A staging site is a private copy of your website where you can test changes safely. Updates, new plugins and design changes sometimes break things. On a copy, a mistake costs nothing. On the live site, it can cost sales and reputation.
What to test on a staging site
- Core, theme and plugin updates.
- New plugins or features.
- Design changes and new page layouts.
- PHP version upgrades.
- Changes to checkout or payment settings.
How to create one
Many control panels and installers can clone a site in one click. The copy usually lives on a subdomain, such as staging.yourdomain.com. Protect it with a password, so search engines and visitors cannot see it. Also tell search engines not to index it.
If your panel has no clone tool, copy the files and the database manually. Then update the site address in the copy.
A simple workflow
- Clone the live site to staging.
- Apply the update or change on staging.
- Test key pages, forms and checkout.
- Note any problems and fix them.
- Repeat the same steps on the live site.
- Take a backup of the live site before you begin.
Keep staging in sync
A copy that is months old does not reflect reality. Refresh it before each test session. Be careful not to overwrite live orders or comments when pushing changes back. For shops, apply changes by hand on live instead of copying the whole database.
Is it worth the effort?
For a hobby blog, perhaps not every time. For a business site, absolutely. Ten minutes of testing can prevent hours of downtime. Our WordPress hosting plans include tools to create a staging site quickly. Read the step-by-step guide in our knowledge base. Make testing a habit, and updates stop being scary.
Questions we often hear
Does a copy count against my disk space? Yes, so delete old copies you no longer use. Will emails be sent from the copy? They can be, so turn off outgoing mail on the test site. Should I copy the database every time? Only when you need fresh data for the test.
