You can take many steps to protect your website, such as selecting a reputable web host and using strong passwords. The most crucial action you can take, though, is to regularly and early backup your website.
You can benefit from having a recent backup of your website in a variety of ways. Having a backup on hand can help you solve problems if you lose important data or your website is hacked. Additionally, creating that backup file usually doesn’t take longer than a few minutes.
We’ll go over 8 reasons why you should immediately back up your website in this article. Let’s start working!
1. Avoid Human Error
Everyone occasionally makes mistakes. You could alter your website in a way that breaks some of its functionality or delete a crucial file. These kinds of errors can be fixed, but from our experience, few solutions are as effective as restoring a prior backup.
Imagine that a sizable portion of your website stops functioning in order to put this into perspective. These are your two choices:
- Identify the problem and look for a way to solve it.
- Restore your website’s most recent backup and move on.
2. Reverse Problems During Update
Updates are required to keep your website operating properly. Additionally, it’s not unusual to update your website only to have something unanticipatedly go wrong. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t change; you just need to do so in a secure manner.
You should set up an automatic backup system for your website. In this manner, you’ll always have a recent restore point on hand in case you need to update any of its essential components. Additionally, it’s a good idea to manually backup your website before making any changes.
You might need a few minutes or more to prepare that backup. However, if something goes wrong with the update, you’ll be glad you took the time.
3. Prevent Loss Data
Imagine you have a blog with hundreds of posts, and one (or more) of them were accidentally deleted by a team member. Because they lacked knowledge or granted certain users excessive access, people have in the past deleted entire libraries of content.
Maintaining a backup system will ensure that your data will remain secure even in scenarios similar to the one above. That implies that you must have a complete backup of your website and that your personal data must also be backed up.
Furthermore, data loss can happen even in the absence of human error. That implies that having backups is crucial, even if you and your team are experienced.
We advise going a step further if you’re concerned about losing crucial data. You should not only have several backup copies on hand, but you should also avoid keeping them all in the same place. For redundancy’s sake, we advise storing a duplicate of your most recent backups on your server in addition to uploading them to the cloud.
4. Resolve Malware Infections
Many people believe that malware is only capable of harming personal computers. But a surprising number of websites are vulnerable to malware infections, and even more are infected with it.
Even if you take proactive measures to secure your website, attackers still have access to highly sophisticated tools. Remember that even smaller, less well-known websites are not immune to attacks.
Since it can be difficult to tell when your website is completely free of malware, malware troubleshooting can be particularly challenging. Even then, you’ll still be at risk if you don’t find and fix the security “hole” that allowed the infection. Having a backup ready to go will help you get your website clean faster.
5. Protect Your Site from Hackers
Attackers may occasionally attempt to gain direct access to your website in order to deface it or steal crucial data. For instance, if someone is able to access an account with administrative rights, they may change the account’s credentials to prevent you from accessing your website.
If you take the proper security precautions, this shouldn’t occur. Two-factor authentication (2FA) must be enabled on your website in particular. However, there are three ways to proceed if there is a hack:
- Try to recover access to your account through your email.
- Contact your web hosting provider to ask for their assistance.
- Restore a backup from your hosting panel.
The first approach might not always be effective because attackers will almost certainly immediately change the email linked to the account. The company should be able to assist you if you’re using a reliable web host, but it might take some time.
On the other hand, quickly regaining control over your website may be possible with the aid of a backup. Once you’ve done that, you can update your login information to make sure that attackers are once more locked out.
6. You can Migrate Easily to Other Hosts
You wouldn’t need to change web hosts in a perfect world. However, a lot of people make the error of selecting the first provider they come across that appears to be reputable. That frequently results in messy separations and has an outcome similar to a 90 Day Fiancé episode.
This indicates that you might eventually need to switch from one web host to another. Moving all of your website’s files from one server to another is part of the procedure. The good news is that you already have several fully functional copies of your website available if you followed our advice.
There are numerous ways to migrate your website using backups. You have three options for copying files: manually, with special tools, or by asking your new provider to do it. In any case, having a backup available gives you a lot of freedom because you can switch web hosts immediately if necessary.
7. Deal with Compatibility Problems Following Fresh Installations
If you use a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress or another one, you probably rely heavily on add-ons like themes and plugins. Both kinds of tools can be very useful. But each time you add a new add-on, you’re bringing in a component that might not get along with the rest of the ecosystem of the website.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid plugins and themes, just like you shouldn’t avoid updates. Instead, you should exercise caution when choosing the ones you install. Verify their ratings and reviews, as well as how frequently the developers update them.
To be safe, you should also backup your website before activating a new theme or WordPress plugin. With this strategy, all you have to do to fix a compatibility problem is go back to an earlier backup. You are then free to install a different tool.
8. Create a Testing Version of Your Website Easily
The safest way to modify your site whenever you want to make a significant change is by using a testing environment. In this manner, you can prevent any issues that arise during or following the update from having an impact on your live website.
You’ll need what’s known as a staging site to accomplish this. You can go about making one in a number of ways, and they are all fairly simple. Additionally, having a recent backup of your site means you can quickly set up a staging copy.
How to Perform a Backup
You can back up your website in a variety of ways, as we’ve already mentioned. Some web hosts will take care of it for you, while others let you make backups whenever you need them from your control panel. You can use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to copy your files if you prefer a more manual method, or you can set up a backup plugin.
Whatever method you choose, as long as you have many backups and regularly create them, is acceptable. We advise maintaining several duplicate backups in various locations for maximum security. In this manner, you’ll always have a backup of your backup in case you lose one. You can be as safe as possible about there.
Your Files are IMPORTANT!
When it comes to digital security, “make a backup” is one of the most frequently uttered pieces of advice. Regular site backups give you a quick fix in case something goes wrong. For instance, if you need to perform troubleshooting or recover lost data, having a backup can save you a ton of headaches.
