Everyone knows that you should back up your devices on a regular basis, but your website needs regular backups too.
Despite how important websites are to building a business, many businesses don’t have a regular backup schedule. However, without backups, your business loses all website changes made since the last backup.
It’s never too late to start scheduling backups to prepare for the worst. While you hope it never happens, being prepared takes only a few minutes and you’ll be glad you did.
1. Cybercriminals Don’t Take Holidays
Cybercriminals don’t care whether you have backups in place or if your business is large or small. Every website is a potential target. A shocking 46% of UK businesses discovered cyber breaches in 2017. While poor passwords and phishing emails are common entry points, poor website security is also a problem.
In a matter of seconds, your website could be compromised, leaving your business without an online presence. Without regular backups, you’re left without any quick way to recover. With a recent backup, you’d be able to upload the backup, patch any vulnerabilities and be back online within a day.
2. Vulnerabilities Happen
WordPress consistently releases updates to create a more secure platform, but vulnerabilities happen. Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for ways to exploit even the tiniest vulnerabilities in the code. WordPress is often targeted because it’s the most widely used CMS, leading to millions of attacks every year.
If you haven’t updated WordPress, your website could be vulnerable. Having regular backups means even if your site is attacked, you can shut it down and recover from a backup. All you’d have to do is update to the most secure version of WordPress before going back online.
It’s also important to note that vulnerabilities in plugins and themes can also cause problems. Ensure you keep these updated as well.
3. Downtime Is Costly
For ecommerce sites, you likely already know how costly downtime is for your business. What you might not have considered is how much site traffic you’re losing when your website’s down. Instead of gaining new customers, potential customers are being directed to your competition.
You want your website back up and running as quickly as possible. This is impossible without regular backups. Every minute your site’s down is costing your business money.
4. Recovering From Scratch Is Impossible
If you’ve never performed a backup, recovery becomes a nightmare. Take a moment to think about how much content is on your website. Could you remember every blog post, product description, About Us details and other content? No one can. Without backups, you’d have to start over completely from scratch should something happen to your website.
5. Simple Human Error Could Erase Everything
Even the most secure website isn’t immune from simple human error. All it would take is someone to click the wrong button to suddenly compromise your website. They might accidentally erase a database or delete a line of code that cripples the site.
Luckily, if you have a recent backup, you’re back up and running in no time. Without it, you’d have to find a way to manually fix any issues and hope it fixes your website.
6. WordPress Changes Go Awry
Sometimes WordPress changes don’t always go as planned. For instance, uploading a new theme might seem simple enough, but after uploading, your visitors just see error messages instead of your website. A new plugin might negatively impact another plugin. A WordPress core update could render an older theme useless. The truth is, making changes isn’t always guaranteed to work out perfectly.
This is why you need regular backups. If changes don’t go well, you just go back to your most recent backup. You can then work to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
7. Building A Brand Takes Time
Part of the reason you have a website for your business is to build your brand. However, building a brand takes time. You can’t rank high on Google overnight. However, a compromised website can ruin your brand’s reputation in just a few days. Google might penalise your site if it’s not repaired quickly. Plus, visitors may be hesitant to come back after noticing your site’s down for an extended period.
Don’t let all your hard work go to waste. Instead, set up regular backups so you always have a way to get your website back online quickly. Plus, you won’t lose any new content, such as your latest blog post, that keeps visitors coming back.
If your site’s not being backed up regularly, contact me today to find out how to implement easy to use backup plugins today.
Image: Patrick Lindenberg
