There is no doubt about it – you NEED to backup your WordPress site on a regular basis!
It goes beyond just saving your page content or blog entries. A good backup includes all of your WordPress core programming files that are on your web host server and also the data files which are located in your database. 
The database stores your posts, pages, and comments. This illustration is a great visual on how WordPress works. (image credit: www.expand2web.com)
Even if your computer crashes, yes, that information is still on your hosting server, but what if the server goes down or the data gets corrupted? And sorry to say it folks, but it CAN happen unfortunately.
Your hosting provider will usually provide a backup option and you definitely need to find out how often they backup your site’s data and how to retrieve it. Keep those instructions safe so you can refer to them.
But, backing up your site is not just the responsibility of the hosting provider. You should also have your own backup system plan.
The Risks of Not Backing Up Your WordPress Site
If you take the risk of not b
acking up your site, you also take the risk of losing much, if not all of your data. It goes beyond just your blog posts. Without important elements of your WordPress site, you risk losing not only the words you wrote but the hard work and/or money you put into creating your site.
Something as simple as a plugin that is not updated can render your site useless and can cause your database to crash unexpectedly. Any number of things can cause your site to crash. The goal here is not to scare you but to educate you so that you will take the necessary steps to backup your website.
Backing Up Your WordPress Site
One option for backing up your site is the cpanel or the phpMyAdmin through your hosting provider. There is a backup wizard that helps you to go through backing up your various databases.
You can also use a plugin to backup your WordPress site. There are several WordPress plugins that handle the task of creating a database back-up. I’ve examined most of them and tested the ones that look most promising and they get the job done.
Basically, we want a plugin that does the following:
- It should offer an Automatic Database Back-Up with a set schedule – This is not a task that should be reliant on our mem0ry to accomplish. It needs to be automatic.
- It should have the option to Email you the backup – Most back-u
p plugins will store the back-up file on your web host’s server, but that’s not quite good enough. We also want a copy stored somewhere OFF the server in case the entire server goes down or loses data.
Some good WordPress Backup plugins include:
- WP DB Backup – With this plugin you can backup to your computer or your email.
- WP Time Machine: This plugin gives you the option to backup your site into offsite services like DropBox and Amazon S3 or via an FTP program like FileZilla right to your computer’s hard drive.
How Often To Backup Your Site
How often you should backup your WordPress website is based upon how often you make changes, upload new posts, or add elements to your WordPress website or blog.
The main / core files of your website, like your WordPress Theme files, should be backed up after you have completed any major changes. It does not have to be backed up again until you make more changes.
The DATABASE needs to be backed up anywhere from once a week to once a month, depending upon how frequently and how much content you add to your site. Once a month is a good idea but once a week is even better for those who add a lot of content.
WordPress Site Back-up Help
We have many clients that we work with on a regular basis to keep their site’s backed up and ultimately protected if something was to go wrong. And if anything were to happen we can then use those saved files and get their site back up and running as it was before the issue.
For $35 we offer a website back-up service where we do a full site back-up via FTP, which includes saving the entire web directory and database files. Once the files are saved, we email you a link where you can download the files to save onto your computer. We will also set-up a database back-up plugin on your site which will automatically schedule the database back-up and send the files directly to you via email.
If you are interested in having us help you please Contact Us Today!
