How To Create A WordPress Staging Site
It's never a good idea to make "live edits" to your WordPress website when you want to make big changes such as adding a new theme.
The solution is to setup a staging site using a subdomain so you can make you changes, tweak everything, and then push it live once it's ready.
When you have a website that your customers depend on logging in/ordering the last thing you want to do is make a live site edit. Based on nearly two decades working online, I always like to plan for the unforeseen. What happens if you stall all your ordering for the day? When it’s your sole income, that could have some pretty risky consequences. Even if you’re just developing for a new design, you wouldn’t want to do it live, as chances are it’s going to take a couple of days to be ready.
This article will break down into 3 sections:
Make a backup
Add a subdomain staging.yourdomain.com
Use Softaculous to create the staging site
STEP 1: Login to your cPanel account and find Jetbackup5,
STEP 2: Click on 'Create Backup On Demand'
STEP 3: If you click on the Queue you can see the backup progress. Once it says completed you are done there.
STEP 4: If you click on the Restore & Download button on the left menu, then click on the actual backup on demand you just did, at the bottom there will be a link to 'download'. You do not have to, but always a good idea to have a local copy.
If you are having any difficulty doing this or following these steps, feel free to chat or open a ticket with us and we can make it happen for you!
STEP 1: In cPanel, find domains and click on it.
STEP 2: Click on Create A New Domain.
STEP 3: Where it says domain, make it staging.yourdomain.com. Here in this example, I'm using a personal subdomain or a subdomain. Please just put: staging.yourdomain.com. Make sure the check box for 'share content' is unchecked. The home directory should auto populate for you. Then click submit.
STEP 4: If your dns is pointed the NameHero dns servers the subdomain will get added and the AutoSSL should provision. You can find this by simply searching in the top right of cPanel for 'ssl' then find the SSL/TLS Status and click on it. If you have a lot of domains, simply search for staging and you should see your subdomain added from step 3 listed here. All green? You are good to go!
If you have any problems adding a subdomain from the instructions above, feel free to reach out to us in Chat or Ticket. We can make it happen for you!
STEP 1: Click on the WordPress Manager by Softaculous in cPanel.
STEP 2: If you have multiple installations of WordPress they will be listed here. Find the installation you desire to create a staging site on and click the little down arrow on the right.
STEP 3: At the bottom of that page, click on 'Staging'.
STEP 4: On the next screen use the drop down to select the staging.yourdomain you created from previous section. Discourage search engines by checking the box next to search engine visibility. Then click 'Create Staging' at the bottom!
STEP 5: Your screen will show you the progress of your staging site. It's copying all the data from your WordPress installation to the staging environment.
STEP 6: Once done, you'll be presented with the 'Congratulations' page. Click on 'Return to WordPress Management'.
STEP 7: You'll see your new staging.yourdomain site listed. Click the little down arrow like you did in step 2. From here you can login to your staging site and do everything you'd like to do. Once ready to go live, navigate back to this screen and then click the button at the bottom to 'Push to Live'. That's all there is to it!
Again, if the instructions and steps above were not clear or you run into any problems a Hero is standing by! Feel free to contact us via Chat or Ticket and we can assist you!
When you have a website that your customers depend on logging in/ordering the last thing you want to do is make a live site edit. Based on nearly two decades working online, I always like to plan for the unforeseen. What happens if you stall all your ordering for the day? When it’s your sole income, that could have some pretty risky consequences. Even if you’re just developing for a new design, you wouldn’t want to do it live, as chances are it’s going to take a couple of days to be ready.
This article will break down into 3 sections:
Make a backup
Add a subdomain staging.yourdomain.com
Use Softaculous to create the staging site
MAKE A BACKUP
STEP 1: Login to your cPanel account and find Jetbackup5,
STEP 2: Click on 'Create Backup On Demand'
STEP 3: If you click on the Queue you can see the backup progress. Once it says completed you are done there.
STEP 4: If you click on the Restore & Download button on the left menu, then click on the actual backup on demand you just did, at the bottom there will be a link to 'download'. You do not have to, but always a good idea to have a local copy.
If you are having any difficulty doing this or following these steps, feel free to chat or open a ticket with us and we can make it happen for you!
ADD A STAGING DOMAIN FOR YOUR WEBSITE
STEP 1: In cPanel, find domains and click on it.
STEP 2: Click on Create A New Domain.
STEP 3: Where it says domain, make it staging.yourdomain.com. Here in this example, I'm using a personal subdomain or a subdomain. Please just put: staging.yourdomain.com. Make sure the check box for 'share content' is unchecked. The home directory should auto populate for you. Then click submit.
STEP 4: If your dns is pointed the NameHero dns servers the subdomain will get added and the AutoSSL should provision. You can find this by simply searching in the top right of cPanel for 'ssl' then find the SSL/TLS Status and click on it. If you have a lot of domains, simply search for staging and you should see your subdomain added from step 3 listed here. All green? You are good to go!
If you have any problems adding a subdomain from the instructions above, feel free to reach out to us in Chat or Ticket. We can make it happen for you!
USING SOFTACULOUS TO CREATE A STAGING SITE
STEP 1: Click on the WordPress Manager by Softaculous in cPanel.
STEP 2: If you have multiple installations of WordPress they will be listed here. Find the installation you desire to create a staging site on and click the little down arrow on the right.
STEP 3: At the bottom of that page, click on 'Staging'.
STEP 4: On the next screen use the drop down to select the staging.yourdomain you created from previous section. Discourage search engines by checking the box next to search engine visibility. Then click 'Create Staging' at the bottom!STEP 5: Your screen will show you the progress of your staging site. It's copying all the data from your WordPress installation to the staging environment.
STEP 6: Once done, you'll be presented with the 'Congratulations' page. Click on 'Return to WordPress Management'.
STEP 7: You'll see your new staging.yourdomain site listed. Click the little down arrow like you did in step 2. From here you can login to your staging site and do everything you'd like to do. Once ready to go live, navigate back to this screen and then click the button at the bottom to 'Push to Live'. That's all there is to it!
Again, if the instructions and steps above were not clear or you run into any problems a Hero is standing by! Feel free to contact us via Chat or Ticket and we can assist you!
Updated on: 30/01/2025
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