How to backup your blogger blog
If you ask people about backing up their blog, most will say that it is a good idea. But if they are honest, they will have to admit they don't make a habit of it. After all, it is a hassle to do, and it hardly ever helps. But when you need it, you really need it. So, I'm going to explain an easy way to make blogger backups in just a few easy steps.
A backup is simply a copy of blog that you save away in a safe place in case something bad happens to the posts you created on the blogger site. Why should you bother? Even though blogger is reliable, there are no guarantees. Lots of things could happen that would make you want to have your own copy of your blog: You could accidentally delete your posts. Or someone could hack your blog. Or you could get your account suspended. Or the blogger service could change in some way that makes you want to get out in a hurry. Maybe you just want to have a copy so you sleep better at night.
Whatever your reason, backing up is a good idea. The step-by-step instructions will give you a backup copy in just a few steps.1 That one file contains formatting information, all of your published posts, and all your drafts. You can use the "Import Blog" option back in step 2 to restore posts. I will explain how that works in some other post.
So, you finished your first backup. Now what? I recommend you store that file in a safe place. Probably the best thing you can do is to create a separate directory (folder) to store all of the backup files you create.
Also, you should decide how often you should backup. Ideally, you would make a backup after each new post. But that can old fast, so do it after a few posts, or every Friday, or the first Sunday of each month. That way, you're only risking your most recent work. Imagine the worst-case scenario, where you loose your entire blog 5 minutes before you make a new backup. Everything since your last backup is lost. If you've only made one or two posts, that's not so bad. But if you have made a hundred posts, or it has been so long you have no idea what's changed, then you're probably waiting too long.
One last encouragement: take a couple minutes to figure this out now, make a habit of it, and you'll thank me later. Or, even better, you'll never have to thank me, because you'll never need to recover from a disaster. And that's ok too.
----------- Update: I had the instructions here in this post, but decided to move it to the "how-to backup" along with all the others. (⇑)
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