There’s something incredibly empowering about having the ability to make changes to your website without the fear of everything crashing down. Thankfully, setting up a development version of your WordPress website is a skill that is within everyone’s reach. With this tutorial, you’ll become an expert in no time.
Steps To Create a WordPress Dev Site
Back Up Your Website
Before we dive into anything else, always remember that backing up your website is a vital first step. There are a number of handy plugins like UpdraftPlus that make this process a breeze. Once you’ve created a backup, keep it somewhere safe. You’ll thank yourself later.
Set Up a Local Server
The second step in our journey involves setting up a local server. This might sound complicated, but software like MAMP (for Windows) or Local (for both Windows and macOS) makes this process quite straightforward. Download the software, follow the instructions and you’ll have your local server ready in no time.
Install WordPress on Your Local Server
Now, it’s time to install WordPress on your local server. Visit the official WordPress website and download the latest version. Extract the files and place them in the ‘htdocs’ folder in your MAMP directory, or follow the steps in Local’s easy setup process.
Import Your Website
After installing WordPress, it’s time to import your backed-up website. Use your chosen plugin and restore the backup onto the local WordPress installation. Make sure to replace the URLs to match your local server.
We have an article that might help: Migrating Bulk WordPress Data: Guide to WordPress Import/Export
Test Your Website
The penultimate step is to test your website. Navigate through each page and test every functionality to ensure everything is working as it should be.
Push Changes to Your Live Site
After you’re done testing, and you’re confident everything works fine, you can push the changes to your live site. Remember to back up your live site before you do this.
With these steps, you’ve now created a safe space to test changes before applying them to your live site. You’ve got the power in your hands to make and test improvements, with no danger of your live site crashing.
Always remember, a well-maintained website makes for a fantastic user experience. Keep honing your website management skills and see the difference it makes.
Related Articles
