In jazz, each instrument and rhythm needs to be in sync — but that doesn’t happen without a lot of practice and experimentation behind the scenes. Even the most talented improvisers wouldn’t roll out a brand new number without having rehearsed it beforehand. 

Sound familiar? 

Your website isn’t all that different from a jazz band — various elements (content, images, plugins, and forms) that all have to work together to create a cohesive experience. But when you’re always making edits to a live, working site, you risk the site-design version of flubbing a solo or even dropping your drumsticks: a mistake that might create a poor user experience, or even break the site altogether.

That’s where staging sites, our newest hosting feature, comes in handy. 

Staging sites are here! 

We’re excited to announce that staging sites are now available for all customers on our Business and Commerce plans. This powerful feature allows you to test changes and updates of all your site elements in a safe and stable environment.

Staging Site: A test version of your website you can use to preview and troubleshoot changes before applying them to your production site.

Though generally geared towards developers, staging sites aren’t just for the tech-savvy. Bloggers, shop owners, podcasters — anyone with a website can benefit from iterating on design, experimenting with new plugins, and even trying out custom code before publicly unveiling the updates. 

The benefits of using staging sites

Here are just a few of the benefits of using WordPress.com staging sites:

• Risk-free testing: Experiment without worry. By simulating changes on a staging site first, you can identify and fix any issues that could affect your website’s performance or speed.
• Faster development: Staging sites make it easier to develop and launch new features, plugins, and designs in even less time.
• Increased collaboration: A staging site allows multiple stakeholders to review and agree on changes in a safe place before going live.

How to get started with staging sites on WordPress.com

Want to give it a shot? You can have your own staging site up and running in three simple steps: 

1. Starting in your dashboard, go to Settings → Hosting Configuration.
2. Scroll down to the “Staging site” module.
3. Click “Add staging site.”

Congrats! You now have a working staging environment to play around with site design, plugins, code, etc.

If you’ve already created a staging site, you’ll see this instead:

After your staging site is created, you can access and manage it from the module seen above on the Hosting Configuration page, or you can find it on the Sites page. 

Learn more about staging sites and try one out today!

Build Your Next Site on WordPress.com

Staging sites are just one more reason WordPress.com is the best managed WordPress hosting on the planet. Whether it’s SSH access, centralized site management, or enhanced site preview, we’re constantly adding new tools to make WordPress.com an indispensable part of your workflow. Follow our Developer Blog to keep up with all the latest announcements!

What other features would you like to see? How can we make WordPress.com an even more powerful place to build a website? Feel free to leave a comment or contact our friendly support.