Top Software to Help Manage Your Websites - Tools for saving copies of your site as it grows
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As your site grows and content (possibly with comments from your users) is added, you will want a simple way to save all of that content. We all hope that nothing bad will happen to our sites, but that hope is not enough. Servers crash and get hacked; it is just a fact of life online. No matter how sure you are of your security you should have a backup plan in place, just in case. Hopefully you will never have a reason to use it, but it is much better to have an unused backup plan than no plan and a problem. Think of it as protecting your investment.
A quick way to make these backups is with website ripper copier 3.2. This tool will allow you to save the whole of your site. If you prefer, it can also save only files of one type. The software can also be automated so that backup copies can be made at regular intervals. You will have manual controls to either delete or save older copies of the site.
Since this is integrated with FTP technology you can also use it to reload your site in case of emergency with any host. Just be sure to back up regularly or you will end up with only older copies. You don't want to lose all of those comments and other user-generated content.
When it is time to do some self-updating you can use a tool like Website Manager 5.3,which is essentially a web publishing wizard with a brain. As you make updates and changes to your site, it not only allows you to update the whole of your site, but also only the files that you need to change. This is a very good tool if you have a busy site that you do not want to have to take down completely in order to make even major changes to your site.
Now that you have some handy new tools on hand, I am sure that your site will be great. This author just wants to offer you one final word of advice before you start the downloads. While these tools can help you on your path to website success, they are just that, tools. If you rely only on them and not your own good judgment, then you will end up sorely disappointed.
Use them to add to your efforts and simplify them, not to replace them. If you leave everything up to your tools, you will end up with a flat and robotic site management effort that will leave your site wanting. Until computers can learn to think like human beings, they will not be able to do the job of a human completely. Just think of these tools as a virtual monkey wrench or screwdriver.
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