When you create a staging site for testing, you are actually safeguarding your live/production WordPress site against a series of potential threats.
To be exact, making changes to your WordPress site without testing them out thoroughly is a recipe for disaster. So, before you modify your live site, it’s imperative that you have a WordPress test environment where you can try all changes thoroughly. And to test these changes, you must use staging.
Wondering how?
In this post, we are going to explore the best way to set up a WordPress staging website for testing. But before that, let’s discuss what WordPress staging.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Using a staging site is crucial for testing changes to your WordPress website without affecting your live site, helping you avoid potential issues and maintain a seamless user experience.
- InstaWP is the fastest and most convenient way to set up a WordPress staging site, offering one-click creation, easy configuration, and seamless transfer of changes to your live site.
- Incorporating staging into your workflow is essential for webmasters, freelancers, and agency owners to ensure smooth deployments, maintain site quality, and minimize the risk of negative consequences.
What is a Staging Site or Environment?
A staging site is essentially a copy of your live site, but one that’s set in a private environment. This lets you test as many changes as you want without letting it affect your live website.
This means your live website remains completely unaffected while you’re testing the new changes.
Learn more about the Staging Environment here ➝
Why Use a WordPress Staging Site?
A WordPress staging site allows you to evaluate how your site will react when you make any changes, including server performance. You can easily test new functionality without letting it affect your live site.
This ensures that your live site is unaffected even if your new code/changes break the WordPress test site.
Also, you don’t miss out on traffic figures or analytical data, which is critically important for monitoring site performance.
Consequences of Not Using an Online Staging Environment
If you don’t use staging in WordPress… Well, We all hope for the best, but that’s not always the case.
You can’t rely on hope to ensure smooth deployments; it’s just too big of a risk, and in case something goes wrong, the downside can be devastating:
- Lost potential revenue
- Negative impact on goodwill
- Customer attrition
- Rolling back changes or having to issue quick fixes
Developers often use a local testing environment to test changes before moving them to production. However, it’s highly recommended that you use an online staging environment before you go live with your changes. Testing locally just isn’t a suitable litmus test to gauge the quality or stability of changes and to determine if they’ll work fine – especially with other dynamic content on your site.
When Should You Use a Staging Site?
When Should You Use a Staging Site?
There are several instances where using a staging web site for WordPress is highly recommended. For example, when you are updating your WordPress version, experimenting with a new plugin/theme, or making changes in your site’s code, it is better to test the output in a staging environment first.
Let’s explain the above in detail:
– Simple Updates
When you’re updating the WordPress core, certain plugins, or themes, it’s always good to first make changes in a staging environment. You’ll be able to identify any site-breaking problems and fix them before actual deployment.
– Installing New Plugins or Themes
No plugin developer can possibly hope to test their own code against every possible combination of themes and plugins available, which is why this has to be something you undertake yourself.
Any new plugins or themes must be tested on a WordPress staging site so that the changes don’t affect users on your site.
Certain plugins might not play well with others and may cause your site to break.
Testing in a staging environment lets you tinker with each plugin or theme and make as many changes as you want without affecting the live environment.
– Testing Code and Big Releases
Imagine working on a new site update for weeks just to see your live site non-functional due to a minor error. It can affect your business and reduce your customers’ trust in you.
Significant changes to your website’s code (including CSS) should always be tested on a staging site first. There’s always a risk of things breaking and causing issues. Using a staging environment helps you bypass all of this trouble.
How to Set up a WordPress Staging Site? [Fastest Method]
There are several ways to set up a WP staging site. You can use an online staging environment, using staging plugins, or try staging facility offered by your hosting provider.
Let’s break them down one by one, starting from the best to the easiest method available.
#1 – Use InstaWP
InstaWP is an excellent WordPress staging tool to spin up new WordPress staging sites and create sandbox environments within seconds. Using it, you can create staging of your WordPress site in 1-click.
One click staging site means InstaWP lets you create and launch websites with just one click. But if you prefer to within a few clicks, letting you choose the WP version, the PHP version, and your preferred configuration, you’ll defintely do a few more clicks before pressing on the Create Site button.:
The free version lets you build unlimited staging sites (each expires in 48 hours) and even gives you a code and database editor to make changes. If you’re satisfied with the site, you can easily export it to any hosting platform of your choice.
This feature has recently seen a huge update with the release of a new plugin that allows you to connect any web hosting company you’re with to your InstaWP staging site. This plugin gives you the power to instantly transfer your staging site in InstaWP to your externally hosted site elsewhere with just a single click.
You can quickly and easily duplicate your existing site within InstaWP, test out your new plugins, themes, code, CSS, or other settings, and when you’re happy with everything, you can easily do WordPress staging to production. Just click ‘Publish,’ and the entire site will be copied across to your existing location – no matter which web hosting company you’re with. It really couldn’t be much easier!
InstaWP has a full domain manager, making it easier for freelancers or agencies to test various domains through a centralized dashboard. If you’re managing multiple clients, InstaWP lets you work seamlessly on multiple sites without having to remember passwords.
For quickly spinning up a staging site for WordPress, InstaWP is by far the best choice. It offers an array of impressive features too:
- SSH/FTP access
- Seamless migration
- Free SSL certificate for each site
- Create templates for specific staging sites
- Test themes and plugins easily by connecting to Git repositories
- Integrations for Slack and Google Chrome
InstaWP is great for showcasing work to your clients or testing specific elements before you push them live. It gives you complete control over every aspect of your site, allowing you to launch sandbox environments with pre-defined plugins or themes too.
While, there are other options from InstaWP, that you can use to create a WordPress staging site or environment as well, InstaWP is by far the fastest and most convenient way to do so.l.
How to Create Staging of a WordPress Site using InstaWP?
You just need the following to create a staging of your live site in a few clicks:
- InstaWP Connect Plugin, the WordPress staging plugin installed on your WordPress website.
- An account with InstaWP
Once you install the staging plugin (InstaWP Connect) on your live site, connect it to InstaWP, and click Create Staging, the process will begin.
You can choose if you wish to replicate everything from your site to the staging environment or customize it. A few steps, and your staging site will be ready.
Now, you can modify the site configuration and test the features/things you want.
The best part of using InstaWP for creating a staging site is, you can synchronize changes from staging to live, and vice-versa while using its WP staging plugin.
For this, just go to the InstaWP Connect plugin > Create Staging in your WordPress dashboard and enable the Start Listening to Changes option from the Sync tab.
Watch this video to learn how 2-way sync works:
#2 – Use Staging Environment from your Hosting Provider
Certain hosting providers often provide dedicated staging environments for their users. Staging sites are often mapped to a subdomain of your site. For instance, premium hosting providers let you create site copies for use as staging environments.
Other hosting providers that offer staging environments include:
All you have to do is to log into your dashboard and look for the staging option. Most premium providers let you deploy a staging site in a few clicks.
Or, if you’re using cloud hosting and using a control panel such as RunCloud for server management, it’s possible to do RunCloud staging; just create a staging environment from the dashboard.
RunCloud lets you use a free domain for staging, or you can map it to your own subdomain:
The staging site works as a standalone application, letting you make as many changes as you want. If you’re satisfied with the changes, you always have the option to merge the changes with your live site.
#3 – Use a WordPress Staging Plugin
Not all hosting providers offer the option to create a staging environment. If your hosting provider doesn’t offer a dedicated staging environment, there are a few plugins that you can use to clone your site.
For instance, WP Staging is a popular plugin that lets you create backups and clone your website quickly. The data is stored on your local server, letting you quickly clone your site.
WP Staging also lets you select which database tables or folders to clone. However, you have to install the plugin on your site first, which may negatively impact performance.
Make Staging an Integral Part of Your Workflow
Whether you’re a webmaster, a freelancer, or an agency owner juggling multiple projects, it’s imperative that you always use a staging environment first before pushing changes to a live site.
It helps you identify any unknown issues and fix them without affecting your actual site. InstaWP is easily the best solution for creating a portable staging environment. It’s free to use, and you can always upgrade to a subscription, depending on your requirements.
Try it out for free today, and see for yourself how quick and easy it is to create a free WordPress staging environment, and follow the conversation on Twitter!
FAQs
What is a WordPress staging site, and why is it important?
A WordPress staging site is a copy of your live site set in a private environment, allowing you to test changes without affecting your live website. It is crucial for evaluating how your site reacts to modifications, ensuring that your live site remains unaffected by potential issues caused by new code or changes.
What are the consequences of not using an online staging environment?
Not using a staging environment can lead to several negative consequences, such as lost potential revenue, negative impact on goodwill, customer attrition, and the need to roll back changes or issue quick fixes if something goes wrong on the live site.
When should you use a staging site?
You should use a staging site when updating your WordPress version, experimenting with a new plugin or theme, making changes to your site’s code, or testing significant updates before deploying them to your live site.
Why should you make staging an integral part of your workflow?
Making staging an integral part of your workflow helps you identify and fix unknown issues without affecting your live site. It is essential for webmasters, freelancers, and agency owners to ensure smooth deployments and maintain the quality and stability of their websites.
What is the fastest method to set up a WordPress staging site?
The fastest method to set up a WordPress staging site is by using InstaWP, which allows you to create a staging environment with just a few clicks, choose your preferred configuration, and easily transfer your staging site to your live site when you’re satisfied with the changes.
Can you use a WordPress staging plugin to create a staging environment?
Yes, you can use WordPress staging plugins like WP Staging to create a staging environment if your hosting provider doesn’t offer a dedicated staging option. However, these plugins may negatively impact your site’s performance.
How does InstaWP simplify the process of creating a staging site?
InstaWP simplifies the process of creating a staging site by offering a one-click solution, allowing you to duplicate your existing site, test new plugins, themes, and code, and easily publish the changes to your live site when you’re ready. It also provides a domain manager and integrations with tools like Slack and Google Chrome.
