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My WordPress Launch Checklist

By Tony Le July 25, 2022

This is just a quick WordPress launch checklist I’ve put together for myself when launching WordPress site. Hoping this helps others as well.

1. Pre-Launch

It’s always a good idea to collect information to accounts or assets you need before doing a launch. It saves a lot of trouble and headaches later. I always like to make sure I have the following:

Hosting Access

Domain Access (if it’s not with the hosting)

Third Party Licenses and Plugin Keys (if applicable)

Google Analytics Access

In addition to, I also make sure I:

Backup the current website for archive (if applicable)

Check DNS for specific setups and do a snapshot in case information needs to be reversed

2. Migration

During the site migration I either:

Migrate using Migrate Guru

Migrate Manually

Regardless of which migration technique I use I always:

Double check if the domain name in the content has changed and install Better Search Replace to update it as needed

Make sure the main domain name has been swapped

Update and refresh the Permalink settings

Install & Configure SSL

Make sure all links are on HTTPS

Fixed any Mixed Content Warnings

3. Launch

Once the site has been moved over and fully configured to run on the new domain name I like to make sure I double check a few things to ensure it’s all in working order.

3.1 Content

Make sure text is free of grammatical and formatting errors

Pages have the proper title and links

All internal and content that are linked redirect to the proper pages

All legally required pages are created and present

Footer copyright information is updated

404 landing page is created and present

3.2 Forms

All forms are configured to go to the correct email address

reCAPTCHA or the proper spam prevention system is installed on all forms or site wide

3.3 Accessibility and SEO

Realistically, accessibility should be the primary focus during the design and development phase but it also doesn’t hurt to double check.

All images have the appropriate alt attribute

All form fields have associated labels

Links are clear and recognizable

Website is tested with screen reader

Google Analytics is installed and configured

Yoast SEO (or SEO plugin preferred by team or Client) is installed and configured

Page Meta Title, Description, Keyword, and Social Sharing Image are set

Favicon is set up

Robot Blocking Index is off

3.4 Performance & Optimization

On top of making sure everything works it is also best to make sure everything runs well. Moving from a development or staging environment to a production environment can sometimes change settings and configurations. Below is a list of items I check for to make sure the site is working at its best.

Website runs on all targeted browsers on desktop and mobile

All code is tested and working properly

No JavaScript console logs, errors or warnings

Website passes Lighthouse at a reasonable score and performance issues are resolved if any

All media files are as optimized as they can be

HTML, CSS, and JS are minified where possible

Author Tony Le

My name is Tony, and I’m an Experience Designer with 8+ years of experience in design and development. At heart, I am a developer first and a designer second. I enjoy creating interactive experiences, but I also enjoy designing and learning about the user’s experiences.