Peggy Randall asked 8 years ago
I have inherited a site to Admin which is hosted by GoDaddy using WP. I have never used WP but took all your courses and they were quite helpful. I do know HTML and do not think there will be any major problems admining this site. However, I want to make some minor tweaks (like removing a footer) and find some other code is being used that I am not familiar with. Is there a way to create a whole new site while leaving the old one up and running until the new one is finished. This is the best way for me to go to really learn WP and have control over the site. Also can you recommend a good book on WP101?
Shawn Hesketh answered 8 years ago
Hi Peggy,
This is a great question, and one that comes up quite often.
The best strategy for making changes to your site without affecting the live site is to use a “staging server.”
A staging server is basically a duplicate copy of your website, accessed via a private web address that is only known and visible to you. This enables you to work on your site, making any changes you like, and then when you’re happy with those changes, copy the staging version back to your live server.
This is one of many reasons we recommend managed WordPress hosting. The managed WordPress hosts we recommend include a staging server at no additional cost: https://wp101.com/resources/
Your current host, GoDaddy, includes a staging server with their Deluxe, Ultimate, and Developer plans. (More details here.) I'd recommend you upgrade to one of those plans to take advantage of this feature and more.
If you’re not able to upgrade your plan and don't want to migrate your site to a managed WordPress host, you might check out WPStagecoach, a service that allows you to create a staging server independent of your web host.
Hope this helps!