How do I back up my website?
Short answerBack up the site’s files, its database if it has one, and your DNS settings, on a schedule that matches how often things change. Keep at least one copy somewhere other than your host. Then test a restore. A backup you’ve never restored is a hope, not a plan, and the time to find that out isn’t after something breaks.
Not sure your backups would actually work?
Tell me what your site runs on and how it’s backed up now. I’ll tell you where the gaps are, within two business days.
The longer answer
What actually needs backing up
It depends on how the site is built. A WordPress site has two parts: files (theme, plugins, uploaded images) and a database holding every page, post and setting. Both need backing up together. A static site is simpler, because the whole site is a folder of files, usually stored in version control with every past version kept.
Don’t forget the things around the site: your DNS records, form submissions stored in a third-party tool, and any booking or CRM data.
How often, and where to keep it
Match frequency to change. A site that takes orders or bookings daily needs daily backups. A brochure site edited monthly can get by with weekly copies plus one before every update.
Keep copies in more than one place. If your only backup lives on the same server as the site, a host failure or hacked account takes both. A cloud storage bucket or a separate backup service gives you somewhere to come back from.
Builders, and testing a restore
On Wix and Squarespace, the platform backs up its own servers, but you can’t easily download a full copy of your site. Your protection there is keeping your text and images saved elsewhere. On WordPress, a backup plugin or your host’s tool can do the job. Whatever you use, restore a backup to a staging site once in a while to confirm it works.
Write down where backups live and how to restore them, in plain steps, and keep that note somewhere other than the website. If the person who set it all up is unavailable on the day you need it, someone else should be able to follow the instructions.
What I’d do
Nick Lovett, founder of Tavro
The sites I build live in a Git repository, so every version of every file is kept and a rollback takes seconds. There’s no database to lose. Hosting keeps its own copies on top of that. For clients on WordPress, I’d set up daily automated backups stored off the server, plus a manual one before any plugin update. Then I’d actually restore one to staging, because I’ve seen too many backup plugins that ran for months and produced files nobody could use.
Follow-up questions
Many do, but check how often, how long copies are kept, and whether restoring costs extra. Don’t rely on it as your only copy.
You can’t export a complete working copy. Keep your text, images and any form data saved separately so you could rebuild if needed.
Keep at least a few weeks of history. Some problems, like a hack, go unnoticed for a while, and you want a clean copy from before it started.
Keep reading
- nick@tavro.ca
- 587-439-9994
- Calgary, Alberta