The ultimate WordPress checklist for starting your next website

If you’re well-versed in website building, you’ll know what sets WordPress apart from other CMS’s. It’s user-friendly, reliable, and has many key features and additional plugins. There’s a reason why over 43% of the world’s websites are built using WordPress.

However, building your website, no matter your level of experience, can be a large undertaking. Whether it’s thinking about your theme, website security, user-friendliness, speed, SEO, or the purpose and goals of your website, there’s so much to consider. Even the most experienced WordPress website builder would be forgiven for getting overwhelmed.

As such, good organization is vital before building your next WordPress site. Otherwise, you risk putting out a website that’s not fit for purpose, which will hurt your traffic, conversion, and overall business prospects.

Luckily, we’ve created this handy WordPress website launch checklist, so you’ll never have to stress about your website launch again. So, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Your WordPress website launch checklist

If you’re about to build a new website, you’ve likely got many things to think about and may even be unsure where to start. With that in mind, we’ve tried to keep our checklist as concise and easy to follow as possible.

So, if organization isn’t one of your strong suits, this checklist is for you.

• Create your sitemap – Help search engines and visitors easily navigate your site with a simple site map.
• Generate blog categories – Organizing your posts makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for and helps with SEO.
• Use ALT tags – Boost SEO by attaching relevant ALT tags to images.
• Draft a plugin list – With so many WordPress plugins, creating a draft list before your site goes live is wise.
• Add social icons – If social media is essential to your operations, remember to include icons on your site.
• Check content overflow – Ensure your website looks professional by checking for content overflow.
• Craft your 404 page – Customise your 404 page to retain visitors who might otherwise leave in frustration.
• Use breadcrumbs – Improve user experience with clearly defined breadcrumbs.
• Delete lorem ipsum – Scan every inch of your website to ensure all placeholder text has been removed.
• Create regular backups – With a WordPress hosting platform like EasyWP, you can help protect your website against data loss.
• Double-check content structure – Well-structured content makes your website more usable and accessible.
• Admin email – Ensure the right people have admin access for password recovery and important notifications about your site.
• Shore up security – Use strong passwords, install security plugins, and follow best practices to prevent WordPress hacks.
• Cross-browser compatibility – Ensure your website functions across all web browsers for maximum exposure.
• Is your site crawlable? – Check your settings to ensure your website is visible to search engines.
• Disable coming soon – Be sure to disable your “Coming Soon” page before going live.
• Mobile friendly? – Run Google’s mobile-friendly test to ensure your website functions across Android and iOS.
• How is the loading speed? – Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to check loading speed.
• Image sizes – Compress your image sizes to improve your website’s loading speed.
• Update WordPress – Make sure you’re running the most up to date version of WordPress to take advantage of bug fixes and new features.
• Update plugins – Platforms like EasyWP will ensure your plugins are always up to date.
• Check external links – Open external links in new tabs to ensure they’re working properly.
• Check broken links – Use a broken link checker plugin to ensure you have no broken links.
• Go live – Congrats. You’re ready to go live!

Start strong with a WordPress website checklist

If you want your site to hit the ground running, a well-structured WordPress website launcher checklist will set you up for success. Once you’ve got your website live, there’s ongoing maintenance to consider. 

Fortunately, EasyWP makes WordPress website maintenance simple with an easy-to-use dashboard, easy backups, regular updates, and more. Ready to propel your website’s profitability? We recommend the EasyWP Turbo plan, which features 50GB SSD storage and 1.5x more CPU and RAM than the Starter plan. Try for free today.