10 Things to Do Before Launching a WordPress Website

Pulling the trigger and launching a website is an anxiety ridden process. Is everything spelled right? Did I install all the right plugins? Is my site secure? All of these questions and more go through your mind before you click one final time to launch the site.

Here at Quintain Marketing, we’ve designed and launched so many WordPress websites we’ve literally lost count. Along the way we’ve learned (sometimes the hard way!) a few tricks to make sure site launches go smoothly, and here we’re sharing them with you. Here is a checklist to help ease the jitters, and make sure all your t’s are crossed and i’s dotted!

1. Add a Favicon

The last thing you want is the default WordPress logo showing up in the address bar when someone accesses your site. Make sure you install a plugin that can help you upload a custom favicon that is specific to your branding.

2. Check Your Links

Double check your links, yes all of them. Does that seem like a daunting task? It is. Install the Broken Link Checker plugin and have the hard work done for you. From here, you can be sure that lingering development links are pointed to the correct paths, and any external links are not linking to 404 pages.

3. Change Your Permalinks

Ask any WordPress designer or developer. Dirty permalinks are a huge pet peeve. Your permalinks are visible when you access a post or child page of your website. The standard permalink reads like: http://www.example.com/?p=11 . To a site visitor, what does that mean exactly? Nothing. Make sure you are making the most out of your available tools. Go to Settings>Permalinks and change the structure to “post name.” This way, your links will read like: http://www.example.com/sample-post/ an easily recognizable and digestible link. This modification has some major SEO benefits too!

4. Update your Copyright Information

Easily forgotten, but super important is your copyright notification below the footer on your website. If you have utilized a purchased theme, it is important to remove references to the development company and theme name and replace them with your own credentials. Also be sure that the year is correctly dated.

5. Activate Akismet

There is a reason that WordPress automatically installs this plugin with core WordPress files. It is because it is important! Akismet filters out your comment and track-back spam, so you don’t have to. All too often, I have seen sites that ignore this plugin and have never bothered to sign up for an API key (it takes two minutes and an email address) or activate Akismet’s its rich features. My most extreme case included 30,062 spam comments that had gone untouched. Don’t be an extreme case.

6. Install Google Analytics

Make sure you have a functional way to track your traffic. Let’s face it; Google Analytics is the standard for tracking web traffic. Yoast (one of our favorite SEO plugins – read about it in our blog post) has a companion plugin for Google Analytics. It’s simple and there is no extra coding involved.

7. Create a Sitemap

By installing this plugin you will be adding a sitemap file to your site. This will help search engines index your website easier and faster. The great thing about this plugin is that it will update your sitemap with every new page or post you add to your site automatically.

8. Install Fancier Author Box

One of the best things you can do to enhance your search results and your blog traffic is to take advantage of Google Authorship. Yes, it is a little tricky to set up. In my experience it is slightly different every time. Fancier Author Box makes the process much less painful, and really gives multi-author blogs an edge. Not only will you have full control over the look and feel of the plugin, but your search results will generate a profile photo next to your blog.

9. Secure Your Site

This is by far my favorite WordPress plugin. With a few simple clicks, Better WP Security can secure your site from basic attacks, remove the “admin” username, only make it available to edit during the hours you choose and email you a daily backup of your website. This plugin gives you and your client piece of mind that your website is secure, and in the event of an attack, you have saved backups.

10. Sign Up For the Very Best Hosting

Good hosting can make or break a website. It can mean the difference between no outages and outages that last for days on end. Are you willing to risk it? Quintain Marketing is a huge advocate of WP Engine. After transferring countless websites to this provider we can say with confidence that they are the best! Websites run faster, are more secure and the customer service is unmatched. Yes, you will pay more than for a provider like GoDaddy or DreamHost, but what you receive in return is a hosting company that only runs WordPress. This is unique, and as a customer you can rest assured that when you do need to reach out for help, someone is going to call you by name and go to great lengths to help you solve your problem.

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