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How To Create A Website Disaster Recovery Plan

How To Create A Website Disaster Recovery Plan

disaster recovery plan

Disasters may strike at any moment and there is no convenient time for this to happen when running your law firm. It’s easy to overlook, but websites break, can be hacked, or completely stop running altogether. There may be some solutions you know how to try, but if they don’t work, what happens next? How long can your website be offline for? It can make all the difference to have a website disaster recovery plan in place to be prepared for the unthinkable and save your website.

Things can and do go wrong, regardless of how prepared you may be, but with a recovery plan you can at least have a starting point instead of losing your website. Here are some steps to get you started with your website disaster recovery plan.

Backups

In a similar way that writers will keep copies of manuscripts, or that some companies will keep physical data stored as a backup, you should keep a backup of your website. Without having a backup of your website, you may be faced with having to rebuild it entirely. This is a very important step and it is vital to keep secure backups of your website outside of your hosting platform. Don’t stop with just one backup either, you should consider keeping two to three stored in different locations. You can never go wrong with having backups for your backups. You may even have a recovery website that can be stored on physical media just in case a connection to a cloud based host is not available or secure.

Larger companies with more involved needs can opt for an in-house solution by using existing IT, but with smaller companies with more generic needs, there are cloud backup services or managed backup providers.

Maintenance

With proper maintenance, there is a higher chance you will be able to spot and fix something before it becomes catastrophic. Having someone who is responsible for maintaining and performing security updates for your website and other data can allow you to worry less about any potential downfalls in the future. These updates should be carried out on a weekly basis, and remember to backup your website before any of these are performed in the case an update causes any disruptions to your site.

Content Updates

Depending on what type of website you have, you may be updating your content on a semi-weekly basis. It’s helpful to have a plan in place for any content updates to be performed after a backup. With this, you can have a second pair of eyes to help you in confirming the content update is visible and done correctly on the front-end. Having someone proof-read and ensure your content is free of typos or miscommunication can save you from any setbacks in content creation or being perceived as unprofessional.

Uptime Monitoring

There is little chance that you are able to monitor your website 24/7, but for most this is not something that is feasible for anyone to do. However, there are monitoring services like UptimeRobot that will check if your website is up and running every 5 minutes and alert you of any downtime so reviews can be made.

Passwords

When it comes to passwords, you want to perform a regular audit every 2-3 months. Only use strong passwords for your website and consider storing them in a password manager. Take time to review who has access to your website, and consider whether or not that access is needed by them on a continuous basis.

There are a few key points when it comes to password security:

  • Passwords should be long and complex
  • Passwords should contain at least 10 characters and have a combination of commas, percent signs, parenthesis, and upper and lower case letters and numbers
  • Users should never write down their passwords, as they can be stolen and used by someone else
  • Never use the same password on two or more devices

Contact Details

Keep track of all the contact details for companies you are involved with that host and manage your website. Having details of the hosting company, your domain provider, and email provider are some of the basic details to keep handy in order to help respond to any disasters quickly and more effectively.

Conroy Creative Counsel To Build The Best Law Firm Website

It can seem easy to manage a website, but there is more to it than you may think. With a website recovery plan in place before you desperately need it can make the time between your disaster and the recovery much shorter. The work you put into creating a disaster plan is minor in comparison to losing all the hard work you put in to create your website. Don’t lose out on money, leads, or contact with clients by not being available online.

At Conroy Creative Counsel, we help you create and learn how to manage the best law firm website available by offering impactful designs and guiding you on how to strategize effectively and make the most out of your digital presence. We have a deep understanding of effective marketing strategies, pay close attention to detail, and can help potential and returning clients reach professionals like yourself. Let us help build your presence online to curate the clientele you desire.

Contact us today for a competitive advantage for you to stand out from the rest.

kc

I'm Karin Conroy

Founder of Conroy Creative Counsel, an award-winning recognized leader that has cracked the code of smart, sophisticated, and strategic marketing for law firms.

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