If you own a WordPress website, the need to backup your data cannot be overemphasized. Creating a backup is the best way to protect your data from external security threats, and human oversights. Plus, you can easily restore the saved data at any time.

There are numerous security threats that can tamper with your site’s information, and ultimately lead to data loss. Hackers, malware, and phishing attacks are examples of such. In the same vein, human errors and failure from web servers could also compromise your site’s data.

If peradventure, you are unable to troubleshoot the situation, this could lead to a permanent loss of data and months of hard work. In this guide, we will show you the different ways you can back up your WordPress site, and safeguard your information.

How To Backup A WordPress Site

A WordPress backup is a saved copy of your website’s data. This could be important files, folders, and databases. While you could partially back up different aspects of your website, it’s never advisable to do so, as partial backups are not useful for restores.

There are two major components of your WordPress website, namely the Files and Databases. The Files contain all the core WordPress files, from plugins to themes, uploads, configurations, and settings files.

The Database contains all other types of user-generated information, such as likes, comments, posts, etc. Together, these two components make up your WordPress website, and are essentially what you will be backing up.

Sadly, WordPress doesn’t offer a built-in option to back up your website regularly. However, you can create a backup for your WordPress website, using one of the three methods below:

1. Backup Using a Plugin
2. Backup Using cPanel
3. Backup Using FTP

Let’s consider these different methods in detail below.

Method 1: Backup a WordPress Website Using a Plugin

Backing up your WordPress website using a plugin, is the easiest of the three methods. Much unlike the other two (which could be a chore for new users), this method is beginner-friendly and gives you better control over the contents to back up.

There are several plugin tools available, but for the purpose of this guide, we will be using Duplicator. Duplicator is used by over 1 million professionals worldwide and makes it super easy to clone and migrate your website. There is a free version of Duplicator to get started, but we recommend using the Duplicator Pro, as it has more useful features.

Follow the steps below to begin:

• Install and activate the Duplicator Pro plugin
• After activation, navigate to your WordPress admin panel and locate Duplicator > Settings.
• Switch to the Licensing tab, and enter the license key which you will find under Accounts.
• Next, head to your WordPress dashboard and locate Duplicator > Packages. Click the “Create New” button at the top corner.
• On the next page, enter a name for your backup. This would help you locate your backup when you wish to restore.
• The plugin will use a default location to store your data. However, if you wish to add a new location like Google Drive, click the “Add Storage” link under the Storage
• You can also customize your backup in the Archive section, but if you want a complete website backup, leave the default settings.
• Next, scroll down to the Installer Leave this section as it is, and click “Next”.
• Now, the plugin would perform a scan to crosscheck that everything is in order for the backup. It will give a “Good” evaluation if you are set, or a “Warning” sign if you need to correct some issues before backing up.
• Next, click the “Build” icon. Duplicator would start building a package which you can view at Duplicator > Packages, on your dashboard once complete.
• Wrapping up, click the “Download” and “Both Files” options to download the installer and zip files to your computer. These files can then be used to restore your data, should any unforeseen event occur.

Method 2: Backup a WordPress Website Using cPanel

Alternatively, you can backup your WordPress website manually, using the cPanel of your WordPress hosting service. The settings for this method would depend on the host service you are using. Follow the steps below to get started:

• Log in to the cPanel of your hosting provider
• Navigate to the Menu on the left, and go to the Advanced
• Under the Files section, click “Files Manager”
• When the Files Manager opens in a new tab, select the public_htmloption from the menu and click the “+” icon to expand it.
• Select the folder with your website’s name and click the “Compress” option at the top right.
• A new window will pop up. Select “Zip Archive”, and click “Compress Files”.
• Your website’s data will start to compress into a zip file, and the compression result will show. You can simply click the “Close” button.
• Next, head back to the public_html folder, and click on the new zip file you just created.
• After selecting the file, click the “Download” option at the top, then save your file to a secure location.

Method 3: Backup a WordPress Website Using FTP

If you don’t want to use either of the two methods above, you can likewise use FTP clients to back up your website. There are several FTP clients available to Mac and Windows users. To begin:

• Connect to your site using the FTP software
• Locate the root directory of your website from the panel on the right. There, you will find folders like wp-admin, wp-content,and many other important files.
• Right-click any folder/file you wish to backup, and click the “Download” option
• You can save the files and folders to your local computer, as a

How To Restore A WordPress Site From Backup

Having created a backup for your WordPress website, the next step is to learn how to restore the data if your website is compromised. First, you will need to clean your site and delete all WordPress files. After that, install WordPress again and access your website.

• If you used the Duplicator Pro plugin, head to your WordPress dashboard and locate Duplicator Pro > Import. From there, drag and drop the package file, then simply follow the steps in the import wizard to restore your website.
• If you used the cPanel method, use the compressed file as your backup, and easily restore your website.
• For FTP, you can easily recover your website by uploading the saved files using the FTP client.