Once you’ve changed the theme on your website, you need to take care of certain things before turning off the maintenance mode.
You can check out the following checklist of things to do after changing your WordPress theme:
1. Test Your Website
First, you need to make sure that all the functionalities, plugins, and widgets are working properly.
You should invest some time to test your website and check out different things including the posts, comment section, images, and the contact form.
2. Cross Browser Compatibility
Browsers have a tendency of showing certain things differently.
To make sure that your website looks good in every major browser, you should test your site in different web browsers including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.
3. Add Tracking Code
After you’ve tested the features and the cross-browser compatibility, you should add your analytics and Adsense tracking code to your site.
You can use the MonsterInsights plugin to add the Google Analytics tracking code. This will allow you to properly setup analytics and view detailed website stats right inside your WordPress dashboard.
4. Turn Off Maintenance Mode
You can disable the maintenance mode on your site to make it go live.
If you’re using the SeedProd plugin, simply go to SeedProd » Settings from the left sidebar. On the settings page, select “Disabled” and click on Save All Changes to turn off the maintenance mode.
5. Test Loading Time
You need to go to the Pingdom website again to test the loading time of your homepage after changing the theme.
Next, compare it to the load time when your old theme was installed. If you see any major differences, you can follow our guide to improve WordPress speed.
6. Monitor Bounce Rate
After switching themes, you should monitor the bounce rate of your site.
If your new theme is not user-friendly and difficult to navigate, it may increase the bounce rate of your site.
You can add related posts, popular posts widget, and breadcrumbs to reduce the bounce rate and increase page views.
7. Ask for Feedback
You can also ask your users for feedback and suggestions on how to improve your site design. You can use survey forms or online poll to gather user input.
You can share the new design with your subscribers using an email marketing service and ask them for their suggestions. This will help you to get ideas on what they would like to see improved.