Why You Need to Backup Your WordPress Blog and Database

When running any website, you want to do everything you can protect it.

To start protecting your WordPress website, you should first make a backup of your WordPress database and your essential files (uploads, plugins, themes, etc.).

And do backups regularly in case of an emergency. If you make changes to your site frequently, I suggest doing backups daily or weekly.

If you're not making a current backup, you're setting yourself up for potential website doom and failure. I shudder to think what could happen to your blog or website without one. And we've seen the the heartache webmasters go through without one.

Why do you need a backup of my WordPress site?

Let me give you some scenarios as to why you should have a backup…

1. You've found this great WP plugin that's going to take your website to the next level. You've installed and activated it. When all of a sudden, you're receiving errors in your wp-admin area. Or you're locked out of your own site. Now what? You'll probably spend the next few hours…or days trying to figure out how to fix it.
2. You've been working with WordPress for awhile. You're feeling confident enough to start making some changes to your WP theme. Or you add some special code someone told you to try. When “poof,” your WordPress site is blank. How the heck did that happen? Now you have to figure out how to undo what you just did.
3. It's a bright sunny morning. You've had a few cups of coffee and you decide to spend some time reading your email. You find an email alert from Google Webmaster Tools stating that your site has been listed as suspicious and blocked. Holy cow! What does that mean? You go to Google and do a search for your domain name and you see this message, “This site may harm your computer.” You're asking yourself, why does it say that? What on earth is Google talking about? My site isn't dangerous. In reality, there's something on your website that could potentially harm your visitors' computers.
4. Then, your worst website nightmare comes true! You open up your website and the only thing you see is an ugly image of a skull and a message telling you, “You've been hacked. The Hacker Monster Ownz You!” You're now in a panic. Your heart is racing. Your blood pressure is off the charts. You're now screaming aloud, “Somebody help me!”

Everything will be okay…

If you've made a backup of your WordPress database and your essential files. With your backup, you'll be able to restore your website.

If you haven't backed up your website, please do it now! I can't stress this enough. Without a current backup, you'd need to start all over. You'd lose all your hard work. You can't afford to skip making a backup. You wouldn't want to recreate your site all over again.

Don't worry. Just stay tuned. I'll tell you in my next blog post how to backup your WordPress blog and database.

Congrats, if you're already backing up your WordPress site. Let me know what plugin or program you're using and why you like it. Just leave your comment below. I'll be doing a review of these programs in a future post.

Securely yours,

Regina Smola
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