WordPress Development Checklist for a New Business Website

Order matters here more than completeness. Several of these are cheap during the build and expensive afterwards.

Before any code

• [ ] Business goal written down in one sentence — what the site is for
• [ ] Primary conversion defined *(enquiry, call, booking, sale)*
• [ ] Content types and their fields listed
• [ ] URL structure decided
• [ ] Navigation planned
• [ ] Existing URLs exported, if this replaces a site
• [ ] Hosting chosen, in the client's name
• [ ] Staging environment available

Skipping the content model here is what causes template rework in week three.

Environment

• [ ] Current supported PHP version
• [ ] HTTPS working, with a valid certificate
• [ ] Automatic off-site backups configured — and one restore tested
• [ ] Staging matches production
• [ ] Search engine visibility discouraged on staging, enabled on production
• [ ] Admin accounts limited to who needs them, with strong unique passwords

That visibility setting is worth a second look at launch. A site launched with "discourage search engines" still ticked is invisible, and nothing about it looks broken.

Build

• [ ] Content types and fields implemented
• [ ] Templates built against real content, not placeholder text
• [ ] One H1 per template, correct heading hierarchy throughout
• [ ] Breadcrumbs implemented
• [ ] Internal linking built into templates rather than added by hand
• [ ] 404 page that helps rather than apologises
• [ ] Forms working, with validation and a visible error state
• [ ] Form delivery via a transactional mail service, not PHP mail
• [ ] Plugin list documented, with a reason recorded for each

Content

• [ ] Every page has a unique title and meta description
• [ ] Copy written for a specific search intent per page
• [ ] Images sized for their actual rendered dimensions
• [ ] Descriptive alt text — descriptive, not keyword-stuffed
• [ ] Legal pages present: privacy, terms, cookie notice if required
• [ ] Contact details consistent everywhere on the site

Performance

• [ ] Caching configured and verified
• [ ] Images in modern formats, compressed
• [ ] Hero image not lazy-loaded
• [ ] Fonts limited in number and preloaded where they matter
• [ ] Unused CSS and JavaScript not loading site-wide
• [ ] Measured on a real mid-range phone over a throttled connection, not a desktop

The full version is the website speed optimisation checklist.

SEO

• [ ] Permalinks set to post name
• [ ] Self-referencing canonical on every indexable page
• [ ] XML sitemap generating and listing only indexable URLs
• [ ] robots.txt not blocking CSS, JavaScript or images
• [ ] Structured data generated from content, matching what is visible
• [ ] Open Graph image on every page
• [ ] Redirects mapped and tested, if URLs changed

QA

• [ ] Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge
• [ ] iOS and Android, real devices where possible
• [ ] Every form submitted end to end, with the email received
• [ ] Every internal link followed
• [ ] Keyboard navigation works throughout
• [ ] Colour contrast meets WCAG AA
• [ ] Console clean of errors

Launch

• [ ] DNS updated, propagation confirmed
• [ ] HTTPS enforced, HTTP redirecting
• [ ] www and non-www resolved to one canonical host
• [ ] Search engine visibility enabled
• [ ] Analytics installed and firing
• [ ] Search Console verified, sitemap submitted
• [ ] Uptime monitoring on

Handover

• [ ] All credentials transferred to the client
• [ ] Editing walkthrough delivered
• [ ] Plugin list and reasoning handed over
• [ ] Backup and restore process documented
• [ ] Support arrangement agreed in writing

If you want this run properly on a build, that is what the WordPress development service covers — and how to make a WordPress website faster and more reliable picks up where this checklist ends.