Maintaining the website is a continual process. To stay competitive, it is often necessary to make changes to its appearance and content. It is understandable that making big modifications and redesigns is stressful since you never know what your WordPress site will respond to the changes.

Here is the place a clone your site can be useful. It’s a copy of your website the ability to experiment. The changes won’t impact your site’s production since the clone functions independently.

Check out the following article to discover what a clone could be used for and the best way to copy an existing WordPress website.

What are the reasons you would need to duplicate your site?

In the case of WordPress, a clone can be described as an independent version of a production site with the exact files, database information and configurations as the original. The clone mirrors live website – it contains identical pages including blog posts, plugins themes, and designs.

If you are a webmaster You will be in various scenarios where the clone option could prove useful. We’ll list the most frequently encountered scenarios below.

Transferring a website’s content to a new host

In the end, you might choose to change to a different hosting company. To ease the transition and to minimize the time it takes to go offline, you should create a duplicate of your site. It is possible to test it on the new hosting platform before closing your hosting account. If anything occurs during the transfer process, you’ll be capable of getting a brand new version of the site.

Moving a site from localhost to

A lot of web developers prefer to create the WordPress website on the locally hosted environment. Once the site is completed and ready to go, they copy it to a hosting server, but keep the original on the local environment.

Experimentation and testing

You’re considering making changes to your website or updating plugins, however you’re concerned that it might cause a disruption to your website. Making a staging clone lets users experiment with ease, without causing the possibility of downtime or serious mistakes on your site’s production.

Redesign

You’d like to preserve the current content however, you are feeling that your site is outdated. You can make a staging copy of your site to make the needed changes, and then replace your live website with the new version at a later time. While you wait your existing website will continue to function as it always has.

Standalone copy of another domain

You can make a separate duplicate of your website in a different domain. Instead of copying every post or page it is possible to copy your entire site on the new domain, and make adjustments or eliminate any unnecessary content on the duplicate.

Live and replica operate independently with their own domains.

Clone an WordPress site using SiteGround Migrator

It is the SiteGround migrator WordPress plugin provides a user-friendly and powerful tool that makes it easier to go through the process of replicating an existing WordPress website. This plugin has been specifically developed to integrate seamlessly together with SiteGround hosting, which ensures an easy migration process.

One of the main advantages that is a major strength SiteGround migrator program is its user-friendliness. In just a couple of clicks, you can begin the migration process with no technical knowledge. The plugin is responsible for moving your website’s data databases, configurations, and files which makes it an easy method of replicating your WordPress website.

Another benefit of using the plugin is that it works with a variety of WordPress themes and plugins. This means that your site’s functionality is maintained throughout the process of migration. In addition the plugin is regularly upgraded and maintained by SiteGround to provide you with a the most secure and reliable migration solutions.

As compared to other approaches in comparison to other methods, as compared to other options, the siteGround migrator plugin is an easier and more efficient method of cloning the content of your WordPress website. It removes the requirement for manual transfer of files as well as database modifications, thereby saving your time and decreasing the chance of making mistakes.

To know more details about SiteGround Migration plugin, and the best way to utilize it, check out this comprehensive guide: WordPress Automatic Migrator.

Clone of a WordPress website using SiteGround Staging

Cloning the WordPress website on the staging website is a common method. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this by using a plugin, or a tool for staging provided through your host.

The benefit of having a replicating a staging version is that both the real-time version as well as the copy be hosted on the same server and you can make changes to one version without impacting the other. This means you can create a major overhaul of your site, and swiftly deploy the new design without causing interruptions.

SiteGround has created the WordPress Staging Tool specifically to serve this reason. It is accessible through GrowBig GoGeek along with Cloud Hostingplans.

The tool can create an WordPress site clone from your current site and puts it using an under-domain for staging. When you’re ready replace your live site with the staging version The tool allows you to make the changes public by one click.

If you’re looking to know more about our tool, please feel free to browse through the SiteGround Stage Tutorials.

Create a WordPress website manually

Sometimes, the simplest method is the most efficient. Although there are many plugins and tools to assist with WordPress replicating, creating a duplicate of your website by hand is among the most reliable options with little or no problems.

We will guide you through the entire procedure of how you can manually duplicate an existing WordPress website.

Step 1.Create a new folder to hold the duplicate

• In the beginning creating an appropriate folder for the duplicate. Based on the tools available such as either an FTP program or an File Manager for your account on hosting.
• SiteGround users are able to use Site Tools at their available. It comes with a full-featured file Manager that is available to create and manage folders and files.
• Decide if you would like to copy the site’s content onto the same domain or in a subfolder or subdomain of the existing website. Go to the Account Area, click Websites and then Tools for Sites for the copy’s selected domain.
• Important! The root folder of any website in Site Tools is yourdomain.com/public_html or subdomain.yourdomain.com/public_html. Be aware of this when you create the folder for your clone should you wish for it to be available online.

Alternative 1: Make a brand new subdomain to host the duplicate

• If you choose to create a new subdomain for the cloned domain, head through Domain, Subdomains, and Create a New Subdomain. Record the unique domain prefix, then click Create.
• In our example, we are creating a subdomain called clone.sg-testing.com. In the Name field, we’ll enter clone.
• The system will automatically create the subdomain’s root folder – clone.sg-testing.com/public_html. In your instance the folder will be:
• subdomain.yourdomain.com/public_html
• You can browse and access the directory from the Site Toolbox > Site Manager. This is where the files will be uploaded. WordPress files.

Option 2. Create a subfolder for your live website

• Another option could be to set up a subfolder in which you upload a copy of your existing website. Because the original site is an already-existing public_htmlfolder and you need to create the subfolder for your clone inside.
• In this instance, we are cloning the website sg-testing.com on a subfolder named sg-testing.com/clone, so the path to the new folder is sg-testing.com/public_html/clone.
• In your situation your situation, the way to go is:
• yourdomain.com/public_html/the_clone_name
• In order to create the folder go to the File Manager on your site and open your website’s public_htmlfolder and click the New Folder button .
• A pop-up window will open asking you to write down the name of the folder.

Option 3: Create an additional domain to the replica

• If you are planning to replicate the website on a different domain, you will need to join this domain into your host account. Site Ground users can install Site Tools for a new domain through Their Client Area > Websites > New Website.
• Next, on the page you will be able to select between three options:
  • Domain name that is new Select this option if your intention is to buy a new domain to clone the.
  • Domain already in use Choose this option if your goal is to establish a website on another domain that you control.
  • Domain that is temporary Choose this option if you’ve not yet picked a domain yet. It will use an auto-generated domain supplied via Site Ground. You may later change the name of the site using the domain you already have.
• Once you have made your selection then click the SKIP and CREATE an empty site on on the following page. The system will generate the brand new site tools panel for your brand new domain.
• It is automatically created and is accessible it through your new site’s Site Tools menu > Site > File manager.

STEP 2.Copy the files of the live website

• The best method to copy many folders and files should be to make an archived file that contains all of the information. Go to your live website’s root folder and choose the files and folders (wp-content, wp’s administration, wp’s include). Press the Archive button and select the name for the archive file.
• The File Manager will create an ZIP archive which contains the web site. If you would like to download the file locally to your PC, just select the file and click the Download button. The browser will transfer the files to the PC’s downloads folder.

Step 3.Upload the files to the new folder.

• Once you’ve got the archive, you’re now ready to transfer it to your new directory. If you’re using Site Tools go into Site >> File Manager then open the folder for the clone, and then choose File Upload. Browse to find the file on your personal computer.
• After the upload has been completed the file will show up within the folder. Choose it and then click the Extract button on the top bar to extract the file.
• A subfolder with the name of an archive will be created. Select it, and then select all the folders and files to transfer the website’s information into the clone’s subfolder. After you have selected the files click “Move,” and a window will pop up.
• On the screen, type the subfolder of the clone’s in the Location and click Confirm to begin the transfer.

Step 4.Export a backup of the live website’s database

• We have taken charge of the files however, we’re also in need of an exact copy of the live database. The database is where you can store all site information, including posts, pages commenting, and configuration settings. If you’re not sure what database is appropriate for your website You can figure this in the wp-config.php file.