Now – one of the vitals tasks that you must set for regular action is to backup your WordPress. You want to backup the database, and your WordPress files – in the eventuality that you do lose everything, for some horrible reason (and it happens to the best of us), you will be very glad that you did.

So, first install the WP-DB-Backup plugin and set that up to suit you:

1. Plugins, Add New, search for WP-DB-Backup and install
2. Go to Tools, Backup and take an immediate backup (I tend to have them emailed to me and store the last two, but you can store them on your computer or on your server). I generally select everything listed, however if your WordPress is particularly large you might want to be more selective – only you know what’s essential and worth the time and additional space required for larger backups.
3. Set to backup up regularly, at least weekly, I suggest.

Then you want to backup the WordPress files – these include your images, your plugins and your themes directories, so install WordPress Backup by Blog Traffic Exchange:

1. Plugins, Add New, search for WordPress Backup and install the one by Blog Traffic Exchange.
2. Go to Settings, WordPress Backup and set the interval – the rest will be taken care of (if your host permits – you may have to provide your ftp details for the required folders to be created).

And there you go – hopefully you’ll never need your backups, and remember you don’t have to keep all of them, just the last one or two.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Essential Security Quick Tip 3
2. WordPress Basic Training: Dashboard
3. WordPress Plug-ins: immediate favourites