{"id":17382,"date":"2019-06-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/?p=17382"},"modified":"2025-05-21T21:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T04:22:32","slug":"website-staging-beginners-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/website-staging-beginners-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Website Staging (And How to Set It Up)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maintaining a WordPress website<\/a> is a never-ending process. Even after you\u2019ve <\/span>built your site<\/span><\/a>, you\u2019ll likely continue to update and make adjustments indefinitely. This means you need to find a way to test those changes without negatively impacting your website or its visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, the best way to do this is to create a staging site. Also known as a testing or development site, this is a standalone copy of your website. You can use this copy to try out new themes and plugins, test bug fixes, and plan out changes well before implementing them on your live site.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll explain everything you need to know about staging sites, including why they\u2019re so useful and how to create one. We\u2019ll also provide some tips on how to use your new staging website effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Introduction to Website Staging<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you create a regular website<\/a>, one of the first things you\u2019ll typically do is choose a domain and settle on a hosting plan. These steps are necessary for getting your site online so that people can visit it through their browsers. The result is often referred to as a \u2018live\u2019 or \u2018public\u2019 site.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A staging website is similar in many ways to a live site, but its purpose is very different. Staging sites are private \u2014 not intended for just anyone to visit. They\u2019re used as a tool for experimenting and testing. For that reason, they\u2019re also frequently called \u2018testing\u2019 or \u2018development\u2019 sites.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two primary forms a staging site can take. It can be an entirely new, blank website or a carbon copy of an existing one. Both types have many uses, which we\u2019ll discuss shortly. It\u2019s also worth bearing in mind that a staging site can be completely offline and stored on a local computer or hosted online but marked as private. Staging sites are very beneficial, but chances are you won\u2019t want anyone else to be able to find them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Many Benefits of Creating a Staging Site<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So far, we\u2019ve been discussing staging sites in the abstract. At this point, you may be asking, \u201cBut what do I actually do with one?!\u201d The truth is there is a wide range of potential applications. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are a few of the most common:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n