How to Effortlessly Move Your WordPress Website from Local to Live Server (In-Depth Guide)

Developing a WordPress website locally is one of the best ways to build a site with less risk. You can safely test changes and experiment with different configurations before the site goes live.

But at some point, you‘ll need to move your polished WordPress site from a local environment to live production hosting. This allows real visitors to start accessing your website.

Migrating a WordPress site from local to live does take some care though. If the process isn‘t done properly, you can end up with a broken site or lost data.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover how to seamlessly move a WordPress site from a local server to live web hosting without headaches. Follow these best practices and detailed steps to get your local WordPress site live.

Why Develop Locally First?

Here are some of the biggest reasons it‘s a best practice to develop WordPress sites locally before launching them live:

1. Reduce Risk of Breaking a Live Website

Developing locally allows you to experiment and make changes without worrying about negatively affecting a live production site.

There‘s no risk of taking a live site down or losing traffic while developing locally.

2. Faster Load Times Than Developing Live

Local sites load much faster than remote staging or live sites. There‘s no server lag time, and changes are instantly visible.

This means you can iterate and test faster during development. Page load tests show local WordPress sites can be up to 4-5x faster.

3. Avoid Downtime for Visitors

Site maintenance, upgrades, migrations and other development tasks can often cause downtime on a live site.

By handling development locally, you eliminate disruptions to live site traffic and availability.

4. Privacy for Developing Sensitive Sites

For sites dealing with private data like healthcare or financial information, developing locally lets you protect sensitive info from being exposed publicly online.

5. Easier Debugging and Troubleshooting

Debugging problems on a live site accessed by users can be difficult and disruptive. Local development lets you diagnose issues faster without impact.

6. Learn and Experiment Freely

A local site provides a safe sandbox where you can try new things, learn, and make mistakes without worrying about consequences.

Best Practices for Local WordPress Development

If you‘re setting up a local WordPress site for the first time, keep these best practices in mind:

• Use version control like Git to track changes and easily move files between environments.

• Mirror your live hosting environment as closely as possible locally.

• Test with local staging sites to preview changes before deploying live.

• Take advantage of local development tools like DesktopServer, Local by Flywheel, WP-CLI.

• Develop using a Child Theme to avoid losing theme customizations during migrations.

• Utilize a migration plugin like All-in-One WP Migration for easy site transfers.

Migrating WordPress from Local Server to Live Hosting

Once your local WordPress site is ready to go live, here is the step-by-step process to seamlessly migrate it:

Step 1: Export Local WordPress Database

The first step is exporting your WordPress database from the local server containing all site data:

1. Access phpMyAdmin locally at http://localhost/phpmyadmin

2. Click on your WordPress database name.

3. Go to Export tab, select Quick export, click Go.

4. Download the .sql file to your computer.

This database .sql file contains all your posts, pages, settings, users, and other WordPress data.

Step 2: Create New Database on Live Server

Now you need an empty database on live hosting to import your WordPress data into:

1. Login to cPanel on your live host and go to "MySQL Databases".

2. Click "Add New Database". Assign a name and click "Create Database".

3. Create a user for this database. Check "All Privileges" and click "Make Changes".

Your new database is now ready for the next step.

Step 3: Upload Local WordPress Files to Live Server

With the database exported, it‘s time to transfer the WordPress files:

1. Connect to live hosting via FTP using FileZilla or another FTP client.

2. Upload the wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes folders from your local WordPress installation. Also upload any themes, plugins and uploads.

3. Place these in the proper directory for your domain, usually public_html.

Your WordPress core files, plugins, themes and assets are now on live hosting.

Step 4: Import Local Database to Live Site

Now the databases need to be swapped from local to live:

1. In cPanel, access phpMyAdmin and go to your new database.

2. Click Import and select your local WordPress database .sql file.

3. Click "Go" to import the database backup, transferring all your site data.

Your imported database is now connected and ready for the live site.

Step 5: Update Site URL and Home URL

With the site data imported, the site address needs to be changed from local to live:

1. In phpMyAdmin, go to the wp_options table in the new database.

2. Edit the "siteurl" and "home" fields, updating the URLs to your live domain.

3. Save the changes to these rows.

This connects your database settings to the new live site location.

Step 6: Configure wp-config.php With New Database Settings

The wp-config.php file contains the database connection details that need to be updated for the live database:

1. Download wp-config.php from your live hosting via FTP.

2. Update the DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST constants with the new live database credentials.

3. Save changes and upload wp-config.php back to live server.

WordPress can now communicate with your live database.

Step 7: Update Any Broken Links with Search and Replace

Due to the URL change from local to live, internal links in content may break:

1. In phpMyAdmin, go to SQL tab and run:

UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = REPLACE(post_content, ‘www.old-domain.com‘, ‘www.new-live-domain.com‘);

2. Also update wp_postmeta and other tables.

This fixes links pointing to the old domain to use the new live URL.

Step 8: Save Permalinks and Test Site Functionality

1. Log into your live WordPress admin and go to Settings > Permalinks.

2. Click Save Changes to update permalinks.

3. Test all site functionality like images, links, plugins.

Your WordPress site is now fully migrated from local to live!

Common WordPress Migration Errors and Fixes

If issues arise after migrating, here are some common problems and troubleshooting tips:

White Screen of Death – Try reuploading WordPress files, double check wp-config.php values, rename/reinstall plugins.

Site Not Loading – Confirm database is imported properly, validate wp-config.php settings, check for conflicting plugins/web host issues.

404 Pages – Reset permalinks, update .htaccess file, reupload WordPress core files.

Media Library Issues – Double check file permissions, run a search/replace on the database to fix incorrect file paths.

Site Styling Problems – Switch to default theme, inspect for CSS conflicts, test without plugins enabled.

Wrapping Up WordPress Local to Live Migrations

Migrating a WordPress site from a local environment to live hosting is a key step in launching a new website.

Following the detailed process outlined in this guide will allow you to seamlessly move WordPress without headaches or downtime.

The peace of mind gained from developing locally, plus the ability to effortlessly go live, makes local WordPress development an essential best practice for site builders and developers.

Let me know if you have any other questions on moving WordPress sites from local to live hosting!