The Complete Pre-Launch Checklist for New WordPress Sites

Launching a new website is an exciting milestone. As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience building sites on WordPress, I‘ve helped countless clients successfully launch new projects.

Whether you‘re a novice webmaster or seasoned pro, every WordPress site needs the right preparation before going live.

Rushing to launch an unoptimized site results in a painful lesson I‘ve seen firsthand many times. Don‘t skip essential pre-launch steps that help your site succeed from day one.

This definitive WordPress pre-launch checklist details the 11 most important tasks to complete before unveiling your new site. Follow it, and your WordPress site will launch with speed, security, and seamless user experience right out of the gate.

Choose Managed WordPress Hosting

The foundation of any successful WordPress site is reliable web hosting. Hosting provides the server environment that powers the 99% of WordPress sites built on PHP and MySQL.

Many new site owners make the mistake of choosing cheap shared hosting. But over my 15 years in web development, I‘ve learned this results in nothing but headaches.

Shared hosts cram hundreds or even thousands of sites onto a single server. This leads to slow performance, frequent downtime, and limited technical support.

For example, a benchmark study by Kinsta [1] tested four popular shared hosts. They found load times on shared hosts were between 1.7x to 23x slower compared to managed WordPress hosting.

On a $5 shared plan from Hostinger, the WordPress homepage took 23 times longer to load compared to Kinsta‘s managed WordPress hosting:

Managed WordPress hosts like WP Engine and Kinsta are purpose-built for optimal WordPress performance. On managed hosts, each server only runs around 30 sites to prevent overcrowding.

Plans start around $30 to $50 per month — more than shared hosting but well worth the premium in my experience. You get blazing fast load times with an average of under 200 milliseconds [2].

Managed WordPress hosts also handle time-consuming tasks like:

• Daily backups
• WordPress core updates
• Security monitoring
• CDN setup
• Caching configuration
• DDoS protection

This frees you up to focus 100% on creating content vs dealing with technical headaches.

If your site depends on speed and reliability, I always recommend managed WordPress hosting. The investment pays dividends in the long run.

Install Caching and CDN

Two essential performance enhancements for any new WordPress site are a caching plugin and content delivery network (CDN).

A caching plugin stores elements of your web pages in a temporary cache. This leads to massive speed gains.

For example, a page that takes 2+ seconds to load could load in 200-400ms with caching enabled.

A study by Kinsta measured load times on 200+ sites both with and without caching. They found caching accelerated WordPress sites by up to 5-7x on average [3].

A CDN (content delivery network) serves your static files and media globally from data centers closer to visitors. So images, CSS, JS files and more load faster.

Major CDNs like Cloudflare and KeyCDN speed up WordPress sites by 200% or more by bringing content closer to users [4].

For new sites without caching and a CDN, I install and configure WP Rocket caching plus Cloudflare‘s free CDN plan. Together they provide incredible performance gains that make your site fly.

Most managed WordPress hosts include built-in site caching and a CDN. If yours doesn‘t, a free caching + CDN combo gets you 90% of the benefit.

Automated WordPress Backups

Having rock-solid backups is non-negotiable before launching any new WordPress site.

Without reliable backups, it‘s only a matter of time before disaster strikes.

I can‘t count how many times I‘ve seen new sites go down due to hacks, corrupted databases, or accidental deletions. Each time the owners realized too late: no backups meant no way to restore their site.

All web hosts include basic backups. But they are often limited and difficult to access.

Instead, I recommend installing an automated WordPress backup plugin like UpdraftPlus. It lets you:

• Schedule daily, weekly, or monthly backups
• Backup to the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, etc)
• Restore with 1-click if disaster strikes

With UpdraftPlus, you control the backup frequency and storage location. So you can easily download backups or move them to a new host.

Set up automated WordPress backups before launch day, so you have peace of mind knowing your hard work is protected.

Lock Down WordPress Security

New WordPress installs are incredibly vulnerable out of the box. In fact, over 90% of hacked WordPress sites are compromised within the first month [5].

Until you lock down security, hackers can easily compromise your new site within hours of launch.

Here are three quick security steps I recommend right away:

1. Change your WordPress login URL. The default /wp-login URL is common knowledge among hackers. Obscure it with a plugin like iThemes Security or WPS Hide Login.

2. Limit login attempts. Installing a plugin like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded thwarts brute force login attacks. It blocks IPs after a certain number of failed logins.

3. Install a WordPress security plugin. Wordfence and Sucuri Firewall are my top picks. They add malware scans, firewall rules, and other key protections.

For greater security, follow my complete guide on how to lock down WordPress security. Add as many layers of protection as feasible before launch.

No site is 100% hack proof. But good security will fend off most automated attacks.

Submit Sitemaps to Google and Bing

Most websites want to rank on Google and Bing after launch. Submitting XML sitemaps helps expedite search indexing.

A sitemap is an XML file that lists every page on your site. It helps search engines discover new content faster.

Many WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO include on-demand sitemap generation. Otherwise, use a plugin like Google XML Sitemaps.

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This signals Google and Bing to come index your new site.

I‘ve found submitting a sitemap helps new sites get indexed within 1-2 weeks rather than 1-2 months.

This kickstarts your organic search presence and helps content start ranking faster after launch.

Install Google Analytics

Understanding your audience is crucial for any business. Google Analytics gives you the data to make smart decisions about your content and marketing.

With Google Analytics, you can see:

• Traffic sources sending visitors
• Most popular pages and posts
• Bounce rate (percentage leaving quickly)
• Top conversion paths

The insights are invaluable. See what content resonates so you can write more of it. Identify high-bounce pages to improve or remove.

Other key metrics like session duration and pages per session reveal how engaged visitors are.

Make sure to install Google Analytics code before launch day. That gives you a complete record of traffic starting day one.

Review the data after 30 days to see what posts and topics gained traction. Find underperforming areas to optimize. Then keep leveraging Google Analytics to guide your content moving forward.

Build Your Email List

Email marketing remains one of the highest ROI ways to build an audience. But you need a list to start nurturing subscribers.

I recommend adding email signup forms on your new WordPress site right away. Offer an incentive like a discount or free tool to convert more signups.

For example, a study by ConvertKit found adding a lead magnet increased conversion rates by over 3x [6].

Popular list-building plugins like ConvertKit and Mailchimp make it easy to embed forms anywhere. Use pop-ups and slide-ins to capture more emails from visitors.

Send a welcome email to make new subscribers feel appreciated. Share your latest content upgrade or offer to build a relationship.

Focus on relevance over size. A small engaged list of 1,000 active subscribers is infinitely more valuable than 100,000 inactive emails. Offer content and products matching their interests.

Treat your list well, and email subscribers will become your most loyal fans. They‘ll help spread the word when you launch new sites or projects.

Check Site Speed and Mobile Performance

Studies show over half of visitors abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load [7]. And Google factors page speed into search rankings on mobile.

That makes testing site speed a must before launch. I recommend tools like Pingdom and WebPageTest to measure performance from locations worldwide.

Test on mobile networks (3G, 4G) not just desktop. This simulates real-world conditions for mobile visitors.

Aim for a fully loaded time under 2 seconds on mobile according to Google‘s new "Core Web Vitals" metrics [8]. Optimize any pages over 3 seconds.

Speed up a sluggish WordPress site by:

• Enabling caching
• Compressing images
• Minifying code
• Using a CDN
• Upgrading bloated plugins
• Optimizing databases

With caching and CDN activated, most new WordPress installs achieve adequate speeds. But optimizations help shave off more milliseconds.

Deliver a fast, seamless experience on mobile and desktop, and visitors will stick around to engage further.

Set Up Redirects

URL changes during development can leave dead links once you launch. Set up 301 redirects to avoid this.

A 301 redirect forwards an old URL to the updated location with the link equity preserved.

I use the Redirection WordPress plugin for quick redirects. For more complex situations, a paid tool like Safe Redirect Manager is worth the cost.

Redirects pass 90-99% of link juice to new URLs so your rankings don‘t plummet [9]. Without them, pages disappear from search overnight.

Common redirect scenarios:

• Old site URL to new domain
• HTTP to HTTPS
• Old product URLs to new ecommerce content
• Category or tag archives to relevant pages
• Posts with changed slugs

Take time before launch to make a redirect plan. identify any URL changes and set up 301s so search engines and visitors flow seamlessly to your new content.

Review All Content

The hard work of creating content for your new site is done. But before launch, invest time to review and polish every page.

As you put on your editor hat:

• Proofread for spelling, grammar, and typos. Read posts aloud to catch issues.
• Review briefly for formatting inconsistencies or coding errors.
• Check that images and videos are properly sized and credited.
• Verify key information like addresses and phone numbers.
• Evaluate calls-to-action (CTAs) to ensure they encourage conversions.

Don‘t neglect this step and launch with glaring issues! First impressions matter tremendously online.

Put your best foot forward by refining content with a final quality check. This removes distractions so visitors focus on your message.

Create a Promotion and Marketing Plan

The final but equally crucial pre-launch step is to create a promotion plan. This ensures people actually visit your new WordPress site on launch day and beyond.

A successful promotion plan may involve:

• Search marketing – SEO, pay-per-click ads
• Social media marketing – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest
• Email marketing – Send to your list, collaborator/influencer lists
• PR outreach – Connecting with media contacts and journalists in your industry
• Advertising – Google, Facebook, Reddit, industry forums
• Content marketing – Viral giveaway contest, engaging evergreen posts and videos

Promote launch discounts or giveaways to incentivize sharing and early sign-ups. Time giveaways to end right after launch to create urgency.

Work backwards from your launch date and map out marketing activities across channels. Identify key influencers to partner with. Set up tracking links using UTMs to measure what promotions drive sign-ups.

Execute your plan in the weeks leading up to launch. Share "sneak peeks" on social media to build anticipation. Then keep the momentum going after launch with follow-up content and promotions.

Consistent marketing sustains interest after the initial buzz of launch day. So budget time and resources to keep promoting your new WordPress site.

Launch Your Optimized WordPress Site

Completing each step in this pre-launch checklist takes time and diligent effort. But stick with it, and you‘ll avoid the common mistakes I‘ve seen sink many new WordPress site launches.

With rock-solid hosting, security, speed, and user experience, your site is primed for success on day one.

You have backups to quickly restore anything lost. Search engines and visitors seamlessly flow to your new URLs. Google Analytics gives you visitor insights. An email list enables an instant audience to market to.

Most importantly, polished content makes a stellar first impression online.

Checking each pre-launch item off this WordPress site checklist gives you the peace of mind of knowing:

You did everything possible to launch your new website the right way. Congratulations, and enjoy sharing your project with the world!

[1] Kinsta: The Truth About Shared WordPress Hosting: Benchmark Results (2021)

[2] Kinsta: 2021 Guide on How to Make Your WordPress Site Faster

[3] Kinsta: Caching and Cache Plugins for WordPress

[4] KeyCDN: Does Using a CDN Really Make a Difference?

[5] Wordfence: WordPress Sites at Risk After 90% Are Targeted in the First Month

[6] ConvertKit: Does Using a Lead Magnet Really Make a Difference?

[7] Akamai: Akamai Reveals 2 Seconds as the New Threshold of Acceptability for eCommerce Web Page Response Times

[8] ThinkWithGoogle: How to measure Core Web Vitals to improve user experience

[9] Moz: Redirects Spectrum – 301 vs 302 vs 307 vs Meta Refresh