The Reasons You Should Have a Staging Site for Your Membership Campaign
One of the reasons WordPress is a great option for your website that is a member-only is the wealth of themes and plugins that this software can provide in addition to possibilities for customization available to the user.
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, you can make imprevements to your site with the use of a brand new plugin, theme or even a customized codes on your website.
If it takes only just a couple of clicks to transform the design of your website, include more features or change your site in another way, why not experiment a little?
But there's a problem. Despite the relative accessibility to modify WordPress websites, there are some limitations. WordPress websites, the changes can have unexpected effects members may not like.
In this article we'll show you the best ways to work on your WordPress website without disrupting the experience for users which is particularly important in the case of paying users.
What a Staging Site is and why you need one
As mentioned, if you experiment with different themes, download new plugins, or just tinker with the widgets and menus in WordPress, you could unwittingly put your site at risk.
Think about what a potential new member may think If the design of your website suddenly shifts, a function stops working, or the entire site is unavailable.
At best they'll think twice about entering their personal details; at worst you'll see them leave the website, never to return.
And it's possible they'll continue to speak with others of their disappointment regarding your site.
These issues can arise if you start adjusting the basic aspects of your website. This is why we recommend you use a staging site or development environment to test the changes you intend to make to your website.
For a site owner who owns a membership, it's even more important not to make any changes to your live site and instead make a backup of your site that only your staff and you have access to.
The staging site you choose to use is a secure place in which it is possible to accomplish what you like without worrying about
- Members who are unhappy
- Attracting new visitors
- The loss of data includes the transactions of customers.
When you're confident that your modifications haven't created any problems, you'll be able to make them available to the live version of the site.
Sound good? Check out this article to find out how to 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 is currently powering over 30% of sites is the fact that there's several excellent WordPress-optimized hosting plans accessible.
One of the functions that are available to these WordPress web hosting providers, which includes some affordable basic plans that allows you to build a quick test site or staging area that is based off your current site.
The top staging-site options offered by web hosts make it easy to create a private test area push the test site version of your site to the live hosting environment.
This means that you're able to take the time you need and do as much as you want when trying out a new site configuration. Then, when you're ready for it, you'll be able to make the changes available to users and members in just one or two steps.
Either way, using a staging site helps to avoid problems associated with using your real-time website to test and developing.
Select a Good WordPress Staging WordPress Plugin
When choosing a WordPress plugin for setting up the staging version of your site, you can choose between two choices:
- A plugin designed specifically to serve this purpose, or
- a general-purpose web-duplication plug-in.
Let's take a quick glance at the advantages and disadvantages of each option before listing some plugins that are suitable.
A specifically-designed staging-site plugin might seem like an best option but your options are more limited as there are fewer plugins that can be used that you can choose from.
Plus, you usually don't have as much control over the procedure and end result as you do using more common-purpose plugins for copying sites.
A second alternative, a general-purpose site-duplication plugin provides you with more control over the entire procedure.
The best plugins available in this area let you copy particular areas of your site like the database or content. You can also choose more choices for the location where your staging site will be located and include a local WordPress installation, or even a private subdomain.
Although many of the best WordPress web-duplication tools are cost-free, they're not always 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 A free, in-progress WordPress web-based staging and cloning plugin.
- Duplicator - an effective but more difficult WordPress web-duplication plugin.
It's clear, if you're prepared to pay for a premium plugin, the process is a lot easier. However, while some of the free alternatives may take an extra work, they're certainly an option for building a WordPress website for membership staging.
Final Reflections
We hope that you have now understood the benefits of having a staging environment for your WordPress site for membership.
It's possible to get away with cowboy coding in a personal site, but if you're operating a membership site for professionals there's a higher obligation to look after the members of your site, no matter if they pay for access or otherwise.
How will you create the staging website for your membership website? Comment on your suggestions in the comments below.