What is a Staging Site And Why Do You Need One?

Your clients aren’t looking for total perfection when launch day rolls around. What they need is a website that runs smoothly, looks good, and delivers results. But if aiming to meet client standards still feels like shooting for the stars, website staging can help you go live with greater confidence.

What is a Staging Site?

Diving into the launch phase too quickly leaves lots of room for error. A staging site — which is an exact copy of the website — gives your clients the chance to explore their site and try out new features before they’re released to the public. It’s a lot like a rehearsal before a concert. A website staging phase allows you to test, prep, and experiment without any worry if things go wrong.

Here are four ways you can use the staging phase to alleviate the stress of pushing a website live, and how SimpleStage can help.

1. Get Proactive About Bug Tracking and Reporting

When your website doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, visitors will turn away. A poor user experience can cost your client leads, sales, and client satisfaction. Even when a website’s only issue is slow loading, 43% of visitors will never return. All of this can reflect poorly on your agency.

A website staging environment allows you to thoroughly test for bugs before a site or specific feature makes its public debut. Since a staging site is a replica, it will accurately tell you how your actual site will perform in its current state. You won’t have to publish your site just to see if everything’s running smoothly.

To make your bug tracking and reporting more efficient, you can integrate SimpleStage on your staging website. With this bug reporting software, your users can capture the information your developers need to resolve bugs fast. You won’t have to worry about incomplete or inaccurate technical details derailing your efforts.

Once your site is live, SimpleStage can integrate with your live website. You’ll be able to continue streamlining your bug tracking and reporting. If any issues do occur on or after launch day, your client can alert you in real-time.

2. Adjust Your Design and Code Safely

Making changes directly on your website puts you at risk for breaking key features without any backup. One seemingly small tweak can turn into a major issue. And if your edits are irreversible, you’ll have to waste a significant amount of time fixing an issue that wasn’t there in the first place.

Website staging gives you the chance to edit content, fix bugs, and more in a safe, separate environment. Your team can visually see how your updates would affect your website by looking at a replica. Once you’re 100% confident that you’re meeting client standards, you can implement these changes on your final website.

3. Collect Client Feedback

Going straight from development to launch can easily lead to unhappy clients. Your clients may be ecstatic about your mockups. But once they get a chance to engage with the front end of your fully developed site, they may notice features that don’t meet their expectations.

Website staging allows clients to explore your finished product with a complete understanding of how it’s meant to function. If they want any changes, they can request it — and you can make updates without putting your actual site at risk. Staging gives you a chance to go back and forth with clients, without affecting actual users’ experiences.

When you use SimpleStage, clients can provide highly visual feedback directly on your staging site — and it won’t affect the code. Clients can mark up on top of elements and start conversation threads right in the areas they’re referencing. With this context, you can launch a stronger website that certainly won’t disappoint your clients.

4. Test More Ambitious Changes

In addition to the minor changes, a website staging environment can create the perfect space to test out big changes. Let’s say you want to completely overhaul your existing page layouts or start using a different coding language. If things go south, your staging site might become unusable, but your actual site will be protected. If things go well and you choose to proceed, you’ll have a great testing environment for eliminating bugs and quality issues.

Website staging can, in this sense, help your agency create better, more innovative products. It offers a stress-free way to make impressive improvements.

Take the Weight Off Your Shoulders With SimpleStage

A staging site is a useful tool that allows you to test your website in full before it’s deployed. This way, you can eliminate bugs before they become major issues. Plus, since you’ll make edits on a copy of your site, you won’t risk making new, irreversible issues that are costly to fix.

With SimpleStage, you can easily collect all feedback and bug details you need to launch a final product your clients will love.