WordPress Launch Checklist
Here is the checklist we use for launching our WordPress websites. This list is a work in progress and will change over time. I hope you find it useful.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, or point out something we are missing!
- Run 404 checker https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/broken-link-checker/
- Check 404 page make sure its custom and works — get bonus point for something clever and on brand :-)
- Make sure the site is on Cloudflare and properly configured. Ill do a video on this soon — https://www.cloudflare.com/
- Make sure you SSL is setup correctly and everything redirects to https. https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html
- Optimize site speed check with google page speed https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
- Check your privacy policy
- Check to make sure GDPR requirements are enabled
- Click interior pages check responsiveness, look in console for errors.
- Make sure menu open properly on desktop and mobile
- Make sure Analytics installed
- Uncheck “discourage bots” you wont believe the number of times Ive see this.
- Make sure you check your permalinks and they are set to be SEO friendly. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-friendly-wordpress-urls/203926/
- Make sure all our basic plugins are installed and configured
WordFence https://www.wordfence.com/
Gravity Forms — https://www.gravityforms.com/
Activity Log — https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/
Disable Comments — https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-comments/
Advanced Custom Fields — https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/
Clean Talk — https://cleantalk.org/
Mini Orange Two Factor — https://plugins.miniorange.com/2-factor-authentication-for-wordpress
Yoast — https://yoast.com/
Wp Mail SMTP — https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/
- Verify styles on test page just add this page to your WordPress site and review https://gist.github.com/bhowe/5652c4f77d4da3def3ab
- Make sure the Favicon is there
- Website pages are compatible across browsers (IE 7 8, 9 and 10, Firefox, Chrome, Safari). Website pages are compatible across devices (Android, iPhone, tablets). We use http://browsershots.org/ and a combination of real devices
- Make sure Forms work with correct “Thank You” message
- Make sure contact forms are delivering to correct email
- WordPress version/plugins updated before launched
- Delete any test users/posts/themes/unused plugins
- Make sure the search bar works
- Make sure links open in a new window
- Teams (attorneys, clients, staff, blah blah) should all be done using a custom post type
- Check source code for commented out html
- Make sure sitemap is generated and submitted
- If you don’t use server level backups make sure you set them up. BackupBuddy is a great plugin. https://ithemes.com/backupbuddy/
So there you have it. If you liked this post, please follow me on the web https://buildingbettersoftware.io/contact/
