Create a Simple Backup Plan for Your WordPress Site
No matter how good your web host and WordPress deployment is, it is always essential to have a site backup plan that you ardently follow. It helps you sustain as a brand/individual when your website loses data due to a mistake or because it is hacked.
4 Things to Keep in Mind while Preparing a WordPress Site Backup Plan
#1 – How Often Should You Backup Your WordPress Website?
It totally depends on how frequently you update your site or blog. If it’s a portfolio or service site, which is rarely updated on a monthly or quarterly basis, monthly backups are fine. On the contrary, for giant blog portals and eCommerce stores that have multiple blog posts, comments, and transactions everyday, daily or real-time backup will make the right choice.
#2 – What to Add to your Backups?
You can add Files and/or Database data in your Backups while using plugins.
- When there is a change in your theme, plugin, and media files, it is time to backup your WordPress Files.
- Dynamic content, such as blog posts, web pages, comments, form data, and plugins’ output data, is part of Database backup.
So, include the files/database in your WordPress backups as per the changes made recently (since the previous backup).
#3 – How Should You Backup Your WordPress Website
There are multiple ways to backup your WordPress site:
- Via FTP/cPanel
- Manually using plugins
- Automatically using plugins
You must choose your method of taking backups as per your preference and backup frequency.
Top WordPress backup plugins are:
- UpdraftPlus: It has a free plan, sufficient for most of the WP sites requiring scheduled backups to be saved in external storage. Premium plans start from $70/year (for 2 sites).
- BackupBuddy: Premium Basic Plan ($99/year – 1 site), Plus Plan ($199/year – sites), Agency Plan ($299/year – 10 sites).
- Jetpack VaultPress Backup: Jetpack has a free version and various paid plans starting from $20/month.
#4 – Where to Store Your WordPress Backup
Firstly, remember not to have any of your backup files within your WordPress admin dashboard or in the WordPress folders where its installed.
It is always suggested to keep your WordPress backups away from the live site. Off-site storage is the ideal choice. You can keep your backups with an online storage service (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, etc.), as well as offline, in your system. Options like Google Drive and Dropbox offer free storage services up to several GBs.