Many businesses miss important benefits of WordPress: sites can be backed up and moved.
We regularly take over WordPress sites. Too often, the site owners don’t have a backup and don’t have admin access to create one. So we can’t easily move the site nor copy it for redesign. Even when that’s not the plan, we always create backups before changing anything and regularly after that.
Regular backups is a best practice. A lack of backups denies site owners important benefits of WordPress.
Always Get Backups
Always get a back up of your site when it’s launched and periodically after that. There are several options for WordPress backups.
- Plugin for backup or migration:
Multiple plugins and services are available to backup, copy, and move WordPress sites. - WordPress Files and Database:
This could be called an admin/developer’s backup. Even if we use a plugin, we like to have this kind of backup too. This usually consists of two sets of files:- WordPress files: WordPress directories and related files in the site’s root directory
- Database: an SQL file exported using PHPMyAdmin, CPanel, or similar software
However it’s done, you should archive a backup when you launch a site and anytime after significant changes to content, WordPress, or plugins.
If that’s all you get from this post, I’ve accomplished my purpose: you know to ask for and get regular WordPress backups.
But wait, another reason to get backups is to enjoy another benefit: re-designability
Redesigning Without Starting Over
When built the right way, WordPress sites can be redesigned over and over without recreating page content. The content (text, images, videos) is an asset that results from a lot of time and money. With WordPress you can reuse this asset.
This is usually done by copying a live site to a staging server where the design is updated. When it’s ready, the staging site becomes the live site. All this can be done without recreating content, but you need a back up or another way to copy and move the site.
A Caveat About Site Builders and the Native WordPress Editors
Some WordPress sites are not built for easy redesign. All sites I’ve seen like this were made with a page builder. But it’s not that simple.
If page content is edited with the WordPress Editor (legacy editor or the new block editor called Gutenberg), the site might be re-designable. It’s not just the page builder, but how it’s used.
Review how page content is edited before you’re ready for a redesign. If content is edited with a page builder, you might have to use that page builder indefinitely or recreate the content of every page in the WordPress editor.
Anytime you have a site designed, insist page content be edited with the WordPress editor. These days, we prefer the new Gutenberg block editor, but the legacy editor is acceptable, too.
Conclusion
Get portable backups of your WordPress website. Plus I suggest you use the WordPress Editor for page and post content. These practices give you several top benefits of WordPress: Portability and Re-designability
