Whether you’re building a WordPress website for your team or a client, there are necessary steps to take in every phase of launching your website. The to-do list can get overwhelming, so we’ve created a WordPress checklist to help you with the process of a launch. We’ve divided the list into four sections: predeployment, quality assurance, deployment, and post-deployment.
Step 1: Predeployment
Upload the website’s favicon. The favicon will display in the address bar or on the browser tab.
If you’re creating a website for a client, use White Label CMS Plugin to include a branded login screen.
Standardize format of code.
Run a Pingdom Website Speed Test to ensure that your website is loading properly.
Document all credentials. We keep all of our credentials secured in the 1Password app.
Compress all images by 50% using TinyPNG.
Use Sentry.io to track any errors before your users find them.
Create 301 redirects to send users from an old URL to a new one.
Step 2: Quality Assurance
Use Browserstack to test the latest two versions of Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari for Windows and Mac devices.
Set up Google Analytics.
Make sure you’re using the latest version of WordPress.
Update all of the plugins used on your website.
Delete any unused themes and plugins.
Use Screaming Frog to identify and resolve all errors (301, 302, 404, 403, and 500).
Ensure there is no Flash of Unstyled Content (FOUC).
Step 3: Deployment
Change the database prefix. Hackers will target the default prefix wp_.
Remove basic authentication details from your browser to use new login credentials.
Allow search engines to crawl your site. Go to Settings > Reading of “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.”
Install the WP Security Audit Log plugin. This will keep track of everything that happens on your WordPress website.
Install & configure Security iThemes to ensure security features like password strength, file and folder permissions, etc.
Import baseline configuration.
Check file permissions and change Admin User ID as necessary.
Run another test with Screaming Frog to ensure there are no errors.
Make sure that Google Analytics is included on all pages.
Run an SSL Labs Report to test the configuration of your SSL web server.
Step 4: Post Deployment
Analyze your SEO using Raven SEO Audit.
Use Power Mapper to spell check your content.
Test the latest version of browsers using Browserstack to make sure your website is responsive on all devices after the launch.
Make sure data is flowing properly to Google Analytics.
Add your website to Google Search Console to help users find your business.
Ensure that mail is flowing correctly from the website to the client.
Test all forms using your own contact info.
Run another Pingdom Website Speed Test after the launch to ensure it is still loading quickly.
Add your website and SSL certificate to Statuscake to monitor your website’s performance and notify you if it goes down.
Clean up spam comments and reply to genuine comments from your visitors.
This checklist will lead you in the right direction for a successful launch. Sevaa Group has extensive experience in launching WordPress websites. With each project, we ensure that your website is secure, fast, and responsive. We’d love to work with you on your next project.
