purchased this software as part of the bundle.

Both of these items are available from shinywhitebox in a demo form that is fully functional. The only restriction to the demo version is that watermarks are added to the videos, but at least you can get a feel for what the applications can do. Don’t purchase one without trying out both, since they have bundle packages available to save you some money. Check out both of these at shinywhitebox.com.

• permalinks
• blogrolling
• pinging

However, even with these and other features, you can do things that will help (or possibly hurt) the ability for search engines to crawl your WordPress site.  Here are some things to consider.

Use a clean, solid template

If your code has errors, then search engines won’t be able to crawl your site effectively. Make certain that you validate your template’s HTML code using an online HTML validator, and your CSS file as well. You should re-validate your code whenever you enable a new plug-in, since most plug-ins add HTML code to your web site.

Cream rises to the top

Make certain your theme places page and post content close to the top of the unstyled page. Search engines don’t care about the style of your site, and many search engines scan the first third of your page before continuing to other pages. Verify your theme places your content close to the top of the page.

Content is king

Quality word content is what search engines need to index your web site. What search terms do you anticipate people using to find your site, your pages, and your posts? Keep these in mind when writing your content. Also, keep in mind that your content is what search engines are reading, not the template design.

Link and image content

When you add links and images, are you setting the Alt and Title tags? Search engines are not looking at your images, but they will see the alternate text settings. Make certain you are setting these fields on your links and images in your content.

Meta tags

Metadata is defined as “data about other data.” Meta tags are metadata about your web site. Settings your meta tags gives you a bit of control on how search engines describe your web site. Setting the Description meta tag is key for this. The Page Title is another bit of data that search engines will index. For an all-encompasing plug-in to control your meta tag information, check out my favorite — Headspace2.

Permalinks

Your web site can get an extra boost in search engine results by enabling Permalinks in WordPress. Permalinks will make the URL to your pages and posts more descriptive to users, easier to crawl by search engines, and, with some creativity, can give you extra search terms to match in search results.

Conclusion

WordPress has some great built-in tools for making your blog “friendly” to search engines. How you use your blog can help or hinder your blog site getting crawled. Make good decisions with the ideas mentioned in mind, and enjoy your blog site!

Note: If you are just getting started with WordPress for your business, I recommend reading the following book: Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business

Have an idea for a Zen Cart video demonstration?  Contact us!

• Support for many different video sources — YouTube, Godtube, Google Video, Viddler, Blip.tv, and many more
• Centrally control the size of all embedded video windows
• Embed Windows Media and Apple Quicktime videos
• Use the ID of the video instead of insert code

I have been testing out this plug-in and really like it. I will start using it in new posts later this week.

Note: If you are just getting started with WordPress for your business, I recommend reading the following book: Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business

Usually, U.S. retailers earn 20-80% of their entire yearly gross during the holiday season. But this year, things are different. The sluggish US economy has prompted Deloitte Research’s Carl Steidtmann to fear “the worst Christmas ever” in the retail sector.

Short of going door to door in a Santa suit, how can businesses increase profits and prevent a blue Christmas? Despite economic gloom, industry leaders have found that an e-mail follow up strategy can increase sales by a cheery 35%! To weather the ailing economy, use a follow up autoresponder during your holiday campaigns.

What Does It Do?

Follow up autoresponders follow up with your leads for you. You create a series of messages, and decide when they should be sent, (daily, weekly, etc.). Your autoresponder will send the messages to each new lead automatically. With no further intervention from you, your leads will remember you throughout the winter chill. And this regular reminding will mean more sales during the all-important holiday shopping season.

Give yourself the gift of a higher conversion rate! Follow up automatically using these simple steps:

• Offer Useful Information
• Personalize Your Messages
• Track Your Leads
• Broadcast Tailor-Made Offers

Offer Useful Information

Write your follow up messages for your leads – not for yourself. You want to talk about your great service, but your leads just want to know what they’ll get out of it!

At some point, you must have purchased something like your product. What were you looking for then? Was it information about pricing, styles, or holiday gift wrapping? Maybe just a clearer explanation of the product? Figure that out, and put the answer in your follow up messages. That’s what your leads want to know.

Personalize Your Messages

You don’t open postal mail addressed to “Current Resident”, and your leads aren’t going to read e-mail addressed to “Dear Internet Friend.” People are simply more likely to read messages that address them by name.

Autoresponders let you use variables to personalize your messages. This way, you write just one message, but Lenny Lead reads “Happy Holidays, Lenny!” while Kate Customer reads “Happy Holidays, Kate!”

Names are only the beginning of the personalization features available, though. In addition to full, first, and last names, some autoresponders let you add e-mail addresses, dates, or an ad category. The best even correct the capitalization in your leads’ names, giving your messages a much more professional look.

Track Your Leads

Get even better results from your snowballing list of leads by experimenting with follow up content and timing. Your experimentation will be much more successful if you have access to proper statistics.

Only use a follow up autoresponder that offers detailed lead statistics. Look for live, graphical stats that show your incoming leads broken down by day / week / month, all of your active leads, and leads who have requested removal from your list.

Broadcast Tailor-Made Offers

To get more bang for your holiday buck, look for an autoresponder that also lets you broadcast extra e-mails to all of your leads. Some even allow you to send tailor-made offers only to leads who meet certain criteria.

For instance, send everyone who’s been on your list for a month a special discount. Or, notify all leads interested in a certain product when a new shipment comes in.

Follow up messages keep leads warm. Use periodic broadcasts to convert them to sales!

Prevent a Crummy Christmas

Businesses of all sizes have seen their sales grow by leaps and bounds because of automated follow up. Implement your follow up strategy now to make the best use of holiday leads! Then, enjoy the season – your autoresponder is following up for you!

Are you using AWeber yet?

If you aren’t using AWeber yet, then you’re missing out on some great marketing tools! Click here for a free test drive.

How does your WordPress web site look on an iPhone?  Without one in your possession, you would have to get with Grandma and borrow hers to check it out.  Note to self: I may have come up with a good reason for getting an iPhone. Until you have an iPhone, you can use the iPhoney software to simulate the experience on your Mac.  http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/

If the browsing experience with your site is not so pleasant for your WordPress blog, there are solutions that don’t involve redesigning your entire theme. Check out the WPtouch plugin from BraveNewCode. http://www.bravenewcode.com/wptouch/

Note: If you are just getting started with WordPress for your business, I recommend reading the following book: Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Business