We’ve heard the excuses before: “I don’t have time”, “What could go wrong?” and “I’ll get to it later”, but you know you need to back up your website, don’t you?
Well, if you don’t, here are 5 really good reasons you should do so:
The “Oops” Factor: Truth be told, anyone with FTP access to your site can unintentionally delete important files in a single keystroke. Oops! There goes your website.
Hackers and Viruses: Yes, they really do exist and just because they haven’t found your website yet doesn’t mean you’re not on their list. Besides, a full restore is much faster – and less painful – than cleaning hundreds of files corrupted with malicious code. Trust us.
Data Loss: Every time you do an upgrade to your CMS or add a new plugin or other component you’re at risk for data loss. No one is immune.
Faster Recovery: If your website goes down that back up will help you get up on your feet quickly. You’ll be so glad you have the ability to turn back the clock after an attack. Plus, if your website is down for a long time, it may have a negative impact on your SEO ranking. Your site can also be blacklisted by search engines if it contains malicious files.
Peace of Mind: Forget meditation and yoga, just back up your dang website. All that work you put into building it will be gone in a heartbeat if you don’t protect it. Just do it and you’ll sleep better at night.
I know what you’re thinking: “What if I manually backup my website files via FTP? Isn’t that good enough?”
Yes. (And No).
Ask yourself a few questions first, like “Do I have a static website?” If so, then sure, manual backup might do the trick.
However, if you use a CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Magento, etc.) you also have to back up your database which contains allll that textual content – you know, your pages, posts, comments, etc. – of your site.
Do you want to keep all of that? Then, no, manual backup files will not do the trick. Proceed at your own risk.
HELPFUL TIPS
Create “Restoration Points” before you make any critical changes to your site. You can do that easily with our “Website Restore” solution which allows you to save up to 500MB and includes files and databases. If anything goes wrong you can restore each item individually or all at once.
An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure. With an easy to restore backup, you are prepared for the worst. Plus, you can avoid the worst of it with a few tools that increase you website security, like these : SiteLock, Stop The Hacker and Hacker Wise
The best time to plan for an unexpected failure is right before you need it. Be proactive and you’ll never have to say, “I wish I had done that” later.