Are you worried every time you go LIVE with a WordPress site, So I will tell you how to successfully LIVE a WordPress site without any issues?
For this you just have to follow the checklist given below.
This checklist will not only help you to launch a bug free website but will also help in improving the site in terms of security.
| Checklist Items | Pre-LIVE | Post-LIVE |
|---|---|---|
| Proper QA and make sure all QA issues must be fixed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Test entries must be deleted for forms | ” | ✓ |
| Client’s email ID should be added to the recipient list in all the forms, so that he/she continues to receive notifications from the site. | ” | ✓ |
| “admin” “client” “user” such words should not be used in usernames. | ✓ | ✓ |
| Test users must be deleted | ✓ | ✓ |
| Redirection sheet should be prepared from the SEO perspective | ” | ✓ |
| Test and empty pages/posts should be removed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unnecessary plugins and themes should be removed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto update should be disabled | ” | ✓ |
| Backup of old site must be taken | ” | ✓ |
| All tracking codes should be asked from client before go-live | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mixed Content & Redirection Issues | ” | ✓ |
| All internal and external links should be checked | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cross browser testing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Responsiveness need to be checked | ✓ | ✓ |
| Search functionality should work proper | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-Commerce Functionality need to be tested | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone number and Email should be clickable | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hyper links should be properly highlighted | ✓ | ✓ |
| Test the site using real devices | ✓ | ✓ |
| Any third-party integration need to be checked | ✓ | ✓ |
| Check For XML and HTML Sitemap | ✓ | ✓ |
| Site should be scanned on Sucuri or any trusted malware scanner tool | ” | ✓ |
| Make sure site is indexed by search engines after LIVE | ” | ✓ |
| Add No Index, No Follow on Thank you pages | ” | ✓ |
| Security plugins should be installed and configured properly | ✓ | ✓ |
| Test the site on broken or dead link checker | ” | ✓ |
| Test the site on spell checker tool | ” | ✓ |
| Contact form database plugin should be installed | ” | ✓ |
| SSL certificate | ” | ✓ |
| Change default WordPress login URL | ✓ | ✓ |
| Akismet plugin can be installed for preventing from spam emails | ✓ | ✓ |
| Keep a strong password for all the admin users | ✓ | ✓ |
| LIVE payment testing | ” | ✓ |
So that’s it. I hope you guys can follow the above checklist to reduce the issues on the site which comes after Go-LIVE.
I will keep updating this checklist from time to time, so that we can cover maximum things so that the site can be launched bug free.
If you guys have any other point which is not added in above checklist and which should be added, you can e-mail it to me, I will definitely add it to the checklist.
