Website launch checklist

Website launch checklist - Online shop

CONTENT AND DESIGN
[ ] Proofread every page - Read each page out loud on the live site rather than in the editor; typos you skim past in the builder show up when you hear them.
[ ] Replace every placeholder - Search each page for template text, stock photos and example phone numbers that never got swapped for yours.
[ ] Check every page on a phone - Open the live site on your own phone, not just the builder preview, and tap every button and menu item.
[ ] Test every link - Click them all, footer and logo included; the checker follows the links on a page and reports the broken ones.
[ ] Submit every form yourself - Send a message through each form and confirm it arrives where you expect; if the site takes money, run one real order with your own card.
[ ] Resize images before upload - A 4 MB photo in the header is the most common reason a small site is slow; resize to the width it is shown at.
[ ] Check contrast, headings and labels - Colour contrast, heading order and form labels are what make the site work for people on screen readers and in sunlight.
[ ] Every menu item goes to a finished page - Nothing in the menu points to a draft, and no draft page is linked from anywhere a visitor can reach.
[ ] Stock and variants set on every product - Sizes, colours and quantities entered, so nothing sells that you cannot send and nothing is hidden that you can.
[ ] A size guide on anything that gets returned - Measurements in a table on every product where "wrong size" is the usual reason for a return.

FINDABILITY
[ ] Set a title and description on every page - Each page gets its own, specific to what is on it; check that both fit a search result without being cut off.
[ ] Add alt text to meaningful images - Describe what the image shows, for search engines and screen readers alike; the checker lists the ones that are missing.
[ ] Add a favicon - The small icon in the browser tab; Google shows it beside your search result, and a blank one reads as unfinished.
[ ] Add LocalBusiness structured data - Markup that lets search engines read your address, hours and phone number directly rather than guessing from the page.
[ ] Match your name, address and phone everywhere - The details on the site read exactly as they do on your Google Business Profile, down to the suite number and the phone format.
[ ] Verify the site in Search Console - Submit the sitemap, then expect days to weeks before pages appear; the wait is normal and the post explains it.

MEASUREMENT
[ ] Connect analytics before launch day - Switch it on before you announce the site so the first week is measured rather than remembered.
[ ] Decide where enquiries land - Email, phone or your CRM: pick where orders, bookings and messages go, and send yourself a test to see it arrive.
[ ] Write down what each page is for - One action a visitor should take on each page - call, book, buy, ask - is what you will measure against next month.

TRUST AND ESSENTIALS
[ ] Contact details correct and on every page - Phone, email, address and hours, right and reachable from the footer, and the phone number tappable on a phone.
[ ] Publish a privacy policy - Link it from the footer; some privacy laws require the link on the home page itself, so the footer is the safe place.
[ ] Publish terms of service - Needed as soon as people buy, book or create an account on the site; say what you provide and what you do not.
[ ] Handle cookies if you have EU or UK visitors - Say what cookies the site sets and let visitors refuse the optional ones before they are set.
[ ] Have your review link ready - A direct link to leave a Google review, in your email signature and ready to send after the first job or sale.
[ ] Protect every form from spam - Turn protection on before the address is published anywhere; bots find a new contact form within days.
[ ] A shipping page with rates and times - Where you post to, what it costs and how long it takes, linked from every product page and the cart.
[ ] A returns and refund policy - How long customers have, who pays return postage and how refunds are made, linked from the product page and the checkout.
[ ] Sales tax or VAT set for where you sell - The right rates for your regions, and prices shown the way the law where you sell requires them.

GOING LIVE
[ ] Connect your domain and check the padlock - Point your own domain at the site, wait for it to resolve everywhere, then open every page over HTTPS.
[ ] Set the site to live and drop the password - Remove any password or coming-soon page you used while building, or the first visitors meet a locked door.
[ ] Redirect every old address - Replacing an old site? Each address it had either still works or redirects to its new home, or the rankings go with it.
[ ] Check the share preview - Paste the address into a chat with yourself and look at the title, description and image that appear.
[ ] Set how the site sends email - Confirmations and replies should carry your name and reach the inbox, not the spam folder; set the sender before the first order.
[ ] Publish, then walk the site as a stranger - Publish every page, open the live address in a private window and go through it the way a first-time visitor would.
[ ] Buy something from yourself - A real card, a real order, then a refund; check that both the customer email and your own notification arrive.

AFTER LAUNCH
[ ] Tell people, in the order that brings them - Existing customers first, then your Google profile, your socials and your email signature; the post gives the order and the wording.
[ ] Update the address on every listing - Google Business Profile first, then every directory, social profile and supplier page that carries your old address.
[ ] Watch the first month - Look at which pages people leave from and which forms nobody finishes, and fix those first.
[ ] Put ten minutes a month in the diary - Prices, hours and photos date quietly; a monthly pass and the site health score catch it before customers do.

From https://webkio.com/website-launch-checklist