There are several procedures involved in launching a Magento 2 website. It must be well-managed in order to reduce bugs and issues after launch.
Magento Developers should double-check that everything is configured appropriately before proceeding with the go-live procedure.
A thorough checklist guarantees that you don’t overlook anything. It may be used to do a rapid quality assurance check.
In this post, we have discussed a Magento 2 go-live checklist.
Magento 2 Go-Live Checklist
1. System Requirements
To go live, your site must meet the Magento 2 system requirements. It contains elements such as:
- Operating system
- PHP version
- Redis & Varnish Cache
- Apache & NGINX server support
- Elasticsearch
- PHP extensions
- RabbitMQ
For Magento Web development, the software versions have been officially tested and supported. You cannot go live without the most up-to-date technological stack.
2. Create a Favicon
A Favicon is a little icon that represents your brand and website. It may be found on the tab icon or in the address bar.
Google’s mobile search has prominent favicons. The desktop search favicon is still in the testing phase.
A favicon helps to ensure brand identification. It draws attention to your website in search results. It also makes browser navigating easier.
To include a custom favicon in Magento 2, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Content > Design > Configuration menu.
- Select the level in the scope grid where you wish to customize the favicon. To make the modifications, click Edit.
- Expand the HTML Head choices under Other Settings.
- Next to the Favicon icon, click Upload. Choose a file containing your personalized favicon.
- In the top right corner, click Save Configuration.
3. Check the Store URLs
The storefront is given a base URL by Magento. The Admin also has an Admin URL.
The internal linkages of the store are defined using Adobe variables. These are related to the base URL. You may then relocate the store without having to update the URLs.
Check to see that the URLs have been properly set and are functioning properly. Consider the following points:
- The 200 OK status is displayed on URLs.
- Examine the status of www and HTTP/HTTPS.
- Core config database URLs must be modified. Alternatively, they will be sent to the staging site.
- Examine the URLs of the stores to see if they are easy to remember.
- Examine the product and catalog URLs.
4. Transactional Emails
- Emails are a great method to stay in touch with your consumers. You may test a variety of email setups before going live.
- To begin, update any test email Ids you may have used in the staging environment. Include the legitimate business emails in the list.
- You may accomplish this by editing the store’s email address in the Admin sidebar. Navigate to Settings > Configuration > Stores.
- You may include a business email address on your contact page.
- Select Stores > Configuration > General from the drop-down menu.
- Select Contacts from the General menu.
- To make modifications, expand the Contact Us section.
5. Check Product & Category pages.
The Product Grid displays the items in a catalog. Make certain that all product information and images are optimized for all devices. The product pricing is correctly displayed, as is the “Add to Cart” button.
Examine the Add to Wishlist and Out of Stock options. You may also activate Back in Stock alerts.
Check that all “test products” have been removed from the site.
Check the catalog to see if the products are grouped under the correct brands. The catalog descriptions and functionality should be operational.
Look for the following items on the product and catalog pages:
- Product Specifications
- Products grouped together
- Pricing and discounts
- Filters and Sorting By means of functions
- Product photos are shown correctly.
- The H1 tag is used for product and category titles.
6. SEO Settings
- Before the launch, the Magento site can be configured to non-index/no-follow. This prevents search engines from indexing the site before it has gone live.
- The robots.txt file prevents search engines from visiting the site. Additionally, it inhibits dynamic URLs from being crawled.
- You may enable all SEO settings after the site is online. Check to see if the site is now configured to index/follow. The search engines can be unblocked using robots.txt.
The following are the most important SEO factors to consider:
- Titles and descriptions for meta tags
- Set up Magento XML Sitemaps
- Schema markup for improved SERPs
- Examine the site’s content for broken links.
- Redirections to 301
- Keywords with a high impact on website content
- Images and videos have been optimized.
- Ratings and reviews
7. Shipping & Payment Method
Before going live, configure and test the delivery methods. Magento’s default shipping options include eight different options. You have the option of adding additional shipping methods.
Magento 2’s principal shipping methods are as follows:
- Flat Rate
- Free Shipping
- Table Rates
- In-store Delivery
- UPS
- USPS
- FedEx
- DHL
You can navigate these settings at Store > Configuration > Sales > Delivery Methods Features such as free shipping encourage more sales.
For payment methods, see if the options are well configured.
Go to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Payment Methods
Check if the merchant’s location is set on your preferred business address. Magento recommends Paypal & Braintree as payment methods.
You can configure a range of payment options such as:
- Credit cards & Paypal payments
- Payment gateways like Payflow Pro
- Klarna
- AmazonPay
- Check/ Money Order
- Cash on Delivery Payment
- Bank Transfer Payment
- Purchase Order
It is essential to test the payment methods for smooth transactions.
8. Tax Settings
Many elements, such as location and zone, influence tax regulations. It entails both the Product Class and the Customer Class.
Cross-border pricing uniformity necessitates the imposition of taxes. A value-added tax is also required in several nations (VAT).
To view the tax settings, navigate to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Tax.
Vertex tax computations should be checked in the Magento setup.
9. Customize the 404 Page
If a visitor clicks on an old or non-existent web page, the server shows a 404 error. It is an indicator that the requested page cannot be found.
Instead of displaying a bland default error page, create a custom 404 page. It improves the user experience & visitors are more likely to stay on the site.
You can add a creative message along with links to other web pages. Configure the 404 error page at Stores > Configurations > Web > Default Pages.
You can review the page settings & customize the 404 page to fit the brand.
10. Add Google Analytics
Magento supports Google features such as Google Analytics and Google Adwords. As soon as the site becomes life, it may be used to evaluate data and track its development.
To configure Google tools, navigate to Stores > Configuration > Sales > Google API.
You may include your chosen Google tools in the business. It offers metrics for measuring and reporting incoming traffic.
You may also utilize the tools for marketing and A/B testing.
11. Check Performance
Magento’s performance is affected by a variety of factors. Before going live, test the performance of your site.
Many server-side components have an impact on performance. It covers the server settings as well as the CDN.
CSS/JS minification should be checked in the Magento application. There is full-page caching as well as modules that improve site performance.
As your site becomes online, keep an eye on its performance. Report any performance concerns to the technical staff as soon as possible.
12. Enable Cache
Caching speeds up page loading and reduces server load.
Caching is enabled by default in Magento. It is possible to disable it during the development stage. To avoid performance drops, make sure you activate caching before going live.
Go to Magento’s Admin Panel > System > Cache Management to configure caching. From this area, you may refresh and activate caching.
13. Check the Third-Party Modules
Many third-party modules may be integrated into Magento. You may have included modules like live chats and reviews. Alternatively, there might be shipping and tax enhancements that improve retail functionality.
Some extensions will not work unless they have a license key. If you wish to use the extensions, make sure the key is still valid.
Unnecessary modules should be removed from the site. You can turn off various Magento functionality if you don’t need them.
If you still need help and assistance, you should hire Magento Developers from the reputed Magento development Company.
Additional Tasks to Remember for Magento 2 go-live:
- Allow Google to index your store by enabling crawling.
- Improve security by updating the Admin URL.
- Examine the store’s details.
- Examine the SSL certificate
- Optimize the content on CMS pages.
- Examine email templates
- Subscriptions to newsletters
- Clear the logs and make a backup of your store.
Conclusion
A Magento 2 checklist aids in the examination of the store’s settings. You may use it as a fast reference to double-check everything.
You may also record and document the processes prior to starting. It aids in keeping track of all the changes. Magento provides best practices and standards for launching your site. You also have a lot of community help on the Magento forums.
