Do you know how to back up your website? In this article, we’ll discuss the steps involved in backing up your website and why it’s so important.
Why You Should Back Up Your Website
Before we discuss how to back up your website, we should first discuss why you should back up your website. You may think that once you are online and your website is fully functioning, you’re out of the woods. But if you want to be extra careful with your sensitive data and information you gather online, a backup of your website is essential.
If you’re in business and maintain a website that attracts even some of your customer base, you should be backing up your website. Just as you would back up your important personal documents and photographs, you should also regularly back up your website.
There are a number of reasons why you should regularly perform a backup of your website. Some of the most common are:
It’s Good Business Practice
Sometimes website hosting companies don’t perform regular backups of your website, and the truth is, it’s not always their responsibility.
The information you publish on your website belongs to you and you alone once the web designer has completed the job, meaning that it’s your responsibility and good business practice to keep an up-to-date backup of your website.
Protects Against Website Crashes & Viruses
While website designers such as those we have on the Rise SEO team do their utmost to prevent cyber attacks and viruses, or avoid potential site downtime, the internet is not infallible. At one time or another, it’s likely that your website will go down – whether it’s due to a heavy stream of traffic and online sales or something more sinister.
That’s why it’s so important for you to backup your website, particularly if you store a lot of data in online portals and there’s no hard copy format on your system or in your office anywhere.
By doing this, if something does happen, our web team can jump online and get you up and running again without having to build your website from scratch again, while also safely protecting your customer’s information.
Testing
If you’re testing a new product, function or service, you don’t want to do it on a live website. This is where your website backup can come in handy. You can test and change anything you like on the backup and make adjustments accordingly without affecting the real-time interactions and functionality of your website itself.
How to Back Up Your Website
There are a few ways in which you can back up your website using online applications. Most website building applications (like WordPress) provide tools and plug ins so you can easily back up your website whenever you need to, but you can also perform a back up manually.
Backing Up Your Website via WordPress
Follow these steps to back up your website online via WordPress:
- Download a WordPress plug-in like Elementor and follow the instructions. This will allow you to store your website files online in the Cloud or off-line, in your company’s system.
Generally, it’s a good idea to keep three copies of your website (a live copy, a backup and an archived copy) so you’re ready to go if something goes wrong.
Backing Up Your Website via CPanel
Another way you can backup your website is through your site’s CPanel. Follow these instructions to do so:
- Log into your site’s CPanel
- In the files section, click Back up and follow the instructions to download either for storage online or offline.
This also allows you to perform a partial backup of your website, if that is something you want to do.
When to Call in the Rise SEO Team
Let’s be honest, the internet can be a complicated beast. Risking your website and your customer’s data is not something any business owner wants to do. That’s why, if you think you might be over your head when backing up your website, it’s best to consult with the professionals.
Contact Rise SEO today to find out how we can help you backup your website.
