How to Use a Staging Site in WP Squared

What Is a Staging Site?

A staging site is a full copy of your live website created on a temporary domain. It allows you to safely test updates, design changes, plugins, or content without impacting visitors on your live site.

Once you’re satisfied with your changes, you can publish them from the staging site back to your live website with just a few clicks.

Best Practices for Staging a Site

• Staging isn't just about the design component: always use staging to test updates to stuff like plugins and php before pushing to live
• Make a backup of your website before any changes - sometimes problems only become apparent with time
• Use password protection to keep staging sites private
• Review file and database options carefully before publishing
• Avoid making live-site changes while publishing from staging

Here is how you do it in WP Squared...

First, Get Into WP Squared

1. Log in to your client portal at https://manage.fullhost.com
2. Click Services → My Services
3. Select the WordPress Hosting plan that hosts the website you wish to work on
4. Under Actions, click Log in to WP Squared
   
   Your screen should look something like this:
   

Creating a Staging Website

1. In the WP Squared dashboard, select your Website
2. Click Manage Website - highlighted with a red box below:
   
   
   
   
3. Select Staging Tool - highlighted in picture below:
   
   
   
   
4. Review the staging information and click Continue
   
   

Note:
Staging creates a complete copy of your website using a temporary domain. You can safely edit and test changes, then publish them back to your live site when ready.

Staging Site Visibility Options

Before creating your staging site, choose how it should be accessed:

• Password protect my website
  Visitors must enter a username and password to view the staging site. This is recommended if you want to keep your work private.
• Anyone can view my website
  The staging site is publicly accessible. We recommend using this only if visibility is not a concern.

Below is a picture of this menu:

After selecting your preferred option, click Continue.

The staging site creation process may take a few minutes to complete.

Publishing Changes to Your Live Website

Once you’ve completed your testing and updates on the staging site:

1. Open the Expanded Website View for your staging website
2. Click Publish at the top of the page
3. The Publish Website window will appear
4. Select the appropriate publication options for:
   • Website files
   • Database tables
5. Confirm and proceed with publishing

Your selected changes will then be pushed from the staging site to your live website.

Below is a sample of what you should see: