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How to Build a New WordPress Site Without Taking Your Live Site Down

15 threads Sep 7, 2025 Core → Installing wordpress

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A common challenge for WordPress users is developing a new website while the old one must remain live and accessible. Whether you're redesigning, switching from another platform like Wix, or building an entirely new site, the goal is the same: avoid downtime and public access to the unfinished work. Based on community discussions, here are the most effective strategies.

Why This Process Can Be Tricky

The core issue is that a domain name can only point to one location at a time. If your domain (e.g., yourbusiness.com) is currently live, you cannot simply install WordPress on it elsewhere without causing a conflict or taking the live site offline. The solutions below create a separate, private environment for development.

Common Solutions for a Smooth Transition

1. Use a Staging Environment Provided by Your Host

Many hosting providers, such as BlueHost, include a staging feature. This tool creates a clone of your live site in a private area on the same server. You can safely test new themes, plugins, and designs. Once complete, the host often provides a tool to "push" the staging site live.

Considerations: The availability and functionality of this tool vary by host. If you encounter issues pushing the site live, you may need to contact your specific hosting provider's support, as the process is unique to their platform.

2. Install WordPress in a Subdirectory

This method involves creating your new site in a folder on your same hosting account, such as yourbusiness.com/new-site/. Your live site remains untouched at the root (yourbusiness.com). You can design freely in the subdirectory. When ready, you can use migration plugins or manually move the files to the root directory to replace the old site.

Considerations: This requires your new and old sites to be on the same hosting account. Accessing the WordPress admin for the new site would be via yourbusiness.com/new-site/wp-admin.

3. Develop on a Temporary Domain

This is a highly recommended and straightforward approach. You purchase a new, cheap domain name (e.g., my-testsite.com) or use a temporary subdomain provided by your new host. You install WordPress and build your entire new site on this temporary address. This completely isolates your development work from your live domain.

Once the new site is finished, you follow these steps:

  1. In the WordPress dashboard under Settings > General, change both the WordPress Address and Site Address URLs from the temporary domain (e.g., my-testsite.com) to your live domain (e.g., yourbusiness.com).
  2. At your domain registrar, update the DNS settings for your live domain to point to the nameservers of your new hosting provider.
  3. Your new site will now be served from your live domain name.

Considerations: This method involves a DNS change, which can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally, though it's often much faster. There will be a brief period of downtime during the switch.

4. Use a Migration Plugin

Plugins like Duplicator Pro simplify the process of moving a site. You can build your new site on a temporary domain or locally on your computer. When you're ready, the plugin packages your entire site into files that you can easily upload to your live server, and it handles the search-and-replace operation for the URLs.

Considerations: Some users report issues with very large sites, as file size limits on the host can cause the migration to fail.

What to Avoid

A common point of confusion is trying to add your live domain as an "addon domain" to a new host while it is still active elsewhere. This typically will not work correctly, as the domain cannot resolve to two places at once. The DNS will always point to the live site, preventing you from accessing the WordPress installation on the new host.

Key Takeaway

The safest and most flexible method is to develop your new WordPress site on a temporary domain with your new hosting provider. This approach keeps your live site completely separate and allows you to take all the time you need. When finished, a simple change in the WordPress settings and your domain's DNS records will make the new site live.

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