If you’re thinking of starting a WordPress site, then you are in a good company. WordPress sites make up 37% of all of the websites on the internet. Whether it’s a personal website or a website for a business, WordPress’s highly customizable nature means that you will be able to set up a site that meets your needs. WordPress is an amazing platform for hosting your website because there are many plugins that allow you to add the functionality that you need such as WooCommerce which facilitates eCommerce websites. You’ve probably installed WordPress already and probably have your site set up nicely. However, there are a few things that you should make sure that you have in order before launching your site.
1. Secure Your Admin Area
You should make sure that you secure your admin area. This is one of the first steps that you should take after setting up your WordPress website. Since WordPress is such a common platform, that, unfortunately, means that there are a lot of prying eyes trying to get illegal access to and exploit WordPress websites. The default wp-admin login link makes it easy for malicious persons who’ve figured out that you have a WordPress website to try to gain access to your website. However, there are plugins like WPS Hide Login which let you mask your admin area by letting you change the login link. Plugins like the AskApache plugin can also password protect your admin area, providing you with even more security.
2. Make Sure Your Search Engine Optimization is in Order
When people search for something related to your niche, it would be preferable if your website was the first one that they saw. In order to do this, you will have to make sure that your search engine optimization (SEO) is in order. A large amount of traffic to websites is directed from search engines like Google, so website owners need to implement various techniques such as including keywords that indicate that their website focuses on certain niches.
3. Install Google Analytics
Installing Google Analytics is another important step that you should take before launching your website. Doing this will allow you to gather important data about how your users are accessing and using your website. This service will give you data about things like how long users stay on your website before leaving. If they leave rather quickly then this means that there is an issue with your website. Maybe it loads too slowly or maybe your content isn’t interesting enough. Regardless of what the issue is, you can use this data to help you to improve your website.
4. Set Up An Email Address
You will probably be sending emails from your website for a variety of reasons including for things like newsletters. In order to make sure that your emails are sent out correctly, you will need to make sure that your email settings are configured correctly.
5. Test Social Integrations
It’s typical these days to integrate with various social media sites in order to facilitate things like sharing posts and for logging in to websites. There are plugins available that facilitate both logging in and the sharing of posts and links from your website.
6. Make Sure All of Your Forms Are Working
WordPress sites usually have forms that facilitate things like contacting the owner of the site. However, they do need to be configured correctly. Make sure to test out all of your forms to ensure that they are working before launch. Doing this will ensure that you detect any errors with your forms before launching your site. You don’t want to have your forms not working when a user/customer is trying to reach out to you.
7. Install a Backup Solution
Mistakes happen and there is a chance that for some reason, your website may become corrupted. To hedge against this, you can implement a backup solution to make sure that you’re able to easily recover from any critical errors that your site might experience.
Final Words
Starting a new WordPress site is an exciting journey. However, make sure that everything is in order and follow the tips above to make sure that you have as seamless of a launch as possible.
