Title: 13 Must-Do Checks Before Launching Your WordPress Website

You worked hard on your WordPress website and now you are about to launch it. The big day is right around the corner!

But there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Are you aware of all of them? You probably aren’t if this is your first ever launch.

That is why I decided to outline 13 things that you need to check before you launch your website…

1. Domain considerations

Okay, so it’s something I shouldn’t even have to say, but I still see a lot of people making this mistake – get your own domain name (don’t use .wordpress.com)!

Domain names are extremely affordable so you don’t have any reason not to get one. For example, at Hostinger you can get a cheap domain for $8.99/year. Please do yourself and your business a favor and get a proper domain name!

2. Make sure you have a backup

You know how life is. Things are going well… Until they aren’t. You never know what might happen, which is why it’s important to have a recent backup of your website at all times. BackupBuddy is a great plugin for backing up your site, restoring it, or moving it to a different hosting provider.

3. Build good looking website

People like to say that content is king. But think about it. When you land on a website that has a terrible design, how often do you stick around long enough to check out their content? If you are like most people, your answer is “Never”. So don’t ruin all the hard work you put into creating great content by underestimating the importance of design. Make sure that your website looks great!

4. Check Images, Videos, Sliders

Okay, so you made sure that your website looks good, but before you launch it, I suggest you go through everything one more time just to make sure that all the images and videos are working properly. Also, add a WordPress slider to your homepage, it will really liven it up!

5. Setup Email for Your WordPress Site

Many people use their personal emails for their blogs, but I don’t recommend it, because as you get more popular your inbox will be flooded with inquiries from your readers. Create a separate email account that is dedicated to the blog.

6. Make sure the contact form is working

Having a contact form is important because it provides your readers with a way to reach you. Use CaptainForm plugin to create a simple contact form and add it to your site. Just don’t forget to test it before the launch!

7. E-commerce Websites

Are you creating an ecommerce website using WordPress? Then you’ll need an easy way to process payments. Stripe works great for that. Simply install a payment plugin and add “Buy Now” buttons. You are ready to sell!

8. Build a knowledge base

Your customers will have questions… a lot of them! If you don’t want to spend all your waking hours on customer support, you should create a knowledge database. Install the KnowAll Theme and add the most frequently asked questions to it. It will save you tons of time in the long run!

9. Setup social media accounts

When it comes to social media, you want to hit the ground running, which is why it’s important to setup your social media accounts prior to the launch. I recommend you to start with Facebook and Twitter. Once you have grown these a bit, you can branch out to other social networks, such as Instagram and Pinterest.

10. Use social media schedule tool

Things are going to get busy once you launch your website. It’s very easy to neglect your social media profiles when there are so many other pressing matters that need your attention. That’s why you should use Viraltag to schedule and recycle your posts on various social networks. Put it on autopilot and watch your profiles grow!

11. Want to earn from affiliates?

Are you aware that you don’t actually need to have your own product to start earning money from day one? You can become an affiliate, sell other people’s products, and earn a commission. It can be a very lucrative business model. For example, you could become an iGaming affiliate and use VegasHero.co – WordPress Affiliate themes & plugins – to add monetized games to your website. There are plenty of opportunities like that, you just need to look!

12. Make sure you take care of analytics

Data is extremely important because that is what allows you to make good decisions in your business. That’s why you need to set up Google Analytics before the launch. That way you’ll have all the metrics you need from day one.

13. Make sure Yoast is running

Do you want people to be able to find you on Google? Well, then you better make sure that each of your posts is optimized for search engines, not just for the readers. Yoast SEO plugin can be incredibly helpful in that regard. Do you already have it running? Make sure that you do!

Conclusion

I know that you are already busy. There are many things that you need to do before the launch. However, please do yourself a favor, and run the checks that I recommended. It will make the launch day go much smoother!