Backup WordPress using cPanel at your hosting company.

cPanel is a popular control panel used by many web host. The backup feature can be used to backup your MySql database. Do not generate a full backup, as these are strictly for archival purposes and cannot be restored via cPanel. Look for ‘Download a MySQL Database Backup’ and click the name of the database. A *.gz file will be downloaded to your local drive.

There is no need to unzip this file to restore it. Using the same cPanel program, browse to the gz file and upload it. Once the upload is complete, the bottom of the browser will indicate dump complete. If you are uploading to a new host, you will need to recreate the database user along with the matching password. If you change the password, make the corresponding change in the wp-config.php file.

Using phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is the name of the program used to manipulate your database.

Information below has been tried and tested using phpMyAdmin versions 2.5.3, 2.5.7-pl1, and 2.6.1-pl3 running on Unix.

Detailed options are listed below, though in most cases you will be fine with the default export options.

Backup Process with phpMyAdmin

1. Log into phpMyAdmin on your server
2. From the main login screen, select ‘Databases’(You may not need to do this step)

   

3. Now click the name of your database – or your WordPress database if you have several databases.(Your screen may look slightly different, depending on the version.)

   

4. The next screen will show you all the tables inside your WordPress database.
   Ignore those, and click the ‘Export’ tab on the top set of tabs.

   

5. Look at the left box at the top of the Export section. All the tables in the database you selected are in that box.

   

   • If you have other programs that use the database, then choose only those tables that correspond to your wordpress install. They will be the ones with that start with "wp_" or whatever ‘table_prefix’ you specified in your ‘wp-config.php’ file.
   • If you only have your WordPress blog installed, leave it as is (or click ‘Select All’ if you changed the selection)
   • Ensure that the SQL radio button is selected.

   

6. The SQL sectionTick the following boxes:
   • ‘Structure’
   • ‘Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION’
   • ‘Add IF NOT EXISTS’
   • ‘Add AUTO_INCREMENT’ and
   • ‘Enclose table and field names with backquotes’
7. The DATA section

   It doesn’t matter too much what you check here. So long as you check the DATA box itself, the Complete inserts and Extended Inserts are mostly cosmetic changes to the output style, though Extended Inserts can help if you are having issues with the file size.

   

   

8. Tick the ‘Save as file’ option, and leave the template name as is.

   

9. Now click ‘Go’ and you should be prompted for a file to download. Save the file to your computer.
   Depending on the database size, this may take a few moments.
10. You have now backed up your database.

    If you wanted, you could download a backup in each of the compression formats. Your choice. For example: None and "zipped":

    Remember – you have NOT backed up the files and folders – such as images – but all your posts and comments are now safe.

Using Straight MySQL Commands

phpMyAdmin can not handle large databases so using straight MySQL code will help.

1. Change your directory to the directory you want to dump things to:

user@linux:~> cd files/blog

2. Use mysqldump to dump all database tables. To dump only certain tables from the database, give their names at the place shown by (tablename tablename tablename), and omit the parentheses ( ) in any case. (For help, try: man mysqldump.):

user@linux:~/files/blog> mysqldump --add-drop-table -h mysqlhostserver
 -u mysqlusername -p databasename (tablename tablename tablename) | bzip2
 -c > blog.bak.sql.bz2

Enter password: (enter your mysql password)
user@linux~/files/blog>

Example:
mysqldump --add-drop-table -h db01.example.net -u dbocodex -p dbwp | bzip2 –c 

> blog.bak.sql.bz2

Enter password: my-password
user@linux~/files/blog>

The bzip2 -c after the | (pipe) means the backup is compressed on the fly, and the > blog.bak.sql.bz2 sends the bzipoutput to a file named blog.bak.sql.bz2. It does in one line the same thing that these two commands do:

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h db01.example.net -u dbocodex -p dbwp > blog.bak.sql
bzip2 blog.bak.sql

Despite bzip2 being able to compress most files more effectively than the older compression algorithms (.Z, .zip, .gz), it isconsiderably slower (compression and decompression). If you have a large database to dump, gzip is a faster option to use.

mysqldump --add-drop-table -h db01.example.net -u dbocodex -p dbwp | gzip 

> blog.bak.sql.gz

Using MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench (formerly known as MySQL Administrator) is a program for performing administrative operations, such as configuring your MySQL server, monitoring its status and performance, starting and stopping it, managing users and connections, performing backups, restoring backups and a number of other administrative tasks.

You can perform most of those tasks using a command line interface such as that provided by mysqladmin or mysql, but MySQL Workbench is advantageous in the following respects:

• Its graphical user interface makes it more intuitive to use.
• It provides a better overview of the settings that are crucial for the performance, reliability, and security of your MySQL servers.
• It displays performance indicators graphically, thus making it easier to determine and tune server settings.
• It is available for Linux, Windows and MacOS X, and allows a remote client to backup the database across platforms. As long as you have access to the MySQL databases on the remote server, you can backup your data to wherever you have write access.
• There is no limit to the size of the database to be backed up as there is with phpMyAdmin.

Note: The instruction below was written for older version (MySQL Administrator).

Backing Up the Database

This assumes you have already installed MySQL Admin and set it up so that you can login to the MySQL Database Server either locally or remotely. Refer to the documentation that comes with the installation package of MySQL Admin for your platform for installation instructions.

1. Open the MySQL Admin client and login as you had previously set up to do.
2. From the icon menu on the left hand side of the client window select Backup.
3. If you have not already created a Backup Project, do this now by clicking on the "New Project" button at the lower part of the window and type in a name for the Backup Project where prompted.
4. Select one or more databases that you want to Backup (in the MySQL Admin client these are called a "Schema" (pl. "Schemata")). Add them to the Backup Content window on the right using the right-pointing arrow button.
5. When you have selected the Schema(ta), you can save the Backup Project. Or you may simply choose to Backup Now using the button on the lower right of the window.
6. A dialogue will come up asking you where to put the Backup. Enter the pathname or browse to the location using the dialogue.
7. Assuming all is correct (and you have write permissions in the directory to which you are writing the Backup), the backup will complete shortly.

Restoring From a Backup

1. Open the MySQL Admin client and login as you had previously set up to do.
2. From the icon menu on the left hand side of the client window select Restore.
3. Click the "Open Backup File" button on the lower right of the window.
4. Type in or browse to the Schema(ta) backup file and select. Click "Open".
5. The Target Schema(ta) will most likely be the "Original Location", or you may choose an alternate location using the drop-down menu.
6. Click the "Start Restore" button on the lower right of the window. The database restore will commence.

Austin Matzko maintains a WordPress plugin originally created by Skippy called WordPress Database Backup (WP-DB-Backup). It was bundled with WordPress 2.0 but is no longer included with WordPress 2.1.

Installation

1. Search "WP-DB-Backup" on Administration > Plugins Panel > Add New.
2. Activate the plugin.
3. The plugin will attempt to create a directory /wp-content/backup-*/ inside your WordPress directory. You may need to make /wp-content writable (at least temporarily) for it to create this directory.

Backing up

1. Navigate to Administration > Tools > Backup Panel
2. Select any tables, in addition to the core WordPress tables, that should be backed-up.
3. Select the Backup Options; the backup can be saved on the server, downloaded, or emailed.
4. Finally, click on the Backup button to actually perform the backup. You can also schedule regular backups.

Restoring the Data

The file created is a standard SQL file. If you want information about how to upload that file, look at Restoring Your Database From Backup.

Backing up wordpress is one of the best ways to restore from a wordpress failure.

Best Practices for WordPress On Page SEO

• WordPress page Title SEO

Your wordpress page title should contain the keyword or phrase that you are targeting, it should be at the first of the title, and the title should not be very long.

• WordPress Permalink for SEO

Your permalink for your site should contain the term that you are targeting.

example: http://wordpressdesignshop.com/wordpress-on-page-seo/

• WordPress Meta Information

 Your meta description for the post should contain keyword or phrase, begin with keyword or phrase, and be no more than 150 characters.

• WordPress HEADING Tags

Make sure that your wordpress H1 tag has keyword or phrase and it is at the beginning. You can also add 1 h2, and h3 tag with your keyword.

• Post or Page CONTENT – wordpress On Page SEO

ü  Content contains at least 300 words.

ü  Content has 2.0-5.5% keyword density.

ü  Content contains keyword in the first 50-100 words.

ü  Content contains at least one image with keyword in ALT attribute.

ü  Content contains at least one bold keyword.

ü  Content contains at least one italicized keyword.

ü  Content contains at least one underlined keyword.

ü  Content contains keyword in anchor text of at least one external link.

ü  Content contains keyword in anchor text of at least one internal link.

ü  Content contains keyword in the last 50-100 words.

If you follow these easy wordpress on page seo steps you will be well on your way to having the best chance of your wordpress site ranking in the search engines.

Here at wordpress design shop our wordpress business is pretty much 100% from referral! And now that we are expanding you can start making real money right away by selling websites for us!

So how do you make money from home selling wordpress websites?

It’s easy – and remember we don’t care about your background, age, or experience. You are your own boss and can start right away.

WordPress Website Sales Consultant Details

• You must be nice and not use any underhanded tactics to sell the wordpress site.
• You refer the person to us by email, phone, or contact us about the project yourself (be sure to include your contact information.)
• You must have a paypal email address so we can pay you for the wordpress project referral.
• We then bid on the project and you get your 10-20 percent depending on the size of the wordpress development project.

Sound simple? Well it is.

Now, if you are asking yourself…what about an affiliate program and tracking and all that sort of stuff for the wordpress referral, we have an answer for that. We use to have a system for that but it was more of a pain that it was worth because 9 times out of ten we have to talk with people about the project before we can price it. So, you will just have to trust us!

Contact Information for wordpress design shop:

WordPress Design Shop

1- (424) 234-8528 or use the request wordpress design quote form on this site.

WordPress Design Shop is your simple way to make money selling wordpress websites with no training, experience, age requirement (other than those required by paypal), back ground check and more. We are putting together a package to help making your new career as an independent wordpress design shop sales consultant.

WordPress Site Special Now Through July 11th.

WordPress Design Shop Ecommerce Package

eCommerce WordPress Website Package Includes:

• Base template with your Logo
• WordPress Installation
• Navigation Structure Setup
• Shopping Cart Setup
• Digital Product Structure Setup
• Affiliate Setup
• Base Plugin Setup
• Twitter Integration
• Aweber Integration *
• Syndication if Needed
• Base SEO
• Website Use Training

Normally on sale for $997.00 now only $597.00 Contact WordPress Design Shop and Schedule Your Project WordPress Design Shop

So, the question is when should I use a wordpress shopping cart and when should I do something different like making a wordpress site and a separate site running something like magento for my store?

The answer to this question is not always simple, so please keep in mind that this is just a guide.

When should I use a wordpress shopping cart?

1. You should use a wordpress shopping cart if you are selling simple products with simple pricing and shipping. Most wordpress shopping carts can handle any basic shopping and shipping transaction.
2. You should use a wordpress shopping cart if you are selling all digital products. Digital products are the easiest product to sell with most wordpress shopping carts. They work by allowing the customer to pay and then the system automatically emails the buyer the download link.
3. You should use most wordpress shopping carts if you are integrating with a marketing service or auto responder service like aweber, mailchimp, get response, or infusion soft. Setting up a system like this makes it easy to get people on your marketing lists and most wordpress shopping carts have this feature built in.
4. You should use a wordpress shopping cart if you are going to do simple discounts on either prices or shipping. You can easily do coupon and basic shipping discounts with wordpress shopping carts.
5. If you are going to offer a simple affiliate program with your site. Most wordpress shopping systems allow for the integration of a single or 2 tier affiliate marketing system.
6. If you are going to have a integrated membership program with your site. If you are going to build a wordpress membership site, a wordpress shopping cart is the easiest way to stream line the process and allow the ability to sell products as well.

When Should I use an ecommerce system with wordpress instead of a wordpress shopping cart?

1. You should use a system like magento or opencart etc. when you have a very large number of products. Most ecommerce systems are easy to load large numbers of products and descriptions into as well as quantities, and pricing.
2. You should use a different cart if you have complicated shipping options for your products. This by far is the most disappointing thing when dealing with wordpress shopping carts. Most people are forced in one way or another to make shipping work as opposed to have shipping work for you. If your shipping is very complicated choose another platform than wordpress!
3. You should use a different shopping system if you require detailed customer information and log-ins similar to amazon etc. Typical wordpress carts are designed to push most of the transaction out to a places like paypal. This makes security less of an issue but limits the amount of information you can collect from an individual.
4. If you have Multiple payment systems or options with direct sales on your site. If you are going to offer multiple payment options with direct payment (they never leave your site) then typically a larger cart system is right for you. The same goes true if you want to offer payment plans as well.

For the average website a wordpress shopping cart and extended plug-ins will cover all of your needs. However, if you are on the path to building a large scale ecommerce site we recommend going into more robust ecommerce platforms like magento, open cart, or oscommerce.

Ready to start your wordpress commerce site today? Give us a call!

* Please be sure to read our article on why you should look at function first before deciding on a final design. This will help you make your site the most user friendly and save you lots of money.

Here at wordpress design shop we get calls all the time from business owners wanting a complete custom designed website, even though truth be told most small business owners don’t have the time or budget to get what one would consider a truly custom designed web site. Custom designed themes can add anywhere from $500 to $5000+  dollars to a typical new website project. For that reason alone we actually recommend that most people go with a base template for a new website and then have someone like us modify it for you. The only time we waiver in that decision is if you happen to be one of those lucky people who already have a Photoshop design for your wordpress site or have a larger budget. If you have the budget and or a design in some cases we would just add $200 dollars or so to the budget to have the site chopped up for wordpress.

So for the moment let’s pretend that you are in the later category and are on a budget so the questions is, Why should you buy and have a Premium WordPress Template Modified.

Here are a few compelling reasons why you should seriously consider using a premium WordPress template:

• Quality: The most obvious reason to use a premium WordPress theme is the quality. Premium wordpress templates have been designed and coded by professionals and usually have a very large user base. The large user base allows for bugs to be found and fixed all the time. This allows for you to have a site that for the most part will have very few errors and vulnerabilities.
• Functionality: You will find that premium WordPress templates include a far greater array of functionality and features at no additional costs. When you build a complete custom theme you have to pay for all those features to be redeveloped. Many of these functions will make it easy for you to perform otherwise arduous tasks in setting up, managing and customizing the website.
• Price: Premium WordPress templates are much more affordable than hiring a designer to design your custom wordpress theme and then a developer to make it work. With a premium wordpress template you will only use expensive resource for your site to function and be configured.
• Support: Another great reason to purchase a premium WordPress template is the support you receive. All good premium WordPress templates will include support from the developer usually in the form of a support forum where your developers can get help fixing problems or making minor modifications to your wordpress site. This can save you hundreds for dollars when you ask your developer to fix something wrong with your site because you are not paying a high cost developer to do all the research.
• Updates: Premium WordPress template developers are continually receiving feedback on their themes from users allowing them to fix bugs and add new features. Unlike custom templates, it is in the best interest of premium WordPress template developers to listen to feedback, fix bugs, implement new features and ensure the templates work properly with new WordPress updates.
• Selection: There is a great selection of premium wordpress themes and templates available. You can literally find thousands of layouts for almost any website you could imagine. There are premium templates to create personal blogs, magazine or news sites, photo galleries / portfolios, traditional looking business / CMS websites, and even ecommerce and other niche areas.
• Inspiration: Inspiration is the number one reason that we use templates in our business in addition to custom wordpress designs. They say a picture is worth a thousands words and it goes true for your new website project. Typically business owners have better results in both design and function once they see what can and has been developed in wordpress.

The next question after you have decided to have a premium wordpress template modified, or configured is where to get a wordpress template and what are the next steps.

For all of our clients we actually help with the template research and selection process.

Our favorite resources for themes are:

1. Elegant Themes – http://www.elegantthemes.com (These theme are great to work with and offer a lot of design choices)
2. Theme Forest – http://themeforest.net/ (We have found some of the best coded themes here, especially the wordpress backend)
3. Template Monster – http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes.php (Our favorite site to show people what is possible with wordpress)

* Please be aware that we know there are a million sites out there that sell premium wordpress templates. These are just a few that we use as a base for some of our designs.

The final step after purchasing a theme is having someone like us or another development company configure, modify, copy write, and SEO your design.

If you have a larger budget and are ready for your custom designed wordpress site or just want one based on a modified wordpress theme give us a call today!

There are two main types of security attacks that we see with wordpress driven websites:

1) The Site Delete

The wordpress site delete attack is where a user or robot scans your site for FTP or Java access and removes or changes wordpress folders on your site. The removal and or changes to the file make it where your site will no loner be visible to the end-user and most of the time the administrator as well. We have even seen user that get their entire wp-content folder deleted for example.

2) The Site Lock-out

This particular attack happens from a user or robot gaining access to your wordpress administrative system. They then lock you out of your site and display a message that you need to send money to a particular emails address or website for your site to be unlocked. Here at wordpress design shop we have had this particular attack happen to us. It only caused a short downtime since we know how to lock them right back out.

So, the question is what do you do to prevent this from happening and what can you do to fix it?

Well, lets start with what to do to prevent this sort of thing from happening, or lets say lowering the possibility of it happening.

• Make sure that your wordpress installation is up to date
• Make sure that all of your administrative passwords are very complex. I mean complex like “drX93476h1b#3”. You get the idea.
• Make sure that you immediately change any password or delete any administrative account that you do not use or that belongs to an old administrator for example.
• Make sure that all of your hosting, domain, and FTP accounts have very very complex passwords as well.
• Make sure you remove any ftp user, hosting user, that is not used or belongs to people no longer with your company.
• Make sure that all plug-ins are up to date as much as possible
• Make sure that all themes are up to date and that you read about any changes to your theme at least every 2 months
• Install and configure the following plug-in Bullet Proof WordPress
• Read about additional security measures here WordPress Security
• Make sure that your host backs up your site, database, and system files

It should take you maybe a few hours to review the different pieces that we discussed. It is some of the best time you can spend and will be well worth it. Believe us you never what to have to deal with a site being compromised.

I have already been compromised! Now What?

1. If you have been dealing with the site delete option the best thing you can do is contact your host and have them restore your site from a date that you know for sure the site was working properly. Then when your site is up immediately start going through the steps above and change every password you have for your ftp, hosting, and wordpress accounts.
2. If you have been locked out of your wordpress administrative accounts the first thing we need to do is get you access back.

Log in to your hosting account where your wordpress website is hosted. Then click on mySQL, database, or phpmyadmin from your administrative screens and then follow the following process.

Note: use phpMyAdmin at your own risk. If you doubt your ability to use it, seek further advice. WordPress is not responsible for loss of data.

	Begin by logging into phpMyAdmin and click databases. A list of databases will appear. Click your WordPress database.
	All the tables in your database will appear. If not, click Structure. Look for wp_users. Click on the icon for browse. Locate your Username under user_login Click edit
	Your user_id will be shown, click on Edit Next to the user_pass is a long list of numbers and letters. Select and delete these and type in your new password. Type in the password you want to use. Just type it in normally, but remember, it is case-sensitive. In this example, the new password will be ‘rabbitseatcarrots’ Once you have done that, click the dropdown menu indicated, and select MD5 from the menu.
	Check that your password is actually correct, and that MD5 is in the box. Click the ‘Go’ button to the bottom right. Test the new password on the login screen. If it doesn’t work, check that you’ve followed these instructions exactly.

Next change all of your passwords for ftp and wordpress, update your theme to the newest version, all plug-ins as well and then start going through the preventative list of items.

Still not sure what to do with your wordpress site that has been compromised or your wordpress security? Give wordpress design shop a call, or email and we would be glad to help.

Mark Ferguson is a business strategist and the owner of WordPress Design Shop, a boutique firm specializing in strategic website development for small business owners. He brings his clients more than 20 years of experience in website development and e-commerce architecture working with some of America’s top brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Dress Barn, The Limited, Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, Garden Ridge, Pier One Imports, Pac Sun, Lane Bryant, Bring Back Desire and Diva Toolbox.

When I started my own business to work with small and mid-sized companies to develop websites, I could not believe how they were handling one of their most PROTECTED and most VALUABLE company holdings – their company website domain!

The domain name is where a person would type in your company name into the browser to find you. It comes after http or www. Yes, I’m saying it this directly because out here in the web world people new to it don’t know what things are called. It’s like visiting a new planet that has a whole new language.

Many a trusting soul has plunked down their money and bought a website from a company. These companies range from the teenager on the corner to the savvy web design firm. Regardless of who you are working with, you need to follow the following recommendations to ensure your company rights are PROTECTED!

Now, you may be wondering, WHY is this guy making such a BIG DEAL about this? Well, I’ll share a cautionary tale with you as to the EXACT reason I’m making a big deal about this.

This is what happens when you don’t take care of your web registrations. True story.

A gentleman I’ll call Sam had a friend who said he would manage all of Sam’s company websites. At first, like most people, Sam only had one website. His friend bought the URL (the domain name) and registered it. His friend also built the site. His friend also handled the hosting (this is where you park your website on the web so people can access it from the internet).

Now, the URL was Sam’s company name. The writing, the products, the blog – everything on the website was for Sam’s company. However, guess who owned the website?

That’s right.

Sam’s friend owned the website. Sam’s friend owned the domain. Sam’s friend owned the parking space.

What? You cry. How can this possibly happen?

Well, this is how it happens. And, this is why YOU should never let this happen to YOU.

Think of your website like a car. The car is going to be ‘parked’ in a parking garage called a host. Think of an electronic world that is just streets and streets and streets with parking garages lining the streets. Each of these ‘parking garages’ is called a host. The host allows you to park your car in their garage – for a monthly fee.

When you buy your car (your website), you need three things: You need an address so people can come see your car (this is your company.com or domain name), you need a car (website) and you need a place to park your car (hosting).

Each one of these is OWNED by YOU. You wouldn’t buy a car in the real world by asking someone to go buy it and then set it up for you. Nor should you do this in the internet world. However, this is what people do every day.

I’ve worked with solopreneurs, small business and also multi-million dollar businesses that handled their websites like this. This is not a matter of someone not being smart. It’s just that people don’t know what they don’t know.

Here’s what you need to know:

You MUST purchase your domain yourself! You MUST make sure YOU are the owner of your domain name. Your domain name is what comes after http:// or www.

If you allow your web person to OWN your domain name, this is like giving your mechanic your car title. Who own’s the domain? YOU DO.

Once you set up your domain in YOUR name, you will own it. After that, you will need to determine how you will give someone access to this valuable asset.

My typical recommendation is for you to make the changes to the domain (typically DNS) and give the user access to the hosting account only. I would also make sure that you have the individual sign a non-disclosure agreement. If at any time the developer goes away immediately change the password on the account at your host.

Maintain constant access to your hosting account and ensure you know the password.

Your hosting account is where you park your car (website). You can’t get to your car without knowing the password to get into the garage. If you give control to your web person and don’t maintain your passwords, your web person could lock you out of your own garage!

Yes, this really does happen. People get new jobs. People quit designing websites. But, you know whose problem it really is when YOU can’t get in YOUR garage (hosting account)? YOURS!

Here’s what no one is going to tell you. The hosting company can only go by what is on their records. If your web person is the contact on the hosting package, then ONLY that person can get access. What? Even if you own the company, the hosting company can get into SERIOUS trouble by allowing someone else to access the account.

This is why you MUST ensure you maintain the account so you can always get access to your hosting.

When you hire someone to design your website, ensure that YOU own the website when you are finished.

If you are not familiar with the land of designers who own things after you have paid them for the design they made for your company, then this is for you. Yes, it is really true. Some design agencies write into their contracts that THEY own YOUR website when they are done?

What?

This falls into the category of who ‘owns’ the art. When a photographer takes a picture of you, who owns it? Yes, the photographer. That’s why each time you want a copy, you have to go back to the photographer. Who owns design materials when an agency holds the copyright? That’s right. The agency.

However, you can ensure you OWN your car when you buy it. You just need to negotiate this upfront.

I have many cautionary tales of web people who have been hit by buses, who have lost it and run back to corporate America, of trusting business owners who were ‘too busy’ to handle the details and the best advice is to set this up the right way the FIRST TIME. Once you do it, then you’ll know how to do it.

If this article is still to much are your prefer someone else to do it for you, contact us on our website today.

Mark Ferguson is a business strategist and the owner of WordPress Design Shop, a boutique firm specializing in strategic website development for small business owners. He brings his clients more than 20 years of experience in website development and e-commerce architecture working with some of America’s top brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Dress Barn, The Limited, Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, Garden Ridge, Pier One Imports, Pac Sun, Lane Bryant, Bring Back Desire and Diva Toolbox.

Now before you start emailing and telling me how you are right and how important the visual aspects of a business website are, remember I am all about you getting the most value you can from your website development and design efforts. If you have tons of money to waste and years of your life devoted to your new project then by all means I will agree you are right (design is most important) and that you should go find the most expensive designer possible to create your dream website and recreate it when the developers start trying to make the visual design work…Oh you may want to get two designers and some extra programmers incase the first ones quit when you keep making changes to the function during the design process.

For the rest of you that would love to get a website for a great price that also has good design here are the top reasons to think about functions first.

1. Functional requirements enhance the design process

When you are ready to start a new business online the typical path is to have an exciting thought about your new business and then look for a designer to create a website design, and then a logo, and last maybe product shots. These designs are then given to a programmer to make it work. Little thought goes into how you want the site to work.

If you take a few minutes to think about how you want the site to work, you can then give those requirements (wants) along with your visual design likes (colors, style) to the designer. This one act causes the design firm to generate design ideas that are visually and functionally targeted. Just so you know not all designers think function especially if they work with mainly advertisements.

2. Functional conversations require you to think about the customer

Customer? This is my design who cares about the customer? Well you will when you have a beautiful design that doesn’t function and your customers go somewhere else.

If you take reason 1 and then add your customer’s likes and the functions they require in your particular service area you will have a website above 95% of the rest on the internet. The idea is to merge your loves with your customers, and then give those requirements to the design firm.

3. Functional requirements reduce design and development delays

Did you know that design and development delays can double the price and time of a typical website design and development project? The delays typically go like this. You were stuck on a visual design first and had a website design created, and then that design was sent to development for the functional website to be created. Then after that you go to your new site and start working with it and that gets your brain into the functional space. Next thing you know you are having the design changed because the navigation makes, no sense. Next the sign-up for a free report cannot be seen and you change the design again and so on. In the meantime the developers get 1 and then 2 and then 3 revisions that cause more changes to the website development process. I have seen a 30 day website go from 30 days to 6 months or more just because they did not think about function first. Not to mention their budget went from 1000 to 10000 dollars.

4. Functional requirements save money

The idea is real simple, align your wants and desire, your customers’ wants and desires with the design and programmers wants and desires so everyone makes money or gets what they want faster and with less effort. When you come to a design firm knowing what you want it takes less time for them to figure it out which saves them money and most of the time you money. Same thing goes with programmers. I know programmers that charge double to some clients who do not think about the functions of their web sites. The number one reason they do this is because it takes so much more time to develop for them.

So now that you get the general idea about why function is so important; what are the typical functions to think about before going to a design or development firm.

• Does my site have Video
• A Blog
• Scrolling Photos
• Membership Section
• Forum
• Portfolio
• Contact Form
• Social Media Links
• Calendar
• eStore
• Shopping Cart
• Downloadable Products
• Syndication
• Audio
• Affiliate Program
• Advertising System

Mark Ferguson is a business strategist and the owner of WordPress Design Shop , a boutique firm specializing in strategic website development for small business owners. He brings his clients more than 20 years of experience in website development and e-commerce architecture working with some of America’s top brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Dress Barn, The Limited, Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, Garden Ridge, Pier One Imports, Pac Sun, Lane Bryant, Bring Back Desire and Diva Toolbox.

WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. It is a framework for website development and content management all in one. The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more features there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 25 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home”

Why should I use WordPress?

There are a variety of reasons for why WordPress is one of the best platforms to use when building your new blog or website. Many people try different content management systems and blogging platforms, but they end up coming back to WordPress because it offers so much functionality in a free package.

Here are the five reasons why WordPress is the best platform to use for your new website.

WordPress is easy to customize and theme

If you are like most people you would like a custom website, theme, or look for your website or blogs. With wordpress this is easy because there are literally thousands of completely unique themes out there, offering one column, two columns or three column layouts, graphics, color combinations and a variety of other details which allow for complete customization of your website and blog to suit your needs.

Managing your content is easy and requires less people

WordPress is an extremely user friendly website and blogging platform. In a typical hour long training the average user can easily manage their content. The content is laid out in easy to follow sections and has the ability to have multiple authors if you have a virtual assistant or other staff that will provide content. All of the content written for the site, images, and videos all follow your theme so there is no need to spend hours and hours formatting your content.

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Search engine optimization is one of those terms that can drive people crazy or evoke visions of spending hours trying to get your site to look right for google. WordPress is optimized right out of the box and with a few plug-ins you can watch your site climb the rankings all while saving you thousands of dollars in the process on labor and outside resources.

WordPress is less expensive to develop

With over 25 million developers across the globe wordpress is one of the least expensive platforms to find development resources for. This allow you to have a 30k or 40k looking website for as little as $900-2500.00 dollars and that include ecommerce and marketing capabilities. Even better is the fact that you can find USA based developers that are easy to work with and understand.

You can extend the platform with unlimited plug-ins

WordPress has a seemingly endless supply of plugins that can be downloaded, installed and utilized for absolutely free. The installation of these plugins is easy, and involves uploading the plugin to your website through a simple administration screen on the website and activating it. Whatever you end up needing in terms of functionality, there is more than likely a number of plugins that can be downloaded and installed to improve the capability of your blog.

Ready to take your website to the next level and see what wordpress has to offer?