Geekspeak Guides

Geekspeak Guides


Back ups are more than a click in wp-admin – get the details.

October 10, 2015

Everything you need to know about backing up your site. Even if you think your backup solution is good, watch this video to make sure. We cover all the things you need to backup, how often, when to take manual backups, storage options, costs for storing, backup plugins vs 3rd party services, and so much more.

 

 

Time stamp of our chat:

* 00:01:00 Why you need to backup even if you have a little brochure type site.
* 00:01:46 Why leaving a hacked site up while you’re rebuilding because you didn’t have a backup can draw serious penalties from Google that will take you even longer to recover from.
* 00:02:00 Whether you need to hire a pro to do this, and what you need to know before you do, or attempt to DIY.
* 00:03:00 All the things you need to back up.

* Core WordPress files - not all services do this, they require you to do a new WP install before restore
* Host root files - critical files outside the WordPress core, like .htaccess where you may have redirects and local caching and security directives, and 3rd party verification like Pinterest and Google.
* Your theme and branding images - especially if it’s customized.
* Database - just doing the database is not enough. It is only content, not images and other critical files.
* Members - if you run a membership site, export the membership outside of your regular backup occasionally.
* Transactional site - like e-commerce, manually export it now and then, outside of the regular backup.

* 00:05:30 Many transactional (membership, e-commerce) plugins have a way to export their data.
* 00:06:00 How often should you back up?
* 00:07:30 Does backing up the database daily and then doing a full backup weekly really make sense to do?
* 00:08:30 When to take a manual backup.
* 00:09:00 Automated vs manual backups.
* 00:10:00 Loosing all of your links if you have to rebuild without a backup. This also kills your SEO.
* 00:11:20 The best time of day to run backups.
* 00:11:55 Storage of backup files.
* 00:14:00 The best ways to transfer backup files to storage.
* 00:16:35 Cost for backup file storage and cost for not doing backups properly.
* 00:16:50 How many site attacks are happening every minute of the day.
* 00:17:40 Storing on Dropbox and Google Drive.
* 00:19:50 Are you absolutely sure you can restore your backup? Are you sure you know what’s in those files? You may be missing a lot!!
* 00:20:00 You’ll be shocked to learn how hard or impossible it is to restore a backup from most free plugins.
* 00:22:00 Popular backup plugins that are such resource hogs that they can’t even be run anymore on shared hosting.
* 00:24:00 Have you ever looked at your backup restoration procedure?
* 00:25:00 Backup options.
* 00:31:15 How to check your backup by restoring it to a sandbox site.
* 00:32:30 Partial restoration of single files or theme or rolling back plugins.
* 00:34:10 How to safely update plugins.-----------Your Geekspeak Guides:Susan Finch
Marketing Strategist, Strategic Content and Graphics Creator, Social Marketing Advisor
Web: http://www.susanfinch.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/susanfinchweb

MaAnna Stephenson
WordPress, SEO, Conversion, Security, Performance, Member Sites
Web: http://www.blogaid.net
Twitter: http://twitter.com/blogaid