Steps to Back Up and Restore a WordPress Site on Bluehost

In this blog, you will learn how to backup a WordPress site on Bluehost and how to restore it.

I decided to write this guide because we have a WordPress website that is hosted on Bluehost. One day, the website's data, theme, content, pages, and everything else suddenly disappeared, and I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.

It may have been caused by a plugin issue or something else, but I was never able to identify the exact cause. That experience made me realize how important website backups are even if you are on a managed hosting plan.

To avoid situations like this, you should always keep a backup of your WordPress site. If something goes wrong, you can quickly restore your website and prevent data loss.

In this guide, I will walk you through two methods for backing up your site. These are the same methods we now regularly use to create backups. Also I will provide the steps to restore the backups.

Let's get started.

Method 1: Create a Backup using Bluehost Dashboard

This is the easiest method you can use.

Follow each step below to generate a backup of your website.

Use the login credentials you created when setting up your account. Enter them and click login.

Enter the credentials and login to the Bluehost dashboard

Step 2: Click the Manage button

In the dashboard, locate the Manage button, click on it.

In the Bluehost dashboard, click the Manage button

Step 3: Go to the Backups tab

Next, you will see several options. In that, click the Backups tab.

Step 4: Choose File Backups and Database Backups

You will see two backup options: File Backups and Database Backups.

Actually, it is important to download both backups. Let me tell you why.

Click the file backups and database backups

File Backups contain your WordPress files, themes, plugins, images, media uploads, CSS files, JavaScript files, and configuration files.
Database Backups contain your posts, pages, comments, user accounts, settings, and other website data stored in the database.

Both backups are essential because they work together to fully restore your website.

Step 5: Download the Backups

Select the backup date you want to download. Next, select the Download option and click Continue.

Choose the backups date, select the download option, and clikc continue

The backup file will be downloaded to your local computer. Repeat the same process to download the Database Backup as well.

Method 2: Create a Manual Backup using Bluehost cPanel

cPanel is a the a web-based control panel for Linux based server management. It provides easy to use graphical use interface to manage every aspect of your wordpress website.

You can access it via the Bluehost dashboard. Follow the steps carefully, and dont miss a single line. If you miss it, you will be confused.

Step 1: Go to the Bluehost dashboard

THis is the Bluehost account dashboard. Click the hosting option

Step 2: Open cPanel

On the Hosting page, you will find the cPanel button. Click it. This will redirect you to the cPanel tools page.

Step 3: Click the backup option

You will find many tools in the Bluehost cPanel. Locate the Backup option and click it.

You can find it under the Files section, as shown in the image below.

This is a cPanel of Bluehost. Where there are many tools available. In that click the Backup option

Step 4: Download a full account backup

Now, you will see a heading named Full Backup. Under that, you can see the Download a Full Account Backup button, click it.

Click the Download a full account backup

Next, select the Home Directory option, enter your email ID, and click Generate Backup.

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Note: It will take few minutes to generate the backup. Once it is completed, you get a notification in your Email.

Select the home directoru, enter the Gmail ID, and click generate backup to start the backup generation

Once completed, Bluehost will create a backup that includes your website files, themes, plugins, configurations, pages, and more.

Next, lets create a manual backup of your website files.

Step 1: Go to the Bluehost dashboard, and click the websites option from the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Click the File Manager button, as shown in the image below.

Find the file manager in the Bluehost dashboard under hosting section

Step 3: Click Settings in the top-right corner of the page.

Also, select Home Directory, and make sure the Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) is enabled so you can view all website files.

select the home directory, and put tick mark on show hidden files(dotfiles0

Step 4: Select all files and folders, then click Compress.

Click the select all option. after that click Compress button

Step 5: Choose Zip Archive and click Compress Files to create the backup.

That's it. Once the compression process is complete, the backup ZIP file will be available in the location you selected.

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If you have any doubts about this method, refer to Bluehost's official documentation.

Restoring Wordpress Website

Now, lets look at how to restore the backups you created.

Just like the backup process, there are two methods you can use to restore your website

Method 1: Restore a WordPress Site using Bluehost cPanel

Lets get started.

Step 1: Login to your Bluehost account, go to the Hosting page, and click the cPanel button.

go to hosting section and click the cPanel button

Step 2: Click the Backup button under the Files section.

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If you created your backup using the cPanel method, this is the best restoration method you should use.

Step 3: Choose the ZIP file that you downloaded during the backup process.

Once the file is uploaded, click the Upload button to begin the restoration process.

That's it!

Now, let's look at the second method.

Method 2: Restore using Bluehost

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Note: If you used the first backup method, this is the recommended way to restore your website.

Step 1: Go to the Bluehost Dashboard, and click the Manage button.

Step 2: Go to Backups on that page, and scroll down until you find the Restore option.

Step 3: Click on the Restore Website button to start uploading the backup file.

Step 4: Upload the backup file in ZIP format. Once the database has been updated, click Continue. Your website should be restored within a few minutes.

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Note: In some cases, the backup file is already stored in your Bluehost account, and may appear automatically in the restore section.

Step 5: Once the website is restored, ensure you all the website urls and images accessible are for end users. Also, keep an eye on Google search console for any website errors after restoration.

FAQs

Here are the frequently asked questions regarding backup.

1. Can I schedule automatic backups for my WordPress site on Bluehost?

Yes, you can schedule automatic backups for your WordPress site on Bluehost. Bluehost is offering a free weekly automatic backup.

2. Are there any Bluehost backup plugins recommended for WordPress users?

CodeGuard, Jetpack, UpdraftPlus, BackWPup, and Duplicator plugins are Bluehost backup plugins recommended for WordPress users.

Conclusion

In this guide, you learned two simple methods to back up a WordPress site on Bluehost hosting and two methods to restore it.

A Wordpress website can get corrupted for many reasons. It could be a bad plugin or a malware. So timely backups can help you restore the website without loosing the content.

If you have any questions about this guide or the backup methods, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

We will be happy to help!