Perplexing Guide to Setting Up a Staging Site for WordPress

Step 1: Getting Started with Staging Sites

As a WordPress developer or website owner, setting up a staging site could save you a lot of time, effort and resources. But what exactly is a staging site? Well, it’s simply a replica of your live WordPress site, where you can test new features, themes, plugins, and customizations before implementing them on the live site. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll show you how to set up a staging site for WordPress, step by step.

Step 2: Choosing Your Staging Solution

When it comes to setting up a staging site for WordPress, you have various options to choose from. There are several staging site plugins available on the WordPress repository that can help you create a staging site within your existing WordPress installation. Some web hosts like WP Engine, Bluehost, and SiteGround provide a built-in staging site functionality to their customers. Another option is to create a stand-alone staging site which is separate from your live site. In this guide, we’ll be using a plugin to create a staging site within our existing WordPress installation.

Step 3: Install and Activate Your Staging Site Plugin

The first step is to choose a staging site plugin and install it on your live WordPress site. In this guide, we’ll be using the WP Staging plugin, a popular choice among WordPress users. Once you find the plugin, click on ‘Install Now’ and then ‘Activate’.

Step 4: Creating Your Staging Site

Once you’ve installed and activated the WP Staging plugin, it’s time to create a staging site. To do this, navigate to the ‘WP Staging’ tab in your WordPress dashboard and click on ‘Create new staging site’. This will bring up the WP Staging settings screen, where you can configure the staging site settings. You’ll need to enter the staging site name, staging site URL, and exclude files and folders. Once you’ve entered the necessary details, click on ‘Start cloning’ to create the staging site.

Step 5: Accessing Your Staging Site

Once your staging site has been created, you can access it by navigating to the URL you specified in Step 4. This will take you to a fresh installation of WordPress, where you can start testing and tweaking your site without affecting the live version. Keep in mind that your staging site is a completely separate installation of WordPress.

Step 6: Pushing Changes to the Live Site

Once you’ve made the necessary changes to your staging site and are ready to push them to your live site, it’s time to use the WP Staging plugin. Navigate back to the ‘WP Staging’ tab in your WordPress dashboard and click on the ‘Copy files to live site’ button. This will open up a window where you can choose which files and data to transfer to the live site. You can transfer all files and data, or select specific items to transfer, then click on ‘Copy files to live site’ to transfer everything you need.

Conclusion

Setting up a staging site for WordPress can save you a lot of time, effort, and headaches in the long run. By following the steps in this guide, you can easily create a safe and convenient environment for testing and tweaking your site without affecting your live site. Remember to choose a reliable staging site solution, install and activate the appropriate plugin, create a staging site, access the site to test new features and themes, push changes to the live site, and double-check everything to ensure that it’s working correctly. Happy testing!