How To Backup A WooCommerce Store? Explained With Best Backup Plugin In 2020

Today with the increase in the number of WooCommerce websites, frauds & risk on the website have increased drastically. Many eCommerce websites have lost their valuable data because of unwanted risks & events. Even a small bug in your website can create major problems which can result in loss of data. 

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If you look at the CMS report, then you analyze how risk on a WordPress website is increasing every year. These types of vulnerabilities can affect your eCommerce website data.  If you are looking to boost your WooCommerce sales the check our previous article on 11 Tips To Boost An WooCommerce Website Sales In 2020.

For a WooCommerce website, data plays an essential role in creating and managing future business strategies. An eCommerce data helps website owners to acknowledge their customers buying behavior, visiting time and more. 

Losing customer information, their purchase history and more can affect your business badly. All the risks on your eCommerce website can have financial repercussions, there are chances that you can end up losing thousands of dollars for one small mistake.

To overcome these problems, there is one simple and underrated solution “Website Backup”. Yes, you read it right, creating and updating your website backup can help your eCommerce business to secure all the data of yours. 

In this article, we will be discussing why you need to back up your eCommerce website? How to back up a WooCommerce website manually? And which plugin is best for activating automated backup for your eCommerce website? Reading this article will allow you to get all the information about WooCommerce website backup. 

Why BackUp matters most for a WooCommerce Website? 

If you are running a WooCommerce store then it is important for you to have a fresh backup of your eCommerce website. Whenever an eCommerce store loses its data it takes them back to the initial stage where they started. Many users think that customer retention, sales, orders and more play a crucial role in making a website successful. But most of them don’t know that website backup also plays an important role in making a WooCommerce store successful. 

A small unwanted downtime or error can damage valuable data from your eCommerce website. As you can see in the above stats, how the number of vulnerabilities by CMS platform increases every year. These types of small vulnerabilities can affect your data like product data, customer details and almost all the valuable information stored on the website can impact your business revenue. Backup acts as an insurance of your website whenever you lose your data you can use backup to restore all those data again. Here is the reason why you showed back up your WooCommerce store:

WooCommerce Major Updates 

Most of the time WooCommerce website owners face issues due to major updates offered by WooCommerce. Recently woocomerce rolled their new update and this time there were fewer compatibility issue cases. But in past years many websites have lost their data due to the compatibility issues between the new update and third-party extensions. 

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If your WooCommerce website has third party extensions, custom codes, plugins, and themes then we recommend you backup your website data before updating your WooCommerce plugin. Backup of an eCommerce website ensures that whenever your site loses the data, you can restore all of them using your site backup. 

1. Unwanted Events

Whenever your website crashes or faces downtime error there are chances of losing a lot of data and customers during these types of catastrophic events. Downtime can affect your business badly, you may end up losing your customers, sales, orders and more which can affect your revenue. 

Your website server plays an essential role in handling every aspect of your WooCommerce store. There are times when many websites face server issues and due to that, they end up losing their eCommerce website data and valuable information. A server failure can be the worst nightmare for people not backing up their website data. 

That’s why you should always have a fresh back up of your WooCommerce website data. A fresh backup will help you to restore all your data. Allowing you to start working back within a short span of time. 

2. Hackers 

Today with the increase in the number of WooCommerce websites,  the risk of the WordPress websites getting hacked is growing. Due to these types of risk, many eCommerce websites have lost their valuable data which can’t be restored back. 

If you go to google and search for “WooCommerce website hack cases” then you may find a lot of cases on a WooCommerce store getting hacked. so, to get rid of these issues, backup your data every day. Always keep fresh and updated back up files of your data. These types of practices will help your business to come back on track sooner. 

3. Error caused by humans

Every human makes mistakes and you can’t expect that a mistake can’t include deleting all website data at once. Yes, this may sound strange to you but many initial stage WooCommerce website owners commit this mistake by selecting the wrong option and deleting all the data.

Even selecting wrong updates can destroy your whole eCommerce website. So to overcome that it is essential for the website to keep a backup of their fresh data. There are various ways to backup your data. You can do it either manually or automatically. If you want to back up your data manually then remember to make a calendar to follow the proper dates and timing to back up your data.  

How to Back up a WooCommerce website?

If you are looking to back up your data then you showed how you can back up your WooCommerce store data? 

Generally, eCommerce website owners prefer to go with automated backup using premium plugins and extensions. However, an initial stage eCommerce website seeks a cost-effective method to backup data. If you are among them then you can use the manual backup to store your data. Whenever you start getting bulk orders then you can upgrade it to premium plugins and data. 

BackUp your eCommerce store using Plugin (Automatic Backup)

If you want to backup your data automatically then you can use WordPress plugins or their arty plugging. Using these plugins will allow you to automatically back up your data for future risk. You can also go for the manual backup but many times users either forget to create the backup due to various reasons. And these small mistakes can destroy you all data which can lead to major losses. Here is the list of plugins that you can use to create an automatic backup of your data:  

UpdraftPlus

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It is a popular freemium plugin which can be used to create the database file of your WooCommerce store. If you are an initial stage eCommerce website then you can download the plugin and use its free features. Whenever you see a surge in your order at that time you can update your plugin to the premium version. 

Due to UpdraftPlus advance features it has more than 2 million active users. Its premium feature will cost you $70. Upfrdaft premium extension comes with Updraft hosted storage. If your WooCommerce store has 10 – 15 products then updraft can create the backup within 3 – 5 seconds. 

BlogVault 

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If you are looking for an easy restore and migration option then BlogVault should be your first choice. BlogVault is an advanced and perfect backup plugin for a WooCommerce store. Its free cloud storage feature makes it the most widely used backup plugin.  If you opt for their premium plan then you can get real-time database backup which can enhance your store handling experience.

It is a premium backup plugging that comes with 7 days of free trial. If you are opting for their basic back up it will cost  $7.40 per month whereas if you want realtime WooCommerce features then you can go for $20.75 per month. 

Jetpack 

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Another popular plugin that you can use to backup your WooCommerce website is Jetpack. Its premium features offer free automated back, downtime monitoring, off-site storage for your website backups and more. The advantage of using jetpack is it comes with a WooCommerce plugin so there won’t be any compatibility problem while updating your WooCommerce website to the latest version. new WooCommerce updates.  

Jetpack provides different pricing plans for premium features. Basic premium plans start with $3.50/mo (billed annually) and go up to $29 per month. So, depending on your store size you can select the plan if you are at the initial stage then it’s good to buy a personal plan for your eCommerce store. 

WP Time Capsule 

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Its features are similar to BlogVault only the difference is you have to buy third-party cloud storage to store your backup files. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for the user to operate and check the status of their backup file.  You can use it’s real-time back to store all the latest order data.

Before buying the premium plan you can check their performance by taking a 30 days trial. Its basic plank starts with $49 pre-year and goes up to $199 per year. If you are operating in large targeting local customers then you can buy their Freelance plan for $99/year.  

BackWPup

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It is another popular backup plugin in WordPress with more than 9 million downloads. It comes with both a free and premium version. By installing BackWPup your website can automatically create the backup and all the backup files are available in different formats. if you are looking for planning to buy a plugin that can store your data directly to cloud storage and prove all the advance feature then it’s worth spending money On BackWPup 

Backup your  WooCommerce website manually 

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A WooCommerce website is composed of many different files like javascript file, core installation file,  PHP files, images, and more. if you are planning to back up your data then creating the fresh backup of all files may not take much of your time. But the manual back is a bit risky compared to automatic backup. 

In simple words, the chances of losing data become high during manual backup. All your valuable data like posts, comments. Order history, shipment details, user account and more are stored in the MYSQL database. So, to protect those data you can start your manual back by following below process: 

  1. The first process involves downloading your eCommerce website file. To do that you can head to Cpanel. Navigate to File Managers. Click on it and download all the zip files into your laptop or PC
  2. After downloading your WooCommerce files next you can go to the Database section in Cpanel click on phpMyAdmin. 
  3. In PHPMyAdmin, you can find various wp files. click on wp-config.php file -> all the tables will be displayed. 
  4. Click on select all in the top corner and export all the files. (The remembered manual process is suitable for businesses getting orders less than 20 a day. If your business is getting more than 50 or 100 orders a day then it’s better to go with real-time backup.

How to ensure zero loss of your eCommerce website data? 

If you want your website data to be fully secured then you need to back you. There are various tips that you should know to avoid zero loss of data because of every single data matters for an eCommerce website. Here the tips you should know: 

  • Many times website owners lose their data while running the backup of their store. An order is always unexpected; it can arrive at your door any time when a user makes a purchase. While running the backup there are chances that you could lose your data on date-time. So to avoid that you can use various plugins like Element Or Maintenance Mode, Under Construction and many more. This plugin blocks all the order while you are updating your back up. 
  • Adding an extra customized plugin can allow you website speed. So to avoid that you can backup your data when your website gets less traffic. You can check your past 60 days website traffic data and depend on that you can plan when you have to back up your website data. Using the analytical tool used by your WooCommerce store you can get all the information about when your website gets the least traffic. 
  • Whenever you are planning to restore the backup data then remember to do it on the staging website before implementing it on your live website. There are various staging plugins available like WP Staging and more which have built-in staging functions. It’s always good to check your backup data before making it live for the audience. 
  • If you want to avoid losing your data then it’s recommended to create multiple copies of your e-commerce website backup. And make sure that the plugin you are using for your eCommerce website provides good customer support. We have seen many cases where eCommerce website owners get stuck with one problem for many days affecting their sales and revenue. 

Conclusion

Handling a WooCommerce website totally depends on your efforts. If you want to run a successful eCommerce business then it is important for you to have an updated backup of your WooCommerce store. It is one of the underrated but most important critical aspects of running a successful eCommerce website. 

An unwanted event happens without any notice and to face those events like website hack, downtime, crash and more you need to have an updated backup of your eCommerce website. Using the above information you can decide what type of backup method you want to select, an automated backup or manual backup.  We have also highlighted some important plugins that will help you with real-time backup and instant support. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the best backup plugin for WooCommerce stores? 

There are many WooCommerce friendly plugin avail that can help you to automatically back up your website. But if you are looking for the best WooCommerce plugins for your eCommerce website. Then here is the list of all the popular WooCommerce plugin used by many WooCommerce stores around the world: 

  • UpdraftPlus
  • Blogvault
  • JetPack
  • BackWPup
  • Duplicator
  • BackupBuddy
  • Wp time Capsule

2. What is Blogvault? 

If you are looking for an easy restore and migration option then BlogVault should be your first choice. BlogVault is an advanced and perfect back up plugin for a WooCommerce store. Its free cloud storage feature makes it the most widely used backup plugin.  If you opt for their premium plan then you can get real-time database backup which can enhance your store handling experience.

3. What is the pricing & plan offered by Blogvault? 

After buying premium plans you can integrate the BlogVault plugin into your WooCommerce store. BlogVault offers three different pricing depending on the size of your store. Here is the different pricing offered by Blogvault. 

  • If you are creating a small website to target local audiences then you can go with a personal plan which will range you between $7 to $20.
  • For all the small businesses selling products online can select their small business plan for $16/mon which goes up to $45.75 if billed annually.
  • You can select the developer’s plan for setting up a big eCommerce website with site allowance up to 20.  Its pricing ranges between $49/mon to $149/mo depending on the features offered by the. (Note all the above prices are applicable if you are selecting an annual subscription. The pricing may vary if you select monthly billing.  

4. Does the jetpack cost money? 

Jetpack is a free plugin with all the basic security features required to run a WooCommerce store. You don’t have to pay any amount to download the Jetpack plugin. However, if you want to opt for the premium feather which includes Backup service then you have to pay for the extension.   Its premium features offer free automated back, downtime monitoring, off-site storage for your website backups and more. 

5. Do I really need a jetpack for WordPress? 

Yes, Jetpack is an amazing plugin with all the features required to run a fully secured eCommerce website. While setting up your WooCommerce you can activate the plugin in the wizard.  The advantage of using jetpack is it comes with a WooCommerce plugin so there won’t be any compatibility problem while updating your WooCommerce website to the latest version.

6. How to download backup from UpdraftPlus? 

If you are looking to download a backup of your WooCommerce store through UpdraftPlus then 

  • Go to you WordPress dashboard 
  • Scroll down to seating 
  • Under setting, you will find an option UpdraftPlus’
  • Click on that and scroll down to existing backup 
  • In the Existing backup section, you can find all the available backup of your WooCommerce store. 
  • You can find options like Database, plugin, themes, uploads and more.
  • Select any and download the backup (in your laptop or desktop you can find the zip file you backup)

7. Is Updraftplus safe?

The current version launched by UpdraftPlus is totally safe without any error. There were some vulnerabilities in the older version. So if you are planning to download UpdraftPlus for your WooCommerce store then go for the latest version. Its amazing performance makes it the top popular backup and restoration plugin with more than 9 million downloads. 

8. Is UpdraftPlus Free? 

UpdraftPlus is a freemium plugin which can be used to create the database file of your WooCommerce store. If you are an initial stage eCommerce website owner then you can download the plugin and use its free features. Its free version allows users to manually back up their eCommerce website. You can also schedule backups using the UpdraftPlus plugin. Its premium feature will cost you $70. Upfrdaft premium extension comes with Updraft hosted storage. 

9. How do I backup my eCommerce website for free? 

There are various ways to backup your WooCommerce website for free. First, you can do it manually using your Cpanel or you can download the Updraft plugin that provides free backup features with easy restoration. You can go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to plugins. In plugins,  click on add new and search for Updraft plugin, next you can install and activate the plugin. To see the backup files you can go to UpDraftplus under seating. Click on the setting option to check all the backup files. 

10. How often should you do a full backup of an eCommerce website?

It totally depends on the eCommerce business size. Most of the small and medium-sized WooCommerce stores backup their data after every 24 hours with an incremental backup after every 6 hours. Incremental backups are essential for an eCommerce website. Even if you are an early stage WooCommerce store owner, try to run a full backup of your data every 24 hours. These types of practice help a WooCommerce store to successfully operate in the future.