Using BackupBuddy in Your Security Package

The Importance of Mailbox Money One of the most important lessons a freelance web developer can learn is the importance of Mailbox Money. Mailbox money is recurring revenue from clients that arrives in your mailbox whether you are doing any active work for them or not. Mailbox money is key to survival in the lean months that every freelancer will experience.

The Importance of Mailbox Money

One of the most important lessons a freelance web developer can learn is the importance of Mailbox Money. Mailbox money is recurring revenue from clients that arrives in your mailbox whether you are doing any active work for them or not. Mailbox money is key to survival in the lean months that every freelancer will experience. One of the simplest ways for a web developer to begin building mailbox money is by offering a security package for clients. This package can include things like web hosting, keeping WordPress and plugins up to date, and a regular web site backup. BackupBuddy can play the starring role in this security package you offer to clients. Here are four steps to putting it into place.

Step 1: Educate Your Clients on the Importance of a Good Backup

The first and most important step is educating your client on the importance of a good backup plan. Explaining the why is critical. Backups can be a tough sell, even though they are important. Backups are like homeowners insurance. They’re not flashy, but they’re important. And if you wait until you need them, it’s too late. So explain to your client how occasionally, servers do corrupt files and databases, and although WordPress is very secure when it’s kept up to date, hackers are persistent and motivated. A good, regular backup takes care of all these issues and offers your client security and peace of mind.

Step 2: Set Up a Remote Destination

A good backup strategy involves moving your backup archives offsite to a remote storage location. This is an important step because, if your server crashes, the backups exist somewhere else. Backup Buddy offers several remote storage locations including Amazon S3, the Rackspace Cloud, Dropbox, and iThemes’ own BackupBuddy Stash storage. BackupBuddy-Stash BackupBuddy Stash is by far the simplest option to configure for use. Simply enter your iThemes username and password into the remote storage settings, and your setup is complete. Plus, every BackupBuddy customer receives 1GB of BackupBuddy Stash storage free, with the option to purchase more space at any time. Watch the tutorial: How to Set Up and Use BackupBuddy Stash.

Step 3: Create a Backup Schedule

One of the greatest strengths of BackupBuddy is its ability to run on a set schedule. Once you set it up, it requires no further input from you. iThemes offers this video tutorial that explains the process of creating a schedule. But here is an important tip: for many sites, choosing a daily database backup and a weekly full backup is sufficient. Scheduled-backup Also consider the fact that running a full backup on a large site is a server-intensive task. So it’s good practice to schedule them for times when your traffic is at its lowest (typically in the early morning hours for many sites).

Step 4: Monitor Your Backups

Finally, it is helpful to receive a notice if a backup happens to fail. By entering your email address in the Error Notification Recipients area in the BackupBuddy Settings, you will receive an email with a few details if BackupBuddy ever has a problem. backupbudd-settings Now that BackupBuddy is configured to run automatically, your client’s web site will be protected. And, with no further work required on your part, you can enjoy the mailbox money that will soon begin to arrive.

Watch the Video: Using BackupBuddy in Your Security Package

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Stay tuned for more BackupBuddy for Freelancers posts this week, May 13–17. We’ll be sharing more tips for client work and speeding up your WordPress development workflow with BackupBuddy.

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