Backup’s…How important are they?

We recently had the opportunity to attend ‘Backup Before you Crackup’ at 2018 WordCamp St. Louis.  This presentation, given by Jarrett Gucci from WpFixIt.com, had some very good points that are common sense, but forgotten by many WordPress developers.  Some of the key notes from this presentation follow...

First and foremost, some reasons for Backups;

• It saves you Money – Loss of your website for an extended time can really hurt your business and cause loss of revenue
• It saves you Time – Many hours can be spent restoring and rebuilding a site that has been hacked.
• It shows your Intellect – The ability to restore your website in a timely manner really shows that you have your ducks in a row and can take care of your clients.

We depend upon many digital devices that allow us to use the apps and systems that support our daily way of life. So we need to keep everything running and communicating.

Let’s Talks about a WordPress Backup Strategy…

• Identify what is Important – Identify the key components of your website, app, or system that is important to keep it functioning.
• Select a Backup Tool – Select one of the many tools available that will deliver the Backup you require to adequately restore your system.
• Automate the Process – Automation is a key component for making a consistent and timely backup with human interference.

Who is responsible for backing-up your site?

• You can put together a manual process for backup.
• Have you Hosting Company backup your site.
• You can hire a person to manage your site and backups.
• You can install a WordPress Plugin for backup processing. There are many Free and Paid plugins available for backup of your site.
• Jarrett Gucci recommends using UpdraftPlus.com (the Free Version). They offer the following features;
• They have Auto 1 click Restore
• They have Auto Backups Pre Update
• They Backup Encrypted Databases

Events and other things that require a Backup

• WordPress Core Updates
• Theme Updates
• Plugin Updates
• Plugin/Theme conflicts
• Malicious files on server
• User errors

What do you Backup on your WordPress site?

• Database
• Content
• Or…backup your entire site

Last…but certainly not least…TEST YOUR BACKUP!