It's Go Time! Here are a few final steps to complete during the launch process.
Social Media Links|Make sure all Social Media Links have the correct URLs. Social Media links are stored in SEO Meta Data Add-on.
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data -> Social Media
Change the Twitter Handle setting in SEO Meta Data. If no account, leave blank.
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data -> Social Media
Generally, if we are replacing an existing site, we'll want to do this. Use Detour Pro and setup redirects so that the old URLs point to the new URLs. Always use 301, not 302.
- In our Deploy, there's a button at the top for Detour Pro
- View the Detour Pro documentation for info on how best to setup redirects
Go into tag_cache_p, turn cache to 'yes', then test and make sure caching is working properly (Enable debugging and check query counts).
|Create DEV Version|Time to create the DEV version of the site.
- Copy files from the live/production (usually public_html) folder into the 'dev' folder
- Create a new database for dev
- Copy the database to the dev database
- Update the EE config
- Change redirects in htaccess (if any)
- Add DEV to the site name
- Update any pathing
- Restrict Access if needed (usually editors)
- Close the DEV site
- Domain should already be setup (dev.domain.xyz) otherwise setup and connect to this folder
- Freeform - Update formatting template path
- EEHarbor licenses (if nec)
- Blow away files in the assets folder, load the site and check/deal with console errors
If necessary, setup Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager (with a Universal Analytics tag) under the omahamediagroup@gmail.com Google Account for the site.
Paste Tag Manager ID into SEO Meta Data Settings (GTM-XXXX).
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data
You'll want to turn off Development Mode in the SEO Meta Data settings.
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data
- Setup Freeform Admin email address and Name in both Forms and Notifications
- Also change it in Settings -> Outgoing Email. Also, change Name wherever necessary.
- Exp-resso Store or Cartthrob notifications as well, if applicable.
In EE, click on Settings and toggle Website Online to On and save. If you update EE, the site will automatically be turned on.
|Add-On Domain|In cPanel, add the live domain as an Add-On Domain, if it isn't already, and point it to the folder that houses the site (usually just public_html)
|Update A Record|In the DNS settings for the production domain, point it to 50.28.78.188.
This may have been done earlier, in which case, you obviously won't need to do this. It's also possible that the client will have to do or arrange this if we don't have access to their DNS.
|Add Domain to ReCaptcha|http://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin
Add the live domain to the settings for the ReCaptcha project.
|Setup SSL (if needed)|If we're doing SEO for the site or it contains eCommerce, we'll want to add an SSL certificate from GoDaddy.
- Login to GoDaddy (OMG account)
- Purchase SSL (Amex)
- Click the SSL Certificates Link
- Select the New Standard SSL
- In cpanel, go into SSL/TLS and generate a CSR
- Fill out CSR form, use Omaha, Nebraska, US, Omaha Media Group, godaddy@omahamediagroup.com for fields
- Paste the generated CSR into the Godaddy form
- Select all 3 options and submit
- Verify the domain when it asks you to
- Download when ready (for Apache)
- Extract
- In cpanel -> SSL/TLS, select CRT and upload the file with the numbers
- Select Install a Certificate
- In the menu, choose Install an SSL Certificate on a domain
- Select the Domain or Account and click Use Certificate
- Click install
- Goto https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest, test url, send page grab to Project Manager
If you are not adding an SSL Certificate, you'll want to go into the SEO Meta Data Template and remove the 'og:image:secure_url' tag and uncomment the 'og:image' tag
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data -> Template
In the '.htaccess' file in the root directory, you'll want to force 'www' or a sub-domain by modifying the rule for it and uncommenting it.
You will also want to force either http if no SSL or https if SSL.
The idea with canonicalization is that there is one version of the URL.
|Update Sitemap URL in robots.txt|In robots.txt in the root directory, change the URL to the sitemap. If SSL is installed, make sure you change http:// to https://.
You can edit this file either through cPanel File Manager or through SEO Meta Data.
- Developer -> Addons -> SEO Meta Data -> Robots.txt Editor
Install the Dashboard Analytics addon. Once installed, you will need to connect to the omahamediagroup@gmail.com Analytics account. Then you will select the correct Analytics account to display in the plugin.
Enable 'Show Real TIme Statistics' and choose which Member Groups see it (at least Super Admins and Members) by default as their Dashboard.
That's All, Folks!