With WordPress, you’ll definitely need to clone your WordPress site someday. You may need a secure environment to test new features, or you may plan to move your site to a new server. Then the question arises: ‘How to ensure that the cloning process runs smoothly?’.
Well, there are many extensions that allow you to move or clone a website. They are ideal for creating test sites, changing your domain name, or even moving a website to another server.
Why would you want to clone a WordPress site?
Let’s start with the definition of the term “cloning” in this context. Cloning your site is not the same as backing it up. Cloning a website creates a fully functional clone that is installed in the specified location, and backing up creates a “sleeping” copy of the site files that can be stored anywhere.
Cloning a WordPress website can be useful in a variety of situations, such as:
When it comes to creating a test site: Trying big changes live is dangerous, so having a clone of the site will help you make sure that all changes run smoothly before updating the actual site.
For migration purposes: If you want to change your web hosting provider, you can check out your WordPress site and set it up on a new server exactly as it used to be.
When changing your domain name: Changing the domain name partially requires copying the site to a new location on the server.
For better SEO: Let’s say you want to sell your product or service in other countries. With website migration, you can have a domain in that country and get better SEO.
Ready site sale: You can sell a copy of the website you created to other people. In this case, you need to make a copy of your existing site. In this case, it is necessary to clone your site.
It is very important to understand the difference between a website clone and a regular copy of your site, such as a backup. In contrast to the dormant, static backup, the clone is fully functional and saved in the specified location.
When transferring to a new hosting provider or changing your primary domain, you will need a clone of the site, not a copy. Uploading a functional website to your new hosting device (of course) is very important.
On the other hand, a site clone can be valuable in creating. Clones are great test sites because they can try out new features or updates and see how they affect the actual site.
All these works will be much easier if you can easily create clones for your WordPress site. When moving a website or changing your domain name, you won’t have to worry about downtime, and you’ll have a very accurate test site where you can try out any changes before you start them.