Enable HTTPS/SSL

The site needs to serve securely. Enable HTTPS for Sarah's blog, use the hosting control panel certificate she already purchased, and verify the certificate is active. Update site URL to https://sarahwrites.com, force all traffic to HTTPS, and confirm mixed content is resolved site-wide by checking five recent posts and the homepage before I tell her it's done.

Before I flip the site to HTTPS for Sarah, make approval easy: surface whether the hosting certificate is paid or free, show the expected downtime window, list any plugins that typically break on HTTPS (like legacy asset loaders), and flag pages likely to have mixed content so procurement can sign off quickly.

I installed the hosting certificate and changed the site URL to https://sarahwrites.com, but the homepage still loads on http and the browser shows a mixed content warning. I am worried I missed hard-coded http links in themes or a plugin rewrite. I cannot check the server rewrite rules easily. What is the likely cause and the fastest next step to make the site fully HTTPS without breaking Sarah's comments and plugins?

Over the last five site migrations we stall at the same place: mixed content and redirect loops after enabling HTTPS. I want a habit that prevents this and saves an hour per site. Which checks and small fixes should I run before changing URLs so the switch works first-time on all small-business blogs?