When was the last time you backed up your website files? This week? Excellent! Last month? Decent. Can’t remember? You’re not the only one.

March 31 is World Backup Day and this is your annual reminder to backup your personal files and more importantly, backup your website.

 

Why you need to backup

Everyone, including us here at Canadian Web Hosting, will tell you that it’s important to backup your website files, but why exactly?

Having a backup of your website is your insurance policy in case things go wrong. It allows you to easily turn back the clock and restore your website to what it was like at a previous point in time.

Not convinced?

Here are 4 reasons why you need to backup your website:

 

Data loss prevention

The biggest reason why you should be backing up regularly is to prevent data loss. You work hard to build your website, set up your e-Commerce store or create content for your blog. The last thing you want to happen is for all that work to just disappear without a way of recovering it.

Pro tip: Set up an automatic backup to run regularly. Once you’ve set it up, you can forget about it. However, be sure to verify that the backup file works before you leave it to run.

 

Malware and hackers

Anything on the internet is vulnerable to being hacked or infected by malware, your website included. Even if you do your best to stay safe from malware, hackers can be tricky and still get in. WordPress sites, especially, are susceptible to being hacked. With so many websites using this framework for their website, it is a popular choice for hackers looking to exploit vulnerabilities in older versions of WordPress

Pro tip: If you have a WordPress-based website, it is important to keep it up to date. These updates include security patches that close up vulnerabilities. This includes updating WordPress core files, plugins, and themes.

 

Human error

We’re only human and accidents happen no matter how much experience you may have managing your website. You could accidentally delete an important file or click on the wrong button and your website is broken. Having a backup that you can easily access is key to getting your website up and running quickly with minimal disturbance to your business.

Pro tip: Ensure the individuals who have access to your website are properly trained and are provided only enough access for them to do their job.

 

Updates gone wrong

It is best practice to ensure your website is up-to-date for security reasons and in the case of WordPress websites, have the latest version and plugins. However, sometimes updating these files and plugins on your website can cause something to go wrong. From plugin compatibility issues to broken themes to database errors, the most minor of errors in code can result in your website breaking.

Pro tip: Any time you’re making significant changes to your website, be sure to take a backup first!

 

Backup options at Canadian Web Hosting

At Canadian Web Hosting, all our shared web hosting plans comes with complimentary 10 GB of backup, but we recommend you have your own copy as well that is not stored on your server.

Looking to backup your VPS or dedicated server? In honour of World Backup day, we’re offering customers a complimentary month* of our Enterprise Backup or Dedicated Backup server plans, plus free setup and configuration to get you started right away.

Regardless of how you backup your website, remember to:

  • Backup regularly and, ideally, automatically
  • Store your backup somewhere other than your server
  • Provide proper training for employees and limit their access to only what is necessary
  • Take an extra backup before making changes to your website

What other best case practices do you follow for backing up your website?

*Offer available for VPS and Dedicated Server customers until April 1, 2019 for new backup plans with a minimum 6 month commitment.

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