Once you have a blog (or any WordPress site) set up the way you like it, it’s helpful to be able to clone it (for example, IM NewsWatch might be cloned to create Model Plane NewsWatch), but if it has been around a while, it will have posts and comments in it.

You want the structural elements of the site in the new clone, but you probably don’t want the actual data. In this case, it’s good to be able to wipe the slate clean, emptying the database of all posts, pages and comments. Doing that manually is a terrible chore. But there is an automated solution.

Simple Spencer has created WP Freshstart that will refresh the clone in seconds.

In about 10 seconds, it will:
■ Delete all posts and pages on your site with the click of a button
■ Delete all comments (including spam comments) on your WordPress site with the click of a button
■ Create all of the pages that Google and other search engines want to see (about page, contact page, legal pages, etc)
■ Turn off comment moderation email notifications you see in your email inbox
■ Change the important permalinks setting for you

Each of these actions is optional; you decide which you want done for you. They all will save you time, but in rare cases you may not want one of them done.

If you are building a site without cloning an old site, you can still profit from how it sets up your legal pages, etc. even though you have nothing to delete.

You can get a developer’s version of this time-saving plugin for under $30 here: WP Freshstart

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