Follow these 14 critical steps for launching your website perfectly, fully optimised for high search engine rankings that will kill your online competitors.

1. zeropointdevelopment.com for WordPress Sydney
Wil Brown
@DeveloperWil

2. Make image file sizes as small as possible before
uploading to your website.
Image file size largely depends on width x height
– Remove embedded data: EXIF, aperture, ISO,
geolocation
– Quality: JPG (max, high, medium, low)
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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3. Image Squishing Tools
– Kraken.io – web-based image optimiser. Pricing
plans increase for larger amounts of data.
– TinyPNG – free web-based image optimiser for JPG
and PNG files.
– PNGGauntlet – free Windows desktop app for
optimising images.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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4. Use srcset to show different image sizes to
different screen sizes.
<img src="small.jpg" srcset="medium.jpg 1000w, large.jpg 2000w">
With srcset, the browser does the work of figuring
out which image is best.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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5. Themes can contain 100’s of CSS and JS files.
– In HTTP v1 they all load asynchronously (after each
other)
– During development we need these files to be
readable
– Readable files contain lots of white space and
comments
– File sizes can be large
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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6. Minification removes white spaces and comments
to shrink the file size.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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Original “style.css”:
//**** Colour CSS ***//
.a{
color: blue;
}
.a:hover{
color: orange;
}
Becomes “style.css.min”:
.a{color:blue;}.a:hover{color:orange;}

7. Non-developers:
– Auptomize plugin
Developers:
– Research running a task runner called Gulp
– Integrate into your development environment
– Real-time minification to *.css.min
– Enqueue only *.css.min files
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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8. “Speed up” page rendering by moving JavaScript
files into the footer area.
Browser loads page HTML and CSS, displays on
browser, then starts to load JS scripts
Faster page = Google likes
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
3

9. Non-developers:
– Scripts to Footer plugin
Developers:
– Use wp_enqueue_script() function
– Set last parameter bool $in_footer = true
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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10. @DeveloperWil #wpsyd
4
Chrome 62 shows http: URLs as “Not secure”
Chrome 70 shows red warning on HTTP forms

11. All forms, not only cart checkout and payment
forms need to be secured by HTTPS.
As of 2018 HTTPS is a significant Google ranking
signal.
Secure sites rank higher than similar non-secure
sites.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
4

12. Use Let’s Encrypt link on cPanel
Free DV SSL certificate with wildcards.
DV, OV & EV Certificates explained. EV Certs dead!
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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13. Avoid Google finding broken links after your site
launch.
– Prevents search bots indexing your entire site
– Affects your ranking position
Do not install the Broken Link Checker plugin.
– Not maintained +2 years
– Maxes-out server RAM and CPU
– Slows down your server
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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14. Use a broken link checking service instead.
– Brokenlinkcheck.com – web service.
Limited link depth but will cover most websites.
– Crawly – free and paid services.
– Google Analytics – Behaviour > Site Content > All
Pages and search for your 404.php page.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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15. Skip this step if launching a brand new site.
If you are moving sites, domains, pages and post
around you really need to be implementing
redirection so that you don’t lose existing SEO
traffic.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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16. Non-developers:
– Yoast SEO Premium – The Premium upgrade is good
for redirections and lots more SEO stuff
– Redirection plugin
Developers and System Admins
– Apache web server: add rewrites to .htaccess file
– Nginx: add rewrite statements to location server
block
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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17. Site icons, called Favicons play an important part
in branding.
Extensively used on mobiles and tables for
bookmarking sites and pages
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
7

18. Use an on-line generator:
– favicon.cc
– favicongenerator
– iconifer – this also generates Apple Icons
Download as a zip file and unpack in the
WordPress root folder.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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19. On-page SEO is crucial to get ranked properly
Google, Facebook and Twitter snippet previews
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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20. In-depth content analysis
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
8

21. • Target keyphrase
• In-depth content readability analysis
• Suggested internal posts to link to
• Change snippet appearance for Facebook and
Twitter (image, title & description)
• Site-map generation, + lots more
Read my step-by-step guide to setting up the Yoast
SEO plugin.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
8

22. Security is key to maintaining your website
authority, brand and customer confidence and
loyalty.
WordPress’ popularity has made it a BIG target for
hackers.
Install Wordfence before you launch!
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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23. Installing a firewall plugin is a great first step.
Website security is more than just installing a
firewall plugin.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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24. • Social Engineering
• Usernames & Passwords
• Unix File Permissions
• WP File & Folder Perms
• WP Config Files
• Server Malware
• Updating WordPress
• Automatic WP Updates
• Avoid “Free” Paid Themes
• Malware in Themes
• Malware in Plugins
• Tim Thumb Script still lives
• SSL Certificates
• Secure WP Dashboard
• Software Firewalls
• Limit Login Attempts
• WordPress Backups
• 2FA Security Login
• Moving wp-content Folder
• Prevent Script Injections
• Secure wp-admin folder
• .... +more
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
10

25. Watch my WordPress Security Best Practices 2017
video.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
10

26. Make your site load super fast
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
11

27. I recommend using W3 Total Cache (free)
Works especially well with Nginx servers. UI sucks.
Remember to exclude dynamic pages such as
checkouts, member dashboards and payment
forms.
You can also try WP Rocket (paid $49USD/year)
“Recognized as the most powerful caching plugin by WordPress experts”
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
11

28. Want to double up on speed?
Run your site through the Cloudflare CDN (icon on
cPanel)
A Content Delivery Network is a kind of global
caching system.
They keep fragments of your visited website on
servers dotted around the planet.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
11

29. You’d be bonkers mad if you didn’t sign up a site to
use Google Analytics before launch.
– Free and provides heaps of data on website data and
content being consumed
One of the best plugins to use with Google
Analytics is MonsterInsights.
– Brings GA overview data to your WP dashboard
– adds the GA JavaScript code so you don’t have to
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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30. @DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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31. You need to be able to restore a site quickly if
there are any problems.
Issues can result from updating badly developed
plugins, PHP version incompatibilities, hacking and
a myriad of other stuff.
Having backups are hand is uber critical.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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32. I recommend using VaultPress (paid)
– $5USD/month :daily backups, 30-day retention
– $15USD/month :real-time backups, unlimited retention
Other backup plugins:
– XCloner – free, backup to Amazon S3, sFTP
Also has a server cron script (WP Cron sucks)
– Backup Buddy – was never 100% reliable for
– BackWPUp – Backup to Amazon S3, Dropbox, FTP
and more.
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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33. Do testing before launching a website!
What to test?
• Form submissions – did you get the email notification? Was the
confirmation message/redirection OK?
• Button links – do they go to the correct place?
• Email addresses – are the obfuscated and do they link to the
correct mailto: address?
• Navigation links – do they work OK? Are all your navigation
menus responsive?
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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34. • Sign-ups – do your sign-up add the correct details to the correct
mailing list?
• Payments – is your checkout working? Is the money arriving in the
bank? Are they the correct prices?
• Registrations – are they working? Does the user get a
notification? Can the login?
• Dashboards – what can the logged in user see? Is it correct?
• Permissions/User Roles – can the correct level of user see the
correct stuff?
• Comments – are they working? Catching spam? Moderation
working?
• Console errors – are there any errors in Chrome console? 404 can’t
load resource? JavaScript errors?
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
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35. 1. Optimise Images
2. Minify CSS and JS Files
3. Load JS Files in Footer
4. Install SSL Certificate
5. Check Broken Links
6. Set Up Redirections
7. Favicons & Apple Icons
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
8. Set Up Yoast SEO
9. Install Wordfence
10. Secure the Website
11. Set Up Caching & CDN
12. Set Up Google Analytics
13. Set Up and Test Backups
14. Run Site Tests

36. @DeveloperWil #wpsyd
You can read my accompanying blog article that
goes into more depth in each of these areas.
Download PDF and MS Word Checklist
Resources
https://rebrand.ly/launching-website-33327

37. [Front Cover] zeropointdevelopment.com
[10] PN Melbourne pn.com.au
[12] cpanel.com
[14] google.com
[19,20] zeropointdevelopment.com
[25] zeropointdevelopment.com
[26] giphy.com
[30] monsterinsights.com
[Back Cover] zeropointdevelopment.com
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd

38. WordPress Consultant & Developer
Plugins, APIs, Security, eCommerce
Organiser WPSyd & WordCamp Sydney
@DeveloperWil #wpsyd
zeropointdevelopment.com
linkedin.com/in/developerwil
@DeveloperWil
♥ Pizza & Craft Beer

39. @DeveloperWil #wpsyd
@DeveloperWil