If you have a WordPress website, then you know how important it is to have a backup of your site.   But…do you have a recent backup of your website? If not, you should!

Performing regular backups is an important part of keeping your website safe and secure. Along with tasks like choosing a reputable hosting coming, using strong passwords, and updating your site

Backing up your website is a simple task, but many business owners overlook this step. We procrastinate because we’re busy, or we’re not comfortable with the process.  

However, a little effort now can save you lots of time, money, and tears in the future. In this article, I share my WordPress backup best practices and a few tools to get started. 

Help! Something Happened to My Website!

I’ve heard those words many times. Usually in a voice of panic and desperation. 

How would your business be affected if your website went down? For some business owners, this could be devastating. It could result in lost revenue, missed opportunities, extra time and effort, and frustrated customers.

Unfortunately, many business owners have a false sense of security. They’ve checked all the boxes – domain registration paid, hosting paid, a website built. You’ve done your part. Now everything should be smooth sailing. Not always…

An Insurance Policy for Your Site

Think of a backup as an insurance policy in case something goes wrong. If you own a house, you have homeowners insurance.  You may never need your homeowner’s insurance. However, it’s there in case of an emergency. In the event that unexpected damage occurs, you can use your homeowner’s insurance to repair and restore your home.

Similarly, a backup is a safety net in case something unexpected goes wrong with your site. The backup will allow you to restore your site to its original condition with the least amount of time and money on your part.  

A backup of your website provides security for your business and minimizes your risk of downtime in the event of a broken site. It’s free and easy to implement. So, no excuses!

But What Could Go Wrong?

Website problems can occur for numerous reasons. Technology and humans are both very imperfect. Here are just a few situations where something could go wrong:

  • Your site gets hacked or infected with Malware
  • Human error occurs and something important is deleted
  • Theme or plugin update causes a compatibility problem on your site. 

If your website is backed up properly, no problem. You can easily restore an earlier version of your website and get back up and running quickly. 

Alternatively, without a backup, you may expend a great deal of time, energy, and money starting from scratch. 

What Exactly is a Backup?

A backup is a copy of your website in file form.  It includes all your images, pages, posts, themes, plugins, WordPress installation, and other files. 

Backup Best Practices

  1. Don’t rely on your hosting company for backups. 
  2. Do your own backups on a consistent schedule.
  3. Have at least three recent backups on hand.
  4. Store your backups in different places, including an external hard drive and cloud storage.
  5. Back up your site before making any major changes to it. 
  6. Test your backups to make sure they work well.

WordPress Backup Tools to Try

There are many WordPress backup methods you can use, and your hosting company probably already has some backups. But you never want to rely on your hosting company’s backups.

Here are some of my favorite tools and plugins for backing up a site:

ManageWP (https://christinasresources.com/managewp my link for ManageWP) This service is a great way to back up a WordPress site, as it gets everything inside your WordPress site and is easy to restore if you need it. It also helps you by managing all your WordPress websites in one place. They have free or paid versions of it.

UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration
Backup and restoration made easy. Complete backups; manual or scheduled.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/

BackWPup Free
Schedule complete automatic backups of your WordPress installation.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/backwpup/

BackupBuddy (Paid plugin from iThemes)
BackupBuddy can also duplicate and move a site.
https://www.christinasresources.com/backupbuddy

Duplicator
This plugin will let you backup, clone, or move a WordPress site
https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/

Blogvault
A paid service to backup your WordPress site.
https://blogvault.net/

Final Thoughts

Performing backups is an important part of owning a website. Even if you consider your website a work in progress, it’s so important to preserve what’s there. 

If you haven’t done a backup of your site now, it’s time to stop procrastinating. The tools I’ve listed above are easy to use and offer great support and tutorials. The whole process should take only minutes. And could possibly save you many hours and a great deal of money in the future. 

Once you’ve found a tool you like, implement these best practices. Schedule backups on your calendar, as you would an appointment. You’ll be glad you did if something ever goes wrong with your website!

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