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A polished homepage is not enough to make a WordPress site launch-ready. Before publishing, verify the domain, hosting, HTTPS, updates, backups, visitor journeys, forms, integrations, accessibility, and performance—and test the public site while logged out on a phone as well as a desktop.
1. Review every page and the navigation
Read the site as a visitor, not only in the editor. Confirm the site title, homepage copy, contact details, legal pages, images, menus, footer links, calls to action, and visible buttons are final. Open every menu item and link, including links in posts, widgets, headers, and footers. Remove placeholder text, draft pages, sample content, and unused navigation items.
2. Confirm the domain and account details
Set the intended primary domain and check that it resolves to the site. For WordPress.com, confirm the account email required for launch and allow time for a newly registered or connected domain to become active; WordPress.com says this can take 24–72 hours. A self-hosted site also needs the domain’s DNS records pointed to the correct host.
3. Check hosting compatibility for self-hosted WordPress
If you run WordPress on your own hosting, verify the provider’s current software support before launch. WordPress.org currently recommends:
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- PHP 8.3 or greater
- MariaDB 10.11 or greater, or MySQL 8.0 or greater
- HTTPS support
These recommendations can change, so check the current WordPress.org requirements page and your host’s documentation immediately before publishing. Confirm that your plan has enough storage, memory, email capability, and database access for the site’s actual workload.
4. Verify HTTPS, URLs, and redirects
Open representative public pages and the administration area with https://. The browser should show no certificate warning, mixed-content warning, or unexpected switch between HTTP and HTTPS. Check that the preferred domain—such as the www or non-www version—redirects consistently and that WordPress Address and Site Address use the intended scheme and domain.
Reverse proxies and host-managed SSL can create redirect loops when proxy headers or HTTPS detection are wrong. If a loop appears, ask the host to verify the proxy configuration rather than repeatedly changing URL settings.
5. Run Site Health
In the WordPress dashboard, go to Tools → Site Health. Review both Critical issues and Recommended improvements. Site Health checks areas including updates, server software, scheduled maintenance, and security. Resolve critical findings before launch, and understand any recommendation you intentionally defer.
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6. Update core, themes, and plugins deliberately
Bring WordPress core, the active theme, and plugins up to date, but do not treat an update as risk-free. Make a restorable backup first, update in a controlled order, and then inspect the public site. Recheck menus, layouts, forms, checkout flows, logins, and other functions that could be affected by a compatibility change.
7. Prove that your backup can recover the site
Confirm that your backup arrangement includes both the site’s files and its database. Know where backups are stored, how long they are retained, and who can restore them. If your host supplies backups, verify the restore procedure and access; if you use a plugin or external service, confirm that its latest archive is complete and usable. A backup that has never been tested is an assumption, not a recovery plan.
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8. Test the public site as a visitor
Use a private browser window or log out of WordPress so cached administrator privileges do not hide problems. Test the main visitor journeys:
- Open the homepage and several internal pages.
- Follow menus, buttons, search, breadcrumbs, and footer links.
- Submit the contact or newsletter form and confirm delivery.
- Check error pages and redirects where relevant.
- Repeat the checks on a phone, not only on a desktop.
For WordPress.com, these logged-out checks are especially important after using the platform’s launch control, because the public view can differ from the editor preview.
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9. Check functions and integrations specific to your site
Test every service the site actually uses. For an online store, place a test order or otherwise verify the payment and confirmation flow in the provider’s supported test method. Confirm analytics records a visit, accounts can register and sign in, email integrations deliver messages, and embedded services load correctly. If you use scheduled posts, cron jobs, subscriptions, backups, or other automated tasks, verify that they run at the expected time and do not depend on an inactive plugin or blocked server task.
10. Review performance and basic accessibility
Load key pages on several browsers or devices and, where practical, on a slower connection. Look for oversized images, layout shifts, blocked scripts, slow third-party embeds, and content that appears only after a long delay. A high performance score is not proof of a good real-world experience.
Try the site with a keyboard: focus should be visible and controls reachable in a sensible order. Check text and control contrast, meaningful link labels, image alternative text, heading structure, zoom behavior, and basic screen-reader navigation. These are practical launch checks, not certification of formal accessibility conformance.
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Go to Settings → Reading → Site Visibility and choose Launch site. WordPress.com sites remain unavailable to the public until this control is used. Revisit the site while logged out and on a phone. If a Coming Soon page remains, clear relevant caches and check again privately while the change propagates.
Self-hosted WordPress
There is no universal WordPress.com-style launch button. Confirm that the domain points to the production server, the host is serving the correct site, HTTPS works, and the site’s visibility setting is appropriate. In the dashboard, check Settings → Reading and make sure a setting intended to discourage search engines has not been left enabled accidentally. Then perform the same logged-out visitor tests.
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