What to update your WordPress site, plugins, or themes? But couldn’t, since new updates can break down your site? If yes, then you shouldn’t be afraid anymore. Because now you can resolve this problem by setting up a WordPress staging site.
A WordPress staging website will create a private environment where you can make any changes without pushing them to the live site. As a result, your live site remains the same as before no matter how many wrong update attempts you have done on your staging site.
Now the most concerning part is how to set up a staging site in WordPress. No worries, we will cover this up on this blog. In this blog, you will know everything regarding a staging website, its importance, and how you can create it.
What is a WordPress staging site?
A WordPress staging site is a copy of your live site where you can try out all the major updates of plugins and themes without harming your live site. This staging site won’t be available to the public. Only you can view this site and use it for testing purposes.
Now, are you thinking, what are the uses of staging sites in WordPress? There are many advantages. Without a staging website, your live site will be at risk. Wondering how? Have a look at the next section where you will get to know what are the benefits of using the WordPress staging environment.
Why do you need to create a WordPress staging environment?
Creating a WordPress staging website is the first precaution that you can take to keep your site safe before making any wrong updates. As it is not connected to the live site that means any changes on your staging site won’t affect your live site. As a result, you can test out all the recent updates of plugins and themes on your testing site and after checking, you can migrate them to the live site.
But, why do you need to do that?
Sometimes, new updates of plugins and themes can have bugs. Now, updating the buggy version can break down the live site that you had built with lots of effort and time. So, it is ideal to check the new updates on the testing site, then bring that to the live site.
Let me give a real-life example. WordPress 6.0 was released on May 24, 2022. If you go to your admin dashboard, you will see WordPress is suggesting you install its latest version. In this case, updating your WordPress version without checking on the staging website might cause you some issues. Let’s have a look at those:
- Plugins on your site might have compatibility issues with the new WordPress version.
- The New WordPress release might have some bugs.
- The latest update might bring some changes to your WordPress site.
There is a higher possibility that your site might break down for all the above issues. So, you need to check new updates on your WordPress Development staging website first. After that, do it on your live site. Likewise, the scenario is the same for plugin or theme updates.
It is highly recommended to check every small or big update on the staging site. That’s why it is important to create a WordPress Development staging environment that helps you to keep your site safe and secure from buggy updates.