In this post I’ll talk about how to make a WordPress backup for your website.
Nobody wants their website to go down. But if it does you will need a backup of your website to get up and running. Don’t get stuck in a situation of being without a backup when disaster strikes.
Did you make a change and lock yourself out? Did you make a change and the only way to go back is from a backup? Make sure you have a WordPress backup!
What is a WordPress Backup?
Creating a scheduled backup is one of the most important maintenance tasks you can perform. Most hosting providers (including SiteGround) offer an option to back up your WordPress website. However, just to be safe (and so you can quickly have access to your backups), you should also take your own backups.
There are two items you need: Your database and the files on your website. The database contains all of your posts, pages, links, etc. The files contain the core WordPress installation, all of your plugins, themes, and pictures.
How often you perform a backup is up to you. If you post once a week, then a weekly backup is probably enough. If you have a very busy website and you post more often, you’ll also want to create backups more often. Think of it this way, realistically, how much data are you willing to lose?
Also, be sure to store your backups in two or three places. Only keeping them on your local computer isn’t recommended. It’s best to keep a backup in a few places, including on your local computer, “in the cloud”, and in your email (if size permits). By keeping backups in multiple locations you can ensure at least one will be available.
File Backup
The files on your website can be very large. So emailing them isn’t an option. To easily backup your files, I recommend the free plugin WordPress Backup to Dropbox. It gives you the option to specify how often you want to take a backup. Plus, once your files are on Dropbox, you can copy them to your local computer so you store your backup in a few places.
Database Backup
Backing up your database is just as important as backing up the files on your website. An easy solution to back up your database is the free plugin WP-DBManager. You can set a schedule to send the database backup as an email. The database backup size shouldn’t be too big so emailing it won’t be a problem.
Premium Solution for File and Database Backups
The last option I recommend is VaultPress. They offer premium solutions starting at $5/month. If you don’t mind spending $5 per month this option is even easier than the above mentioned plugins. In addition, if you use the Jetpack plugin (which you really should) there is already built-in integration with VaultPress so you don’t need to install another plugin.
Conclusion
Keeping a recent WordPress backup will save the day if your website goes down. Having a simple solution is important to ensure you have a WordPress backup and the above solutions will give you that simplicity.
If you don’t have a WordPress backup yet, create one right now!