Website Launch Checklist
Here is what you need to know before launching your site…
Finalizing a website with a client is the MOST important process of launching. This is something that you do not want to rush. Especially if your client is selling products, you have to make sure that every link works, payments go through, purchases work & that everything on the website is running smoothly. If you do not do this it can jeopardize your client’s business. They are counting on you to make their online business run.
So as you are finalizing your client’s website please go through all of these steps before you launch. ( Or if you are a client, you can also run through these steps with your designer before you launch your site.)
Make sure you have gone over each page with your client thoroughly to get their approval on the design and content covered on each page. Once your client has approved the site & is ready for the launch, you are now ready to finalize the site on the back-end. Your client will be ready to launch ASAP but you need to communicate with them that it will take a few hours or even a few days before the site will be fully ready to launch.
Here are the steps you will need to finalize before the launch:
#1. Connect Domain
Make sure that your all of your client’s domains are connected to the site. Really you want to do this as a first step because it can take time to redirect your client’s domain to their site.
#2. Mobile Optimization
VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure website is mobile friendly & design accordingly to make sure it looks good on mobile. SQUARESPACE & SHOPIFY slideshow images do not translate well on mobile, so you may have to create an entirely new mobile image for the slideshow sections. Prepare for the design work it takes to make the site optimized for mobile.
#3. Check your Menu & Your Links
01. Make sure navigation menu is working.
02. Make sure the menu is mobile optimized
03. Check to make sure all page links are directed correctly
04. Make sure footer links work
05. Make sure blog posts have assigned images & correct url
06. Check SEO & URL is correct on all pages
#4. proofread all posts & Pages
Spell check every page & proofread paragraphs, make sure spelling & spacing is correct on all pages.
#5. Check for errors & Clean up Site
01. Make sure all images are High Res & optimized for web
02.Make sure all images are licensed
03. Check any video or audio to make sure they work
04. Clean up any pages that are not being used or need to be deleted on the back end
05. Make sure fonts & type are consistent throughout the site
#6. Test your website’s usability
01. Test all call-to-action forms such as newsletter sign-ups contact forms, etc..
02. If website is accepting payments make sure to test the payment and do a draft purchase from desktop and on mobile
03. Check out overall user experience through the eyes of a user consuming the content
04. Text a link of the website to yourself to see how it appears as a link & if favicon images appear, etc.
#7. Make sure all URLS are linked Correctly
Make sure all URLS are correct & display correctly on the live version of the site. Make sure all hidden or footer pages have correct url. And finally make sure all blog posts have the correct url.
#8. SEO Optimization
01. Make sure all pages are SEO optimized
02. Every page has a unique title & meta description
03. Make sure every page has the correct “sharing image” so when someone shares the link a beautiful image appears
04. All images are properly labeled for SEO optimization
05. Create Favicon Image, input all of the business information, etc.
#9. Test Social Media INtegration
Test out social media icons to make sure they are linked to the right pages. Make sure Instagram feed is updated & working. If you are making a shoppable Instagram or Facebook make sure the shop is connected to Shopify & products are updating. Also make sure the share functionality is working as well or is turned on for optimization
#10. Make sure website is secure
If you do not make sure the website is secure it will tell people once they go your site that the site is unprotected, most users will immediately exit the site thinking it is spam. This is one of the MOST important steps to do before launching a site.