There are some things that all bloggers should do on a regular basis — but probably aren’t. You know, those pesky little things called backups and upgrades. Whether it is a lack of time, an “I’ll do it sometime”, or “It won’t happen to me” mentality, here are the things you should be doing regularly for the health of your blog. And if you aren’t one of the few who do these regularly, start putting a plan in place to do them. Because the time and problems that will arise from not doing them will be far greater than just making a habit of doing it in the first place!

Backing up your database
Bloggers are pretty lax at backing up their blog database. But what if a catastrophe occurs? Hackers, corrupt databases and a blog host that ceases to exist are all things than unexpectedly happens to bloggers, and they can take your entire blog with it. Having a backup of your blog’s database means that if something goes wrong, you will still have a copy of not only all your blog posts but also all the comments and trackbacks made as well. Not sure how to backup? Check for instructions with the blogger platform you use, or if you use WordPress, you can also install a backup plugin that will do all the dirty work for you.

Backup your template files
You should also regularly back up your files too, especially your template files. This means that if a hacker exploits your template and adds thousands of spammy footer links or something happens with the host, you have a nice clean backup of your files, including any changes you might have made to the original template.

Upgrading WordPress or your blog software of choice
After you have backed up your database and files, the next thing you should be doing is check for updates to your blog software. And most likely, it also means upgrading WordPress, MovableType or whichever blog software you are using for your blog. Don’t just assume that upgrading to the next version is simply to give bloggers more features – chances are extremely good that the new version was made to close holes that could allow your blog to get exploited or hacked. Nearly all cases of blogs being hacked is because the blogger was lax in upgrading. And it is far easier to upgrade than it is to de-hack your blog it once it has been exploited.

Upgrading plugins
While not as critical as upgrading the blog software itself, upgrading plugins can be pretty important if there is a security loophole created with the version you are using. And as a bonus, the new version of WP 2.5 notes in the plugins page which plugins have new versions available. So you just need to remember to check the page — and upgrading plugins is usually just as painless as it was installing them in the first place.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to do these things for your blog. You don’t want to lose 2 years worth of blogging simply because you didn’t get around to backing up and upgrading. And a single exploit that has been done by hackers on your blog will take much, much longer than the amount of time it takes to simply upgrade and backup everything over the entire life of your blog. And as an added bonus, it will keep your sanity too Dealing with the consequences of not doing the above is not very much fun at all!