This post may contain affiliate links. We also may a receive a small commission from the companies or products mentioned in this post at no additional cost to you. See my full Privacy and Disclosure Policy here.
Tech Talk Tuesday is a new feature on The Zen Introvert. March’s theme is backing up your website, home computer, and your individual posts.
Webhost Backup Services
Luckily most, if not all, web hosting companies offer free backups of your data. I’ve had my blog hosted on both Bluehost and Siteground and they both offer this service. Siteground’s are automated and easy. Bluehost, though they have automated backups also, have a different level of complexity than Siteground.
fernandozhiminaicela / PixabayMost of the self-hosted website/blog hosting platforms should have free backups of one kind or another. When you get your account on your web host and start building your website, the backups are already set up for you. You do nothing! They automatically back up your database, your files, and your email.
I haven’t seen a really good reason to go with an outside company. Yet. So for now, my advice is to stick with the free backups that your web host provides.
Last week, in Tech Talk Tuesday – Backing your work up 101, we went over the whys about backing up and outlined the perfect strategy to get you started.
Siteground
My web hosting platform is Siteground so I’m going to use it for this demo. On Siteground, your level of backup and restore service is dictated by which package you’ve selected. All three plans have basic backups. You do need to be aware of where the backup function is located on your Cpanel and how to run a restore. It’s best to do this before something happens. That first panic after an issue on your blog is not when you want to be trying to find the restore function!
Siteground has three tiers to choose from; Startup, Growbig, and GoGeek. The Startup plan gives you free backups and will keep them for 30 days, but a restore will cost $19.95. Growbig, which allows you multiple active domains, waives the restore fee. GoGeek which gives the most functionality is more complex than most bloggers need until you have extremely large amounts of data and visitors. If you’re a non-techy person, the basic level is fine, if you like a little more control and want to expand past your first website, Growbig is a good investment. Siteground runs its backups every night and keeps them for 30 days.
Siteground also has a function called Cpanel Backups that allows you to backup your website yourself and download those backups to your home computer. These can be used for restores at any time.
Let Me Show You How Easy It Is
Siteground Restore Functionality
- This demo was done on a Growbig account. If you’re on a Startup account, a popup will appear asking you to pay $19.95 for the restore.
- Log on to your home page on Siteground.
- Click on the My Accounts Tab
- Click the red Go to cPanel button.
- Scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page until you find the Backups Manager section.
- There will be two icons here. I’ll discuss the cPanel Backup in a later edition of Tech Talk Tuesday when I’m touching on more advanced concepts. For now, the Backup Tool is more than adequate for any level of expertise.
- Click on Backup Tool
- This will take you to the screen shown below.
- It opens up on the Restore Backup Tab.
- Each date with a blue dot on the calendar indicates that a backup has run on that day.
- Select the date you want to restore your data from by clicking on it. A time and date should pop up along with the words System Backup.
- Click this date/ time/backup type and the greyed out area on the right of the screen will become active.
- This part of the screen allows you to choose which component to you want to restore.
- For this demonstration, I’m just going to choose the Emails option.
- The following will appear towards the bottom of your screen.
- Choose the email account(s) you want to restore, then click the green restore button.
- Choose the email account(s) you want to restore, then click the green restore button.
- This box will then pop up.
- Double check the first line, it will tell you what you’re restoring.
- If you’re satisfied that you have the component you want to restore, click Yes.
- You’ll see a blue rotating hoop while the restore is running.
- The system will then give you the green checkmark and Restore completed message when finished.
Easy Peasy.
The Backup Side of Siteground
The Create Backup side of the Backup Tools is only available free on the GoGeek plan. There is a cost associated with creating extra backups if you have either the Startup or the Growbig plans.
If you have either a Startup or a Growbig account and still want to create an extra backup, a popup asking for $29.95 will appear after you have created a name for your backup and selected the start backup button.
The daily System Backup is more than adequate for your needs. The most common reason to create an extra backup of your website would be if you want to make a major change and want a fresh copy to roll back to if you don’t like your change. If the need to make an extra backup before a major change arises, simply find out when your full system backup runs each day (click on the blue dots and it should display the backup time) and then schedule your change to take place shortly after that time.
Video Killed The Radio Star
I’ve made a video of the steps in this post for all you visual learners out there.
Peace of Mind
Having this type of coverage on your intellectual property will give you peace of mind.
Stay Tuned for Next week’s Tech Talk – Basic backups to protect your home computer.
PS. I used Ice Cream Screen Recorder to make the video.
Get my Backup Checklist from my Tech Resource Library and Take Control!
Sign Up Today to get my favorite Tech Resources and take Control!
Sign up today and received access to a password protected resource library exclusively for my subscribers.
Enter my free resource library for my latest files, and printables! The password is 'journey' -- please copy and paste that in at the link above. Thanks for being a subscriber!!
Did you like this article? Save it to your favorite Pinterest Board!
Get the Zen Morning Guide
Subscribe now to get a free copy of The Zen Morning. Your guide to creating a peaceful and productive day!
By subscribing, you are consenting to receive my newsletter and marketing emails.
We value our community of readers and will never sell your information.
