You’ve taken the smart approach by building your website on a staging site — now it’s time to go live! There are multiple ways to do so but not all of them are as straightforward as you'd hope.
The good news? We’ve got you covered with a step-by-step guide on how to move a WordPress site from staging to live instantly! So without further ado, let's dive in.
Essential Steps Before You Move to Live Site
Before you start moving your site, you need to take a few essential steps to ensure a smooth transition, such as:
Use HTTPS: If your live site runs on HTTPS, ensure your staging site does too. This helps maintain consistency and catch any HTTPS-related issues before going live.
Conduct Thorough Testing: Perform a final website check to ensure consistency, responsiveness, cross-browser compatibility, and full functionality. Make sure also to check that all links, buttons, and interactive elements work as expected.
Back Up Your Site: Most importantly, create a full backup of your website before migrating so you can easily restore your site in case any issues arise.
Choose the Best Way to Move to Your Live Site
With the prep work done, it’s time to choose the best method for moving your site from staging to live. There are a few ways to do this so let’s break them down to determine the best option for you.
Manually Migrate WordPress Site To Live
To start, we have Manual Migration — a more hands-on approach that involves downloading all essential files from the staging site, including its database, transferring them to the live site, and manually updating the database URLs.
Sounds complicated? That’s because it is! While this method gives you full control, it requires technical expertise and meticulous execution to avoid potential issues.
Migrating Using Third-Party Plugins or Hosting
Alternatively, many third-party WordPress staging plugins can simplify migration and certain hosting providers also provide built-in tools to assist with the process.
While these tools eliminate the need for coding knowledge or advanced technical expertise, they come with downsides — many are costly, and some can be unreliable.
Instant Migration With No Code & No Extra Plugins (Recommended)
But what if we said there was a method that didn’t require coding or extra plugins — a solution built right into your website builder?
That’s right! Droip, the revolutionary no-code WordPress website builder, comes with a built-in Project Export-Import feature, allowing you to move your site from staging to live instantly and effortlessly.
This not only makes migration more accessible for non-technical users but also eliminates the need for extra plugins, saving you from the hassle and additional costs!
Instant Staging to Live Migration with Droip
The Droip WordPress website builder simplifies project migration like no other. To move a WordPress site from staging to live instantly, follow these steps:
Step 1: Export Your Entire Project in One Click
From your WordPress staging site dashboard, head to Droip > Settings > Advanced. Here, click on Export to download your project to your local device.
When prompted, ensure the ‘Media’ option remains checked, then click Export again to proceed. Once exported, click on Download to save.
⚠️ Note: Before moving to Step 2, ensure your staging and live site environments match. Also, check that Droip is installed and its license is activated on your live site.
Step 2: Import Your Project to Live Site
To import your project to your WordPress live site, go to its dashboard and navigate to Droip > Settings > Advanced.
Here, click on the Import option and upload the project file you just downloaded.
And voila, you’re done! Moving a WordPress site from staging to live is just that simple with the Droip WordPress website builder.
⚠️ Note: When importing, Droip automatically replaces any conflicting pages and data. However, you can choose to remove any additional unwanted content beforehand.
Once you’ve successfully moved your WordPress staging site to live, take the time to review its pages and ensure everything is functioning as expected.
How Droip Simplifies Staging to Live Migration
To summarize, with Droip, migrating from staging to live site is as simple as exporting and importing a project — leading to several key benefits:
- Instant Staging-to-Live Migration: Move your site seamlessly in just a few clicks, saving you valuable time.
- No Coding Required: Migrate your WordPress website effortlessly without any coding knowledge.
- Built-In Solution — No Extra Plugins Needed: Avoid the need for extra plugins, keeping your site lighter and more secure.
- Cost-Effective & Hassle-Free: Save costs and enjoy a smooth, plugin-free migration process.
Why You Should Use a Staging Site
Now that you can transfer WordPress staging sites to their live counterpart more easily than ever, there’s even more reason to use a staging site initially, thanks to its many benefits such as:
- Safe Testing Environment: Safely experiment with new features for your website without affecting the live version.
- Prevent Downtime: Avoid the chance of your live site breaking by catching errors before deployment.
- Seamless Updates: Test updates of WordPress, WordPress themes, plugins, etc before applying them to your live site.
- Better Client & Team Collaboration: Collaborate more easily with your team or client without worrying about disrupting your live site.
Build and Deploy Websites Seamlessly
With Droip, moving a WordPress site from staging to live instantly is a piece of cake — letting you experiment and perfect your website before going live confidently with just a few clicks!
Alongside its handy Export-Import feature for instant staging to live migration, Droip packs many other powerful built-in capabilities!
This includes the Dynamic Content Manager, Figma to Droip tool, Form Builder & Form Data Manager, Variables for global styling, and more — making it your all-in-one WordPress website-building solution.
So why wait? Get Droip today, build your WordPress site effortlessly, and go live with ease!
