How to Take Backup of your Wordpress Blog - Part 1

In keeping your wordpress blog secure tutorial series I might have mentioned many times to take backup of your wordpress blog before trying something new. But I've never mentioned how do you take backup of you blog, did I ? Nope, right ? So, I thought why not make you aware of tools and tricks available to take backup of wordpress blog. Before jumping into how to take backup, let me talk about importance of taking backup.
The most important reason for taking backup of your blog is to restore your blog quickly if something really bad happens! When I say something bad, I mean a hacker bringing your wordpress blog down and you are not able to access your post and members list or you edited something in wordpress core template and everything is screwed up on your blog! Once you have backup of your template & data then you needn't worry about these kind of situations. Now, I hope you understand importance of taking backup of your wordpress blog.
Taking backup of a wordpress blog involves pretty simple steps. I'll be sharing two ways to do it, which are as follows,

• Use plugin: Download any reliable plugin like vaultpress or BackWPup or WPDBBackup or BlogVault and install it on your blog. Some of the plugins I listed are free and some requirement investment. Once you have a plugin, goto plugin page and then with simple clicks you will be able to take backup of your blog.
  
• Manual: Using plugin for backup automates process, but it is always advised to take backup using manual way. It is because it doesn't involve any intervention of 3rd party tools! Follow the steps given below to take backup of post and comments,
  
  1. Goto "Blog Admin" page.
     
  2. Hover on Tools in your admin page. When you hover on tools, you will see 4 options available to you. Click on "Export". You will be redirected to export options page.
     
  3. In Export options page choose "Export" again. You will be redirected to a page, were you can select what items to export. You have option to export post, pages and feedbacks separately. Also, you will have option to take backup of all everything at once (All content).
     
  4. Select an option you want to backup and then click on "Download Export File" button. I would suggest you to take backup of "All Content", as it takes backup of almost everything you need to bring your blog live in short span of time!
     
  5. Save the .xml file on your hardsisk or cloud. That's it ! With this step you took backup of your wordpress blog !
     

Wasn't that simple? In next installment, I'll come back with another easy way to take backup of your wordpress blog database soon. So, stay tuned to Webmaster Tutorials! ;)