Go Live

1) Check Admin Email

Be sure to check the admin email for the account, which is listed under Settings > General > Administration Email Address. This email is used for a number of purposes and is essential for any site using the Gravity Forms plugin. The admin email receives all form results and notifications pertaining to Gravity Forms.

2) Change Tag Line

Be sure to change the Tag Line, which is listed under Settings > General > Tagline. This is used to enhance SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

3) Check for Broken Links

Go to your Dashboard, and check to see if there are any broken links. If there are, be sure to repair them before you go live.

4) Accessibility Check

Every site should have Contact Information in an obvious place (footer, main navigation, homepage). Read through the Accessibility Guidelines and perform spot checks on any pages you think might be problematic.

5) Request Live Site Address

Submit the Site Review and Go Live Request.

We will remove the word “draft” from the URL which includes running a Search and Replace to update the links. Some links may not change so be prepared to do a manual review of the website. Any links that didn’t get updated will be listed under broken links once a scan of the site has been preformed.

Once the change is made, you will be notified. Some will see the changes immediately, although it may take a few hours for everyone to see the new version of the site. You can reboot your computer to see the change immediately, or if you are comfortable in the command line, you can clear your DNS cache.

You will receive an email notifying you that the site is live. Now you should complete the following items:

1) Check for Broken Links Again

Run Broken Link Checker

Depending on how you made your site, it is possible that there could be broken links in the Navigation or Homepage after the site address changes. Run one more check to be sure everything is ok.

a) Navigate to Tools > Broken Links.

b) Click the Search button on the top right.

c) Leave all the fields blank, and hit Search.

Manually Check Any Widgets

The Broken Link checker does not scan the contents of widgets like the Visual Editor and others. On your homepage and any other page that uses sidebars, check the links by clicking on them to make sure they work correctly.

2) Search Engine Visibility

Go to the Dashboard, and go to Settings > Reading. Make sure the Site Visibility is set to Public Access to allow Google and other search engines to crawl and index your new website.

3) Google Setup

Optional, but recommended.

Analytics

Aurora uses Google Analytics to track site-specific traffic information. If you are interested in site traffic stats, please follow the instructions to set up Google Analytics for your website.

Crawling

Google will eventually find your site and index it. With Google Webmaster Tools, you can speed up the process. This requires Analytics to have already been set up on your site.

While verifying your ownership, use alternative methods: Google Analytics. You may have to clear the site cache under Settings > WP Cache in order to properly verify.

Requesting a Google Crawl of your site

4) Remove Old Site

It is always a good idea to de-activate the old site to prevent your visitors from accessing the old/incorrect information. Old sites can show up in Google search results even after you have moved your address to the new site. Send an email to webdev@uconn.edu.

To remove old sites from other servers (Business, NEAG, Libraries, Law, Health, etc.), please contact the administrator of that server.