The number one reason for using a test site is to verify compatibility between a website and a change you want to make on the website. You do this by performing systems checks on new updates that you plan on implementing on your live site. It doesn’t matter if those updates are in the form of a core WordPress update or an update to one of your plugins or themes. Even minor coding changes to your html and css files should first be made on a test site prior to being made on a live site.
Before you perform any update on your WordPress installation, you should always download and install the update on a test site first. You do this to perform various systems checks and to avoid the possibility of the update from breaking your live site. It’s always better to break a test site than it is to break a live site that is generating traffic and earning you money. How frustrating it must be for a user who is reading an article on a site to suddenly have the site break on them due to an inexperienced administrator updating the site without testing the update on a test site first. It is much easier to replace a test site than it is to replace a full fledged passive income generating blog. You can simply delete the test site’s database and remove the files and just start over. Ruining a live site filled with hundreds and even thousands of pages of content; however, and well…you might as well begin preparing your resume for a secular job.
You can quickly launch a test site by installing WordPress on an addon domain or by registering a brand new domain and simply installing WordPress on it. Once your test site is up and running the latest WordPress version, you can begin to run systems checks in various sections of your WordPress install. If you already have a test site and your test site is running an out dated WordPress version, you may have to download and install the latest update first before you begin your systems checks. Once your test site is running the latest core update and the latest updates for your chosen plugins and theme you can begin to perform back end and front end systems checks.
As you stress test various systems throughout your WordPress installation you should be looking for unusually slow load times, unexpected coding errors, and alignment issues for your css containers. Even grammar and punctuation should have a once over as you inspect the changes you made to your test site.
After you verify that all systems function as they should, then you can go ahead and install the update on your live site.
