A site backup is the insurance that saves your business after an error, an attack or a wrong update. Without a backup you may have to rebuild the site from scratch.
What to back up
- Files: Theme, images, settings.
- Database: Posts, pages, orders, users.
- Email: Mailboxes held on the hosting.
How often?
As often as your site changes. Daily for store and booking sites; weekly or after each change for brochure sites.
Where to keep it
If the backup stays on the server itself it is lost with it when the server fails. Always keep it somewhere else (a different provider, cloud storage, a local computer). A good rule: several copies in different places.
Test the restore
Taking a backup is not enough; try restoring it once. If the backup file is corrupt, you will only learn that in a crisis.
Manage old backups
Keep the last few and delete very old ones so storage does not fill.
Relation to security
A backup lets you return to a clean copy after an attack. See website security basics.
Regular backups are part of our hosting service: hosting and domains in Bodrum. Backups matter when migrating; see moving a website to another host. For a new site see our web design page.