Title: Customizing a Theme before going live
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Customizing a Theme before going live

 *  [ebphotog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ebphotog/)
 * (@ebphotog)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/customizing-a-theme-before-going-live/)
 * Hello,
    Am I missing something? I’ve been searching the forums and web looking
   for a way to customize and build out a new theme while the old one is still visible
   to the public. I have found plugins like “theme switcher” but they have not been
   updated in 2 years.
 * I want to build the new theme with my existing content then switch themes when
   it is ready, all while the old site is still accessible to the general public.
   Is this possible?!?!?!
 * I have seen posts on building the theme on a subdirectory but I am worried about
   destroying all my link building. Is this the only way? Will I loose all the link
   juice I’ve created?
 * Thanks in advance,
    ebphotog

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [Luke Stacey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daftduke/)
 * (@daftduke)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/customizing-a-theme-before-going-live/#post-5473054)
 * Hi there!
 * To avoid downtime when customizing a new theme I like to use a tool such as [ManageWP](http://managewp.com/)
   which has a ‘clone feature’.
 * With this you can create your new site on a test domain (or locally) and then
   copy everything over with just one click.
 * I hope that helps!
 * Luke the Daft Duke
 *  Thread Starter [ebphotog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ebphotog/)
 * (@ebphotog)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/customizing-a-theme-before-going-live/#post-5473079)
 * Thanks Luke! Does that protect our links as well? Is there a lot of set up before
   I can move forward with ManageWP?
 *  I am not web designer. I am a photographer who builds a site when he needs it.
 * Thanks,
    E
 *  [Luke Stacey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daftduke/)
 * (@daftduke)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/customizing-a-theme-before-going-live/#post-5473147)
 * No, there’s not a lot of setup, it’s really quite simple, best tool I’ve ever
   used.
 * Just install their plugin on the source site and destination site and click ‘
   clone’.
 * I guess it could affect your links – i.e. if you had backlinks going to a specific
   page url and that page was removed.
 * I don’t think if would affect your page rank, as long as everything is still 
   all search engine friendly.
 * But I’m no expert when it comes to Google 🙂
 * Good luck with your new design!
 * Luke the Daft Duke

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Customizing a Theme before going live’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [links](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/links/)
 * [new](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/new/)
 * [switching](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/switching/)

 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Luke Stacey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daftduke/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/customizing-a-theme-before-going-live/#post-5473147)
 * Status: not resolved

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