Archive for iThemes

Saved by BackupBuddy again!

Posted by Staff Writer

· Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

Another normal day in the real world, right? Not exactly. This morning I had the bright idea to get some analog stats in addition to my normal Google Analytics. These stats are provided by my host but you have to set them up. I’ve done it before on several websites and it’s played nice with the other site plugins. Simply add a few lines to your .htaccess file and I’m ready to go.

Stats page loaded. Home page loaded. Click on other pages on the menu, won’t load. I received a 404 error for every one of them.

I removed the entries from the .htaccess file. Didn’t work.
Renamed the old .htaccess file, didn’t work or create a new one. Created a new .htacess file with the default WordPress stuff. Didn’t work.
I disabled and reactivated the only other plugin using the .htaccess file. Didn’t work.
I deleted said plugin. Didn’t work.

More to the end of my rope. I was going into panic mode because I had been posting a lot links on social media with regard to domains I have for sale. All of those posts were wasted if buyers couldn’t get to the pages.

Suddenly BackupBuddy floated to the front of my mind. I saw it visually with the original banner on a flag pole, saying pick me, pick me! I was able to get to the WordPress Dashboard so I could easily use the “Browse and Restore” feature to restore my original .htaccess file. Refreshed the screen and it was working! Yay!

I get it. Some of you more experienced people may say I shouldn’t have changed the .htaccess file without making my own back up first. This is true, however, I did not do this so having a BackupBuddy Backup was a lifesaver.

I’ve used iThemes Backup Buddy since 2010 or so and this is the first time I’ve used this feature. Normally I screw things up so bad, I have to restore an entire backup to get going.

I’ll finish by saying this was a close call and I hope the remainder of the day goes more smoothly.

Categories : Affiliates, Backup Buddy

Tags : BackupBuddy, iThemes

Premium WordPress Security – Chris Wiegman Joins iThemes

Posted by Staff Writer

· Thursday, December 5th, 2013

We are big iThemes fans. We use the products and yes, we are an affiliate. The premium plugins and training we get from the iThemes team makes our job much easier. If we “need to know” something, WebDesign.com is our first stop.

Free plugins are great but with so many individual developers, we prefer to use premium plugins with a support team who knows how their plugins play within their group and how they play with others. There is currently a sale going on and you will receive 40% off site-wide so go there now and checkout the offerings and use the coupon code on the site. We appreciate your support of Berta’s Web and iThemes.

Security is always a concern if you have a website but WordPress Security is on our mind because 95% of the sites we manage run WordPress. Chris Wiegman, author of the Better WP Security plugin (and iThemes has purchased said plugin), is joining iThemes and we look forward to seeing what comes next….. You can read the iThemes announcement/blog post via the link below:

WP Security Expert Chris Wiegman Joins iThemes [blog post]

Categories : Affiliates, iThemes

Tags : Chris Wiegman, iThemes, WordPress

Happy 5th Birthday iThemes!

Posted by Staff Writer

· Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

How has iThemes helped me over the past 5 years?

Of all the questions I may be asked on a given day, this may be the simplest. I’ve always had an interest in website hosting, design, email marketing, general internet marketing and many more topics since my first exposure to the internet in the 1990’s. It took a few years to get to a point where I was ready to jump in and learn. I wrote a post last week about this experience and using iThemes but I didn’t really say much about the effect it’s had on my progression through learning to create and modify WordPress websites.

I first discovered iThemes in 2010 through a former coworker. I learned that they were based in OKC and was interested in Backup Buddy because I had several sites I would need to move to another host.

In the fall of 2010 I registered for Open Camp DFW. There was a lot of information to absorb and I heard that the iThemes team was in attendance. I sent a tweet to Cory Miller and met with the team. Turns out their office was just around the corner from where I spent several years working with an IT consulting firm in the late eighties.

Cory answered the tweet, a turning point for my support of iThemes. He offered to meet me in the lobby between sessions and we talked about a few Oklahoma things and the products (Builder, Plugin Buddy, Webdesign.com and more speak for themselves.) I’ve been a client since.

I can get a more secure WordPress site up and running much more quickly. I trust their recommendations for other developer plugins as well as their own. I’ve learned a lot about the products and WordPress from the live and recorded sessions via webdesign.com. Benjamin Bradley is very good at answering beginner questions as well as those from more advanced students. He’s able to “read between the lines” and answer based on what the querent means rather than what they ask. Along the line of “Do what I mean, not what I say.” This balance isn’t easily achieved by all trainers.

Happy Birthday iThemes! For my own selfish reasons, I hope you have another 5 x 5 x 5 x 5!