This is a guest post by Liors Levin.
Dropbox is a unique service that offers self storage as well as synchronization across all your devices for all the files you upload; which can be anything from simple text files to videos and pictures. The system works with a wide range of OS platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile platforms such as iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry. It’s a great system because it allows people to work together since sharing files is so easy.
Why Dropbox
Dropbox is a highly effective service and increases productivity exponentially. Users simply upload their files to the cloud and can then sync across all their devices, from cell phones to tablets and laptops, everything is done with a click of the button. It is also the ultimate software for collaboration since it is a simple yet highly effective way of sharing all information and files pertaining to a project. Changes are visible instantly and data can be accessed even while offline, this makes Dropbox a highly effective service for people working together from different locations.
Dropbox also ensures the safety of your files by keeping a history spanning thirty days of your work. All data is transmitted over an encrypted channel and all files are encrypted when stored on the server. Likewise, any changes you make or files you delete can be reversed. It is the future as more and more people turn to the cloud for file storage rather than their local hard drives. Thus, it is a good idea for those who are thinking ahead to integrate this unique service into their WordPress blog to go the extra mile for their visitors.
This makes Dropbox a great partner for WordPress and there are quite a few plugins available that allow webmasters to integrate this service into their WordPress blog. Here, we’ll be looking at some of the more popular ones.
Dropbox CDN
Dropbox CDN allows webmasters to upload CSS themes, JavaScript and Images into their public folder on Dropbox. When loading, instead of having to access the local server, your site will serve these files from the Dropbox network, meaning that it will require less bandwidth from your server. The result is, of course, much faster load times and much happier visitors.
WordPress Backup to Dropbox
The WordPress Backup to Dropbox plugin is essential. If you’ve ever gone through a bad upgrade or had someone hack your site, you know how important it is to have a backup of your site. But most backup software is hard to use and requires you to store the files locally. However, this plugin automatically backs up your WordPress website and saves it to your Dropbox folder.
It comes with a wide range of options as well, including the ability to schedule backups. You can also choose where you want the archived backup file of your site and database saved, whether or not you want to keep a copy of the backup on your server, and how many backups you want to have at any one time before they are deleted.
Dropbox Sync
Dropbox Sync will let you integrate images from your Dropbox account into your posts. That way all the images will be pulled from your Dropbox account instead of your server, exponentially decreasing loading times. It’s also a good plugin to help you back up various files, but certainly not as effective as the previous plugin.
Pressbox
Pressbox is another WordPress plugin that allows users to post images and files to their blog directly from Dropbox. Basically, this plugin adds a new section to the Media Upload screen when images and files can be inserted into posts from Dropbox. It also allows users to add links or show the images wherever they want on their blog with the help of a shortcode.
Dropbox Upload Form
The Dropbox Upload Form allows users with Dropbox accounts to upload files to their account direct from your website or blog. It’s useful in that it will ensure that visitors don’t have to leave your site to save and upload files, increasing the likelihood of them spending more time on your site.
What is your favorite Dropbox plugin and how do you use it for blogging? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
About Lior Levin
Kikolani covers blog marketing and blogging tips for personal, professional, and business bloggers to succeed in search and social media marketing. Kristi Hines is a 
Hi Liors! I love DropBox. I hardly use it to the max. However, the wordpress backup idea is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” scenarios. Currently, I save mine to Gmail, so it’s no big deal. But I want to see if I can do this without the plugin…
Thanks for these tips. This article has been added to my other favorite app: Evernote
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen recently posted I Was a Teen-aged Mutant Emailer
I liked the idea of Pressbox as it will make work more easier.. Regarding backup, I already take a backup via Email every 2-3 days but idea of letting Dropbox do the job is very handy. Nice work and great list of plugins here.
Harsh Agrawal recently posted What is Duplicate Content in WordPress & how to Fix it?
This is an awesome post Liors! Dropbox is my favorite tool and I use it all the time. Yet, I had no idea that any of these plugins existed.
Have you tested how much of a speed improvement that DropboxCDN gives you?
Josh Kotsay recently posted SEOmoz Pro Review
Thanks for the information, but who is the author of it? The idea of file sharing is quite popular and people use it more and more as it is rather convenient and it allows you sometimes to save some important data in such way. I have never used it, but I will know that I have a chance to do it.
I did a post about DropBox CDN and I highly recommend you don’t use DropBox as a CDN, first it is against terms of service and I contacted Dropbox and they aren’t supportive of it. Secondly many and I mean MANY corporations block DropBox as part of autoproxy, this is to prevent people from storing company data on online storage systems. Any site that uses Dropbox to serve content from CDN will not have that file served from most work locations where their company filters and blocks Dropbox. This is much more common than Amazon S3 being blocked (without subdomain).
Dropbox is excellent as a place to backup and store all your local WordPress files and database backups, I just wouldn’t use it as a CDN.
I agree with Justin according my information and experience the use of DropBox as CDN can not be recommended.
Azam@Kay Jewelers recently posted Kay Jewelers’ Growth
Justin you’re right. For instance I cannot use Dropbox in any of my work computers. It is blocked there because it does port scans (to sync the files I suppose). So even though it is not harmful or malware kind, not every company or organization supports the use of Dropbox. So if readers happen to open your site from such a place, it won’t look nice!
Jane@aweber review recently posted Alexa Links: How To Get More Of Them
Thanks for sharing this. I use dropbox for a lot of collaborations, and I like how I can access it on my phone. I actually didn’t know their was a WordPress plugin, so I’ll be looking into that…thanks!
Robert@Car Accident Lawyer recently posted Two Separate Las Vegas School Bus Crashes on the Same Day Lead to Injuries
Excellent post. I actually didn’t know how useful DropBox would be for backup and sharing content across blogs.
Regards, Terje
Terje recently posted 7 Viking Steps to Win the Google Battle
I currently back up my site to gmail but this is a great alternative. you can never be too careful. Thanks for sharing this info.
Al Spaulding@ ALSpaulding.com recently posted Fight For What You Desire And Step Outside The Box
The Dropbox CDN is a great plugin I have never come across before. Has anyone had good experiences with it? I wonder how speeds compare to Amazon’s S3 service,
These are great plugins to use for WordPress but one concern I have with DropBox is security. For example site backups accidentally put in the public folder could release your database and all site files to hackers accidentally. I don’t think that is a reason to not use these, just that extra care needs to be used.
Mike Scranton recently posted Create a HTML/CSS Horizontal Bar Graph
Nice way to secure our data with this option. Because we don’t know when we will need of it.
goa carnival recently posted Goa Carnival 2012
Dropbox is my favourite online tool of 2011. Fab post to find out some new ways to use it and integrate with my site – Thanks Lior
Cathy
Cathy Presland recently posted It’s Harder Than It Looks From The Beach
I have been hearing a lot about DropBox lately. I have been backing up my blog with a plugin that sends backup automatically (you can set it for daily, weekly or monthly) to my email.
Satrap@ Make Money Online recently posted Earn Money Online Without Investment
I’ve been using Dropbox and I can attest to it’s efficacy and reliability. It is a service that allows me to set up an online account and invite a contact to access certain files on that account. Not only are invited contacts able to access the files that I upload for them but they are also able to upload finished files for me to access in the very same file. Dropbox not only gives me the opportunity to upload files without worrying about server security, but it also provides two way access for me and the contracted worker to share files on a single interface. For those who utilize the Google Docs system, think of Dropbox like a Google Docs system for uploading and downloading files.
Extreme John@CEO Business Blog recently posted Multiple ways of Google’s impact on your blog
Hi Lior,
It is a very nice and infromative post.Thanks for sharing top dropbox plugins for wordpress.This post is helpful for many readers.
Pete Goumas recently posted CCS.com Review
WordPress backup to Dropbox is a great idea. I have never heard about that plugin before but I will for sure check it out. I already have a dropbox account so this might be a great way for me to automate my WordPress backup.
Thomas@Techwork recently posted My Google Analytics Stats for Q3 2011
Dropbox is definitely one of the most reliable services I have used.
I’m wondering about the Dropbox CDN. I am already using MaxCDN and pretty satisfied with them, is there any reason Dropbox would perform better?
Kris recently posted Free, delicious and healthy Protein Powder Recipes
Hello, Liors!
Your tips and insights on Dropbox plugins are very welcome and useful. I must say I didn’t know much about it until I read through your post here. I will try to integrate it with my sites, as I see from the reactions that it is one of the best tools on the market and a definite “must have”. I feel so useless for not using it or finding something more about it before.
Kristina L. recently posted Easy Click Travel Coupon Code
Very cool ideas. I’m definitely going to look into the WP backup one! Thanks for sharing.
I love the idea of backing up my site direct to Dropbox. Thank you!
Bridie Jenner recently posted Podcast Transcription Services
Thanks for the tutorial on Dropbox – I’ve never understood why people didn’t just use Google Docs for their files, nobody could answer or didn’t know the answer until I came across this post.
I had NO idea you could do a database backup, for example – or the CDN feature? Hot stuff, Kristi! Too bad I paid for my backup plugin…(“Now she tells me…”)
Have you used the CDN feature? I’d like to start that since I know cascade loading times help improve your page speed (i.e. if you can download images and javascript, etc. from another URL but your own and you’re NOT hotlinking a site that’s just going to cause you further lag times)…only I’m just not sure how to do that w/JS.
I think I’ll try w/the images and see how that goes…Great tips as usual!
James Hussey@CommentLuv Giveaway recently posted CommentLuv Premium Giveaway
Great post. I did not know that there was a Dropbox plugin for WordPress. I currently have a plugin that backs up my database, but it does not backup the files. I have to do it manually.
Larry James recently posted WordPress App For Nokia Symbian Phones
Kristi – This is a well thought out and detailed post of the various plugins. Dropbox is making its rounds these days, and I like the idea of a “cloud storage”. Thanks for sharing.
Praveen Rajarao recently posted Top 10 Blog Posts – A Roundup
Wow, these sound like some really great plugins, especially the ones that help your site load faster by pulling images and files from dropbox instead of the local server. And with Google saying page load time is part of their ranking algorithm, it can’t hurt SEO either.
Dropbox is a great backup service that lets you access and share files from almost any computer or mobile device. I’ve found Dropbox to be a handy tool for creating a file upload system on a website.
Noel Addison@Web Development Ventura recently posted Selling Ice Cubes to Eskimos
I never thought of integrating WordPress and Dropbox together. that’s genius! One more piece in my totally joined up Cloud surfing strategy for world domination!
Debbie @ work from home recently posted How to Use QR Codes in Your Business
I use dropbox all the time between my PC and Android phone and I really like the service and feel it is pretty essential to being able to keep working efficiently while on-the-go. I have never heard of the service as it pertains to wordpress blogs and will be letting my tech team know about it as it seems like a great way to back up those all important files, and potentially speed up your blog load time! Thanks Justin for your input on this as well.
Hi Lior,
I am working with wordpress everyday, but never tried dropbox or pressbox.
Although, I have heard about them, mostly dropbox recently, and I always wanted to try it.
Thanks for the screenshot of the post, it ensures me to try
Kimi.
Kimi@ blog review recently posted Sony VAIO VPCEJ28FX/B Review |Sony VAIO EJ2 Series VPCEJ28FX/B 17.3-Inch Laptop (Charcoal Black)
Hey Lior,
Thank you for the Dropbox tips. I’ve been a pretty dedicated user for a well over a year now, but have been using it old school- I haven’t tried it for WordPress content, because I haven’t been worried about my content being hacked, but I’ll take your word that it’s a possibility for any of us.
Btw, was pleasantly surprised when Dropbox allowed me to upload quite large audio files recently- over 50 MB – which previously I don’t think there had been space for.
thanks again,
Michael
Michael@NoFlourNoSugarDiet recently posted By: Go Gluten Free For Permanent Weight Loss |
I love dropbox, I’ve been using it since as long as I can remember, I was an early adopter. I nearly use it on a daily basis, exchanging larger files with colleagues and friends. They also make decent desktop software and mobile apps to totally integrate your dropbox folders into your everyday life.
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