{"id":3221,"date":"2025-05-29T12:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mijn.host\/blog\/website-checklist-before-wordpress-launch\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:27:59","slug":"website-checklist-before-wordpress-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/website-checklist-before-wordpress-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Checklist: Consider This Before Launching Your WordPress Site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know the feeling all too well. You&#8217;ve worked extremely hard on your website and now you want to show it to the world. It looks fantastic, you&#8217;re proud of the result, and you can&#8217;t wait to hit that &#8220;live&#8221; button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But take it easy for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A hasty launch can lead to technical errors, poor user experience, and missed opportunities. Think of a website that loads slowly, forms that don&#8217;t work, or worse: a site that&#8217;s not findable by search engines because you forgot to change a single obscure setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use this checklist to ensure you don&#8217;t overlook anything before launching your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"1-technology-amp-functionality-is-everything-working-as-expected\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Technology &amp; functionality: is everything working as expected?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"hosting-and-speed\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hosting and speed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, check if you have the right hosting package. Does your website have enough resources? With some hosting providers, you quickly hit a wall once your site starts gaining popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then run a speed test via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pagespeed.web.dev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google PageSpeed Insights<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/gtmetrix.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GTMetrix<\/a>. Is the load time good? Here, you want the TTFB (Time to First Byte) below 200ms. Anything above that falls into the &#8220;could be better&#8221; category according to Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No fast website? A provider like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/my.host\/\">my.host<\/a> uses blazing fast LiteSpeed servers from just a few euros per month to make your website fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"602\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mijn-host-pakketten.png\" alt=\"Web hosting packages from my.host.\" class=\"wp-image-2295\" srcset=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mijn-host-pakketten.png 1000w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mijn-host-pakketten-300x181.png 300w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mijn-host-pakketten-768x462.png 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"ssl-certificate\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SSL certificate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is the SSL certificate active? Check if your site loads via https:\/\/ and not http:\/\/. Most browsers today warn visitors explicitly on sites without SSL, which looks incredibly unprofessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"responsive-design\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Responsive design<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Test your website on different devices: desktop, tablet, and mobile. Do all elements scale well? Is the text readable, and are buttons easy to click on a small screen? A quick way to check this is through the inspect function in your browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website-1024x572.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website-1024x572.png 1024w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website-1536x857.png 1536w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-inspect-website.png 2010w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than half of all website visits now come from mobile devices. With a website that doesn&#8217;t work well on a phone, you&#8217;re rubbing a significant portion of your visitors the wrong way. Additionally, Google has been indexing websites &#8220;mobile-first&#8221; for several years, meaning sites that don&#8217;t work optimally on mobile will rank significantly lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"browser-compatibility\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Browser compatibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open your website in the most commonly used browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Check if it looks good everywhere. With WordPress, it doesn&#8217;t happen often, but occasionally there are peculiarities where a site loads fine on Chrome but has issues on Safari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"testing-forms\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Testing forms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do all forms work? Think of your contact form, newsletter subscription, quote requests, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Test this thoroughly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Do you receive the test submissions at the correct email address?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does the user get a clear confirmation after submitting?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are required fields validated correctly?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"broken-links-404-errors\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Broken Links (404 errors)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use an online tool like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brokenlinkcheck.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Broken Link Checker<\/a>&nbsp;or a WordPress plugin like Broken Link Checker to scan for links that don&#8217;t work. Fix these immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Broken links provide a poor user experience and can harm your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"2-content-amp-seo-are-you-findable-and-professional\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Content &amp; SEO: are you findable and professional?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"checking-texts\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Checking texts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proofread all texts for spelling and grammar errors. Preferably, have someone else do this too \u2013 you tend to miss your own mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Correct language free from spelling errors can mean the difference between getting a lead and ending up empty-handed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"seo-basics\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SEO basics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check if your internal linking is consistent and adds value for your visitors. Link to relevant pages on your own site where it makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are your URLs (permalinks) logical and search engine friendly? A URL like <code>yourwebsite.com\/services\/webdesign<\/code> is much better than <code>yourwebsite.com\/?p=123<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"optimizing-images\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Optimizing images<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are all images compressed to speed up load time? The LiteSpeed Cache plugin includes this functionality as standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do all images have relevant alt text? This is important for accessibility and SEO. Describe what is shown in the image in a few words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"favicon-site-icon\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Favicon \/ site icon<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is there a favicon (the small icon in the browser tab) set? This detail makes your site look more professional. You can set this via the WordPress Customizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"622\" height=\"866\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" src=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-site-icon.png\" alt=\"Site icon WordPress.\" class=\"wp-image-2296\" style=\"width:250px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-site-icon.png 622w, https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wordpress-site-icon-215x300.png 215w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"analytics-and-search-console\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Analytics and Search Console<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is your Google Analytics code (or a privacy-friendly alternative like Plausible) installed? Without analytics, you have no idea how your website is performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is your website registered with Google Search Console and have you submitted the XML sitemap? This helps Google better index your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"important-setting\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Important setting<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is essential: go to <strong>Settings > Reading<\/strong> in your WordPress dashboard and make sure that &#8220;Discourage search engines from indexing this site&#8221; is <strong>not<\/strong> checked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This setting is often overlooked, but if you have it enabled, Google will completely ignore your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"3-design-amp-usability-what-about-user-experience\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Design &amp; usability: what about user experience?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A visitor decides within seconds whether to stay or leave. A good design and intuitive navigation are therefore a <em>must<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"brand-consistency\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Brand consistency<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are fonts, colors, and your logo used consistently throughout the website? Inconsistency is immediately noticeable and looks unprofessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"navigation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Navigation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is the main menu logical and clear? Try not to use more than 5-7 main menu items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do all the links in the menu, footer, and content work? Literally, click through your entire site to check this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is it immediately clear to a new visitor where to click? Test this by having someone who has never seen your site navigate through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"calltoactions-ctas\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Call-to-actions (CTAs)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do the main buttons stand out well? Think of &#8220;Contact us,&#8221; &#8220;Request a quote,&#8221; &#8220;Buy now,&#8221; etc. Make sure the color of these buttons contrasts with the rest of your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These buttons are where you achieve conversions. They should be noticeable without being annoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"4-security-amp-backups-is-your-site-secure\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Security &amp; backups: is your site secure?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"strong-passwords\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Strong passwords<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use strong, unique passwords for all admin accounts. A password like &#8220;admin123&#8221; is asking for trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"updates\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Updates<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are WordPress, your theme, and all plugins completely up to date? Outdated software makes your site vulnerable to hackers.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set automatic updates for the WordPress core, themes, and plugins where possible (if you don&#8217;t feel like or have time to check this manually every week).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"unnecessary-themes-amp-plugins\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unnecessary Themes &amp; Plugins<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delete all inactive themes and plugins. Even if you don&#8217;t use them, they can still pose a security risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keep only what you really need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"security-plugin\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Security Plugin<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Install and configure a security plugin like <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordfence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wordfence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such a plugin helps in detecting and blocking suspicious activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, security plugins are useless if your hosting is not secure. Therefore, always ensure you are with a provider that values security highly like my.host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"backups\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Backups<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ensure your hosting provider has automatic daily backups stored for at least 7 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Test if your backups work by creating one and checking if you can restore it easily and quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"5-legal-amp-compliance-does-your-site-meet-the-regulations\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Legal &amp; Compliance: Does Your Site Meet the Regulations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Avoid fines and build trust with your visitors by being transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"privacy-policy\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Privacy Policy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is there a clear privacy policy outlining what data you collect and why? This is required under the GDPR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can use a generator like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.privacypolicygenerator.info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Privacy Policy Generator<\/a> as a starting point, but preferably have it reviewed by a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"cookie-banner\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cookie Banner<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is there a correctly configured cookie banner informing visitors and requesting permission for non-essential cookies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plugins like <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/complianz-gdpr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Complianz<\/a> can help with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"company-information\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Company Information<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are your contact details, Chamber of Commerce number, and VAT number easy to find? This is especially important for companies and webshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Netherlands, you are required to display this information prominently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"conclusion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By going through the steps in this overview one by one, you avoid the most common pitfalls that could hinder a website launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Remove the &#8220;Under Construction&#8221; or &#8220;Coming Soon&#8221; page if you still have it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do a final quick check of your homepage and the main pages. Click through your site as if you are a new visitor in an incognito browser window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then the moment you&#8217;ve been working towards: go live with your site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know the feeling all too well. You&#8217;ve worked incredibly hard on your website and now you&#8217;re ready to show it to the world. It looks fantastic, you&#8217;re proud of the result, and you can&#8217;t wait to hit that &#8220;live&#8221; button. But hold on a moment. A rushed launch can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hide_cta_migrate_site":false,"hide_toc_block":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,232],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks","category-wordpress"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":3221,"nl":2292},"pll_sync_post":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3337,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions\/3337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.host\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}