Why You Need a Staging Website for your Membership Program
One of the reasons WordPress is an excellent choice for your membership website is the wealth of themes and plugins this software offers in addition to the customization options available to users.
WHAT'S IN THE 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 it is possible to make enhancements to your website using the use of a brand new plugin, theme or a custom-written code on your site.
It only takes just a few clicks change the look and feel of your site, add more features or change your site in another way, why not experiment a little?
But there's a problem. Despite the relative ease with which we can create a variety of changes to our WordPress websites, these modifications may have unexpected consequences for users may not like.
In this article, we'll explain how you can improve your WordPress site without disrupting the experience for users which is particularly important when you have paying members.
What is a staging site and why you need one
If you test different themes, download new plugins or play around with the widgets and menus in WordPress, you could unwittingly place your website in danger.
Think about what a potential new member may think when the website's design abruptly alters, or a feature ceases functioning, or the whole website becomes unavailable.
They'll at best think twice regarding entering personal details At worst, they'll leave your site, never to return.
And it's possible they'll continue to speak with other people about their displeasure with your site.
The above scenarios can happen if you start adjusting the fundamental aspects of your website. And that's why it's recommended to use a staging page or development environment for testing any modifications you're planning making to your website.
If you're a member-site administrator It's more crucial to not make changes to the site that you are currently running and make a backup of your website only your staff and you have access to.
The staging site you choose to use is a secure place in which you are free to do whatever you like without worrying about
- Frustrating existing members
- Attracting new visitors
- Losing data, including transaction data from customers.
Once you're sure that your modifications haven't created any issues, you can move them over into the live version of your website.
Sound good? Then read on to learn how you can create a staging site for your WordPress Membership website.
Check with Your Web Host
One advantage when choosing a platform which is currently powering more than 30% of websites is that there are a variety of WordPress-optimized web hosting services that are available.
One of the new features available to the WordPress web hosts, including the cheapest entry-level plans that allows you to build a quick test site or staging area using your existing web page.
The top staging-site options provided by web hosting providers make it easy to create a test environment that is private. You can then move the test site version of your website to the live hosting environment.
Because of this, you're able to take as long as you want and as detailed as you'd like when attempting to test an updated site's configuration. Once you're satisfied, you can make those changes available to users as well as members in only one or two clicks.
Whatever the case, a staging website can help you avoid the inevitable problems that come with using the live site for testing as well as development.
Choose a suitable WordPress Staging WordPress Plugin
If you are looking to select a WordPress plugin to set up the staging version of your site you have two main options:
- a plug-in designed for this purpose.
- a more general-purpose website-duplication plugin.
Let's take a quick glance at the pros and cons of each approach before listing the best plugins.
A purpose-built staging-site plugin might seem like an best option but the options available are limited since there are less plugins of this type available.
Additionally, you typically don't have as much control over the entire process or end result as you do with more general-purpose site-copying plugins.
The second option, a general-purpose site-duplication plugin, gives you more control over the whole process.
The most effective plugins for this type of site allow you to copy specific parts of your site, for instance, the database or content. They also give you more options regarding where the staging site is located, including the option of a local WordPress installation, or a separate subdomain.
Though many of the most effective WordPress website-duplication plugins are available for free, they're often not so easy to use like professional staging-site software.
- 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 website staging-and-cloning plugin.
- Duplicator - a powerful but more complicated WordPress web-duplication plugin.
It's clear, when you're willing to pay for premium software, this process will be much simpler. While some of the free alternatives may take some time, they're definitely viable tools for creating the WordPress Membership-based staging site.
Final thoughts
I hope you are now aware of the benefits of having the stage for your WordPress site for membership.
You may get away with code that's a bit crude in a personal blog, but when you're operating a membership site for professionals there's a higher responsibility to take care of the members of your site, no matter if they're paying for access or otherwise.
What are you planning to do when creating an online staging area for your membership website? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.