How to Backup and Restore Wordpress

Okay, this is kind of technical, but here are some clear-cut, understandable steps for backing up your Wordpress site.

Backing Up Wordpress

On your existing website:

1. Install the WP Backup Plugin.

2. Run a Manual Backup using this plugin, saving files and the database.

3. When it's completed, it will show the archive zip file stored to the server. Download it to your PC.

You now have what you need to perform the restore.

Now, let's say that you're going to restore the website into a new host. In theory, you've setup Wordpress on the new host, and you have control over it (you can login to it and its CPANEL). Alternatively, you could also want to wipe out the existing install and start over. Either way, we're assuming here that you've got a fresh Wordpress install and control over it.

Restoring Wordpress

1. Unpack the zip file you downloaded to its own directory on your desktop.

2. Using FILEZILLA (or an FTP program of your choice), login to your new host using the CPANEL admin account.

3. Browse to your public_html directory.

4. Browse to the Wordpress install directory. You'll find a directory called WP_CONTENT.

5. Under WP_CONTENT, delete the directories PLUGINS, THEMES, and UPLOADS.

6. When this is finished, in Filezilla, we'd now browse the local directory system to your desktop and access the archive you unpacked. Locate the WP_CONTENT directory there.

7. Upload the three directories to the host: PLUGINS, THEMES, and UPLOADS.

Restoring a Wordpress Database

At this time, you've now completed nearly all the steps for the restore.  The last effort will be to restore the database.

1. On CPANEL, look for PHPMyAdmin.

2. Within PHPMyAdmin, select the named database.

3. Find the wp_options table.

4. Click the option to IMPORT.

5. On the next screen, select the *.SQL file created in the backup archive you extracted to your desktop. Then, confirm the import.

6. PHPMyAdmin will confirm x-number of rows were inserted and over-wrote the existing table.

7. Finally, if the URL changed, browse the Options table. One of the first fields has the URL for the website. Change it if necessary.

And you're done. 

If you require assist with this, remember, I'm happy to help through a consulting engagement - here's how you contact me.

R

Time as a Small Business Tech Strategy

What's the Diff?

So what makes you different from your competitors?

This is a concept called strategic differentiation and I've been talking at length about these ideas for a little while now.  Understanding what makes your small business different than anybody else - how your company scratches an itch in some way that nobody else can - is what will make you successful in the marketplace.

Differentiation Guides Spending

If you don't know what makes you different, how do you know how to spend your money? If you're looking to invest in technology, shouldn't that investment complement your competencies, intellectual property, or values? And if you've invested in tech and it's not serving you competitively, why are you investing in technology at all?

Another way that small businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors is through time compression. You can leverage technology to reduce the time it takes to conduct a transaction, receive assistance, cancel an account, run a report, access critical information, or opt-in to a new feature. 

If you compress time for your customer, you're essentially returning money to them, if you believe the old adage that "time is money". You're making it easier to do business with you than a competitor, and it's faster, respecting your time and earning your loyalty.

Consider this:

If your competitor makes it easier to conduct business with them, and in a manner that reduces the complexity or time commitment for the consumer, what is your value proposition? What other key differentiating factors do you have that's keeping that client because - clearly - it's not about minimizing their time.

What You Should Do Now

• Think about ways that technology is compressing time for your customers;
   
• Think about ways that technology is extending time - like, forcing your business to processes that take longer to act upon;
   
• How can technology reduce the amount of time that a client interacts with you?
   
• How can you self-service - put you and your services into the hand of anyone out there - and make it simple, easy to access and use?
   
• How is your existing customer/client base demanding or desiring time compression in working with you? How are complaints and feedback about doing business with you translating into capital investments with tech to improve the situation?
   
• Time is money. How are you compressing the time of your employees to do the same job? Especially when tech changes so rapidly ...? How are you re-evaluating new capabilities offered by newer technologies?

R

Differentiation as a Small Business Tech Strategy

Putting It All Together

Last week, I brought up the ideas of core competencies, intellectual property, and values. These are things that make you different from your competitors. In combination, these things shape how a company uses technology for competitive advantage.

Imagine a World Where ...

Okay, here's how it works:

Company A. Imagine a company that requires their vendors to follow a specific process to do business with them (intellectual property) and a commitment to internal process efficiency (core competency), with a core value of "lowest price always". How would this company use its technology investments?

Company B. This company has a bunch of proprietary software and hardware (intellectual property) used to make reliable and dependable consumer electronics (core competency), with a value system that prides ease-of-use, fun, and effortlessness in everything they make. How would this company use its technology investments?

Company C. Here's a company with 50 years of machining experience (core competency), with a slew of patents on managing materials on an assembly line (intellectual property), that has a history of providing excellent customer service to its customers (values). How would this company spend its money on tech?

Transforming Competency, IP, and Values into Competitive Advantage

Well, you're a smart cookie and you've probably already considered that Company A sounds like a lot like Walmart. They spend money on technology to constantly reduce expenses, but as you've probably already concluded, they can't ever get expenses to zero so they also use tech to contain the cost of their growth (you guys remember my conversations on this stuff, right?). They get bigger, but they're so efficient, it costs them less to do more. Instead of hiring five people, they hire just one person to do the work of five people because they're so automated: fast, accurate, and reliable infrastructure. That's what sets Walmart apart. That's what differentiates them.

Meanwhile Company B probably sounds a lot like Apple. They spend money on Research and Development (R&D) to create products that offer new experiences. Price isn't an immediate consideration - they're more interested in how technology can be used creatively and they've got decades of experience doing it. And those new breakthrough technologies they make become intellectual property that they leverage to create market dominance and generate revenue. That's what sets Apple apart. That's what differentiates them.

And Company C? Well this could be any company, even a mom and pop down the street, and over time, they've leveraged technology to make themselves efficient and speedy, providing a reasonable product at a reasonable price, but their real claim to fame is service. Fast, immediate service. They'll spend money on technology to allow for immediate access to a localized call center with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to immediately know all of the customer's issues, history, purchase background, and warranty status. They pick up the phone on the first ring and greet the customer by name. They might even allow for the customer to self-service what they need from their website - because they are that easy to work with. This company uses its information as an asset. It's what sets that company apart. It's what differentiates them.

Making The Connection

Wow. The last month and a half there of blogging - it's all coming together, isn't it? By this time in the classroom, I'd be bouncing up and down in front of the white board ... do you see the connections that have lead us to real strategic value? Exciting, isn't it?!

Using technology spending to constantly reinforce differentiation is what creates a competitive advantage. What you'd want to consider:

• What makes your company different? What combination of competency, IP, and values sets you apart in the marketplace?
   
• How can technology help you sustain that differentiation?
   
• How does that differentiation tie into brand promise? 
   
• How does differentiation speak to an existing demographic of customers and an emergent demographic? How can technology help you reach both to evangelize your brand promise?
   
• How is technology spending working against your differentiation strategy? Example: is your choice of technology causing poor response times, bad customer service, huge financial loses because of inefficiency? Where is your choice of tech actually hurting you?
   
• How does technology enable your company to do what it does best? Is it doing that? Or is it a distraction, keeping you from doing what should truly separate you in the market?

R