Staging Websites: A Complete Guide
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Managing a website is a constant juggling act. You need to keep up with updates, test new features, and even debug your site. It’s a lot of time and effort to keep all the balls in the air.
Add into the mix the fact that every little change is filled with uncertainty. What if that plugin crashes your site? What if your new design looks great in theory but ends up breaking some functionalitybreaking some functionality? The thought of downtime, lost data, and frustrated users can be stressful. It feels like you’re stuck between wanting to improve your site and being too scared to touch it.
That’s where a staging site comes to the rescue.
Think of a staging site as your website’s safe testing ground; a sandbox where you can experiment freely without any risks. In this article, we’ll walk you through what a staging site for WordPress is, how to set one up using a WordPress staging plugin, and how it can save you a lot of heartache.
TL;DR: Staging sites are essential for safe website updates and other maintenance tasks. But they are challenging to set up on your own. Save time and effort with BlogVault’s one-click staging solution.
What is a staging website?
A staging website is like a rehearsal stage. You can make controlled adjustments and ensure everything works before showing it to your audience.
You can test everything—like updates or layout changes—without worrying about messing up messing up customer experience. You can catch problems early in this risk-free zone and prevent any disruptions or downtime on your website.
While it is a duplicate of your actual website, some things set a staging site apart from your live site. A staging website is isolated from traffic so customers don’t accidentally buy a product from it. It is also hidden from search engine bots and not indexed. It is also meant for only admins or developers that are actively working on the site. This makes it a safe space for all your major changes.
How to build a staging website?
We’ve talked about what it is. We understand the importance. But how do you set up a staging site? Is it easy? Does it require technical expertise? If you’re new to websiteswebsites this can be overwhelming. But, we’ll give you three different ways to do it.
Method 1: Using a plugin (RECOMMENDED)
Using a plugin to set up a staging site is one of the quickest ways to get one up and running. This is where BlogVault’s one-click staging solution comes in handy, making the process seamless and effortless.
Here is how to do so:
- Create an account on BlogVault.
- Add a site to the dashboard.Provide admin credentials when prompted. Give it a minute to sync your site. It will automatically create backups as well
- Scroll to the Staging section.
- Click Add Staging and give it a minute.Click WP-ADMIN to log in to the staging site.

Make any changes you need to. Review the staging website for bugs or issues. If all is well, replicate the changes on the live site.
Note: BlogVault has a Merge button to push changes to the live site. However, we recommend using it only for static sites. For dynamic sites like WooCommerce, using the Merge button might overwrite changes made on the live site during testing. For example, you can lose new orders. To avoid this, we suggest manually replicating the tested changes on your live site.

Method 2: Using your web host
Another option to create a staging website is to use your web host. Many web hosting providers offer easy tools to create a staging website. While building it is easy, it’s a little more hands-on than BlogVault. We’ll show you how to do this with Cloudways and WP Engine. If you have a different web host, the steps may vary.
1. Cloudways:
- Log in to your Cloudways account.
- Navigate to the server where your live site is hosted.
- Select the application (your live website) that you wish to clone.
- Click on the Quick Actions tab.Choose Clone app/Create Staging.

Decide which server you want the staging site to be created on. Check the option Create as staging. Wait a few minutes for the cloning process to complete.
2. WP Engine
- Log in to your WP Engine dashboard.
- Click on the option to Add Site.
- In the Copy or move an environment section, click Get Started. Choose whether you or a client will own the staging site.
- Select the live site you want to copy.Click Next and wait a few minutes for the process to finish.
Method 3: Build a staging website manually
While using plugins or web host tools can simplify the process, you might prefer to manually build a staging site. Maybe your web host doesn’t offer staging or you’re on a budget.
The process here is to backup your complete site—database tables and files. Then import it on another site that is not indexed (and hopefully not accessible to the wide public). There are quite a few ways to do this and most of them are painstaking.
But the easiest way is to import a full backup of your live site on a local host.
Again, there are a few ways to do this. You can either go through the whole rigmarole of installing your CMS, setting up a database on your computer, and then connecting the two. You also have to make sure that the PHP version matches your site. Finally, you also need to set up a server to make the whole thing work, and then import the backup.
Or you can use a tool like Local WP or DevKinsta which takes care of this for you. As you can imagine, we recommend using a tool. It is no fun to set up anything manually.
For the sake of this article, we are using Local WP. Here’s how you can do it:
- Take a complete backup of your site.Export the backup that you just took.
- Open Local and click on Create a site.
- Select Import an existing ZIP.
- Choose the Custom option.
- Match the server configuration of your live site.
- Click on Import site.
- Your staging site is now ready for you.
When to use a staging website?
A staging website comes in handy when enhancing your website while keeping it stable for live users. Here are various scenarios where a staging site proves essential:
Experiment with new functionality or plugins
Imagine you run an online store and want to introduce a wishlist feature for customers. You’ve found a promising plugin that adds this functionality. However, you’re not sure if this plugin will integrate well with your existing e-commerce setup, which includes various other plugins.
By using a staging site, you can safely install and test the plugin without risking any disruptions to your live site. During this testing phase, you can check whether the new feature works seamlessly with your existing plugins, impacts site speed, or causes any unexpected issues.
After confirming that everything functions perfectly on the staging site, you can apply the changes to your live site. This approach ensures that your customers enjoy a smooth, uninterrupted shopping experience while you enhance your site’s functionality.
Trial new themes and design changes
Let’s say you’re considering a complete site makeover. Use a staging site to trial new themes and design changes. You can test how different layouts affect navigation, ensure that all visual elements load correctly, and see how new fonts or colors impact readability.
This way, you can perfect your website’s appearance and functionality without disrupting your visitors’ experience on the live site. By refining everything in the staging environment first, you can confidently roll out the new design, knowing it will look and perform exactly as intended when it goes live.
Additionally, site redesigns often take weeks, if not months. Definitely use staging to build out a redesign without worrying about your live site looking like a construction site. Remember those “Site under construction” signs from the early days of the Internet? They’re not cute any more.
Test updates of existing plugins or themes
You may have come across people on forums complaining about an Elementor update crashing sites. This often happens because of an incompatibility with other plugins, themes, or add-ons. This is why you should always test out updates on staging sites or test sites first. You can figure out which plugin is causing problems, without impacting your user experience. No live sites are injured in the process.
Optimize site speed and performance metrics
Performance metrics can make or break user experience. It involves a lot of experimenting and testing of hypotheses. It’s a lot of tweaking of code and core functionality. You are at a constant risk of crashing your site.
Using a staging site gives you a safe testing ground. You can test adjustments and their impact on performance, before moving changes to your live site.
Pro tip: Use Airlift for an easy performance optimization solution.
Test new payment gateways
Seamless and secure transactions are critically important for e-commerce sites. Suppose you’re planning to add Stripe to your WooCommerce site. Testing this directly on your live site could disrupt customer transactions and potentially lead to lost sales if something goes wrong. Instead use a staging site to safely test the new payment gateway integration.
Start by implementing the payment gateway on your staging site first. Then, you can simulate various transaction scenarios. This helps you identify and fix any issues, such as payment processing errors or compatibility concerns with your current shopping cart system.
Once the new payment gateway has been thoroughly tested and functions flawlessly in the staging environment, you can confidently roll it out to your live site.
Test translations and multilingual features
If your website supports multiple languages, all translations and multilingual features must work seamlessly for a positive user experience. In this case, a staging site can provide a safe space to test these elements without impacting live users.
For instance, say you’re adding a new language to your site or updating existing translations. You can use the staging site to verify that all text, including the ones on buttons, menus, and content, displays correctly. This is particularly important for languages that use different scripts, such as Arabic or Chinese, which might require specific font or layout adjustments.
Additionally, you can test features like language selection and automatic redirection based on user location.
Test migration
WordPress migration is complicated. It is often fraught with risks such as data loss or site downtime. A staging site provides a safe environment to test this migration before implementing it on your live site. By first conducting the migration on your staging site, you can identify and troubleshoot any issues—like data corruption, compatibility errors, or broken links—without impacting your live site.
For example, if you are moving from a MySQL database to a PostgreSQL database, the staging site allows you to ensure that all data, including user information and content, transfers smoothly and accurately. You can verify that your site’s functionalities—such as user login, content management, and e-commerce features—continue to work seamlessly. This testing process provides the confidence that when you perform the migration on your live site, it will be a smooth and error-free transition, safeguarding your data integrity and maintaining uninterrupted service for your users.
Best practices for using a staging site
Staging sites are invaluable, but to ensure they effectively serve their purpose, it’s essential to follow some best practices.
- Restrict staging access to developers, testers, and other authorized personnel only. This minimizes the risk of unintended changes and maintains a controlled testing environment.
- Protect your staging site with strong passwords to prevent unauthorized access. This safeguards your work and ensures that only the right people can make and test changes.
- Make sure your staging site uses HTTPS if your live site does. This ensures that you’re testing in conditions that closely mimic your live environment and helps catch any issues related to secure connections.
- Ensure the staging environment has the same server resources as your production environment. Similar server specifications, memory, and processing power can help create accurate testing conditions and results.
- Maintain a detailed log of all changes made in the staging environment. This helps track modifications and understand their impact, making it easier to replicate successful changes on the live site.
- Document outcomes and any issues found during testing. This information is crucial for informed decision-making when updating the production site and helps avoid repeating mistakes.
- Use separate hosting environments for staging and production to avoid any resource conflicts or inadvertent changes that could affect the live site’s performance.
- Ensure the staging site uses a separate database from the production site. This prevents any risk of data corruption or loss in your live environment.
Best way to manage a staging site: BlogVault
Managing a staging site can often be a complex task, but using a comprehensive solution like BlogVault can simplify and streamline the process. BlogVault offers a range of features designed to make staging site management straightforward and efficient, regardless of your technical expertise.
One-click staging setup
One of BlogVault’s standout features is its one-click staging setup. With just a single click, you can create a fully functional staging site that mirrors your live site exactly. This removes the need for complicated manual setups, making it accessible even for beginners.
Easy merging with caution
BlogVault includes a convenient Merge button to push changes from the staging site to the live site. However, we recommend using this feature for static sites or straightforward changes. For dynamic sites, such as WooCommerce ones, manually replicate the tested changes on your live site to avoid overwriting any critical live data.
Secure and isolated environment
Your staging site created via BlogVault is secure and isolated from your live site. This ensures that any changes or experiments you conduct in the staging environment do not affect your live site’s performance or data integrity.
Simplified workflow
BlogVault simplifies the workflow for moving changes from staging to production. With clear, step-by-step guidelines, you can ensure that every update is thoroughly tested, verified, and smoothly transitioned to your live site.
Final thoughts
A staging site is an important tool in your website maintenance toolbox. It lets you test updates, new features, and design changes safely without risking your live site. However, building a staging site manually can be a painstaking and technical process. That’s why we recommend using BlogVault’s one-click staging solution. It simplifies the entire process, making it accessible even for those who are new to website management.
FAQs
What is a staging website?
A staging website is a duplicate of your live site. It is used to test changes, updates, and new features in a safe environment before deploying them to your live site. It helps ensure that any modifications work correctly without affecting your live site’s performance or user experience.
How do I create a staging website?
You can create a staging website easily by using BlogVault. It offers a one-click staging solution. Just click Add staging in the staging section and the plugin automates the setup process.
What is the staging phase of a website?
The staging phase of a website involves using a staging site to test and refine updates, new features, and any changes. This phase allows developers and site owners to ensure everything works as intended before rolling the changes out to the live site, thereby minimizing risks and disruptions.
What is the difference between a staging site and a production site?
A staging website is a replica of your live, or production, site that is used for testing purposes. It lets you experiment with updates and changes without affecting the live site. The production site is the live site that users interact with, where all tested and approved changes are eventually deployed.
When should you use a staging site?
You should use a staging website whenever you need to test new plugins, themes, design changes, or updates. It’s also useful for troubleshooting bugs, optimizing performance, and ensuring that all new features and modifications are compatible with your current site
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