Whether you’re just making a few updates to your WordPress website, or you’re completely redesigning it with a new Theme, it’s always a good idea to use a staging site. This allows you to work in a safe environment and make changes without affecting your live website until you’re ready.
WordPress also has the ability to import content from other blogging platforms. If you’re testing the idea of transferring from Blogger to WordPress, you can use a staging for that too!
Follow the steps in this article to set up your development website using our Cloud WordPress platform.
Create a new Cloud WordPress Snap
- Log into BoldGrid Central and navigate to Cloud WordPress.
- Navigate to My Snaps -> Create A Snap.
- Select any theme, for example, Twenty Nineteen, then click Continue.
- On the Select Plugins screen, search for Total Upkeep and click select.
- Optionally, if you have a premium license, navigate to Custom URL and enter the URL https://repo.boldgrid.com/boldgrid-backup-premium.zip and name it Total Upkeep Premium.
- Save the Snap as any name you like, for example, BoldGrid Staging.
- Once the Snap has saved, click Install.
- You’ll now be able to use this Snap any time you need to create a new WordPress staging site.
Option 1: Clone your Live Website to Staging
If you want to make a complete replica, or “clone” of your live website to make tweaks or updates, follow these steps to make a complete backup and copy of your WordPress website.
- On your live website, install the Total Upkeep plugin if you do not already have it installed.
- Navigate to Total Upkeep -> Backup Archives. Create a new backup, or choose one that you already have, and click View Details.
- Click Get Download Link and then copy the URL to your clipboard.
- On your Cloud WordPress staging website, navigate to Total Upkeep -> Backup Archives -> Upload Backup.
- Paste the URL from step 3 into the Download URL Address field, and click upload.
- Once it has uploaded, click on View Details -> Restore.
Option 2: Import Your Content Only
If you are making a completely new website design, follow these steps to import your posts, pages, and media into your WordPress staging site.
- On your live website, navigate to Tools -> Export.
- Leave the option for All Content selected, and click Download Export File.
- On your Cloud WordPress staging website, navigate to Tools -> Import.
- Underneath the WordPress option, click Install Now -> Run Importer.
- Leave the default options to import the post and page authors, and select the option for Download and Import File Attachments, and then click Submit.
Congratulations! You’re now ready to start working on your new WordPress staging website. Make customizations, try out some new themes or plugins, and create a great new website. For the next steps, see Making your WordPress Staging Website Live.
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Dan says:
I setup a staging site but it will only allow an api request to read some data.
When I use an api request to change some data, it fails with a whole page of html info.
My software works on my live site.
I thought making a staging site would be identical to my live site.
Also, I hope this staging site is not being indexed by google.
Is there some change that I have to make to allow for data changes.
Also. is there a way to access cpanel for my staging site ?
Jesse says:
Hi Dan-
Cloud WordPress is open to the public, so some types of requests might be blocked by security software. If you can gather the API request error message and start a new forum topic, we can do some digging to see if we can resolve that for you.
All Cloud WordPress sites are blocked by robots.txt, so they shouldn’t be indexed, but it is up to Search Engines to honor that request. You can add another layer of protection from indexing by using the Discourage search engines setting in Settings > Reading
Cloud WordPress sites don’t have individual cPanel interfaces, but you can access a file manager and database administration tool for each site in the Advanced tab in your Cloud WordPress Dashboard.
Dan says:
Why don’t you have a way to set up what IP address is allowed.
That way the security issue is solved.
Last year, I created a staged site and my code worked fine.
Something has changed with the way Boldgrid is setting up a staged site.
If the change was regarding security, then allow the user to setup an approved IP adress.
Jesse says:
Hi Dan-
I can’t say for sure what might be going on with your API calls, that was only a guess. We can do some more digging to help you out if you can provide the error message (or HTML response) you’re getting in a new support forum thread.