In today’s world where we are running so many apps, programmes and storing heaps of videos and photographs harvested from the Internet, space is a premium on your computer or server.
However, backup plugins in your WordPress site are tedious to install and consume too much of your computer storage space.
In the bid to free up space on your computer, you might consider using an alternative means of backing up your site over the conventional WordPress’ backup plugins.
This article will highlight the pros and cons of backing up your website without a plugin and then recommend the best methods to back up your site.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using WordPress Backup Plugin
Advantage
Functionality
Majority of WordPress backup plugins are easy to operate and easy to launch. It is the main highlight of WordPress’ sites which is the reason WordPress websites are the most dominant in the market.
Disadvantage
Squanders PC Space
With the market flooded with all types of plugins, there is always the temptation to install as many plugins as possible on your computer with the aim of enhancing your experience. However, this is all false illusion. Overstuffing your PC with redundant plugins only serves at slowing its speed and interfering with how you are doing your business on your computer.
Basic Backup Features
Free backup plugins tend to be simple backup systems that can be infiltrated at any trial to gain unauthorised access to your website.
Minimal Security Features
It is always fulfilling to be in control of your own site’s security. You are well-versed with your website to know its deficiencies and strengths. This information is essential for helping you identify the areas that need security improvement.
Backing Up Your WordPress Website Minus A Plugin
It is now evident that WordPress backup plugins are not reliable means of fortifying your site and its data.
The list below recommends the best alternative methods of backing up your site.
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Manual Backup
At first, a manual backup may sound like a complicated phrase used by web developers and other computer-proficient individuals. However, you are capable of developing your manual backup from your hosting provider’s cPanel.
To back up your site from your control panel, the steps below will help you set up a backup system for your website without the assistance of a web developing expert.
On your control panel, locate the ‘Backup Wizard’.
Launch the tool to gain access to a comprehensive backup of your entire website.
With those few keystrokes of your computer, you can secure your site with an up to date tool equipped with current security features to secure your WordPress.
Backup Wizard has special features to enable you reconfigure your website to its former version.
In instances where you do not want to use the backup wizard, it is still possible to download your content and back them up manually in a digital storage unit of your choice. These steps will guide you on how to locate and download your website’s content and back them up.
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- Launch your file manager. On the control panel, find ‘File Manager.’
- Locate the website’s catalogue and load the backup. Find your website’s folders always situated in a category of directories known as public HTML. Immediately you locate the files, highlight them and compress them. Choose the file type you want to be saved and the location in your PC you want the data to be stored.
- Download the site’s databank. At this point, you are required to download the site’s databank. The databases are located at ‘phpMyAdmin’ on the control panel. Click on ‘Databases’ on the dashboard to find the databank containing your WordPress integration. Launch that databank and tap on ‘Export’ taskbar on the top of the cPanel dashboard and store the files in the same space you saved the other data.
For a visual demonstration on how to do this, follow these steps:
STEP ONE
Go to your cpanel. Normally you can type in as follows yourdomain.com.sg/cpanel (where “yourdomain” is the actual name of your website like for us its “mediaonemarketing”) or the IP address provided by your web host. Key in your username and password:
STEP TWO
Click on “Backup”:
STEP THREE
Click on “Download a Full Website Backup” button as shown:
STEP FOUR
Select your Backup Destination – there is where your backup file will end up. By default its in the Home Directory of your website server (you download into your local server or your computer later). You can also choose the Email Address that your cPanel will alert you when the backup is done. A website of 1GB or more usually takes 10 minutes or so to complete. Click on Generate Backup.
STEP FIVE
Once you have received that emailed alert that your backup is complete, log in again (see STEP ONE) and then click on File Manager as follows:
STEP SIX:
You will see the Home Directory as the first interface which looks like below. Click on the file that ends with “.tar.gz”, sometimes its a different backup format which you need to check with your webmaster or host company on. Then click on “Download” on the top menu as shown:
Your backup should automatically be downloaded into your computer’s Download folder (or any other folder or desktop as set as default in your computer).
Once you are satisfied that the backup file in your local server/computer is downloaded correctly (the file size should be the same), you should do some housekeeping and delete the backup in your website server. Failure to do so and accumulating many backups can overload your website server space and hang your website.
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Reinforce Your Website Through FTP
FTP is the least used way of backing up sites due to its technical nature of deployment. However, people prefer using FTP to back up essential data for its advanced security features.
The steps below help backup your site’s data without any fuss.
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- Launch your FileZilla
- In the FileZilla dashboard, access the website you intend to back up its data.
- Then find the website’s data from the navigation bar
- After accessing the database, you are at liberty to download and store the files in a storage space of your choice where you are sure it will be safe for as long as you would want it to be
FileZilla has a unique feature that screens some files from being seen. Therefore, there is the need to include the hidden files in your backed-up files. Download your WordPress databank and apply the exact steps that were used for phpMyAdmin highlighted in backing up your files manually mentioned above.
Cloud backup is another method of backing your content to a remote server on the cloud. It offers infinite storage capabilities making it ideal for big businesses to back up their data.
Another way of backing up files for business owners who do not have time to regularly backup their website is through automatic duplication of your files to be stored on your host’s servers.
Are you looking for the best WordPress backup plugins? WordPress is one of the best open source content management systems in the world today. This is mainly because there are different people working to improve its functionality and usability. A security breach is one of the reasons that could lead to you losing the information in your database, website content, sales, and traffic.
When this happens, you can either manually build your website again or restore from a backup. The longer you take to get your Singapore business website back online the more you will hurt your ranking on search engines, and more so, reduce customer confidence. You will be required to do online reputation management to clear any negative information about your brand.
Backup plugins allow you to make a copy of your web data and restore it in case your website crashes or gets hacked and you cannot access your data. WordPress has over 980 backup plugins, and it is an overwhelming task of choosing the best one for your website.
You definitely do not want a plugin that will cause problems. That is why in this post, we will look at the top 5 backup plugins you should install to your WordPress website. Read on to the end for a reference guide when choosing the right WordPress backup plugins.
Top 5 WordPress Backup Plugins for Your Singapore Business Website
BackupBuddy
This is a time tested backup plugin that has been in existence for more than 10 years now. Apart from handling the backup up of your website content and database, BackupBuddy will help you with the WordPress installation.
BackupBuddy stores your data in an off-site location, which contributes to your data’s security. After each completed backup, the plugin will make the data available for download in a zip file. You can also opt for the backup data to be stored in other locations such as BackupBuddy Stash, Google Drive, or Dropbox.
With BackupBuddy you do not have to manually backup the data since it allows you to schedule automatic backups. Besides this, BackupBuddy allows you to create a custom backup plan and you do not have to back up the entire site every time you make changes to the content.
BackupBuddy will also come in handy in case you need to change your web hosts or domains. When a developer builds a website on a temporary domain, they can use BackupBuddy to move the website to a live domain. It does this using the built-in WordPress migration tool. Other than this, BackupBuddy also carries out malware scans, and it will alert you of any security breaches before they pose a serious threat to your data.
If you accidentally delete a post, BackupBuddy is designed to enable you restore it in a matter of a few clicks thus saving you time.
Duplicator
This is another popular backup plugin that has over a million users. Duplicator’s primary functions include moving, migrating and cloning WordPress websites between domains. It is also possible to use this plugin, Duplicator, to migrate your website from one host to another. It carries out these operations without causing any website downtime, unlike many other backup plugins.
The plugin allows you to duplicate your existing business website to a staging area and vice versa. This is possible without the need for importing and exporting your SQL scripts.
However, we recommend it only for advanced webmasters; beginners will have a hard time figuring out the features especially the backup process. This does not mean that you must be a professional programmer, but you must know how the different elements of your WordPress work before using it.
Developers make up the majority of the users, and they prefer using Duplicator since they do not have to manually configure themes and plugins every now and then. The trick here is to manually configure the themes and sets of plugins then bundle it up using Duplicator.
With the plugin, you can create a template and migrate it to multiple locations for your different clients. Duplicator will bundle up all the site content themes, plugins, and the database into a single zip file dubbed the “package,” which is available for download.
VaultPress
This is a backup plugin from Automattic, the guys behind WordPress. It offers data backups, file repairs, migrations, and website security. Its greatest feature is its ability to automate your site backups.
VaultPress also has a calendar view option that makes it easy to locate, view, and restore the content from the various backups you have done. With that said, VaultPress has a unique looking dashboard compared to other WordPress plugins, but this does not affect its performance and usability.
VaultPress also comes with built-in security features that include spam defence and file scanning. These security features will reduce the chances of using the restore function since your website content and data will be safe from external threats.
However, it is always better to have the backup and restore features to be on the safe side. VaultPress prices start from $39 per year, which is quite an affordable way of backing up your site.
UpdraftPlus
There are over 2 million WordPress users that have the UpdraftPlus backup plugin. It is one of the backup plugins that is easy to use thanks to a user interface that does not require much technical experience. The free version allows you to manually backup or schedule an automatic backup and restore your themes, plugins, and database.
The UpdraftPlus automatic backup option ranges from hourly, daily, weekly, to monthly backups. The dashboard makes it easy to carry out manual backup with the clone, restore, backup, and the migrate buttons clearly marked on the dashboard.
Users also get remote storage options in places such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more. For people using shared web hosting options, you will love UpdraftPlus because it is super-fast and uses fewer server resources.
However, you can upgrade to a premium option of the plugin for $42 a year to get additional features such as
- Migrator
- Incremental backups
- Database encryption
- Multiuser and multi-network compatible
- Advanced reporting
- SFTP, BackBlaze, OneDrive and Azure storage
- Dedicated expert support
- Backups on database and WP files to various remote destinations
While the free version is good to work with, the premium version is worth the money thanks to the incremental backup feature. It makes the work of backing up your website easier after making changes to the content.
For example, when you update your database or add a new post or image, the incremental backup feature will only back up the latest information and add it to the previous backup.
UpdraftPlus is a reliable plugin given the number of active installations on websites and the number of annual premium subscribers. If you come across a problem, you can always get help thanks to the 24/7 customer and technical support.
WP Time Capsule
We have saved the best for last, WP Time Capsule is compatible with multiple cloud storage applications and is very user friendly compared to other plugins on this list. You will need to connect it to at least one of the available cloud storage locations after installing it. Your options include Wasabi, Amazon S3, Dropbox, and Google Drive. After this, the WP Time Capsule will automatically begin the backing up process.
It is also necessary that you set up a backup schedule, and the plugin will handle the rest.
Conclusion
The choice of your backup methods is not of great significance if as a business owner you won’t maintain a strict backup schedule. Ensure your website is active and secure by choosing the best backup ways among those mentioned above and adhere to a strict backup schedule for enhanced website security.
