Essential Steps for Backing Up Your Website

A website backup gives you a way to recover your website if files are accidentally deleted, a database is damaged, an update causes problems, or a security incident affects your site.

A complete website backup should account for both your website files and its database. Depending on how the website is built and hosted, you may also need to preserve configuration files, email-related settings, or other application data.

The best backup method depends on your website platform, hosting environment, how frequently your content changes, and how quickly you would need to restore the site.

1. Understand What Needs to Be Backed Up

Before choosing a backup method, identify the components that make up your website.

For a typical WordPress website, this includes:

• WordPress core files
• Themes
• Plugins
• Images and other media
• Uploaded files
• Configuration files
• The WordPress database

The database is particularly important because it can contain posts, pages, comments, user information, settings, and other website content.

Backing up only the files without the database may not give you a complete working copy of the website.

For more technical information about WordPress files and databases, WordPress’s documentation provides official guidance.

2. Create a Manual Website Backup

A manual backup can be useful when you want direct control over what is being copied or when you need an additional backup outside your normal automated system.

Back Up the Database

If your website uses MySQL or MariaDB, a database-management tool such as phpMyAdmin can be used to export the database.

A typical process is:

1. Open phpMyAdmin through your hosting control panel.
2. Select the database used by your website.
3. Choose Export.
4. Select the appropriate export method.
5. Download and securely store the resulting database file.

The exact interface can differ between hosting providers and phpMyAdmin versions.

Back Up Website Files

You also need a copy of the website files.

Depending on your hosting environment, you may be able to download them through:

• An FTP/SFTP client
• Your hosting control panel’s file manager
• A server-management tool
• A hosting backup system

For a WordPress website, make sure the backup includes your themes, plugins, media uploads, and other relevant files.

A manual backup gives you control, but it can become impractical if you have to remember to perform it every time the website changes.

3. Use an Automated WordPress Backup Solution

If your website runs WordPress, an automated backup solution can make regular backups easier to maintain.

Tools such as UpdraftPlus and BackWPup can automate WordPress backup processes and provide options for storing backup copies separately from the website.

The specific features available depend on the plugin version and configuration.

When evaluating a WordPress backup solution, look for capabilities such as:

• Scheduled backups
• Database backups
• File backups
• Off-site storage
• Backup retention
• Easy restoration
• Backup notifications
• Encryption or secure storage where appropriate

Don’t choose a backup plugin simply because it has the largest number of features. Make sure you understand how the backups are stored and, most importantly, how restoration works.

4. Check Your Web Hosting Backup Options

Your hosting provider may already offer automated backups.

Before setting up another backup system, check your hosting account and find out:

• How frequently backups are created
• How long they are retained
• Whether they include both files and databases
• Where the backups are stored
• Whether you can restore individual files
• Whether you can restore the entire website
• Whether restoration costs extra

Hosting backups can be convenient, but don’t assume that your hosting provider’s backup system should be your only backup.

If the hosting account or server is compromised, having an independent copy stored elsewhere can provide an additional layer of protection.

If you’re reviewing your hosting setup, you can explore Archer’s web hosting services to see the hosting options available.

5. Store Backups Outside Your Website

Keeping a backup on the same server as your website does not provide much protection against every type of failure.

Consider maintaining an additional copy in a separate storage location, such as:

• Google Drive
• Amazon S3
• Other cloud object storage
• A separate server
• Offline storage

The appropriate storage method depends on the size and importance of your website and the level of security and accessibility required.

For example, a business website could maintain a primary automated backup through its hosting environment while also keeping independent backup copies in separate storage.

6. Choose a Backup Frequency Based on Your Website

There isn’t one backup schedule that is appropriate for every website.

Consider how frequently your website changes and how much recent data you could afford to lose.

A website that rarely changes may need less frequent full backups than an online store processing orders throughout the day.

For example:

These are starting points, not universal rules.

A useful way to think about this is the Recovery Point Objective (RPO): how much recent data can the business afford to lose if something goes wrong?

If losing a day’s changes would be unacceptable, a weekly backup schedule isn’t sufficient.

7. Keep Multiple Backup Versions

A backup strategy shouldn’t necessarily overwrite yesterday’s backup with today’s copy.

Maintaining multiple recovery points can help if you discover a problem several days after it occurred.

For example, suppose malware or a configuration problem affects a website on Monday, but you don’t notice it until Thursday. If you only have Thursday’s backup, that backup may already contain the problem.

Keeping multiple historical versions gives you more options when selecting a clean restore point.

Your retention period should reflect how important the website is and how long problems might go undetected.

8. Test Your Backups

A backup that has never been tested should not automatically be considered reliable.

Periodically verify that you can actually restore the website from the backup.

A restoration test can reveal problems such as:

• Incomplete files
• Missing database data
• Corrupted backup archives
• Incorrect backup configurations
• Missing credentials
• Restoration procedures that don’t work as expected

For a business-critical website, restoration testing should be part of the overall backup and recovery process rather than something you only attempt after a failure.

9. Protect Your Backup Copies

Your backups contain valuable website and business information, so they need protection too.

Use appropriate security controls for the storage system, including:

• Strong account credentials
• Multi-factor authentication where available
• Restricted access
• Secure transfer methods
• Appropriate retention policies
• Encryption where appropriate

Don’t give every user access to backup storage if they don’t need it.

A compromised backup account can potentially give an attacker access to historical copies of your website and its data.

The CISA Cybersecurity Performance Goals provide useful guidance for organizations reviewing fundamental cybersecurity practices.

10. Have a Recovery Plan

Backing up your website is only one part of disaster recovery.

You should also know what you will do when you need to restore the website.

Document:

• Where backups are stored
• Who has access to them
• How to restore the files
• How to restore the database
• Who is responsible for the recovery
• Which backup should be used
• How DNS or other configuration will be handled
• How the restored website will be tested

This becomes particularly important when the person who normally manages the website is unavailable.

Common Website Backup Mistakes

Several mistakes can make an otherwise well-intentioned backup strategy less effective.

Backing Up Only the Website Files

A WordPress website’s database contains important content and settings. A files-only backup may therefore be incomplete.

Keeping Every Backup on the Same Server

If the server fails or the account is compromised, your website and backups could potentially be affected at the same time.

Never Testing Restoration

Creating backup files isn’t enough. You need confidence that those files can actually be restored.

Having Only One Recent Backup

If the latest backup is corrupted or contains an existing problem, you may need an older recovery point.

Not Knowing Your Recovery Requirements

A business should understand how much data it can afford to lose and how quickly the website needs to be restored.

A Practical Backup Strategy for a Small Business Website

A small business doesn’t necessarily need an unnecessarily complicated backup system.

A practical approach could include:

1. Automated backups
Create backups on a defined schedule.

2. Separate storage
Keep at least one backup copy outside the primary hosting environment.

3. Multiple recovery points
Retain enough historical backups to recover from problems that aren’t immediately detected.

4. Regular testing
Periodically verify that the backups can be restored.

5. Document the process
Make sure someone knows where the backups are and how to recover the website.

This gives the business a structured recovery process rather than relying on a single backup file.

Final Thoughts

A reliable website backup strategy is about more than clicking “Backup.”

You need to know what is being backed up, how frequently backups are created, where copies are stored, how long they are retained, and whether they can actually be restored.

For a WordPress website, make sure both the website files and database are included. For business-critical websites, consider keeping independent backup copies and testing restoration regularly.

Your hosting provider can be part of the backup strategy, but it shouldn’t necessarily be the only layer of protection.

If you need help with website hosting, backups, or broader business technology, explore Archer IT Solutions or contact Archer IT Solutions to discuss your requirements.