Backup Buddy Plugin – A Dream Come True
If you have read my blog, attended my workshops, or even casaully discussed WordPress with me, you know my feelings about backing up your files. Yes, most servers and hosts do it routinely, and yours might be one of them. But I don’t like to rely on them.
I always recommend using WP DB Backup plugin for your database which it basically all of your content — pages and posts. But what about your other WordPress files. And all the media you have uploaded? Yes, you can back those up usually using an FTP client, but maybe you don’t have the know how or the time.
I know what you are thinking.
This sounds like an ad.
Well, in a way maybe it is. But PlugInBuddy.com from iThemes, has come up with Backup Buddy. It’s great. And it backs up everything.
A side note. I was concerned the otther day when a client that I was doing consulting told me another “so called” WordPress expert told her to just use the export tool, and that will backup everything. Not! What are these people anyway, giving away wrong info!
Yes, I am an affiliate for this, a few bucks in my pocket. And yes, it’s not a free plugin. But damn, it’s great. And well worth the money!
How to Find Spectacular Free and Low-Cost Images for Your Blog Posts
Have you ever wondered where to get some “damn” good images for your blog? Here are some ideas.
Keep in mind that there are tons of other ones out there. If you want to explore some more, just do a google search.
Two more things. When an image is offered royalty-free, that means you pay for the image once and can use it as many times as you like.
Also, some of these companies offer several different versions of the same image, based on lowest to highest resolution. For blog posts, you just need the lowest res one, which, happily, is always the lowest cost.
Visit these sites for lots of great blog photo choices
This is my favorite. Most of the images in my blog posts come from IStockphoto.
The upside: Wide selection (more than 5 million images); outstanding quality. Royalty-free. iStockphotos is especially good if you are looking for animal images, which I use a lot. All you need to provide at signup is name and email address.
The downside: You do need to pay a nominal fee for usage, usually no more than one or two dollars
How to get started: I usually buy a number of credits, which become my “bank.” I buy my imaged with my credits and restock my credit bank when it runs low. Sign up here.
Also have used this one. Quality comparable to iStockphoto. Some free. Most for a fee.
The upside: More than 6 million images by 73,000 photographers. Royalty-free. A limited number of free images.
The downside: Can browse through free images, but it’s time-consuming. Most of the better quality photos have a usage charge and, still, ae not quite the quality of iStock. They also requitre more personal information during account set-up.
How to get started: Register for an account here.
Don’t use this one quite as frequently, but occasionally find a photo that is perfect for a specific need.
The upside: Most images are free. Has a good selection of landscape/vegetation photos. Attribution licensing category gives you the royalty-free right to copy, distribute and display the copyrighted photos—as long as you give the photographer credit.
The downside: Consumes gobs of time because you have to wade through tons of images, some of dubious quality, to find what you need. Sometimes the credit and link back to the photographer can spoil the aesthetic beauty of a photo.
How to get started: Sign up here.
Haven’t used this one, but a colleague, Christa Dunk, recommended it and said she loves it.
The upside: Large variety of no-cost, royalty-free images. 350,000 photos by more than 30,000 photographers.
The downside: Like FlickrCreativeCommons, it takes time to browse, sort and find. Need to provide lots of personal information to sign up. Be sure to read the fine print under Terms of Use.
How to get started: Register for an account.
Hope this helps. Do you have sources for good blog post images? If you do, would love if you add to the collective wisdom here.
Oh, yes. And I got the photo for this post from iStockphoto.
WP125 – 125×125 Ad Management Plugin for WordPress
Okay, instead of listing my 10 tops plugins, which of course number more than ten, I thought I would introduce you to one that I have found useful if you are running 125 pixel x 125 ads. It’s called WP125, an excellent ad management plugin and easy to use. We use it for our affiliate partners that you can find on the left.
Below you can set a screen shot of setting up each ad. As you can see, it’s pretty straight forward and intuitive. Beyond that, there’s an ad management screen that shows up on your main page of your dashboard.
It has some great features including:
- You can do a one- or two-column display and show as many ads as you want either randomly or in a specified order.
- It will keep track of how many clicks for each ad.
- You can choose how long you want the ad to run, by date or by number of days. It will be taken off on that date and will be moved in an inactive screen where you can activate it again. Or you can choose to remove the ad manually.
- When an ad slot is empty, a placeholder ad of your choice will be displayed. This could be a “Your Ad Here” image linking to a page with statistics and pricing, or an affiliate link.
- You can receive email notifications when an ad expires.
As of this post, it works with 2.8, and we are using it with 2.8.4.
So if you are looking for a simple ad management plugin, WP125 could very well be your answer.
SEO Tools – A Must for WordPress
The All in One SEO Pack is probably the most used and well known admin plugin for WordPress. The All in One SEO pack allows you to give your post or Page a keyword rich title, different to the post/Page title, a meta description and keywords. This is a must have tool especially for Pages and when you are running your site as a content management system. Click here to download the All in One SEO Pack.
