WordPress Backup is a Must!

Creating WordPress Backup regularly is one good way to add maximum security to your blog site. Whether your site is for fun or for profit, there are still chances that it is more frustrating than your site being compromised. Whether by hacking, server issues, or viruses, it is imperative to have a reliable WordPress backup to protect your site from these unwanted scenarios. WordPress backup gives you peace of mind, especially when you are stuck in a catastrophic situation, and allows you to save everything in your site when you accidentally lock yourself or when your site gets hacked.

When you speak about backup, it means you are saving a duplicate version of your work, including files, WordPress themes, and a database (including users, posts, comments, etc.). It is like saving a vital document to your Dropbox or desktop. And one of the best ways to back up your site is with the help of backup plugins for WordPress. These backup plugins allow you to add more functionality to your site except those that already exist with WordPress. There are various backup plugins out there; some offer great deals while others offer it for FREE. With the help of WordPress backup plugins, you can protect everything you have in your WordPress without worrying about losing files.

WordPress Backup Plugins

1. BackupBuddy– one of the well-known and premium WordPress Backup Plugins for WordPress today, includes BackupBuddy. This plugin is made by iThemes, which lets you back up various sources, not just your hard drives but also your email, Dropbox, FTP, and more. This backup is completed efficiently with just a click of a button. What you need to do is to select where your backup will be stored & as well as how frequently you want your backup to occur.
2. UpdraftPlus– another way to backup your WordPress is with the help of UpdraftPlus. Unlike any other backup plugins, this backup option is FREE! This free plugin is very straightforward, meaning that no unnecessary and complicated features will only overwhelm you. Like BackupBuddy, this also supports backup to FTP, email, and other storage solutions. Beyond this fantastic feature, it also offers reliable database encryption for the maximum level of security; plus,, you can split large sites into several archives to make your backup easier.
3. BackUpWordPress– apart from BackupBuddy and UpdraftPlus, another popular and steadfast plugin today includes BackUpWordPress. These unique WordPress backup plugins also have good scheduling that is very useful for users, especially when they want to create a different schedule for their files and database. This backup plugin is easy to set up, thus making it more user-friendly. However, if ever you want to store backup to other places aside from your hard drive and/or email, you have to purchase an extension (BackUpWordPress also offers extensions such as individual cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive).
4. WP-DB-Backup– if you want to back up your WordPress database, then one of the best solutions is the WP-DB-Backup. For any starter, this backup plugin is FREE. This plugin is also a good option for those bloggers who don’t frequently update their sites and those who don’t use images and videos in their blog posts. With this tool, you can easily schedule your database backup, restore them and even allow users to perform a manual database backup.
5. Snapshot– a backup plugin that lets you take a quick snapshot of your site at any aspect and save it later for storage whenever you want to. When you decide to save a version of your site, you need to click only the ‘Create Snapshot’ button. This will immediately capture your website as it is at the moment. It also allows you to schedule these backups and where you want to save your files (either in SFTP, Dropbox, and other storage services).

How to perform your WordPress backup for Plugins?

1. Download & Install. The first thing you need to do before any process involvedd in backing up your WordPress is to download and install your preferred backup plugins. You can also visit your plugins dashboards to be guided on activating the WP backup plugins by following its instructions.
2. Configure your Plugin. Visit the plugins’ settings page in your WP dashboard for configurations. For example, if you opt to have BackupBuddy, you will do two things. First, you have to choose a password for ‘ImportBuddy’ under the general options, and second, you have to enter your email address where all error notifications must be sent.
3. Set up Offsite backup. By sending a copy of your backup files to offsite in case, an unexpected problem occurs (such as server crash and hacking) or if ever it is inaccessible, still you have safe storage of your saved files. Some WordPress Backup plugins already provide free built-in offsite storage together with their plugin. Furthermore, having a plugin with an offsite backup is an advantage.
4. Complete Backup. If you are ready to run your very first backup, click the menu where you can find ‘Complete Backup’ to get everything started.

Importance of WordPress Backup Plugins

Many people pro or new to WordPress must be very attentive when backing up their site. Regularly creating a backup for your site can guarantee that your WP site and essential files are under maximum protection. Thanks to the power of WP backup plugins, you can now avoid the stress and mind-numbing pain of having your blog site disappear without obtaining a viable backup or copy. Even the most experienced site owners already working online for many years can make mistakes. Thus, wrong files can sometimes be deleted or overwritten, needing a plugin to help them back up their important files.

Although the contemporary world is changing rapidly, some things are widely popular and still gaining audiences’ immense love. One such example is search engine optimization. People have significantly realized that SEO is far from dead, which is why almost every website is setting the goal of being one of the highest authority sites of google. 

However, to be highly authoritative, you must convince Google that all other websites believe you. When other websites judge you or think of your content, it will assist in satisfying Google that you deserve to rank higher on the search engine result page. But how exactly can other websites show that they trust you? 

When other websites think that your content is reliable and worth using on their website, they will link it to their website, and that is how you will prove to Google that you are worth its attention. This is called backlinking, which is why every website is running in the race to get the most backlinks from the high authority sites of Google. 

Now coming to the bigger question, for which you have landed on our blog, “How exactly can you get more backlinks from high authority?”. To answer this question, let’s dive into the blog and discover Sure shot ways to help you get backlinks from high authority websites in 2022 and beyond.  

Foolproof Ways To Get More Backlinks From High DA sites.

1. Utilize Guest Posting 

Many websites have opened themselves to adding guest posts from authors or bloggers passionate about writing. This is one of the simplest and most effective foolproof techniques for getting backlinks from such high-authority websites. This can be done for many possible reasons, such as

● Getting guest posts from various authors saves the money websites have to give their writers. 

● It constantly updates its content, which is good for getting its website crawl or other SEO benefits. 

● Regular posting will assist in keeping the SEO KPI of average time to new content lower, ultimately benefiting the website’s ranking positively. 

So, this highlights the first strategy that can assist you in getting backlinks from high authority sites. All you have to do is 

● Select your high authority sites that accept guest posts for which you want to get backlinks. 

● Analyze their website and see what type of guest posting topics will be accepted on the target site.

● Further, decide the topic you want to pitch on and cross-verify that they would not have covered up similar titles. Otherwise, your article will get rejected. 

● Contact them on their provided email and pitch them the topic. 

● Write a blog and link your website’s content as relevant as possible to the target site. Also, make sure you link the content to their website to increase the chance of getting published. 

Probing further, while writing blogs for others’ websites, ensure you create unique and relevant content per their guidelines and writing style because every website has a different way of creating content. For example, some write in a formal format, while others may take a casual approach in their blogs.

So, writing as per their style will give you a wider chance of acceptance and getting the blog published. You can add the link to your website either in the author bio or somewhere in the body of the article. If you successfully publish your blogs, guest posting can assist you in getting links from high authoritative sites. 

1. Leverage Broken Link Building 

Many high authority websites often have broken links due to multiple reasons, such as domain error or intentional removal. This gives you a vast opportunity that instead of writing a whole guest post for the website, you can ask publishers to swap the broken link with your well-informed content already published on your website. 

This is called the broken link-building technique, another effective technique that can assist you in getting backlinks from high-authority sites. Now what you can do over here is, 

● Find the broken links in the pages you wish to replace on a website. 

● Now, create similar content on your website and tell the publisher that the link they are using is broken. 

● Further, you can convince them that they can use your content to provide a valuable piece of information to its target audience. For effective communication between the publisher and you, utilizing the 7Cs of communication will be helpful for you.

Websites may get convinced because broken links are also negatively impacting their website’s ranking. Moreover, websites would not want their visitors to land at a broken source while reviewing their articles. This will assist you in getting more and more backlinks using a simple technique of replacing the broken links with your content. 

1. Try Skyscraper technique

Websites always look for the most impactful content that can add value to their website and attract its users. They don’t mind replacing their links with something better and more informative. This is precisely what we will do in our following technique that can assist in attracting backlinks. It is called the skyscraper technique. To clearly explain the process,  

● You will find the article link that ranks higher on google for the keyword you want your link on. 

● The next step is to get the list of websites linked to that particular article. 

● To replace their link, you must make sure to create something better and more informative. 

● Now reach out to the websites linked to that article and pitch that you have created a better and more informative piece of content. Try to convince the publisher that adding your article will add more value to their website.

For getting backlinks, you can effectively use tools like Ahrefs to find the backlinks of higher-ranking websites. Furthermore, using these tools, you can effectively gain backlinks that can assist you in enhancing the authority of your website. 

1. Create Source Magnets

You can use the above strategies in this article to help you rank and reach more publishers to attain backlinks. However, what if publishers link to your content themselves without any approach from your side? Then, this is the effective implementation of a source magnet that will assist you in attaining the best results. 

Source magnet is about creating something unique that will assist in attracting the attention of the target audience or publishers. The more unique your source magnet will be, the more backlinks you will be able to gather. Define a source magnet in your original report or collection of data that can add value to the content of the different websites. To create a source magnet, you can take the below-mentioned ways. 

● Decide the trending topic and plan the data points based on which the research will take place.

● You can now create your data using the survey approach or curate and analyze the existing data to create unique content. The individual statistics or content will be your magnet to attract various websites to cite your data in their reports or blogs. 

However, these link magnets are not only limited to statistics. You can create unique content such as engaging infographics, blogs on topics with out-of-the-box information, or a collection of various already published facts or data that can assist publishers in adding more value to their content. Creating a source magnet will not only help to attract backlinks but will also contribute to the self-improvement of your website. 

To encapsulate, getting backlinks from websites is not a piece of cake. First, you need to understand the different techniques and then implement them strategically to enhance your SEO ranking on search engines. Moreover, the above-given strategies will effectively assist you in getting the backlinks from high authority websites smartly. So, you can also leverage the unique benefits of search engine optimization in the contemporary world. So, what are you waiting for? Use these practical techniques to get the backlinks and rank higher on Google.

This article was written by Kiara Miler and edited by WPcult editors. You can reach out to Kiara on her Linkedin and Twitter accounts.

Launching an eCommerce store takes way more than just having a website. It encapsulates a thorough consideration of various key elements before the launch of your website. Failing to do so cost you sales, revenues, and customer trust. 

In this post, we are going to share your essential website prelaunch checklist, you wouldn’t want to miss out on. So, without further ado, let’s get started. 

1. Pay attention to the design of category or listing pages

Help your customers easily find the products they are looking for. A coherent eCommerce website with well-designed pages doesn’t go amiss. 

Properly designed category pages optimized for SEO allows your customers to find the product of their choice. It also speeds up the checkout process which is a critical element ensuring higher customer satisfaction. 

Designing listing pages requires you to have the following key elements: 

• Include a quick product view. 
• Facilitate internal linking between categories and subcategories. 
• Show stock availability. 
• Have filtering and sorting options in place. 
• Display best-sellers and customer reviews for social proof. 

2. Make sure you have an effective shopping cart page 

Another vital element on your eCommerce launch checklist is an efficacious shopping cart page. The shopping cart is an extremely important place in your eCommerce store. 

So, how do we go about creating an engaging shopping cart page? Let’s get you started by sharing these key pointers. 

• Avoid having any hidden costs, taxes, and shipping costs. 
• Have an attention-grabbing ‘call to action’ for clear navigation. 
• Display product details such as the product name, size, color, pricing, and quantity for an enjoyable shopping experience. 
• Allow customers to add/remove products and change color, size, and quantity with sheer ease. 

3. A well-designed and conversion-oriented checkout page

Let’s face it! The checkout page is the place where cart abandonment happens the most. 

As a far-sighted business, you must ensure that the checkout process is smooth for your customers. 

There are countless eCommerce stores in the digital scape and cart abandonment is a sore point for the majority of them and clearly due to the lack of a well-designed checkout page. 

• Have a progress bar page right from the beginning to help customers know how many steps are left to complete the buying process. 
• Have a live chat option to provide timely support to your customers. 
• Refrain from adding unnecessary steps and combine multiple steps if needed as it will help expedite the whole process. 
• Have ‘checkout as a guest’ option in place. 

4.  SEO is important 

Your eCommerce store needs to have a robust SEO strategy in place to drive conversions. It is a myth that SEO is dead and numbers vouch for the fact. 

More than 37.5 percent of eCommerce traffic comes from search engines and if you do not invest in SEO with a well-chalked-out plan, you are surely missing potential possibilities. You will be left far behind in the competition. So, here is a quick SEO cheatsheet for you. 

• Create and submit a sitemap. 
• Leverage schema markup to increase the click-through rate. 
• Make sure your target keywords are included in the product descriptions and categories. 
• Make optimum use of keywords in meta titles, descriptions, and tags. 
• Optimize your eCommerce website for speed. 
• Focus on creating high-quality and SEO-rich content. 
• Get rid of duplicate content. 

5. Harness 3^rd party apps and plugins on your eCommerce store 

There are numerous useful 3^rd party apps out there in the WooCommerce space and you can use them to your advantage for better customer experience and conversion rates. 

It is no exaggeration that your eCommerce launch checklist is incomplete without considering to use 3^rd party apps and plugins. Some of the apps/plugins you may want to use are mentioned below – 

• Site optimization. 
• Apps/plugins for products and inventory management. 
• Apps/plugins for marketing and promotion. 
• Apps/plugins for better sales and conversion. 

Speaking of the best WordPress plugins, we would like to share two of the most trusted plugins out there in the market. The first one on the list is a WooCommerce category plugin named: 

• Product Categories Designs for WooCommerce 

The plugin is loaded with 2 wonderful layouts and 10 marvelous designs for WooCommerce categories. It offers a categories grid and carousel view. 

The best of this plugin is its seamless integration with all popular page builders including DIVI, WPBakery, VC Composer, Beaver, and Elementor to name a few. 

More features: 

• Change post order
• Display category title and description
• 2 shortcodes
• Include or exclude specific categories

Another plugin on the list is a great plugin for product sliders in WooCommerce called

• Woo Product Slider and Carousel with Category

Woo Product Slider and Carousel with Category is a renowned plugin that is equipped with more than 50 predesigned templates and 8 layouts. You can put several sliders on display including best-rated products, best selling products, featured products, etc. 

More features: 

• Show product rating 
• Display sales
• Custom CSS editor
• Fully responsive 
• Multi-lingual support
• Easy integration with famous page builders

6. Use email marketing to your advantage

Prudent eCommerce businesses use email marketing quite deftly to their advantage and you must also include it in your WordPress website checklist. There are different types of marketing emails you should use such as – 

• Welcome or thank you emails. 
• Survey emails.
• Cart abandonment emails. 
• Order confirmation emails. 
• Promotional offers and festive discounts. 

7. Setting up analytics 

This is a no-brainer, to be honest. No eCommerce business can be imagined without analytics. Make sure you have set up Google and Facebook analytics without missing any key steps. 

Also, verifying checkout tracking is important for your eCommerce store. Set up a Google search console and verify your site.  

8. Download backup of your site 

This is one of the most crucial steps you should always bear in mind. You shouldn’t take for granted even a small change you made, because you don’t want to be in a situation when you cannot revert the changes. Also, use the services of a reputed hosting provider as it always helps you a big time. Make it a point to download the backup of your staging as well as the production site. 

9. Run a mock order test 

Perform a mock order test before you launch your website. It should include auditing the whole checkout process of the cart and order confirmation. It goes without saying that you should include all the possible steps your customers would take in a real case scenario. Add a product and increase/decrease the quantity to make sure it is working. Add products to the cart and remove them apart from applying coupon codes. 

Here it is also important to see how the product page appears when a product is out of stock. Make a test purchase by checking out the cart, of course besides checking the payment options on there. Once the mock purchase has been made, head back to the My Account section. 

10.  Migrate your website files and DB from staging server to production 

You must be working on a staging server and now it is time to move your website files and database to the actual production server. Again, before you do this, you must take a comprehensive backup. 

11.  Enable search engine visibility 

Enabling search engine visibility is of utmost importance if you want to be discoverable on search engines. To do this, go to your WordPress dashboard, look for settings and click ‘reading’. 

Now look for ‘Search Engine Visibility’ and uncheck the box that reads ‘Discourage search engines from indexing the site’. 

Publish changes and you are good to go. 

12.  Install SSL certificate 

Installing an SSL certificate is quite crucial if you do not want to face issues later on. It isn’t as complicated as it might appear at first. Install the certificate and activate it and once it is done, you will be able to see a padlock on the address bar. 

Your hosting provider should be able to help you with this as well, so if you do not know how to go about it, do not fret. 

13.   Submit your sitemap

Submitting your sitemap to search engines allows them to index your website; however, it should be done only after you are set up 301 redirects correctly. 

Submitting your sitemap is fairly an easy process and by following just a handful of steps on Google Console you should be done. 

Simply log in to your search console or create if you don’t have one already. Look for sitemaps and click on them. Submit your new sitemap and if you are using an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO, then the link will show something like this- /sitemap_index.xml

Hit ‘Save’ and that’s it. 

 Conclusion: 

Only a future-ready eCommerce business can survive in the cut-throat competition of the contemporary eCommerce market. We have tried to make the WordPress website checklist as comprehensive as possible. If you keep the abovementioned pointers in mind, you will see boosted sales and Increased profits. 

Author Bio: 
Amisha Parmar is a content writer and SEO marketing manager at Essential Plugin, which sells a WordPress Plugin Bundle that includes front-end utility plugins. Expert Inbound Marketing Tools, Templates, and Security are required for the overall development of a WordPress website.