Have you ever wanted to try something new on your website—like adding a plugin, switching to a new theme, or even redesigning? But then, that worry creeps in: What if something goes wrong and crashes my site? You’re worried that one wrong move might make your site unusable, leaving visitors frustrated and turning them away. That fear can limit your creativity, right?
Well, let me tell you, there’s a simple way to experiment without any of that stress: use a staging site. Think of it like a sandbox where you can play around freely. For example, imagine you run an online store and want to test a new payment gateway or redesign your checkout process. Instead of doing it live and risking downtime, you can create a clone of your website—a staging site. Here, you can safely test updates, new plugins, or design tweaks without impacting visitors’ experience.
Staging sites are ideal for WordPress users, providing a safe space to test changes. AccuWeb Hosting offers built-in staging environments that are easy to set up. Additionally, we support tools like the All-in-One WP Migration plugin, which has over 60 million active installations, enabling seamless creation and management of staging environments.
What is a Staging Website?
A staging website is essentially a duplicate or clone of your live site for testing and development purposes. It allows you to experiment with changes—whether it’s a new design, plugin, or feature—without risking disruptions or downtime on your main website. Once everything is tested and working as expected on the staging site, you can deploy the changes to the live site.
For example, you could update your website’s theme. If you want to switch to a new theme, you can first install and configure it on your staging site, review how it looks, and test the features to ensure they function as expected without disrupting the user experience on your live site.
This copy includes all your plugins, settings, and widgets, so it looks like your site. The main difference is that the staging site is offline, allowing you to test freely without worrying about visitors.
You can test everything, fix bugs, and ensure everything works ideally before going live. This way, you can confidently update your site while keeping your users happy and engaged.
Understanding Development, QA, Staging, and Production Sites
Website visitors usually only experience a site’s live, polished version, unaware of the behind-the-scenes process. However, developers use several environments like development, QA, and staging sites to test and refine their work before deployment. Here’s an overview of the key types of testing environments in the WordPress development process:
- Development Site
This is the developers’ workspace, housing the latest code updates and new feature tests. It’s the first step in testing ideas and ironing out basic functionality. - Quality Assurance (QA) Site
QA environments are used for detailed testing to catch issues that might have been overlooked during coding. Large organizations frequently use QA sites to ensure their live platforms remain bug-free. - Staging Site
A staging site acts as a replica of the live site, bridging the gap between development and production. Any remaining bugs are addressed here, ensuring the site is ready for public release. - Production Site
This is the final, live version of the website that visitors see. The production site will deliver a flawless user experience if all prior stages are handled properly.
Setting Up a WordPress Staging Environment
When setting up a WordPress staging environment, remember that deploying changes from the staging site to your live website will overwrite existing files and databases. Always back up your entire WordPress site before pushing staging updates to prevent potential data loss.
Ways to Create a WordPress Staging Website
1. Using a WordPress plugin
You can set up a staging site using a plugin. Here, we use the WP Staging plugin.
- Log into your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Plugins > Add New and search for the WP Staging plugin.
- Click on Install Now and Activate it.
- After installation, click the WP Staging tab and click on CREATE NEW STAGING SITE button.
- Enter your preferred Staging Site Name.
- Click on START CLONING to begin the process.
- A command-line interface will appear, displaying the progress as it creates your staging site.
- Wait for the cloning process to complete (this may take a few minutes, depending on your site’s size).
Note: Any administrator account can log in to the staging site using their existing credentials from the main website.
- Once the process is completed, the plugin will provide clear instructions on accessing the staging site. Follow the steps outlined to proceed.
2. Using Subdomain
Creating a staging site is not too difficult but can be challenging for WordPress beginners.
- Access your cPanel.
- Navigate to the Domains section.
- Go to the Subdomains page.
- Enter the subdomain name. This action will automatically create a new folder within the
public_htmldirectory. Once done, click Create to finalize the setup.
Next, copy the website files:
- Navigate to the File Manager.
- Open public_html.
- Copy the web content from it.
- Paste the copied content into the subdomain directory.
After duplicating WordPress files, do the same for the existing database.
- Navigate to the Database > PhpMyAdmin.
- After a successful import, navigate to the database.
- Click on wp_options.
- In the right-side panel, change the site URL and home URL from the live site to the staging site.
- Access the File Manager.
- Locate the wp-config.php file of your duplicate site.
- Make the necessary changes to the wp-config.php file.
- Access the WP panel of your subdomain (e.g.,
https://demo.andrew.ga/wp-admin). - Navigate to the Configuration panel.
- Go to Reading under the Settings menu.
- Check the box to discourage search engines from indexing this site.
- You have successfully set up your staging site.
3. Using Softaculous
- Login to your cPanel account.
- Go to the Software and open Softaculous App Installer.
- Navigate to the top of the right taskbar and click on All Installations.
- Click the Creating Staging button.
- On the next screen, input the database name for your staging site.
- Choose the directory where the copy of your live site will be stored.
- Click the Create Staging button to finalize the staging environment.
- Your new staging site will now appear on the All Installations page.
- The Push to Live button in front of the staging site helps apply changes.
- Clicking the button will take you to a page with default settings.
- The default option pushes all changes from the staging site to the live site.
- An alternative option is also available, allowing more control over the changes to be pushed.
- You can customize the operation if you prefer not to use the default push.
- You have the option to select specific parts of the database to push.
- You can choose the web content you want to transfer from the staging site to the live site.
- This allows for more controlled and selective updates to your live website.
- Once the push is completed, the changes will take effect immediately.
- The updated content will be live and ready for your customers to experience.
- This ensures that all modifications made on the staging site are instantly reflected on the live site.
4. Set Up a Local Staging Site
Setting up an offline staging site provides a secure website development and testing environment accessible only from your local computer. Unlike online staging sites, which are flexible and support team collaboration, local staging sites offer a private and controlled workspace.
Tools like Local are highly effective in creating a local WordPress staging site. Local is a free application that transforms your computer into a hosting environment, making setting up a development site easy. After downloading the software, follow the guided setup process:
- Name Your Site: Assign a unique name to your staging site.
- Secure Your Account: Set a distinct username and password for your WordPress account to ensure security.
- Create the Site: The software automates the creation process and provides access to the site via the local interface.
With your staging site ready, you can safely test and tweak WordPress features without impacting the live site. This step is crucial for pre-testing modifications and ensuring a seamless user experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, setting up a staging site for your website is important for safe testing and development. You can use a plugin, set it up manually, or use tools like Softaculous and Local. A staging site lets you try out changes without affecting your live site, making updates easier and improving user performance.
