Do you run a WordPress blog?
If so, you’ve probably spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen if your blog got hacked or your server’s hard drive crashed?
I know I have, and it isn’t a very pleasant thing to think about.
I used to literally lie awake at night thinking about what I would do if one of my blogs ever went down and I had to restore it. How long would the restore process take?
Before long I would start wondering if a full restore would even be possible with the backup sets that I had on hand? Even worse, what if I were to discover that something had happened to my backup set and it wouldn’t work at all?
Like most other responsible bloggers, I make sure my web host makes daily backups of my server, but server backups have been known to become corrupted themselves.
And since I earn my living by writing on my blogs, the thought of not being able to restore one of them from a backup if the need should ever arise used to send chills up my spine.
But I don’t worry about having a good backup on hand anymore thanks to VaultPress, a fully automatic backup service provided by the folks at Automattic (the company behind WordPress).
In my humble opinion, VaultPress is far and away the best way to back up your WordPress blog. All you have to do is sign up for an account, install and activate the plugin, then sit back and watch VaultPress back up you entire WordPress installation. Yes, it backs up all of the following:
- All the folders and files associated with your blog’s core WordPress installation
- All of your blog’s theme files
- All of your plugins
- Your blog’s WordPress database (posts, pages, comments and photos)
In short, every single file associated with your WordPress blog is automatically backed up by VaultPress. And once your blog is backed up, you’ll never again have to worry about losing a single blog post, page, comment, or image – it’s all safe and secure!
You can also rest easy in the knowledge that your VaultPress backups themselves are also secure because they are stored offsite at Automattic’s data centers instead of on your own web server.
All of that being said, as much as I love the peace of mind that comes from knowing that VaultPress automatically backs up my site every day, what I love even more is the ease with which my blogs will be restored if a hacker, hard drive failure or some other dire event ever wipes one of them out.
Just a few mouse clicks and VaultPress will restore your blog from the backup of your choosing in just a few minutes while you sit back and watch. You won’t have to manually FTP your themes and plugins up to your server and then struggle to upload and configure the database. It’s all done for once you have selected the backup that you wish to restore!
By now you’re probably wondering what all of this behind the scenes “magic” is going to cost you. Well, brace yourself…
VaultPress service plans start at around $60 a year for the least expensive plan. That’s right, I said about 60 bucks for an entire year of ultimate peace of mind!
Although you can pay more and get real-time backups, SPAM protection and more, I have found that the once-daily backups and automated restores provided with the cheapest plan is all I really need for my two most important blogs.
You can check out the various VaultPress service plans for yourself right here.
Bottom line: If you write and maintain a self-hosted WordPress blog, an effective and dependable backup and restore plan will let you sleep better at night.
And if your blogs also pay your bills and fund your lifestyle, I honestly don’t think you could ever find a better, simpler or more reliable WordPress backup solution than VaultPress.