November 16

10 Things to Do Before Launching a WordPress Site

Before opening up a WordPress website for search engines and people, you may consider doing some things. If you built a website or blow by means of WooCommerce themes or WordPress templates, then you should prepare it and install or check certain settings.

Things to check before launching the website with WooCommerce themes:

Manage your email system

There is nothing worse than an automated response or a request for registration of a new user on your website with WordPress themes, in which the e-mail signature WordPress appears and some return address that does not say anything new user. Fortunately, there are a couple of filters to help fix this unfortunate misunderstanding. To do this, you may use the following code: <? php add_filter ('wp_mail_from', 'new_mail_from'); function new_mail_from ($ email) { $ email = 'me@yourwordpressite.com'; return $ email;} add_filter ('wp_mail_from_name', 'new_mail_from_name'); function new_mail_from_name ($ name) { $ name = 'Your WordPress Site'; return $ name;}?>

Do not forget about analytics

Analysis of the data is the key to the successful development of the site, no matter whether it is a family site or a large corporate resource. Tracking the behavior of users on the site will tell you in which direction to develop and monetize their project. A lot of options for tracking plug-ins offer features based on Google Analytics, but some of these plugins are implemented particularly well. Let's talk about the best plugins for analytics that are applied for different WooCommerce websites:

Google Analytics for WordPress by Yoast - Yoast analyst shows the raised traffic and user activity on the site to a new level. You can track the performance of traffic for specific posts, the authors, clicks, downloads, etc.
Google Analytics Dashboard - with the help of this plugin you get sorted access to all information collected. Widget panel allows a quick glance to evaluate key performance indicators collected by the site attendance statistics, the most popular posts and pages to assess the key needs and major sources of traffic.

Install special SEO plugins for WordPress templates

For better search engine optimization you may use such SEO plugins that are compatible with WooCommerce themes:

All in One SEO Pack - plugin that I used for years for the needs of the client on various projects. It works fine, they will continue to use and recommend it to you too.
WordPress SEO by Yoast - this plugin allows you to achieve amazing results in search engine optimization. However, less technically trained people may perceive it as a little "bulky" solution.
W3 Total Cache - here you might ask, well, what does the caching of pages is a search engine optimization? Note that now Google uses web pages load speed as a factor in ranking pages in search results.

Setting up the backup system

There are many ready solutions for creating backups of any site with WordPress templates. So let's look at the best of them:

BackWPup - a long time I used this plug-in for backups. It not only creates a backup of the database but also keeps the entire structure of files and pages on the site. The result is stored on the server, or can be sent to e-mail or stored in a "cloud" like S3, Dropbox or even on their own FTP-server.
Online Backup For WordPress - creates a full backup for the downloading and storage on a local server or to send by e-mail. Also, you can use it to create and store a backup account Backup Technology (allows you to store up to 100MB free).
VaultPress - in contrast to the two previous plugins, this plugin works on the basis of a monthly subscription fee. All you have created backups are stored on servers at the same VaultPress, so if something wrong happens to your server or your local PC/laptop, the data can be easily recovered.

Protect your admin panel from any WordPress theme

Most WordPress sites are running without protection and without the administrative part of any threats for years, but it is always better to be prepared, than to not be excruciatingly painful. The best advice to protect your admin panel in WordPress will be protected with a file .htaccess. Connect with your hosting provider to use their FTP-manager for the protection of your data via the admin panel of WooCommerce template. Use FTP-manager get in the site root .htaccess file and add the following lines (if the file does not exist, create it): <Files wp-login.php> AuthType Basic AuthName "Private zone" AuthUserFile path-to-the root folder of the website / .htpasswd Require valid-user </ Files> By means of the same FTP, the root site, create a file .htpasswd, which will be your login and password. After that, access to the admin will only be possible on the login and password. To create a bunch of login and password you must go to this link, enter it in the appropriate fields username and password and click on "Create .htpasswd file". The results of this manipulation are necessary to copy and paste into the previously created file .htpasswd.

Check the site for 404

For a young site, 404 can create a bad reputation. You must make sure that all the pages on your website are loaded properly, and there are no missing links. For this purpose use the wonderful plugin 404 to 301. With it, you can configure a redirect with 404 pages any other (like home page or site map) and e-mail notifications for the 404 on your WordPress site.

Check all forms for your website

After setting up e-mail, the next thing you need to do is make sure that all the forms on your website work. Check your contact forms, forms for adding comments, sign-up forms for e-mail, and so on. Ensure that every form on your website is working properly. Check your e-mail list to send and take the trouble to send a test email to confirm that your new address will be added to the mailing list. I do not use these, so I can confidently assert that it is necessary. If your site will benefit from several authors or even be multi-WordPress site, then check the login and registration forms. Remove unnecessary items from the admin area for user accounts.

Check the purchase system of your website with WooCommerce themes

Checking e-commerce sites should be done more carefully. You have to put yourself in the client, try to add items into the basket, and even make a test transaction to make sure that everything runs smoothly and flawlessly. If you sell digital goods, ensure that they are delivered promptly. For physical products, you will need to check your system for the smooth execution of orders.

Check the images, videos, sliders

Images and videos make a modern website more interactive. Make sure that all the images on your website are loaded quickly and correctly. See how to speed up WordPress by optimizing images. You should see the video on your website using a variety of devices and browsers to ensure that they work as intended. If you use the slider plugin for WordPress, make sure that the slider works in all major browsers and devices.

Test the social integration

Social media play a very important role in the successful launch of any product. Make sure that the type of "Follow me ..." users can find no problems. First of all, it is necessary to ensure that they can subscribe to your site for news and updates on such social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Classmates, Instagram, and others. In this case, it would be nice to include Twitter cards, Facebook Open Graph meta-data, and social monitoring tools to your site WordPress. If you have any questions related to the use of WooCommerce themes or other WordPress templates, use our Wordpress forum and technical support service available for you 24/7.