Supporting Local Food Bank: A Guide to Updating and Managing Your WordPress Website
In today’s digital landscape, having a functional and accessible website is crucial for organizations like local food banks. If you’re looking to relaunch or redirect your website, especially when working with limited technical experience, it can seem daunting. Here’s a professional overview based on a recent experience of helping a community organization update their online presence.
Assisting a Food Bank with Web Hosting and Domain Management
Recently, I volunteered to assist a local food bank that fell victim to a misleading web development scam. Our goal was to get their new website online and streamline their domain management. Although I have a basic understanding of website fundamentals such as domain names and DNS settings, some aspects required careful navigation.
Managing Domains and DNS Settings
The organization owns two domains: one registered via WordPress.com and another through an external provider, landingsite.ai. Their primary objective was to redirect the landingsite.ai URL to their new WordPress site and subsequently phase out their hosting with the external provider to eliminate ongoing costs.
Access was limited to editing DNS records through the landingsite.AI interface, which offers DNS modifications but lacks redirect functionality. The domain was purchased through a third-party registrar, identified via ICANN lookup as GoDaddy, but the client did not have direct access to this account. This posed a challenge in managing DNS records effectively.
Strategies for URL Redirection and Domain Management
While DNS configuration can often facilitate URL redirects, the specifics depend on the hosting environment and registrar capabilities. In this case, since the DNS interface allows record editing but not redirects, the typical solution involves setting up a redirect at the hosting level or through a URL forwarding service, if available.
Uploading and Previewing a New WordPress?” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>WordPress Site
The client also provided backup files for an offline WordPress?” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>WordPress site created by a previous developer. The task was to upload this site in a way that allows for previewing without disrupting the current live site.
To do this safely, one common approach is to set up a staging or development environment. This can be done by:
- Installing WordPress?” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>WordPress on a subdirectory or subdomain (e.g., foodbankdomain.com/staging)
- Using a local development environment (like Local by Flywheel or XAMPP) if the hosting setup permits
- Utilizing staging features offered by some
