Willing to acquire all the information that should be done before changing WordPress themes? Make sure to read the whole article because here we will be covering the ultimate guide to properly change a WordPress theme. People face lots of hassle while switching their WordPress theme. The process is a little complicated but if you follow our guide you can easily switch to your desired WordPress theme. Picking the best theme that suits your needs sometimes gets difficult for beginners. So, no more hassle just follow our list of 9 effective steps you should do before changing the WordPress theme.
9 things to do
1) Make note of WordPress theme customizations: Most of the time WordPress website owners customize their themes by adding code snippets directly to their theme files. It is more effective if some features are not provided by the stock theme so, you can use code snippets to enable most of the features in the themes. Code snippets are easy to lose if it is added directly to the theme. So, before making changes make sure to note all the additional code to keep those snippets enable even if you make any changes in the theme.
2) Get current WordPress theme performance metrics: Before switching to any other theme make sure to look at the current performance of the themes because these matrics will guide you to compare the difference between the themes such as loading speed, or any other necessary things. Performance of the themes plays a vital role in best experiencing the users. Must ensure your new theme is faster than older ones.
3) Note current theme sidebars and widgets area: Every theme of WordPress has different sidebars and widgets area and it can be moved while switching to the new themes. It is important to make a note of all the widgets so that you can easily replicate them later.
4) Copy existing WordPress tracking code: Some of the WordPress themes allow the users to directly add the tracking code to the themes. You might be lost all the code used for tracking analytics, advertisement, and many more. So, to overlook all these mistakes must assure to copy all the website tracking codes so, they can easily be inserted into the new theme. Our recommendation is to use Monsterinsights plugins to remain unaffected from the data loss or any interruption in the google analytics.
5) Back up current WordPress website: Switching to the new theme might get wrong and lost all the data. So, to ensure safety before changing the WordPress theme backup all the data of the website like posts, plugins, media, pages, etc. It can be easily done with the WordPress backup plugin.
6) Enable maintenance mode of the website: Enabling the maintenance mode of the website lets users display a notice about the customization of the website. The main purpose of the maintenance mode is it prevents your visitors from visiting your website when the website is under construction.
7) Test all installed WordPress plugins: Once you added a new WordPress theme to the website must ensure that all the plugins of the website running properly. Must experience the same functionality of the website just like the older ones. If you face any errors you can troubleshoot WordPress errors or may contact them.
8) Test new theme on browser and device: When your new theme is ready test it across all the different browsers and devices whether it is running properly or not. This cross-testing will let you know the performance of the website so that you don’t lose any visitors.
9) Live your WordPress website: It’s time to let the users know that your website is live now. Disable the maintenance mode of the website.
