A website is often the first place people turn to when they want to find out more about a business. Before you launch a website, you’ll want to do a final check of all the small details that make your website work. The last thing you want is to share your new website with everyone you know, only to find out later that your contact form was never working (and none of your prospective customers’ information was saved) or that the layout is completely illegible on mobile devices.
Below, you’ll find a checklist of what to check before you publish your new website.
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Web.com
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Why Launch a Website?
There are many different reasons a small business or solopreneur may want to launch a website. A website is often where customers first turn to find out more information about a business, whether it’s online or in person. Here are a few of the main reasons to publish a website:
- Establish trust: The internet is often the first place people turn to learn more about a business or service they are interested in. Even the most basic website can help communicate the essential facts potential customers or clients would want to know about your business, such as what you do, what services you provide and how to get in touch.
- Provide Information: Even if you don’t run an online business, people often search for businesses online, such as looking up a menu for a restaurant and getting a sense of the place before visiting in person. A website can serve as an information hub for the business or services you provide.
- Boost online sales: If you run an e-commerce store, this one is obvious. But if your business involves primarily selling in person, opening up an online store can both help increase sales and offer an additional revenue stream for your business.
- Establish a portfolio and online presence: For solopreneurs, freelancers and independent contractors, a website can help establish an online presence, build awareness of your services and make it easier for people to find your contact information.
- Improve communication with customers: You’ll be able to communicate with customers directly through chat through your website, which can help with customer support.
11 Items To Include On Your Website Launch Checklist
Creating and launching a website doesn’t have to be an extensive process, especially if you are using a website builder such as Squarespace or Wix. However, there are certain important details you’ll want to make sure are working before you hit publish to ensure your website is fully operating before it’s presented to the world.
1. Responsive Design to Diverse Platforms
You’ll want to make sure your website is compatible with mobile devices. If you’re using a template from a platform, such as Squarespace or Wix, these templates should convert them automatically, but it may require design adjustments. Given how many people view websites on their smartphones, it’s essential to make sure your website is easy to navigate on the phone.
2. Cross-Browser Compatibility
You’ll want to check your website on different browsers (Safari, Chrome and Firefox, for example) to make sure the performance and appearance translate correctly to each platform.
3. External and Internal Links
You’ll have likely used internal and external links in your website. Before you click publish, you’ll want to double-check that all the links are active and direct to the correct website.
4. Loading Speed
Test the loading speed of your website through tools such as PageSpeed Insights. Fast uploading speed is crucial, because often visitors will leave if a website is taking too long to load. If you find your website is slow, there are a few steps you can take to improve the speed, including optimizing images by compressing them and minimizing redirects.
5. Legal Compliance
Check to make sure your website complies with any legal requirements in your jurisdiction. This can entail privacy restrictions such as GDPR. If you used any media, photos or third-party content on your website, you’ll want to confirm that your use of this material is legally compliant.
6. Design, Formatting and Images
Make sure images are properly titled. Images should also contain alt text. It’s a good idea to make sure all of your images and videos are uploading correctly. You’ll also want to check that the size of the headings appears correctly and that the text on your website is generally easy to skim and not too small.
When you’ve been working on a website for a while, it’s easy to miss the big picture of how the website looks to someone who’s never visited. Scan your website and imagine you are visiting it for the first time. Does the first thing people see (image, text or both) make it clear what this website is about? You’ll also want to make sure you’ve thought about the information you’re including above the fold (the part of the website people see before they scroll down). Whether this is an image or text, make sure it translates well to different platforms and screen sizes.
As you are reviewing the design of the website, you might find that a certain layout worked well for the screen size you were working with but needs to be adjusted to be more compatible with other screen sizes and platforms. It can be frustrating to realize you spent so much energy coming up with the perfect design, only to find out it only looks good on one platform, but it’s better to discover this is the case before going live.
7. Security Measures
Ensure that your SSL certificate is running properly. This can be addressed with your web hosting provider. You’ll also want to make sure all your website software and plugins are up to date.
8. Forms
If your website has any contact forms or surveys for prospective customers or clients to fill in, confirm these are set up properly, and the information directs to the correct place. This is a common error, and it can be devastating to find out you don’t have a record of the customer information you thought you were collecting.
9. Performance Monitoring
Before you publish your website, set up performance monitoring metrics such as Google Analytics. Confirm these tools are set up properly and accurately recording data. This way you’ll avoid finding out a month down the line that your analytics tool was never set up properly and you have no information on who visited your website.
10. 404 Page and Error Handling
Visitors land on a 404 error page when the server cannot find the requested page either because of a broken link, a mistyped URL or because a page was removed. You can customize this page so visitors have helpful general information if they end up on a page that does not work. A helpful 404 Page written in your brand’s voice is also a good way to reinforce your brand presence. However, you generally want to prevent 404 pages from appearing in the first place by ensuring the URLs are accurate and page redirects are set up correctly.
11. Create an Opt-In for Email Sign-Ups
This step is not essential for many websites, but it’s something that is a good idea to do from the start. Even if you don’t have a reason to stay in touch now, you never know when you might want to reach out to your contacts with news about your business. It’s never too early to do this, and before you know it, you’ll have a list of contacts you can share your next product launch with.
Featured Partners
1
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
2
Web.com
$1.95 per month
Yes
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
3
Squarespace
$16 per month
Yes
Yes
Bottom Line
Creating a website for your business is an exciting step. While there are many tools that simplify the website building process, you’ll still need to make sure everything is set up properly before you hit publish. Even the best website can easily send visitors away with an out-of-date SSL certificate or by taking too long to load. With all the hard work that goes into building a website for your business, you’ll want to make sure all the small details are in place.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I create a website checklist?
To create a website checklist, consider all the points on this list and add any that will apply to your website specifically. Once you launch your website, you’ll also want to ensure you are continually keeping it up to date.
When is the best time to launch a website?
Before you launch your website, you’ll want to ensure everything is running properly and that your content is optimized and complete. Go through the checklist above and make sure you’ve confirmed everything is set up the way you want it to be. If you plan to launch a site by announcing it on social media or emailing it to friends, it’s even more important to make sure the version you launch is the best it can be, as you’ll likely be getting the most exposure when you first launch.
What’s the best way to manage a website launch?
Every website launch will be different, so the best way to manage a website launch is to set goals in advance. Consider your audience and how specifically you plan to share the news of your launch. Do you have an email list you plan to share the website with? Do you have social media channels you will share the website on? Consider whether you want to create a unique offering for visitors. For example, an e-commerce store may offer a discount as a way to celebrate the launch.
