WordPress website launching can be a complex task, especially if site has a lot of posts, pages, images, authors, and many more. We find that many websites of our clients are complicated; therefore, we needed a precise checklist for our WordPress development team to work through in order to ensure the optimum quality of each site.

With the help of our experienced team of WordPress developers, we developed an elaborative checklist before launching website. This checklist is quite useful for anyone who wants to launch his own WordPress website, or any big company that has a large site with many moving parts (posts,pages, custom post types, authors, plugins, comments, etc).

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WordPress checklist before site launching

WordPress checklist before site launching

Each day thousands of new sites appear on the web. That’s why you want to make sure that your website stands out and shines from the very beginning. This infographic explains checklist of things you should do before launching a WordPress website.

1. Initial Checklist

  • Choose right domain. It should be short, easy-to-remember and related to your niche
  • Choose web host wisely, as WP needs more RAM and CPU usage
  • There are plenty of good free and paid WordPress backup plugins
  • Delete all the test data from the server
  • Setup email for site; If you don’t, some email notifications may deliver, but some may not
  • Check wordpress/Mysql latest version installed on the server
  • Check for permission on folders and make sure all existing links working properly
  • Check .htaccess support on server & correct if any changes required
  • Check all required libraries/modules that need to be installed on the server

2. Check Errors

  • Install Google Webmaster Tools to find pages giving 404 not found and broken links
  • Test your contact forms, comment forms, email subscription forms, and so on…
  • Send test emails to confirm that your emails are delivered to the right mailing list
  • Make sure that all images on your website are loading properly
  • Test responsiveness and play videos on your website using different mobile devices and browser

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3. Performance & Optimization Tests

  • Check site for speed using tools like Pingdom and Google Pagespeed tool (make sure it)
  • Install cache plugin like W3 Total Cache, and use a CDN like MaxCDN
  • Enable Gzip compression & optimize all images with an image optimizer called Smush.it
  • Optimize homepage and database with plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-DB Manager
  • Disable hotlinking and leaching of your content
  • Split long posts in several pages, split comments into pages and reduce the number of database calls

4. Secure WordPress

  • Sucuri firewall makes your site super secure and prevent it from attacks
  • Add two-step authentication: password + authorization code sent on phone to login
  • Install security plugins like BulletProof Security, Sucuri Security, iThemes Security, etc.
  • Make your site protected from spams, SQL injection and cross site scripting

5. Search Engine Optimization

  • Use Google analytics to track visitor’s interaction and keeping a site traffic record
  • Yoast SEO plugin is a comprehensive site optimization software for WordPress
  • Check for URL redirection and all old URL’s should redirect properly
  • Check W3C Validation and Robots.txt file
  • Check if sitemap file is uploaded on server and page meta information is correct
  • Make sure users can connect with site on facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google plus
  • Also, confirm that social sharing plugins on your website are working properly
  • Enable Twitter cards, facebook open graph meta-data, and social monitoring tools

6. Download the WordPress Mobile App

  • If you are busy and have to publish the post, WP mobile app will be quite handy.

Wrapping Up:

We hope that this checklist will be beneficial for you and help you in developing secure, scalable, high performing and search engine friendly WordPress website. If you have any other query related to WordPress website design and development or launching, feel free to contact PixelCrayons: leading wordpress development company in India

About the Author

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I've been working in the web industry for 6 years. I often encourages my team to gain more practical learning on new developments and enhance their analytical and problem-solving skills. I prefer to do smart work instead of hard work. I am a learner, I like to learn new things. -:)

Languages that I love to work in:
HTML5, CSS3, PHP, Javascript, Bootstrap, AngularJS, Meteor

Email the author: aakash@insigniawm.com

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