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!
- Back up the current site, before you migrate the old
- Once the site is launched run 404 checker https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/broken-link-checker/
- Check the 404 page and make sure it’s custom and works — get a bonus point for something clever and on-brand :-)
- Make sure the site is on Cloudflare and properly configured. Here are a few videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlvz4nd9ECEcldK98eluB1NFFLpzIjuFY
- Make sure your SSL is set up 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/terms if needed
- Check to make sure GDPR requirements are enabled
- Check to make sure you have cookie consent.
- Click interior pages to check responsiveness, and look in the console for errors.
- Make sure the menu opens properly on desktop and mobile
- Make sure Analytics installed
- Uncheck “discourage bots” You won’t believe the number of times I’ve seen 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 your basic plugins are installed and configured. Here is out list
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/
Yoast — https://yoast.com/
Wp Mail SMTP — https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/
- Verify styles on the 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. I also like https://blisk.io/.
- Make sure Forms work with the correct “Thank You” message
- Make sure contact forms are delivered to the 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 the sitemap is generated and submitted
- Make sure the social share icons are set https://buffer.com/library/ideal-image-sizes-social-media-posts/
- Make sure the Blog name and tagline are set (In settings)
- Make sure the theme and plugins are updated
- Remove any unused themes or plugins
- If you don’t use server-level backups make sure you set them up. BackupBuddy is a great plugin. https://ithemes.com/backupbuddy/