Backups are a bit like insurance. Nobody gets excited about them, and most people only think about them after something has already gone wrong. By then it is usually too late.
So, do you really need website backups? If your website matters to your business, the answer is yes. Here is why, and what a good backup setup looks like.
What can go wrong
Plenty of things can take a website down or damage it, and most of them are not your fault:
- A plugin or WordPress update clashes with something and breaks the site.
- The site is hacked and files or content are changed or deleted.
- Someone deletes a page or makes a change they cannot undo.
- A problem with the hosting server, or the host itself goes out of business.
- An expired hosting account is closed and the site is removed.
Without a backup, any of these can mean rebuilding the site from scratch. With a good backup, it can mean being back online the same day.
“My host already does backups”
Many hosts do take backups, and that is a good start. But it is worth checking a few things:
- Where are they stored? Backups kept on the same server as your website can be lost along with it.
- How often are they taken, and how long are they kept? If a hack went unnoticed for a month, a week of backups will not help.
- Can you get them yourself, or only by asking support?
- Is restoring included, or is it an extra charge?
What a good backup includes
A WordPress website has two parts, and both need backing up:
- The files: WordPress itself, your theme, plugins, and all the images and documents you have uploaded.
- The database: your pages, posts, settings, users, form entries and, for online shops, orders and customers.
Backing up only one of them is not enough to get the site back.
A sensible backup routine
- Daily backups for most business websites. Online shops and busy sites may need more.
- Stored off-site, somewhere separate from your hosting account.
- Kept for a reasonable time, so you can go back to before a problem started.
- Taken before every update, so changes can be rolled back quickly.
- Tested now and then, because a backup you cannot restore is not really a backup.
How long should backups be kept?
This one surprises people. Some problems, like a hack, can sit unnoticed for weeks before anyone spots them. If your backups only go back a few days, every copy you have may already contain the problem.
A good rule of thumb is to keep daily backups for at least a few weeks, with some older copies kept longer. That way you can go back to a point before the trouble started, rather than just restoring the same issue.
It is also worth keeping a separate copy before any big change, like a redesign, a new online shop, or moving hosts. If the change does not go to plan, you have a clean starting point to return to.
How to check your backups actually work
The only way to be sure is to restore one. That does not have to mean touching the live site. A backup can be restored to a test copy to make sure it is complete and works. If nobody has ever done that with your backups, it is worth doing.
A quicker check is to ask yourself, or whoever looks after your site: “If the website disappeared today, how would we get it back, and how long would it take?” If the answer is not clear, your backups need attention.
What about email and other data?
Website backups usually cover just the website. Business email, accounting software and other systems need their own backup plans. If your email is hosted with your website, check whether it is included.
Backups as part of a care plan
Every one of our WordPress care plans includes daily off-site backups, plus a backup before every round of updates. If something goes wrong, we restore your site and fix the cause. You do not have to work out where the backups are or how to use them.
Want to know if your current backups are up to scratch? Ask for a free site check. Backups are one of the first things we look at.
