<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WordPress-Website.jpg" alt="WordPress Website" width="320" height="180" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-8964" />When you’re getting ready to launch your WordPress website, there are a few items you may need to consider before going live. With thousands of new websites going live daily on the internet, you want to make sure yours will stand out when it’s ready to be launched. 

Make it stand out from the start by going through a checklist of tasks that should be accomplished before launching your website. From checking for errors to securing and backing up your site, here is a look at everything you’ll want to do before going live. 

<h2>Where to Start</h2>

Have you chosen the best web hosting for your website? Most people use WordPress hosting but you may want to look into a managed WordPress hosting. It’s one of the most important things you can choose for your website so be sure you’ve ready about both to make the right decision. Once you’ve done this you can work on other crucial areas of your site that should happen before going live. 

For many people deciding to use WordPress, a good shared hosting account will be all you need. However, you do want to make sure you choose a trusted company with plenty of experience. They should offer 24/7/365 support from knowledgeable professionals and great customer service.

<h2>Have you Backed up your WordPress site?</h2>

You should install a WordPress backup solution on the website to work as like an insurance policy for your site. In the case of an emergency, your site will be able to be recovered. Check out the free or for sale WordPress backup plugins that can be added in no time and then schedule them to automatically backup and save work into the cloud storage service of your choosing. Check out BackupBuddy for a quick and easy solution. 

<h2>Did you check for errors?</h2>

Nothing is worse than a brand new site popping up on the web with typos or pages that won’t load properly. If you’re seeing 404 errors on your new website, your users won’t have a good experience. Make sure all of your pages are loading and there are no missing links. Manually browse the site to see if everything works or if you’ve already added it to Google Webmaster Tools, you’ll find it in your crawl report. 

<h2>How are the images, sliders and videos working?</h2>

These items will make your site more interactive and give your site a modern appeal. Make sure everything is loading properly and optimize the images for the website. Try playing your videos on different browsers and devices to see how they are working. Sometimes sliders won’t work on all browsers or devices as you intended them to work. 

<h2>Beef up Security</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WordPress-Security.jpg" alt="WordPress Security" width="270" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8963" />Make sure you’ve secured your WordPress admin area. While WordPress is not a major source of hacking, it’s still important to be prepared rather than sorry later. Try a Sucuri firewall to make your site super secure and safe from attacks. 

<h2>Did you setup your WordPress email?</h2>

Believe it or not, one of the most common errors for WordPress users is failing to setup their emails. You may not be getting all of your email notifications. Many mail servers will think it’s spam when the sender’s email doesn’t match the original domain or server. Check around the site for properly working contact forms, comment forms, email subscriptions and more. Make sure your social sharing plugins are working properly so that you users can connect with you on social media. 

<h2>Ecommerce Site</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Ecommerce-Website.png" alt="Ecommerce Website" width="164" height="180" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-8962" />If you have an ecommerce website, be sure to see what the user experience will be on the site. act like you are trying to purchase something by browsing products, adding something to the cart and doing a test transaction to see if it’s working right. Make sure things are being delivered promptly. 

Lastly, be sure to do performance tests, set up Google Analytics and check your SEO settings. These final actions will make sure your users aren’t having any issues using the site, make sure you can track your visitors usage on the site and how they found you, plus you’ll want to make sure your search engine optimization is growing your traffic after you’ve launched. 
