Are you going to make a website with WordPress? It takes a lot of work to build and launch a WordPress site, whether it's for you or a client. For a website to work well, it needs to have many different parts that work together as a whole. This is why custom WordPress development is so popular. There are so many things to remember that it's easy to forget a couple of them. Before a website goes live, it's a good idea to make a road map of all the steps that will be taken. This will increase the chances of a successful outcome and, ultimately, success. We've made a pre-launch checklist for WordPress websites that will help you do this.  

Why a WordPress Checklist Is Important?

Before you launch your WordPress site, you need to make sure that everything works as it should. You don't want people who visit your website to find it broken when they first get there. This would be bad for the name of your band. What a terrible way to start off! When you work with WordPress a lot for an agency or as a freelancer, a checklist will make the process easier the next time. A checklist helps you build a website by taking some of the work off your mind. This gives you more room for creativity and makes you feel less stressed. After all, if the launch of the website doesn't go well, you will be held responsible. If you make a pre-launch checklist, you will be more productive. Let's look more closely at the different checks you'll need to do.

1: Create Backups

There needs to be at least one backup for every website. Think of your website's backups as insurance. You will always have a copy of everything in case something goes wrong, which is very unlikely. A good way to maintain WordPress is to make a backup every day, and if you charge a client for maintenance, you must do it well. It's best to use third-party solutions because, even though you can use a backup plugin, it might be hard to get to it if your website is down.

2: Anti-spam Integration

Up to 85% of the comments on popular WordPress blogs are spam. That means that only 15 of every 100 comments are real. You don't want to waste time moderating comments because it will hurt your reputation and the reputation of your client. So make sure you use a solution to stop spam!

3: Test Out Your Forms & Surveys

Forms to get in touch are now on most websites. You might also have forms for subscribing, getting leads, or getting in touch with you. Make sure all your forms look and work the way you want them to before you launch your WordPress site. Making sure forms store data correctly is just as important as how they look.

4: Improve Load Times and Browser Compatibility

A slow website is the worst thing that could happen. Before you launch your WordPress site, make sure it loads quickly. Use a tool like Google Page Speed Insights to find out how quickly your site loads and what you can do to make it load even faster. You can also set up many different ways to keep track of performance.

5: SSL Certificate Validation & WordPress Admin Security

SSL, which stands for "Secure Sockets Layer," is a security technology that lets a web browser and a web server talk to each other in a secure way. An SSL certificate is essential in 2022. We hope that most companies that host websites will have one. If you don't already have an SSL certificate, you can get one with the help of a free SSL certificate plugin. Make sure that the passwords for your WordPress admin are also hard to guess. Check out the Login Lockdown plugin if you want to make your admin area more secure.

6: Make a Customized 404 Page

People who visit a website may find typos or pages that are missing. Most of the time, they leave the page because of these mistakes. Install a 404 page before you launch your WordPress site to keep people interested and point them in the right direction. If you work for an agency, this may be something that your clients really appreciate.

7: Optimize Plugins & Themes

For security, you must keep your WordPress version, themes, and plugins up to date. Hackers can easily take advantage of old versions of any software. The good news is that WordPress tries to fix any problems that are brought to their attention. So, the best thing you can do to make sure your website is safe is to keep everything up to date.  

Summary

It can be scary when a new website goes live. We hope this list, which is always being updated, will help you get your WordPress site up and running smoothly. Using this checklist before you launch your WordPress site will help you avoid a lot of mistakes. Last but not least, we suggest that you make a list of the 5–6 plugins that you install on each website. If you want professional custom WordPress development, you can always send your projects to a top service provider like Golpik Inc.