A Web Designer’s 11-Step Checklist After Launching a WordPress Website

‘Build it, and they will come. ‘ Well, not quite. Launching a website is merely the beginning. Web designers should do several things post-launch to ensure their website is on the right path to marketing success.
A successful website isn’t just about going live; it’s about creating and maintaining a strong foundation that keeps visitors engaged and search engines happy. Post-launch optimization is essential for long-term success.
Implementing the right strategies will better position your website for search engines, provide a seamless user experience, and protect it from security threats.
My 11-Step Checklist After Launching a Website
As an experienced web designer in Austin, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with countless businesses to launch successful websites. From this experience, I’ve compiled a list of 11 things every web designer should check off a to-do list as soon as the site is launched.
1. Ensure Security and SSL Certification
To keep your website safe from threats, you must take the proper security steps immediately after launching it. One of the first steps is verifying that SSL certification is installed correctly.
Secure websites are prioritized by search engines and trusted by users. Enabling HTTPS ensures that all data transfers are encrypted, reducing the risk of security breaches.
Set Up 301 Redirects
Additionally, setting up 301 redirects ensures that all non-secure URLs automatically redirect to the HTTPS version, eliminating duplicate URL issues.
Tip: Check your website’s SSL certificate using browser tools or online security checkers to confirm proper installation.
2. Set Up Google Analytics & Event Tracking
You should track how visitors interact with your website to make informed improvements and boost performance. Setting up Google Analytics helps track traffic, user behavior, and conversions.
Configure Google Analytics
Integrating Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is essential for measuring your website’s success. Google Analytics allows you to track visitor behavior, traffic sources, and conversions, providing valuable insights into how users interact with your content.
Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Tracking the right KPIs helps you measure your website’s success and identify areas for improvement. Analyzing these metrics allows you to make data-driven decisions to optimize user experience and conversion rates.
Some essential KPIs to monitor include:
- Traffic Metrics: Total website visits, unique visitors, and returning visitors.
- User Engagement: Bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session.
- Conversion Tracking: Goal completions, form submissions, and eCommerce transactions.
- SEO Performance: Organic traffic, keyword rankings, and backlink profile.
- Technical Performance: Page load speed, mobile usability, and core web vitals.
Reviewing these KPIs regularly will help you track progress and fine-tune your website for better performance.
Use Google Tag Manager
For a more advanced setup, Google Tag Manager (GTM allows you to efficiently manage and deploy tracking scripts without manually modifying website code. GTM enables you to:
- Track User Interactions: Easily set up tracking for clicks, form submissions, scroll depth, and video engagement.
- Manage Tags in One Place: Instead of adding multiple tracking codes to your website, use GTM to manage them from a centralized interface.
- Improve Website Performance: A single GTM container allows you to manage and deploy various tracking codes and marketing tags, reducing the number of scripts running directly on your site and enhancing load speed and efficiency.
- Simplify Event Tracking: You can set up Google Analytics goals, conversions, and remarketing tags without editing your website code.
Leveraging GTM can help you gain deeper insights into user behavior while keeping your site’s codebase clean and optimized.
3. Leverage Free Search Engine Tools
Your website needs to be optimized for search engines to drive consistent traffic. Tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools ensure your site is indexed correctly and performs well in search results.
Submit Your Website to Google Search Console (GSC) & Bing Webmaster Tools
Improving your site’s search engine visibility is crucial after launch. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools provide insights into search performance, indexing status, and potential site errors that may affect visibility.
Generate and Submit an XML Sitemap to GSC and Bing Webmaster Tools
Submitting an XML Sitemap helps search engines understand your site structure and ensures all your important pages are indexed. SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or SEOPress can simplify the sitemap creation and submission process.
4. Enhance Metadata & On-Page SEO
Metadata is vital because it helps search engines find a website. If a designer is not well-versed in search engine optimization practices, the best bet may be to hire an SEO company to help optimize all digital content, including web pages and blogs.
It’s essential to focus on the following SEO best practices to optimize the website for search engines.
Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research helps tailor your content to what your audience is actively searching for. Identifying frequently searched queries allows you to refine existing pages and create future content that meets user intent.
Optimize Metadata
Each page should have a compelling meta title and description that include relevant keywords while still being engaging for users. Search engines use this information to determine a page’s relevance, influencing rankings.
Improve Image Optimization
Optimizing images helps improve website speed and accessibility. Compressing images reduces file sizes, leading to faster load times without sacrificing quality. Free tools like TinyPNG, Squoosh, and Imagify can help with image compression. Additionally, adding alt text ensures accessibility for visually impaired users and improves SEO.
5. Review Content & Readability
Your content should be clear, structured, and engaging to keep visitors on your site longer. Reviewing readability ensures that visitors can easily consume and understand your content.
Conduct a Content Audit
Post-launch is a great time to perform a content audit and double-check that all copy aligns with your brand’s messaging and is error-free. Readability plays a significant role in user experience—structured content with clear headings, concise paragraphs, and engaging language will improve time on the page and reduce bounce rates.
Tip: Consider using readability tools like Hemingway Editor or Grammarly to refine content for clarity and engagement.
Use Proper Header Structures
Proper content structuring using HTML markup and header tags (H1, H2, H3) is essential for readability and SEO. Your page should only have one H1 tag, and subheadings should be used logically to organize content effectively.
6. Set Up Robots.txt for Crawl Efficiency
The robots.txt file directs search engine crawlers on which pages to index or ignore. This file can be customized to prevent search engines from crawling unnecessary admin pages, secured PDFs, or duplicate content, helping optimize crawl budgets.
7. Integrate Social Media & Marketing Elements
You can use social media to drive more traffic and increase engagement on your website. Integrating your website with social channels helps increase visibility.
Add Social Media Links
A website’s social media presence can amplify its reach. Adding social media links and ensuring content is shareable can drive organic traffic.
Leverage Marketing Strategies
Website integrations, such as social sharing buttons or embedding feeds, encourage user interaction and extend content visibility. Announcing the launch via email marketing and press releases can generate initial traffic and engagement.
8. Optimize Performance & Uptime Monitor
If your website is slow, it will hurt user experience and SEO rankings. Regular monitoring ensures optimal load times and uptime.
Monitor Site Speed & Uptime
Website speed and uptime are critical for user experience and SEO. Setting up uptime monitoring tools ensures that any downtime is quickly addressed. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix help analyze load times and suggest improvements such as caching, image optimization, and content delivery networks (CDNs).
Implement Caching & CDNs
Many premier hosting providers, such as Kinsta and WP Engine, offer built-in caching solutions. However, third-party tools like WPRocket can provide additional control of your cache and further enhance speed by minimizing code bloat and improving browser caching.
9. Maintain Security & Regular Backups
Your website is always at risk of security threats, so staying protected is essential. Regular backups and security measures protect your site from data loss and attacks.
Strengthen Website Security
Web security should never be an afterthought. To prevent potential threats, consider installing an extra layer of protection with firewalls and security plugins, such as Wordfence or Solid Security.
Automate Regular Backups
Additionally, maintaining regular backups ensures quick recovery in case of data loss. Most WordPress hosting services offer daily backups, but third-party solutions like UpdraftPlus can add extra layers of security.
Keep WordPress & Plugins Updated
Another critical security measure is Keeping WordPress, plugins, and themes updated. Outdated software is one of the leading causes of website vulnerabilities, so regular maintenance is essential.
10. Check Website Functionality & Responsiveness
A functional website is key to user satisfaction and conversion success. To ensure everything works as expected, it is important to test all elements across multiple devices.
Your site must work seamlessly across all devices and browsers to keep site users engaged.
Once the website is live, running quality assurance tests ensures all elements function correctly. This includes verifying that:
- All links (internal & external) are working
- Forms, buttons, and interactive elements are responsive
- The site looks and functions correctly across all devices
- CTAs (Call-to-Actions) are clear and conversion-optimized
Testing tools like BrowserStack can simulate different device environments to confirm that mobile users have a seamless experience.
11. Ensure Legal Compliance & Privacy Policies
A legally compliant website builds trust and helps you avoid costly fines. Make sure your site meets current legal standards by checking the following:
- Make Your Site GDPR/CCPA Compliant: Add cookie consent banners so users can control their data preferences and be transparent about how their information is used.
- Write a Clear Privacy Policy: Clearly explain how you collect, store, and use visitor data so they know exactly what to expect.
- Make Your Website Accessible: Follow WCAG guidelines to ensure all users, including those with disabilities, can navigate and interact with your site.
- Stay Up to Date on Legal Changes: Laws around digital privacy are constantly evolving, so reviewing your policies helps you stay compliant.
Grow Leads and Increase Traffic
A website launch is just the beginning. Monitoring and optimization will help maximize performance, security, and SEO rankings.
If you’re unsure on where to start, Simply fill out my contact form today, and I’ll help you get started on reaching your goals!