You are not the only one who thinks that backing up your small business WordPress site once in a while is absolutely fine. Surprisingly a survey conducted on approx.

500 plus WordPress users, revealed that 47% of the WordPress users backup their sites every few months but regularly, while 21% of users backup WordPress occasionally.

Trust me this is not at all good for your WordPress site, as backing up your site is one of those easiest and cost effective way of protecting WordPress against failures. It also gave out some more shocking facts and figures.

• 25% have had “very less training” about using WordPress
• 22% have had absolutely no training at all in WordPress backup and have “no clue” as to how to do it
• 21% are a witness to the “white screen of death” numerous times, and claim it to be really horrendous
• 69% have had a plugin fail immediately after an update, and 24% experienced several times
• 63% accidentally deleted files that were not backed up
• 22% thought that a backup plugin was not that “unimportant”
• 24% were ready to pay almost anything for complete restore as the site was their livelihood.
• 19% were ready to spend some thousand dollars at least for complete restore

Do you all really think that without a recent backup, recovering from a WordPress update failure is possible? First let’s see why it is painful…and then we will move on to the next segment.

One thing is for sure you all are aware of, that WordPress updates happen too often, as in sometimes weekly as well. This clearly indicates that if you have taken back up of your WordPress site even a month ago, it can be considered to be outdated. Updated WordPress back up means you may need manual updates for both the core systems, plugins, themes and custom code to patch up after your site, if in case, breaks down.

Cyber Attacks

Websites, irrespective of the platform they are built on, are prone to cyber-attacks – even the ones of those very small businesses. If the figures are to be believed more than 30% of all cyber-attacks were made targeting small businesses, in the year 2014. Hackers it seems use small businesses as a stepping stone to hone their skills.

They usually target some of the most sensitive data including customer and transaction records, and in executing the theft of information and covering their tracks they might damage your website – severely. This is one of the reasons why the lack of a recent backup can result in loss of days, weeks or months of business – even after the recovery is complete.

Accidental File Deletion

Skilled professionals using WordPress can even accidentally delete website files. But people, who are not trained on WordPress, are at higher risk of doing it. As mentioned in the beginning, 25% have had “very less training” about using WordPress, whereas 22% have had absolutely no training at all in WordPress backup and have “no clue” as to how to do it. Believe me; this lack of training compels me to share the statistics that approx. 63% have deleted files that were not backed up. Oh my God… so without a recent and relevant back up can you get those files back – successfully…???? The answer may be YES – but it will be a very painful process.

Recover from a WordPress update failure, is it possible and if Yes what should you do?

It is not that as doom as it seems. There are options and solutions available in form of Cloud based services that cost as less as $10 per month and it also does not need the user to be a WordPress savvy.

Figures suggest that only 24% of the users have a website backup plugin, and I am so very sure that most of you reading this article are amongst the rest 76%. So now is the time for all of you to choose that right kind of a solution to back up WordPress site. I have compiled a list of solutions that facilitate backing up WordPress, for the convenience and benefit of one and all. But why should you believe and trust the list here;

• These solutions backup your WordPress sites automatically
• These solutions are cost effective to the an extent of $10 per month
• They do not require extensive technical know-how
• Some of them, not all of them, provide useful security features as well

Solutions to back up your WordPress Sites

CodeGuard

CodeGuard provides a backup solution for WordPress websites and that too at so very reasonable prices. In build features of this solution monitor your site for changes and you also receive an email with a report every day.

VaultPress

VaultPress provides WordPress backup solution and also security for your WordPress site, and all this with an easy-to-navigate dashboard.

iThemesBackupBuddy and Security Pro

iThemes is a known name, for their amazing BackupBuddy solution, when it comes to backups. You are also privileged to add security to backups as well using their strong Security Pro offering.

BlogVault

BlogVault will backup WordPress sites. It is equipped with a comprehensive dashboard that helps you to manage backup on your own. It can also restore and even provide test servers where you can restore backups to ensure that it’s the one you want to use to restore your live site.

Fortwave

Comprehensive WordPress backup and security solution, Fortwave offers tons of features at a reasonable price.

ManageWP

There are chances that you have more than one WordPress site, and in that case you will become a big fan of ManageWP. It is the solution that enables you to manage all your sites, which includes backups and that too at a single location. Additionally you get security, live monitoring and alerts, and optimization. Not at all a bad solution, if in case you have a single WordPress site.

myRepono

One more WordPress backuponly solution, myRepono requires a bit more technical know-how however, the prices are super-reasonable.

Takeaway

Not necessarily everyone reading this article would understand and accept the drawbacks of not taking a back of their WordPress site, you are just one incident away from that gruesome experience.Just think and share your views in comments below as to “How much it might cost you to not backup your WordPress site?”