According to data, more than 500 websites are built with WordPress each day. It is impressive when you look at the numbers from the right perspective; for example, it’s 60-80 sites per day for Shopify.

However, building a website is one thing; building a website that clicks and ranks high is a whole different story that needs a lot of initial efforts and constant observations later. If you have already found an easy to use, open-source CMS (content management system), then the next step is making sure that your website stands out and sky-rockets from the start.

If you’re working with WordPress, you have come to the right place. In this article, you will find the list of things you simply have to check before launching your new website if you want to avoid a false start.

WordPress Backup Solution

Your page probably took a lot of time and effort to create – for some, losing it might even be a disaster. That is why you should always have a way to recover your data – ideally, by setting up a WordPress backup solution. It will be your website’s safeguard policy in case it gets hacked, an update goes wrong, or you lock yourself out by mistake.

You can set it up by implementing WordPress backup plugins. You will find plenty of them online – some are free and open-source, others are paid. Just like with the WordPress video gallery plugin or notification plugin – it takes only a few minutes to set up and is easy to use.

Many backups let you store your data in multiple locations, which makes them easy to restore. You can automatically store your WordPress site data on different cloud services like Google Drive, DropBox, S3, or Rackspace. Some backup plugin versions will also let you migrate and clone websites and perform database searches.

A 404 Error

No-one likes a 404 error. It creates a bad user experience and makes your website look unprofessional. As such, you should make sure that there are no missing links, or URLs with typos, and that all pages are loading properly.

If a customer comes across a 404 error on your website, they will most likely head to your competitors. It will affect your website’s performance in search engines. So make sure you install the WordPress 404 error page plugin in advance. A default 404 error page looks tedious, so having it custom-made and informative guarantees your visitors an engaging user experience.

If you haven’t added your domain to Google Webmaster Tools yet, you would have to manually crawl your WordPress site to make sure all pages are available and working. It is vital to check all subpages to increase traffic and generate leads.

Working Forms on Your Website

Most sites use some kinds of forms on their pages – contact forms, email subscription forms, comment section forms, and so on. Make sure they all work properly to guarantee your clients a pleasant, engaging encounter.

Before launching your website with WordPress, make sure all your forms work and display correctly. You should check the email list and send test emails to see if they are delivered to the right addresses. It is crucial as it has one of the highest ROI’s (return on investment) out of all marketing methods. You can read about its importance and how to create it here.

Aside from adequately working forms, you should also pay attention to esthetics. Ensure that your forms match your overall WordPress domain design and content. So, before you get started, install a handy plugin that will let you collect emails in WordPress.

Google Analytics

If you want to improve your website, you need to know the performance statistics.
Google Analytics is an easy way to track how your visitors interact with your page, posts or e-commerce. It tells you where the traffic comes from.

Is it organic or referral? Are they just visiting your site, or do they engage more? Answers to all this will let you know in which parts of your strategy, products, and services you should invest and develop.

Google Analytics will also help you keep track of how much your WordPress website has grown. So make sure you install it, along with adequate plugins, before the launch of your domain.

SEO Optimization

Search engines are the top source of unpaid traffic for most websites – and they are free. Search engine optimization is meant for anyone managing, monetizing, or promoting content online.

Google is an automated search engine that crawls and explores the web constantly, and paying attention to SEO often means making small changes to some parts of your website to rank higher in Google search results and grow traffic steadily.

As with all the other issues, you can also find many free WordPress plugins and themes online. They will help you optimize URLs for search engines (they have to be easy to read and search-engine-friendly), manage alt texts, domain name, title tags, and much more. Here you will find more information shared directly by Google Search Central.

Launching Your WordPress Website

Even if WordPress is the most straightforward, most commonly used, and free CMS, it will still take time and preparation for you to build a site that is eye-pleasing, professional in terms of content, and the one that ranks high in search engines.

Make sure to follow our guide of things to check and do as much research as you can, no matter if you’re launching a blog, e-commerce, or a company website.

You can decide to hire a team of professionals to make sure that everything is top-notch before your launch, or you can choose to add various WordPress plugins and themes and keep track of your business yourself. Close performance surveillance usually takes just several clicks, and you can react quicker.