By Mary Andersen – Freelance Ghostwriter

So you have been blogging away, every day loyally making a blog post. You are doing just fine until one day, something happens, and the inevitable question pops up, “Do you have a blog backup?”

Oh, so this is how an uninsured driver feels after an at fault accident when the investigating officer asks, “Who is your insurance provider?” YIKES!

Oh, the sting, the pain, the guilt, and having to admit that you were just too busy, or didn’t know how, or didn’t think about it, or were too lazy, or just didn’t know any better.

No matter what the reason is for not having a current backup of your blog, the end result is the same; the dirty words are “Data Loss.”

Although having an old blog backup is better than no backup at all, it can still mean loss of any data added to the blog after that backup date.

It only takes a few minutes to make a blog backup, and you’ll be thankful you can answer “YES” to that question, “Do you have a blog backup” if the day ever comes that you need it, and I hope it doesn’t, but be prepared nonetheless.

Here is a plan that works for me, and I do it on every website and blog I own on a regular basis.

My typical strategy is to back up at least once per week; if I have done extensive work on a site, then I do it more frequently. Depending on the types of changes I have made, I may back up not only my blog database but also my public HTML folder.

If I have been working primarily within files that are in the blog database, I don’t really need to back up the public HTML folder as often as the database, but I still keep a current copy of BOTH.

Computers Crash Just Like Cars

Also, don’t store all your blog backups in the same location. If you store backups on your server, the server could fail. If you store them on your computer, it may crash.

I store my backups in multiple places just to be safe, including my computer, on media such as a DVD, and on portable ZIP drives.

I don’t really like the idea of storing my backup on my server, but that is just my personal preference.

How To Back Up Your Blog Public HTML Folder

1. I back up my “Public Html” folder using a free FTP program, Filezilla. I log into Filezilla.
2. On the “remote” side of the pane, I click the plus sign to display the directory tree.
3. Next I grab the public HTML folder, and drag it over to the left side of the pane and into a backup folder I can easily locate when needed.
4. If I have an older copy, I rename it before dragging the current copy over so I have a “backup backup” just in case. (You’d be this careful too if you ever had a crash before. Things happen for unexpected reasons, including those that are not your fault.)

It will take a few minutes for all the files to download.

How To Back Up Your Blog Database with WordPress Database Backup

1. Download and install the WordPress plugin.
2. In your WordPress admin, go to TOOLS, then select BACKUP.
3. I leave the checkbox “ticked” that excludes the backup of SPAM comments.
4. I leave the revision checkbox blank (unticked) because I don’t want to exclude blog revisions.
5. I tick all the checkboxes to include the tables.
6. I choose the option to download the blog backup to my computer. Here’s why: if I save it to the server, and the server has a crash or problem, my blog backup won’t do me much good if it is stored there.
7. You also have the option to schedule the blog database backup if you wish.
8. During the backup process do not close the browser, click your browser’s stop or back buttons, or refresh the page; it could cause backup failure.

There are some other WordPress plug ins you can try for blog backup, but be mindful of their compatibility with your version of WordPress, the rating of the plug in, and how new it is. Many times new plug ins have problems and require some tweaking. You can always view a “change log” of a plug in to see its development history. This doesn’t mean all new plug ins have problems, but simply to be cautious.

The reverse can also be true. If a WordPress plug in has been around a while, but not updated to keep up with the newer versions of WordPress, that should be taken into account as well.

Photos Courtesy dinostock and igorcentr at PhotoXpress and titanas at Flickr