Yesterday, a friend posted in a Facebook group the dreaded “OMG” post.
This…
My first reaction was “OMG I’d die.”
My second reaction was “Back up your blog ladies!”
Why Should I Back Up My Blog?
If you have a back up of your blog, it’s easier to get back into the swing of things if something horrible happens, like your account gets hacked! Don’t think it can’t happen to you! Sh, erm, stuff happens. Knowing you have a back up of your blog will take a little bit of the headache away.
How Often Should I Be Backing Up My Blog?
It is recommended that you back up your blog weekly! If you post daily and want an up to date record of your blog than you should be backing up daily. DAILY!
So “how does one back up their blog?” you ask.
How to Back Up Your Blog on Blogger
I am going to be honest. I never backed up my blog when I was on blogger. Why? I just didn’t know how! And now that I do know how, I could kick myself for not doing it then! It’s so easy. You just have to export your blog!
To export your blog, go to the Settings | Other tab. All you have to do is click “Export Blog”. Then, click the Export Blog button. Your blog will be stored as a Blogger export file (.xml) which can be kept as a back up on your hard drive or imported into another blog. Exported blogs are not deleted from your dashboard or from Blogger.com.
How to Back Up Your Blog on WordPress {Self-Hosted}
Of course, there’s a Plugin for that!
Install the free BackUpWordpress plugin. Once you have it installed, you need to edit the settings. You can have the back up emailed to you and have a copy stored on your server. Having it in two places is a good idea in case something happens to your either your computer or your server. You can also set backups to run automatically or you can do them manually.
How to Back Up Your Blog on WordPress.com
If you have a WordPress.com blog, you can use the export feature to save a copy of your content.
Let this be your daily reminder to back up those blogs!
Heather says
March 6, 2013 at 8:45 amI just started doing this a month or two ago! Thanks for the reminder – I want to go check my settings.
Heather says
March 6, 2013 at 8:48 amI have wordpress and do it manually, but now that I see there is a plugin, I am going to get that! thanks!
Carrie says
March 6, 2013 at 8:51 amBacking up your blog is one of those ‘not so fun’ tasks that I always forget to do– thanks for the reminder, I’ll do it right now!
Barb @ A Life in Balance says
March 6, 2013 at 9:54 amOne of my blogs I can backup with a plugin. There’s something funky on the main one that prevents me from using the plugin. I did it thru ftp though I’m not sure I got all the needed files.
Xandra says
March 6, 2013 at 10:20 amWow, I am so glad I saw this post before I had any problems! I’ve finally gotten good about backing up my computer, but for some reason I had never thought about my website.
Thanks for the helpful how-to!
Sarah [Nurse Loves Farmer] says
March 6, 2013 at 10:33 amI never ever thought to do this…I’ve had that Blogger message before but luckily it was an error on their end!
Stacy Uncorked says
March 6, 2013 at 11:18 amTHANK YOU for posting this! I have NEVER backed up my blog, and was getting confused by all the different wordpress plugins and options – I’ll definitely be trying this one out! 🙂
Censie says
March 6, 2013 at 12:18 pmYup! So important!!!!
Carrie says
March 6, 2013 at 2:27 pmWhen I recently switched hosting I lost tons of posts! I’m still repopulating my archives but its a pain! I’m getting this plugin today!!!! Thanks 🙂
Lauryn says
March 6, 2013 at 4:14 pmI back up on my server, but now I am going to install the plug-in! Thanks for writing this!
Janeane Davis says
March 7, 2013 at 11:24 amI do not back up my blog, I subscribed to it so all the posts go to an email account just for that purpose. I am going to go back up everything now before the problems arise!
kim @ DESIGN + LIFE + KIDS says
March 10, 2013 at 11:02 pmThanks for sharing this!
Sarah M says
February 19, 2014 at 3:47 pmOh wow! Things like this make my heart stop. And then I would freak out.
Yoselin Rodriguez says
May 11, 2015 at 10:29 pmThank you so much for this, I am a fairly new blogger and need all the help I can get.