Create a backup of the website’s content and database

This one gets skipped because it feels like something that doesn't need to happen until something goes wrong. That's exactly when it's too late.

Webflow doesn't have a traditional server-side database. Your site data lives in Webflow's infrastructure, and they maintain uptime for your published site. But "my host is reliable" isn't a backup strategy. It's an assumption about availability, not a plan for the day you accidentally delete a collection, publish the wrong content, or lose access to your account.

What a Webflow backup looks like in practice: it's different from a WordPress backup because there's no database file to export. Your content backup is a combination of your CMS data and your page settings.

For CMS content: use Webflow's CSV export. Go to each collection → click the gear icon → Export to CSV. This gives you a file with all field data for that collection. Do this for every collection with meaningful content: blog posts, checklist items, landing pages. Store the CSV files in a versioned folder with a date in the filename. Dropbox or Google Drive work fine.

For page settings: document your key SEO settings — title tags, meta descriptions, custom code — in a spreadsheet or by taking screenshots. This is especially important for pages with custom JSON-LD structured data in the page head. That's the most tedious thing to rebuild from scratch if it's lost.

For design: Webflow Designer has version history under the history icon in the left panel. This isn't a true external backup — it's a change log you can roll back within a certain window. It's useful for catching recent accidental changes, but not a substitute for having your own copies.

Also document your redirects. Your 301 redirect list in Site Settings is one of the most painful things to recreate if it's lost. Paste it into a document or spreadsheet periodically. Losing your redirect configuration on an established site means broken URLs and lost link equity.

How often to back up: before major changes. Before a redesign, before a large batch of content updates, before editing your redirect configuration. A backup taken right before a big change is more useful than one taken at an arbitrary interval with no relation to what you're about to do.