How to Test Your WordPress Website

If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re either a WordPress guru or at least know one; if not, then this post is probably not for you. Having a WordPress website is both convenient and powerful, but it’s also tricky to figure out what’s going on under the hood. Even dedicated webmasters can become confused by the seemingly endless configurations, so let’s delve into how to test your WordPress website.

The Most Basic Tasks

When you first get your WordPress website up and running, there are a handful of things that you should do to test it thoroughly. These tasks will take you all of about 10 minutes to complete and will help you identify any glitches before your visitors even arrive.

Check The Permalinks

If you use the default settings for WordPress, then the URLs of your content will be generated with the.php extension. Sometimes a misconfigured permalink can cause all sorts of problems—from broken links to unwanted redirects. The safest way to test your permalinks is to visit your WordPress dashboard, click on Settings in the left-hand column, and then visit the Permalinks setting in the right-hand column. If you see any red marks (exclamation points) next to your chosen permalink settings, then change them to see how the site functions without them.

Use A Plugin To Generate Reports

WordPress has a built-in tool for generating usage statistics, which is great for measuring the success of your blog. However, nobody likes to look at numbers all day, so it’s nice to have a report that details everything from bounce rates to the most frequently used pages. The best way to get these useful reports is to use a plugin like Statcounter or Woopra. With these tools, you can easily set up alerts for all sorts of metrics, such as pageviews, visitors, and so on. With an alert set up, you’ll receive an email notification whenever a specific metric is reached or surpassed.

Set Up Some Automated Tasks

WordPress makes it extremely easy to create automated tasks for yourself. Just follow these steps to set up recurring tasks (they can be weekly or monthly tasks) that will help you keep track of the health of your blog:

From your WordPress dashboard, click on Tools.

Next, click on the Create New button under the heading Automatically Draft Emails.

You’ll then be presented with a blank email. Begin typing a message and using the @ sign to find your autoresponder. Once you’ve finished composing your email, click on the blue Save button.

A few minutes later, you’ll receive an automated email response from WordPress with the subject line Set Up Automated Tasks and the contents of the email should look similar to this:

Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to set up your automated tasks. Your support is much appreciated. To confirm, you can click on the link included in the email to access your WordPress dashboard. There you can add new tasks or look up the status of existing ones.

Sincerely,

The WordPress Support Team

This is just a brief overview of the essentials needed to test a WordPress website. As you begin developing your blog, ensure that you work through these steps to test new features and configurations as you go.