The Reasons You Should Have a Staging Website for your Membership Program
One of the reasons WordPress is an excellent option for your website that is a member-only is the wide range of themes and plugins that this software offers in addition to possibilities for customization available to users.
What's inside Toggle
- What a Staging Site is and Why You Need One
- Check with Your Web Host
- Find a Suitable WordPress Staging Site Plugin
- Final Thoughts
With WordPress you are able to create imprevements to your site with a new plugin, theme or even a customized web-based code.
It only takes just a couple of clicks to change the look and feel of your website, include more features or change your site in some other way, why not experiment with a few ideas?
There's an issue. Despite the relative accessibility to create a variety of changes to WordPress websites, there are some limitations. WordPress websites, these changes could have unintended consequences that users might not be able to appreciate.
In this piece, we'll explain how you can improve your WordPress website while not affecting the user experience which is crucial in the case of paying users.
What a Staging Site is and the reason you should have one
Like we said, if you test different themes, download new plugins or tinker with the widgets and menus in WordPress, you could unwittingly expose your website to risk.
Think about what a potential new member may think If the design of your website suddenly shifts, a function stops operating, or the entire website becomes unavailable.
They'll at best think twice regarding entering personal details At worst the site will be abandoned without ever returning.
And it's possible they'll go on to tell others of their disappointment about your website.
All the above can occur if you start adjusting the core aspects of your website. This is why we recommend that you utilize a staging website or development environment to test the changes you intend making to your website.
If you're a member-site administrator is even more essential not to alter the site that you are currently running and create a copy of your web page that only you and your team can access.
Your staging area is a safe place where you are free to do whatever you want without:
- Frustrating existing members
- Alienating new visitors
- Data loss, which includes transaction data from customers.
Then, when you're satisfied that your modifications haven't created any problems, you'll be able to make them available to the live version of your website.
Sound good? Then read on to learn how you can make a staging website to host your WordPress site for membership.
Make sure to check with your Web host
One benefit when choosing a platform which today powers over 30% of sites is the fact that there's several excellent WordPress-optimized hosting plans that are available.
One of the new features available to these WordPress web hosts, including some affordable basic plans, is the ability to build a quick test site or staging area using your existing website.
The most effective staging-site solutions provided by web hosting providers allow you to easily create a test environment that is private. You can then move the test versions of your site to the live hosting system.
This means that you're able to take all the time you like and do as much as you need when testing an updated site's configuration. Then, when you're ready for it, you'll be able to make the modifications available to your visitors and members with just one or two mouse clicks.
Whatever the case, staging sites can help you avoid the inevitable problems that come with using your live website for testing as well as development.
Find a Suitable WordPress Staging Website Plugin
In selecting an WordPress plugin that allows you to create the staging version of your site, you have two main options:
- a plug-in designed to serve this purpose, or
- a more general-purpose website-duplication plugin.
Let's take a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of each option before listing the best plugins.
A specially-built stage-site plug-in could be the best option but there are fewer options since there are less plugins like this available.
Additionally, you typically don't have as much control over the procedure and the end product as when using plugins that are more general-purpose for site copying.
A second alternative, a general-purpose site-duplication plugin provides you with more control over the whole procedure.
The most effective plugins in this category allow you to copy specific areas of your site like the database or content. They also give you more choices for the location where your staging website is, including a local WordPress installation, or a separate subdomain.
While many of the top WordPress websites-duplication plugins are available for available for free, they're often not as user-friendly as commercial staging-site tools.
- WP Stagecoach - a commercial one-click staging-site-creation WordPress plugin with lots of useful features.
- WP Staging is a work-in-progress free WordPress site staging plugin and cloning.
- Duplicator - an effective but more complicated WordPress website-duplication plugin.
You can see that If you're ready to shell out for a premium plugin, it's a lot easier. Although those that are free may need some time, they're definitely viable tools for creating a WordPress membership-staging site.
Final thoughts
Hopefully you now understand the advantages of creating the stage for your WordPress site for membership.
It's possible to get away with code that's a bit crude in a personal website, however when you're running a professional membership site there's a higher obligation to look after the members of your site, no matter if they pay for access or otherwise.
What are you planning to do when creating an online staging area for your membership website? Comment on your suggestions by leaving a comment below.