Just the FAQs Blog

Several major hosting companies have recently sent notices to their clients that routine maintenance will be performed this weekend. When so many servers are updated at the same time, it generally indicates that a new major cyber threat is floating about. Whether one is or not, regular updates and maintenance are performed because there are thousands of new minor threats produced by hackers every week.

Your site, computer, and browser need regular updates to keep them protected too.

Following is a simple checklist of routine maintenance that you can do in just a few minutes. While most folks put these tasks off because it disrupts their workflow, the time you invest here will save you countless hours of rebuilding a system that has been hacked.

Backup Your Site Files

If your site is on either a Blogger or WordPress.org platform, there are easy-to-use backup utility widgets and plugins that will do all of the work for you. Be sure to backup your site and content files. The site files are held in the theme. The content files are held in the database. Even if you have FTP access to your site, use the apps. They’re faster.

Backup Your Backup

Once you have stored the backup files from your site onto your computer, make another backup copy of them on another disk. This could be either an external hard drive, removable USB thumb drive, or a CD.

The rule of thumb is that if the data is not saved in three places, it’s not safe. One place is online. The second is on your computer’s hard drive. The third is on the removable drive. When it comes to data storage, redundancy rules.

Update Your Anti-Virus and Firewall Protection

The easiest, as safest way to do this is have your software auto-update and scan your system on a regular schedule. Yes, it slows down your computer’s performance time when it’s running. But that’s a small sacrifice to make compared to rebuilding all of the info on your hard drive. Most programs allow you to select the time when it’s best for the app to run. Perhaps you could run it during dinner, when you’re not likely to be working your computer. Be sure to have it scan any external drives regularly too.

Backup Your Computer’s Hard Drive

Because backing up an entire hard drive takes so much time, folks are reluctant to do this task on a regular basis. One trick you can use to get around this situation is to have it backup overnight while you sleep.

Backing up to an external hard drive is the fastest method to store your data. But, if you don’t have an external drive, there are several online storage services that charge a nominal monthly fee around five dollars. So, the yearly total would be less than the cost of an external hard drive, which usually has a two year lifespan. The speed at which the data runs will depend entirely on your Internet connection speed. But, if you perform the backup overnight, there is less Internet traffic, and that will improve performance.

Update Your Browser

Sneaking in through a security crack in your browser is the easiest way for a hacker to infect your system. Most browsers now come with auto-update reminders. Unfortunately, too many people just turn them off because they don’t want the look or features of their interface to change.

Bite the bullet and do the update. Learning the slight changes to the interface is a small annoyance compared to rebuilding your system.

While many consider it a painful chore to update their online security features, just consider how devastating it would be to your business to loose your entire site and all of its content. Consider how much time it would take you to rebuild if you lost all of the information on your computer. And, think of how long it would take you to get caught up on the backlog of work that accumulated while you were rebuilding.

There’s a lot of wisdom in that old adage, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Do your backups and updates soon.

One of my favorite NPR shows is hosted by Diane Rhem. Recently, she interviewed folks who were connected with several online dating services. Her guests included Nancianne Sterling, who is the founder and owner of TargetLove.com. Ms. Sterling specializes in helping folks write an online dating profile that reveals top qualities and gets responses.

One of the observations that Sterling made was that folks tend to describe themselves by filling their profiles with a list of generic adjectives such as: honest, dependable, and caring.

She stated that if everyone used these words to describe themselves then those qualities would no longer be unique. Instead, she suggested that creating a brief demonstration of those qualities would have more impact. For instance, a man could include a statement such as the following: I’m the guy you would call at 2:00 a.m. to come change your flat tire.

According to Sterling, such a statement shows compassion in action. It also demonstrates that he is a dependable, caring, enduring, and tolerant person. A demonstration statement delivers a vivid picture to the reader and helps them easily connect and identify with you.

That’s exactly the kind of connection you want to make with your clients.

You can use this online dating profile tip to help you market your product or services. For instance, if you offer a how-to series or helpful tips and state that they are easy to use, who considers them easy? One of the tag lines for Just the FAQs books is that they are written for non-geeks, which helps the target audience immediately identify with the product. The profile statement connects directly to the reader and demonstrates that it meets their need.

Another aspect of profiles that Sterling sited was that they often don’t convey the very best attributes of a person. When she read profiles that her friends had posted, she knew that they were omitting endearing traits. So, she offered to write profiles for them.

You can use this trick to show off your skills too.

Think of it as writing a profile for your best friend. You would be excited to tell others about them and all the wonderful things they had to offer. Excitement is contagious. If a potential client gets excited about what they read on your site, they are likely to tell someone else about it. Word-of-mouth is the best kind of promotion and makes products go viral quickly.

The profiles that Sterling writes are intended to get responses. Think of this as a conversion rate. Give your readers a reason to read more or to buy your product or service right away. As Sterling states on her site, “In the business of sales and marketing, traits do not sell products, but rather, it is the power-packed words describing a product’s benefits that trigger an emotional response and, ultimately, a purchase.”

Many hosting companies offer free site templates or build-your-own site features. While this may seem like a great value-added service, it could be a trap for first-time site owners.

The reason that I would never recommend such a service to one of my clients is because these templates are based on a proprietary format. Following are three reasons why using these services may be a bad idea.

1) No matter how much you customize the template, it still belongs to the hosting company. If you want to change hosting companies in the future, you can’t simply take the design with you. This means that you’ll have to pay a designer to re-create it for you or use a different design. Keep in mind that the look of a site is part of your branding.

2) You will not be able to back up any part of your site onto your computer. The hosting company may offer backups that will reside on their site, but will not allow you to back up the data on your computer. That means that the template theme and all of the content, which is stored in a database, cannot be moved to another host.

3) You can only use the widgets, gadgets, and plugins offered by the host. Those created by third-party are not usually allowed. This means that if you find a cool plugin for your sidebar to advertise something, or one that makes your site administration easier, you may not be able to install it.

The whole point of a host providing templates and build-your-own site services is to lock in repeat business for their hosting product. Once you are heavily invested in the site, you are not likely to move it because you would have to start all over again from scratch.

Following are six of the top reasons why I recommend using a WordPress based site instead.

• WordPress is open-source code, meaning that there is nothing proprietary about it.
• You can go with almost any host provider.
• Themes, or templates, are available from multiple designers and you can change them at will without disturbing your content.
• You can back up your theme and your database (all the content info) on your computer and move it to any other host at any time.
• There are hundreds of thousands of free widgets and plugins written for WordPress and more are being created every day.
• WordPress integrates seamlessly with other products, such as an online calendar and with RSS feeds providers, email campaigns, and more.

Most of my Web design clients come to me for their second site. Almost all of them got ripped off or trapped in a bad deal on their first site. The rest created a site that looked pretty, but didn’t function well. Each one has either told me that whatever money they saved doing it themselves was not worth it in the end, or they tell me that whatever money a consultant costs is far less than having to start over from scratch or paying to have a site built twice, not to mention the time needed to restore their content.

Normally I would advise you to read the fine print before you sign up for one of these services, but there is none. The companies that offer such services are selling ease, and that’s exactly what they deliver. There is no problem as long as you stay with that host for as long as you own the site, or if you never need anything for your site beyond their restrictions.

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