How to Backup a WordPress Website Manually

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems around. For those who don’t know, WordPress is a completely free and open source web software that can be used to create a website or blog. It can also be used to power social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This software has officially been downloaded and used by over 280 million people worldwide. This popularity makes it a bit more difficult to maintain a pristine copy of your website’s data in case of a failure or mishap.

If you’re the type of person who uses WordPress to power their website, then you have a very large platform to manage. Backing up your WordPress site can be a daunting task because there are so many moving parts that can cause data loss if not backed up correctly. Before you begin your search for the perfect plugin or software to accomplish this, you should first consider manually backing up your website’s data. Even though this may seem like a lot of effort, it’s often the simple things that cause the most headache when it comes to data loss. For example, did you know that WordPress 4.2 introduced a new feature called the Trashcan which automatically cleans out old content from your site? If this feature causes you to lose data, then you may need to resort to manual backups to restore your content.

The Importance of Backups

The importance of backups cannot be stressed enough. There are many situations in which a backup can save your skin. Did you know that if you use the same username and password on various sites, then all of a sudden you’ll start receiving password notices from your email account? If you use a weak password or the same password on various sites, then it is very susceptible to being hacked. A backup can save you from having all of your accounts affected if any of them are compromised. It is also important to back up your site regularly regardless of how much change it undergoes.

WordPress itself is incredibly stable and has a very large community behind it. This is why it is always a safe choice to use when creating a new site. However, this stability also makes it very difficult to manually backup because there is always the chance that something could go wrong. If you use plugins on your site which make it more complex or if you use a custom theme which has more features than a default WordPress theme, then it becomes that much more important to make regular backups. Did you know that if you use certain plugins on your site, then it could break the functionality of your backups? For example, the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin breaks the functionality of WordPress’ built-in media attachments because it creates new files with a different name each time you run it. If you need to recover any of your site’s content in any way, then you’ll need to manually restore your backups before you can start over again. Of course, this is assuming that your backups are still working. If you’re not sure how reliable your backups are or if you just want to make sure that you’re always safe when creating content then you should consider investing in a reliable anti-virus plugin for your WordPress platform. This will help protect your website and its data from any threats, be they physical or digital.

Manual Backup Tips

Manual backups are just as important as regular backups because they give you the opportunity to restore your site in case something happens. Did you know that you can use a plugin like BackWPup to create automatic daily backups of your site? This plugin creates a full copy of your site’s content, including all the images and videos, in a compressed folder which is stored offline. Did you also know that you can use a plugin like Simple Backup PRO to create an image copy of your website’s content without having to download and store the entire thing in a compressed.zip file? This is because Simple Backup PRO can be run directly from within WordPress and offers many useful features like automatic image backups and password protection. This plugin is extremely popular among bloggers because it makes the process of backing up and restoring a WordPress blog very quick and easy. Did you know that if you use a self-hosted WordPress blog, then you can use a tool like Flywheel to easily back up and restore your entire site at any time? Flywheel compresses all of your site’s content and stores it in the cloud. This means that you can access your content from any device and at any time. Did you also know that you can use a service like SpiderOak to store encrypted copies of your website’s content? Once you’ve set up an account with this service, you can easily back up and restore your entire site at any time if desired. Did you know that you can find numerous tools and plugins which can help you automate the process of backing up and restoring your website? For example, did you know that you can use a plugin like Backup Buddy to create automatic daily backups of your site and then store those backups in the cloud? Did you know that you can use a service like Keep to store all of your site’s content in the cloud and then have that content automatically backed up to various devices? Did you know that you can use a plugin like VersionPress to create multiple backups of your WordPress site (called snapshots) and store them in the cloud? Or did you know that you can use a service like HubSpot to have all of your mail forwarded to a Gmail account so that you can access it from anywhere? If you use all of these tools and plugins, then it becomes that much easier to keep track of all your backups.

The Many Moving Parts Of A WordPress Site

As mentioned, WordPress is a very popular web software platform with a very large community. This means that there are plenty of 3rd party plugins and tools that can be used to extend the functionality of your site. Did you know that the functionality of your site can be extended using plugins like Yoast SEO or All-in-One Schema? These plugins can be used to optimize your site’s content for search engines like Google and Bing. If you use any sort of SEO on your site, then you should consider installing and using these plugins. They can make a significant difference in the amount of traffic your site receives and the conversions you receive from that traffic.

There are also plenty of tools that can be used to monitor and manage the performance of your site. For example, did you know that you can use a tool like Hootsuite to manage and monitor the performance of your Twitter account? Or did you know that you can use a plugin like Google Analytics to track and monitor your site’s traffic? These tools give you the ability to see all the visitors to your site and help you adjust your strategies to increase site performance.

WordPress is a massive platform and it’s quite easy to get lost in all the functionality it offers. If you’re looking for a straightforward guide on how to manually back up a WordPress site, then check out this article. It will walk you through the whole process of creating backups which will make it much easier for you to restore your site if needed.