---
title: "Always Backup Your Site"
url: "https://sethgoldstein.me/always-backup-your-site/"
updated: "2024-07-07T14:18:12+00:00"
sources:
  - "https://sethgoldstein.me/always-backup-your-site/"
---

I came into work, with an idea. I wanted to add a sidebar to this blog. I love the Twenty Twenty theme, that I’m using, but a blog needs a sidebar.

Without a clear way to just add it, I turned to the *Goog*. There I found a plugin that would work with Twenty Seventeen. It said it was compatible with the latest WordPress version, so installed it.

Well, to make a slightly long story very short. It totally borked my site template.

Luckily my host has daily backups. and I remembered to quickly copy the previous post into Word before restoring the site to yesterday’s glory.

All this said, a very important lesson can be taught. **Backup your sites people!** Even if it’s just for safety and do it weekly.

My suggestion is to either find a hosting provider that does it for you (daily is best) or get a plugin like [Updraft Plus](https://updraftplus.com/) to do it for you.

And if you don’t normally work on your site daily, you can do weekly, but remember to do a backup prior to messing around with anything.

Today’s minor bump in the road could have been adverted, albeit it only slightly, by doing a quick manual backup prior to mucking around.

So that’s what I got. Go backup your site! Right now. What are you waiting for!

Oh, and if the sidebar isn’t on the blog yet it means I’m still figuring out how to add it.

*Image Credit:* *[Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/technology-servers-server-1587673/)*