Use a staging site: a copy of your site to build and test on. When you’re happy with it, publish it to live in one click. Staging is included with every hosting plan.
When to use one
- Plugin, theme and WordPress updates on a site that can’t afford a fault
- A redesign or a new section
- Trying a plugin before you commit to it
The steps
⟨to add: making the staging copy, opening it, and publishing it to live, with screenshots⟩
Before you publish
⟨confirm: what publishing replaces on the live site, and what happens to orders or form entries that arrived on live while you worked on the copy⟩