December 2014: The best tips to remember when launching your site

The best tips to

remember when

launching your site

Since last month

SoakSoakWordPress 4.1

10 tips for redesigning your site in 2015

Next month on January 15

We’ll be in the smaller room for January

Create Your Own Widgets and Shortcodes

Diana Nichols

On February 5

• Things that should be done earlier.– Keyword research

– Making a site mobile responsive

– Adding content/images

– Creating a child theme

– Customizing colors

– Setting up social media

• Moving the site to the new host.– Too many variables to cover in a single Meetup

What we won’t cover today

Task Templates

Task Templates

Task Templates

Some of our task templates

● SEO Audit

● Planning Phase

● Design Phase

● Development Phase

● Adding sites to InfiniteWP

● Updating WordPress

Some of our task templates

● SEO audit checklisto Get data from Raven, Canonicalization,

mobile responsiveness, number of indexed

pages, check out parent landing pages,

google analytics installed?, extra footer links,

Hx hierarchy, title and other meta tags,

copyright date, accurate social URLs

o Blog: Category setup, WP version, sharing

plugins

Some of our task templates

● Planning Phase of a websiteo Collect initial payment

o Create sitemap

o Import SlickPlan / Set up content collector

o Wireframe

o Planning complete, set up design phase

Some of our task templates

● Design Phase of a websiteo Set up dates for this phase

o Take a screenshot of current site

o 25% payment due

o Design home page

o Design internal page

o Prep files for development

o Design complete, set up development phase

Some of our task templates

● Development Phase of a websiteo Set up dates for this phase

o Final copy due

o Set up test site

o Import content collector and set client cc

access to “subscriber”

o Develop site

o Send test site and final invoice

Some of our task templates

● Add sites to InfiniteWPo Full site backup, update plugins on site,

activate in IWP, hide themes/plugins as

needed, add to GWT, add to backup

schedule, add to Port-Monitor, add to “WP

Blogs” template, send invoice and add

recurring to Freshbooks and Teamwork

Some of our task templates

● WordPress update listo All sites that we’re responsible for...

Our task template for

launching a new site

Verify Google Analytics

● Make sure it’s using Universal, including

demographics

● Set up any goals, if applicable

● Set up site search tracking, if applicable

Verify all in-post and in-page links are using the

final URL

Verify all widget links are pointed to the live site

Verify all hard-coded CSS references are

pointed to the live site

Verify any custom functions.php items are

pointed to the live site

Verify all navigation menu links are pointed to

the live site

Delete any unused plugins

Verify favicon is in there

Check time zone settings

Set WordPress to allow search engine indexing

Make sure forms are set to send to the proper

recipients

Add redirects from all old URLs to the new ones

Enable Jetpack sharing icons and customize

other Jetpack settings

Make sure test blog entries have been removed

Make sure there is no “uncategorized” category in

the blog

Make sure all links/images embedded in

Tablepress are pointed to the live site

Check logo / header / background image URL

Double-check site title tags

Check WP SEO settings, particularly open

graph meta data

Check WordPress settings and tag line

Add launch date to analytics annotations and

our launch spreadsheet

Schedule training

Write blog post about the site launch

Send thank-you card to site owner

+2 weeks: Send website questionnaire

The best tips to

remember when

launching your site