Today I want to show you how to fully backup your WordPress blog using two easy-to-use programs.

Creating a full backup of your blog is a two part process:

1. Backup your WordPress hosted files and directories
2. Backup your database

There are many ways to do this and I’ll betcha most of you who have been blogging for awhile already do database backups, but I also bet most of you don’t backup your WordPress files nearly as much.

Why? I bet it has to do with simplicity. Using a database plugin for WordPress makes backing up your database cake. In fact, you can even set it on autopilot and email you copies regularly without even lifting a finger.

But those files and directories sitting there in your hosting account are important as well, especially the wp-content folder. Here’s what the two backups actually backup:

1. Backing up your WordPress files and folders will ensure your theme, images, .htaccess files, plugins, misc. uploads, CSS settings, and more are all backed up and saved in case your blog ever crashes and you need to do a restore.
2. Backing up your database will ensure all your posts, comments, login information, etc. are all saved.

Since doing a full backup is *critically important* for your blog, and since we are all lazy and need this entire process to be as simple as possible for us, here are two ways fully backup your WordPress blog which should make the entire process real easy for you.

Note, too, that this my preferred method – I wouldn’t suggest the two following programs if I didn’t use them myself.

How To Easily Backup Your WordPress Files and Folders

There is a really neat program out there which is called SyncBackSE which once installed on your computer can be a very powerful tool in keeping a full backup copy of your hosted WordPress files. You can download a free trial version of the software right here.

After the free trial period the program costs $30. Trust me, that’s a small price to pay when it comes to blogging and feeling confident your blog is fully backed up and everything is safe. Nothing will crush you more than to one day find out something’s wrong with your blog and you don’t know what to do.

This is a huge step many people miss. I frequent the WordPress Support Forums and I see practically on a daily basis someone has a problem with their blog which “has just popped up out of no where”. They always seem to have a database backup, but rarely do they have their hosted files backed up. Many times the problem is their site got hacked and they only noticed it when either Google has stopped sending traffic their way (their site has turned into a spam site in Google’s eyes) or their site spontaneously starts acting up.

Here’s why I like SyncBackSE

• It comes spyware, AdWare, and virus free.
• Once installed all it takes is a click to backup your blog’s files and directories.
• The process can all be automated and set to run at specific times (a perfect compliment to the database backup plugin).
• Restoring your files is just as easy as backing them up.
• Can even keep a live current backup of your blog on your hard drive.

That last point about keeping a live current backup of your site on your hard drive I think is really cool. That means SyncBackSE will “watch” your site’s hosting files for any changes. When you make a change, it will automatically keep the mirror files on your hard drive current with what’s on your hosting account.

That’s pretty cool in my book.

Download the free trial and let me know if you have any questions. I know the program costs $30 but tell me – is your blog worth $30? Problems happen and don’t think they’ll never happen to you, because they will.

How To Easily Backup Your WordPress Database

Your database represents all your blood, sweat, and tears when it comes to writing articles for your blog. All those long hours and hard work put into those articles reside in your database. Since it also houses all your community responses (comments), it’s also the home base of your blog’s community.

Consider that all important? I’m sure you do.

Il Filosofo has probably one of the most popular WordPress database backup plugins out there. Here’s a snapshot of the settings area.

From the Tools menu in your WordPress Dashboard, click Backup and you can see that some of the options for your database backup include emailing it to yourself, saving the file now, and/or setting up scheduled backups so your database backup will be emailed to you whenever you want.

There are of course many other WordPress database backup plugins out there, but I know this one works very well.

One thing I’d suggest you not to do is to save the database backup file to your server (see the image above). There is no reason to keep a backup copy of your database on the server where someone potentially could find it online, download it, and discover your login information.

Summary

To create a very simple way to fully backup your WordPress blog, you need to do two things: backup your hosting files/folders and backup your database.

By using 2 programs, SyncBackSE (download trial version here) and a WordPress database backup plugin, we can simplify and even automate this process for us.

Have you created a full backup of your blog lately? Do you think $30 for SyncBackSE is out of line since there are ways to backup your blog’s files for free? Or do you think that’s a small price to pay for the simplicity and reassurance it’ll get done regularly?

Related posts:

1. How To Automate Your Blog’s Entire Backup Process
2. WordPress 3.0: Security Upgrades Overview & How To Install It
3. Blog Hacking Alert and What You Need to Do Today!
4. 2 Killer WordPress Security Plugins You Probably Don’t Know About
5. WordPress Defender: 30 Ways to Secure Your Blog from Attack Anyone Can Do