Nobody thinks about website backups until the day they need one. A plugin update breaks the site, someone deletes the wrong page, or a hack makes a mess. On that day, a good backup turns a disaster into a minor inconvenience. Here’s what I look for.
What can go wrong without backups
- An update breaks your site and you can’t roll it back
- A page or product gets deleted by accident
- Malware gets in and cleanup takes days
- Your host has a problem and data is lost
What a good backup setup looks like
- Automatic. Backups that depend on someone remembering eventually get forgotten.
- Daily. Frequent enough that you’d lose at most a day of changes.
- Kept for a while. Thirty days of history means you can go back to before a problem started, even if you notice it late.
- Stored somewhere else. A backup on the same server as the site can disappear with it.
- Complete. Both the files and the database, since the database holds your pages, posts, and settings.
The part most people skip: testing
A backup you’ve never restored is a hope, not a plan. Ask whoever manages your site when they last tested a restore. With many hosts, you can restore a backup to a test copy of your site to confirm it works without touching the live one.
Back up before big changes
Even with daily backups, take a fresh one right before major updates, redesigns, or plugin changes. It’s the easiest undo button you’ll ever have.
Don’t forget email and other data
Website backups usually don’t include your email. If your business email is on your own domain, find out how it’s backed up separately. Same goes for files on office computers. I cover that in a separate article on backing up business computers.
Questions to ask your host or web person
- How often is my site backed up?
- How long are backups kept?
- Where are they stored?
- How quickly can you restore one, and is there a cost?
- When was a restore last tested?
Questions I hear a lot
Are free backup plugins good enough?
Some are solid, as long as backups are automatic, stored off the server, and tested. The setup matters more than the tool.
How long does a restore take?
For most small business sites, a restore takes minutes to an hour, depending on size and the tools involved.
If you want a second set of eyes
The hosting I provide includes daily backups kept for 30 days. If you’re not sure what your current setup does, I’m glad to look. More on hosting and care here.