Behind the scenes: How you can recover your brand’s reputation with a website backup
What would you do if every time you updated your website, it broke? I’m guessing it would make you feel on edge, less confident, and disappointed.
The reason your website might be in a fragile state is that it has outdated plugins or third-party features, it has been hacked, someone has put band-aids on it, and now it needs more TLC, or your website has gone too long without maintenance. Now it’s not compatible with the new version that it’s trying to update to.
Regardless of the cause, fixing your website to prevent future issues can be costly and time-consuming, requiring analysis and potentially rebuilding. Fortunately, there’s a solid strategy that can be implemented on your website today that helps maintain your brand’s reputation.
Let’s dive into what that looks like.
The Client’s Website: Too Fragile to Update Without a Backup Plan
When I manage a new client’s website that I didn’t build, usually this is what I see:
BEHIND THE SCENES: Pictured above is a website with plugins which can’t be updated without breaking the entire site. The only solution is to rebuild the site using a new version of the page builder or switching to a different one.
Why Fixing It Isn’t Always Immediate (But There’s a Safer Option)
If you have a site like this, you might be hoping for a magic button that can fix all the issues and help your website start fresh, but that’s usually not the case. Most of the time, to solve these bigger issues, it requires significant reconstruction or a new version, which is not simple or cheap. Clients sometimes don’t have the budget, time, or access to the right resources to solve the issue immediately. So what’s the next best thing? Keeping the site running to the best of its ability until a long-term fix can be addressed. No, your site might not be perfect, but being alive is better than being broken.
The Non-Negotiable: A Reliable Website Backup System
If you are in this moment of feeling stuck with your imperfect website until it can be fixed correctly, the one piece of advice I recommend is having regular backups of your website so that it can be regenerated instantly if your website were to break for any reason.
Through my website support, I have my clients’ websites backed up monthly, and I am immediately notified if their sites go down so I can investigate and resolve the problem or reboot their website in minutes.
This process takes the stress off my clients’ shoulders and provides peace of mind that their website is in good hands and they don’t have to be involved in the tech side when something breaks.
A Real Example of a Broken Website and Restoration
Automating your website updates might be easy, but if you’re not careful or don’t regularly check your website for bugs, then this “easy” task can cost you big time.
I’ve had clients update their website, forget to pay for their hosting, cancel their domain plan, and lose their entire site. They might notice their website is down rather quickly, or they might not see it for days and days.
How clients might feel if they lost their site and didn’t sign up for maintenance.
How my clients feel knowing I’m always there to support them anytime they have a website issue.
Just how quickly can your site break, and how fast can it be restored?
Watch this video for real-time behind-the-scenes restoration.
Why Every Website Needs a Backup Plan (Even if it’s “fine)
What you see on the front end of your website is usually pretty and glamorous. As far as you know, it functions well and everything is “fine.” But if you’re not regularly maintaining the backend, your site might silently degrade, causing it to run slowly or break over time. Eventually, it may become unfixable.
A broken design that makes you less professional
This can happen when you least expect it, and it would be terrible if it happened when a potential client is looking you up, during a launch, or at an event you’re attending.
How often is my site backed up?
Your web designer might not offer all these features, and that’s ok. Some web designers are more focused on supporting businesses with their new website projects rather than on maintenance.
But my services do support you with all of these features and more for less than $5 a day! Want to learn more? Click here.
Is Your Backup Strategy in Place?
Don’t wait to sign up for website maintenance. The sooner you have it, the sooner your website and investment are secure.
Sign up to have me take a look under the hood of your website for FREE, and I’ll send you a detailed website audit report that provides exactly where your website is lacking and how to improve it.
Already know your website is in bad shape and want a 1:1 to discuss next steps?
