WordPress staging website in one click - change and update websites risk-free

Visitors and search engines love lively websites that are regularly updated. Unfortunately, there are always risks associated with change. This also applies to websites created with the popular content management system WordPress.

If only content or images are exchanged or added to a website, there is little risk that something will go wrong when the page is updated. However, the deeper the changes affect the structure, functionality or design of the website, the greater the risk of undesirable side effects. In the worst case, a website can no longer be recognized after an attempt to change it or can no longer be reached at all.

Websites are complex structures with multi-layered dependencies. A change in the WordPress backend can have unexpected and, above all, unintended consequences in the frontend, e.g. B. a newly installed plugin is not compatible with the theme used or is not compatible with other plugins that are already installed.

Making modifications directly to the live site is therefore always a risk. And if the website no longer works properly after the change or can no longer be accessed at all, this not only has negative consequences for traffic. For a web shop, for example, this almost certainly means that revenue is lost.

Leaving everything as it is is not an alternative either. It is better to reduce the risk of unwanted side effects as much as possible. Regular backups of the website help with this. In the event of a major error or even a crash, the original state can be restored by uploading the current backup. But it is even better and easier with a test environment – a so-called staging website.

Staging means something like “bringing it onto the stage”. That describes the function of a staging website quite well. However, this is more of a rehearsal stage. In other words, a protected space where things can be tried out without the next day being slammed in the feuilleton.

A staging website is an exact replica of an existing website, its structure, design and functionality. This 100% clone has the advantage that it is only visible to the site operator or developer because it is set up on a non-public subdirectory or subdomain.

The design, structure and function of a staging website corresponds completely to the live site and therefore reacts exactly like it.
Changes made to the staging site are not public and do not affect the live site.
Once the changes are working properly in the staging environment, they can be safely applied to the actual site or pushed straight from the staging site to the live site.

Our tip: You can also make the staging site invisible to Google. To do this, go to "Settings"/"Reading" in the WordPress backend and activate the option: "Prevent search engines from indexing this website".

The principle of the test environment has long been a proven practice among professional developers. Many WordPress operators, on the other hand, underestimate the potential impact of their changes. This is probably due not least to the fact that it is so easy to try out a new theme or plugin with just a few clicks. Staging is your insurance in case something goes wrong.

Code modifications, restructuring, changes in navigation or even a complete redesign are possible without endangering the actual website. All ideas can be tried out in peace on the rehearsal stage. If everything looks and works well, it'll hit the big stage - without the website having to go offline for even a minute.

A staging site is also a good repair shop if the live site stops working as intended – e.g. B. after a WordPress update, after updating your theme or a plugin. The staging site allows you to do targeted troubleshooting without risking making your live site worse.

There are several ways to clone a website. The most cumbersome is definitely the manual setup. While it offers the highest level of control over the duplication process, it is only recommended if you have some prior technical knowledge. It's easier with staging plugins that create a working test environment with just a few clicks. It's even easier and more secure if your host offers managed hosting with an option to set up a staging website automatically.

To create a staging website manually, first set up a subdomain (test.meinesite.de) or a subdirectory (meinesite.de/test) for the test stage. All the content of the website is then downloaded to your computer using an FTP client. Then, if you haven't already done so, create a new database and change the database name, username and password in the configuration file of your downloaded WordPress installation (wp-config.php). After that, the content can be uploaded to the staging directory. A backup of the database is imported into the directory of the staging site via phpMyAdmin. In a last step, the links of the staging site should be adjusted.

With plugins for the website migration the manual effort can be reduced and made somewhat less error-prone. There are various migration plugins for WordPress such as B. duplicator. The existing website is first copied with all content, designs and functions using a duplicator and then installed on a subdomain.

It's even easier with special staging plugins like WP staging. This plugin copies the original site including the database and installs it in a subfolder of the main installation. With just a few clicks you have such a test environment. Except for the permalinks, this also completely maps the functions of the original site.

It's even easier as a user of a Host Europe managed WordPress hosting product, allowing you to create your staging website with a single click. You don't need to install any additional plugin. Simply log into the KIS (Customer Information System) via your customer account, select your product and carry out the following steps:

Open the product management of your WordPress hosting product.
Under Settings you will find the menu item Staging Website. Click on the "Create" button and a copy of your website will be created automatically. The process only takes a few minutes.
The automatically created staging website is a 1:1 clone of your live site - with the same settings.
After the automatic installation of the WordPress staging site, you can test your changes there with absolutely no risk. For example, switching to a more recent PHP version. To do this, simply click on "Change" under PHP version and select the desired new PHP version.
If you want to make updates, or want to implement enhancements or new features, just click on "Edit staging site". You can then test the effects and the correct function of all changes with your staging website without any risk and at your leisure.
Once everything is running perfectly and to your satisfaction, push the new version back to your live site with a single click. The transfer is fully automatic, without the website having to go offline. To do this, click on "Synchronize sites".

If a change to your staging site does not have the desired effect or has undesirable side effects, you can delete the staging environment at any time. "Remove Staging". And create a new staging website.

And now: Have fun trying it out!

You can find more information about our WordPress hosting products here.

Did you know that you can easily and conveniently manage up to 50 WordPress websites in parallel with our WordPress Pro hosting products. For each WordPress website that you have created on the product, you can of course create your own staging website with one click. To our WordPress Pro products.

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