How to Safely Experiment with Your Website Using a Staging Site
Today, I learned an important lesson: always use a staging site! When working on a live site, the stakes are high—every small tweak or experiment can impact the business, and not always in a good way. But here’s the thing: you don’t need to hold back your inner scientist. A staging site, an exact copy of your live website, is the perfect playground for trying new things safely.
Importance of a Staging Site
Testing on a staging site not only protects the company from unintended mishaps but also builds trust with your boss. No one wants a manager who’s anxious every time they see you’re working on the website. With a staging site, you get to trial all your changes without risking downtime or user experience disruptions.
Best Practices for Testing
The workflow is simple: develop, test on staging, then launch on production. Make sure to rigorously test every update, check across different devices (don’t forget incognito and cache settings!), and keep your team in the loop through quick status updates. And here’s a golden rule—backups are your best friend. With a backup plugin ready, you can always restore if something goes wrong.
Stick to these staging site best practices, and you’ll have all the room you need to explore without breaking a thing!