Achieving Website and Internet Success

We have multiple websites. Sometimes we host our own sites, sometimes we let others host them. There are varying reasons for this that do not pertain to this article. However, about a year ago, we had a site hosted by a company, and we added our graphics and products and categories and everything looked nice. We were happy with the site. So far.

Shortly thereafter, we contacted that particular site builder host and inquired how to save our files, or back up our site files and data. We had entered a lot of product data, not to mention our site graphics, layout, etc. We had our site uploaded, operational, and planned to continue to enter products. Until we asked that one particular question? How do we back up our files?

Basic answer was we could not. Hey folks. This is life. Stuff happens. There are system crashes; power failures; hard drive failures; motherboard replacements; natural disasters. How many website owners in Louisiana and other states experienced total site devastation when Katrina hit? How many of them were able, even remotely, to have their site back up with minor, if any, issues after the disaster?

I’m still not sure if the hosting company was indicating that THEY could back them up and did, and that simply I could not. I don’t care. I know they skirted the issue and tried to fluff me over with heavily scented sensations of false security. If I cannot have some say so in the backup process of my site, and ALSO have some internal method of confirming this is being done and how often, I’d prefer to move. I want to back up my files MYSELF, then I’ll KNOW it was done. I sleep better knowing the truth.

If you are hosting with someone, and you cannot backup your files, your graphics, and/or your site, you need a different host. Period. If they tell you, “Don’t worry, we are taking care of all that for you. It is part of our very valuable service.” That’s fine, but you should still be able to do this yourself. You need your own copies of your files. People come and go. Hosting companies come and go. Know your options, and don’t get fluffed.

For newer website owners, remember. Your website is not on YOUR computer (unless you are hosting your own site on your own computer). It is on your hosting provider’s server or their sub server, or on a server somewhere. How vulnerable are you?

Granted, your hosting provider is not sitting around with a smirk on their face just waiting for a disaster to hit so they can gleefully tell you, “Oh, well sorry. We’ve been planning this big joke on you for a while, April Fools!” That is the last thing they want to tell you. A site with no backup, starting over from scratch? Dreadful. I certainly would not want to be the bearer of THAT news. It won’t really matter whose fault it is if it happens. If it is irrecoverable, the end result is the same. You must start over.

When we build a site, we make a backup of the initial site files. We cannot physically keep those files forever. We try, but cannot guarantee 10 years from now we have your original backup.

You have to take responsibility for this yourself. If you are like ME, you should WANT to take responsibility for this yourself. Regardless, once you add data and products and edit and make changes, it is up to YOU to make backups. We will certainly assist you in a restore should that regrettably become necessary. But we host lots of clients. We cannot physically back up each of their files every single day. You have to do it, and we are thrilled to show you how.

Many years ago, when I was very young, I worked for a very technologically advanced general contractor. He owned an IBM System 36. An IBM System 36 was not a computer as you and I know it today. Oh they still have really large computers for certain jobs. Just not you and I. THIS computer filled a room and required specific heating and cooling conditions. It was not only used for the general contracting firm. It was ALSO used as a Data Processing Management System facility. In other words, that computer handled data for hospitals, clinics, hardware stores, retail stores, etc. from all over the country.

That computer processed payroll data for other general contractors all over the country. And hospitals. And clinics. And hardware stores. And retail stores. If that computer went down, it was not just one company affected. People stopped getting paychecks. Hospital records were missing. Patient records that took hours and hours to enter were gone. The hardware store’s complete inventory and billing system were gone. How would the hardware company send out statements and invoices if their records were gone? By HAND, I guess. Get a chisel and a rock, and get to work.

That particular IBM System 36 utilized a backup unit that required 8″ diskettes. For those of you who have forgotten, a diskette is a FLOPPY disk. There were no CD’s, or DVD’s not even really a reliable tape backup. If there was, we did not have it. And yes, I said 8″ diskettes. My daily job, without fail, was to backup the files every day. My boss never stopped stressing how important this job was. To this day, I am almost certain there must have been an alternate backup method taking place unknown to me? If not, I sort of felt better thinking that.

Every night I made sure that backup was made. The backup command was programmed to gather the CHANGED or NEW data onto the diskettes. If I could not make the backup, it was my job to make sure someone else did. Since my job depended on it, (you’d have to know my boss), I preferred to do it myself.

That is not all. These were FLOPPY 8″ diskettes. Now bear in mind how much data this was. I had a very large box. The box contained BOXES of diskettes. The computer ran multiple company data. This “box” took up half or more of the back seat of my car!

My instructions? The backup diskettes could NEVER be left in the car in the heat. The diskette data could be damaged in extreme cold. The diskettes should never be exposed to heat, cold, moisture, humidity, gunfire, road traffic, disease, famine, natural disaster, military warfare, etc.

So, basically, I lived with those diskettes for many years. I kept my job for all those years because I took that job seriously. Fortunately, technology continued to advance and my boss was better able to afford better backup means. But I learned one very specific thing. That backup was important.

Had I been in a natural disaster of some sort during my guardianship of the diskettes, I would have taken it very seriously to do just that: guard them. I’m just that kind of person.

I have been in a hurricane. I have been in tornadoes. I was in Florida on St. George’s Island as Katrina eased into the coast and took an immediate turn toward Louisiana, not long after Charlie had struck. I have turned on my computer only to find that it did nothing, the motherboard was shot. I have had hard drives go bad and just stop working. Stuff Happens.

Do not rely on assumptions and other opinions when it comes to YOUR site data. Know enough to know the truth and to protect yourself. I know what is required to back up MY site data. You should know what is required to back up YOUR site data too.

Ask. Find out. Be prepared. Be aware. It is NOT your host’s responsibility to physically go to your website portal and back up your data everyday. In my humble opinion, it IS your host’s responsibility to provide a WAY or METHOD for YOU to go to your website portal and back up your data everyday. Or as often as you need based on how often you update your data.

Don’t put your eggs all in one BASKET either. First have more than one BACKUP, in case the first one fails. Second, don’t put your backup in just ONE place. I back up to my computer. I then back up to DVD. I’ve seen DVD’s fail MANY times. So for safekeeping, I have hosted space available JUST TO hold my backups. My backups are in multiple locations. If one fails, I have a reserve.

You don’t have to spend a fortune to have multiple reserve backups. The Geek Squad is just one example of online backup services that can provide you a safe place for backups. Make a plan. Maybe back up on Sundays. Back up to your hard drive. Have another computer in your home? Set up a folder on there and keep maybe two dated backups in there for safekeeping. Put a backup or two on DVD. Update all of these regularly. Keep a schedule, and you’ll thank yourself if you ever need it.

One more very important thing. WHAT you need to back up depends on several factors. If you use our site builder, there are very specific steps to follow to backup. They are NOT HARD, the steps just pertain to our site builder and hosting arrangement. If you do not host with us, contact your host. As an example, we have two different places to backup. One is within the builder itself (data files and tables), and the other is within the site control panel. Both are necessary and both are required.

Take a step towards better site security. Make sure you have current, multiple site backups. I honestly hope you never need them. But you’ll thank yourself repeatedly if you ever do. Got to run, my box of 8″ diskettes is getting hungry and then they want to take a walk…….by Laura Brown, Penney Layne Graphics