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How to Backup a WordPress Site

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Steven Bright
How to Backup a WordPress Site

Backing up your WordPress web is not something that you need to ignore. In so many situations, backing up the web page can help you save a lot of time and headaches. For instance, if your website is down due to an error or by the updating effects of its functionality, you will be able to roll back using the saved version. The best benefit of using the backup of your WordPress site is that it saves you from hours of troubleshooting. In this guidepost, we will show how to do it precisely and discuss which sections of your website require backup, and we are also mentioning different methods.

What is a WordPress Backup:

The backup of your WordPress website is a copy of your website that you can use to restore the previous version when something went wrong. You can consider it as a precautionary measure, which saves lots of your undue stress. It is similar to an insurance policy that can protect the efforts, time, and money you have invested in creating the WordPress website.

What does a WordPress Backup Include:

Now, I will show you a clear picture of what exactly is your WordPress website backup. The WordPress web page consists of two components.

  • The first component of the website is your site files, such as plugin files, themes, media, scripts, etc.
  • The second one is the MySQL database that stores comments, blog posts, and the options you choose for your WordPress admin area.

Both the mentioned components can make up your WordPress site entirely.

Why do You need to Backup my WordPress Website:

Most web hosting services talk of offering backups, but all they do is create a backup of the "MySQL database" if they create a backup of anything. They don't make a backup for your files that means you can't recover the changes you make to the website theme. For instance, If the website files are corrupted, then it is quite a hassle of requesting a copy of your website by their backups, so it is helpful to back up the data.

Different Methods WordPress Backup:

Here we are going to mention different backups for the WordPress website.

 

Backup WordPress Through Your Hosting:

If your website publishes extra materials on your website regularly, then this option is a must to use. It is a must to ensure not to lose anything if things come to the worst side. Some of the website hosting companies provide the facility of website backup automatically daily. It is very beneficial for you because you can set the backup settings and forget all the tensions. Some of the hosting platforms provide the facility to save the files manually as well. It happens due to the changing of themes or other changes, so you may always be unsure that everything will go according to the plan.

Manually Backup of WordPress Website:

The simplest way to backup the website files is to create the backup manually. For saving the files manually, visit the WordPress directory & look for the subfolders such as wp-content or wp-includes, and some other files are essential to run the WordPress site. You also have to search for the other important stuff out there. The subfolder of wp-admin contains everything that your WordPress website admin area requires. So, save these files safely.

If you are using the cPanel, then go to the file manager in the panel and find public_html or Home directory. Click on the directory or select the compress directory from the menu bar. Now, select the Zip, Tar, and GZIP files for the compression type. After doing that, click on the compress files and sit back when the WordPress backup folder is created. Now, use the right-click option and download the files from the menu.

 Backup WordPress Automatically with Plugins:

The WordPress backup plugin adds the elements to create dependable backups for your website. All you do is install the backup plugin, then configure its settings according to your requirements, and it's done. Well! There is a wide range of WordPress plugins for backup that you can use to save the files. Here, we divide them into two categories.

  • The first list is full website backup plugins in this category; the plugin generates the complete copies of your site and saves them for later use.
  • The second one is the incremental backup plugins. This type of plugin generates the backup only when you make changes to the site. So, you can avoid taking the unessential storage space.

The difference between the two categories is that the incremental backup tools tend to cost. However, they also offer different free complete website backup tools that you can use.

Conclusion:

Learning how to create the WordPress site backup is much easier than you think. It becomes pretty easy by doing it manually or using the plugins to backup the data. You can also use the web hosting platforms that offer built-in backup features to save the data to use when it is required. Its basic guide for more advanced tips and methods visit how to backup a wordpress site.

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