Guide · Updated October 2026

How Do I Back Up My Website Properly?

How to back up your small business website: what to include, how often, where to store copies, and how to test that you can actually restore them.

How Do I Back Up My Website Properly?

Short answer: A proper backup is a complete copy of your website's files and database, made automatically on a schedule, stored somewhere separate from your hosting, and tested so you know it restores. Daily automatic backups kept for at least a few weeks suit most small business sites.

What can go wrong without one

Backups feel boring until the day you need one. These are the usual disasters:

  • A hack that injects spam or deletes pages.
  • A plugin or theme update that breaks the layout.
  • Someone deleting a page or product by mistake.
  • Your hosting company going bust or suspending your account.
  • A falling-out with a web designer who controls the only copy.

Any one of these can mean rebuilding from scratch, which costs far more than a backup setup ever would.

What a complete backup includes

Files

Your theme or templates, plugins, uploaded images and documents, and configuration files.

Database

On CMS sites like WordPress, the database holds your actual content: pages, blog posts, products, orders and settings. A files-only backup of WordPress is nearly useless.

Domain and DNS settings

Not technically part of the site, but a screenshot or export of your DNS records makes recovery much faster.

The 3-2-1 rule, simplified

The classic backup rule says keep 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of storage, with 1 copy off-site. For a small website, a practical version is:

  1. The live site itself.
  2. Your host's automatic backups.
  3. A separate copy in cloud storage you control, such as a business cloud drive.

The key point: do not rely only on backups stored on the same server or account as your site. If that account is lost or compromised, so are the backups.

Daily backups included and restores handled for you. Sleep easier with SiteDrum.

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How often should you back up?

  • Rarely changing brochure site: weekly is usually fine, plus a manual backup before any change.
  • Site with a blog or regular updates: daily.
  • Online shop or booking site: daily at minimum; some shops use more frequent or real-time backups so no orders are lost.

Keep a range of restore points, ideally 14 to 30 days. Some hacks go unnoticed for a week or two, and you need a clean copy from before the infection.

How to set backups up

Check your host first

Many hosts include daily backups. Find out how long they are kept, whether you can restore yourself, and whether there is a fee to restore.

Add a backup plugin or service

For WordPress, reputable backup plugins can schedule backups and send them to external cloud storage. Hosted builders like Wix or Squarespace handle backups on their side but offer limited export, so keep copies of your text and images yourself.

Make a manual backup before big changes

Before updates, redesigns or plugin installs, take an extra snapshot.

Test your restore

A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a plan. Every few months, restore a backup to a staging or test location and check the site works. It is the only way to be sure the files are complete and not corrupted.

Every SiteDrum plan includes automatic backups, and if your current site has already been damaged, Website Rescue can help recover it.

The bottom line

Back up files and database automatically, keep copies off your hosting account, hold several weeks of restore points, and test a restore occasionally. It takes an hour to set up and can save your business website.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I back up my website?

Daily for most active business sites and online shops. Weekly can work for sites that rarely change, plus a manual backup before any updates.

Are my host's backups enough?

They are a good start, but keep an extra copy somewhere separate. If your hosting account is hacked or closed, backups stored there may be lost too.

What should a WordPress backup include?

Both the files (themes, plugins, uploads) and the database, which holds your pages, posts, products and settings.

How long should I keep backups?

Keep at least 14 to 30 days of restore points, so you can roll back to a clean version if a problem goes unnoticed for a while.

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