Launching a website can be an exciting and challenging endeavour.

It requires careful planning, attention to detail, and thorough cross-checking to make sure everything works as it should. And this is where a website go live checklist comes in handy. 

In this guide, I am going to share with you 10 steps that you should take before launching your website and I’ll answer some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to launching websites.

In this era of digitalization, a website is an essential tool for any business or organisation to establish an online presence.

Website Launch Checklist PDF

By using a website launch checklist, you can ensure that your website is launched successfully and meets all necessary requirements, which can help you to achieve your online goals and objectives.

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A website launch checklist can be an invaluable tool for developers, web designers, and project managers to ensure that all the necessary steps are completed before launching a website, and guarantee that the website launch is successful and meets all necessary requirements.

Launching a website checklist typically includes all the necessary steps involved in getting a website live, including design, development, testing, optimization, and security to ensure that all aspects of the website are thoroughly checked and tested before going live, to minimize the risk of any issues or errors. 

 Let’s get right to it.

The Pre-Launch Checklist

So you have got a domain and hosting, here are the steps to launching a website or what to do before launching a website.

1. Verify that your website links and buttons function

Before launching your website, it is crucial to verify that all your website links and buttons are working correctly and take visitors to the correct pages. Also, make sure your forms are working adequately and without errors. 

To guarantee a seamless user experience, be sure to test all internal and external links, form submissions, and interactive components such as buttons, pop-ups, and slide-ins. 

This will help to ensure that the website is user-friendly and easily navigable for your audience.

2. Verify your website content

It is essential to ensure that all website content is accurate, relevant(up to date), and error-free on all your pages and blog posts before launching your site. 

This includes reviewing all text, images, videos, and other media to ensure they are accurate and current before publishing. 

Also, check for any typographical, grammatical or factual errors. Properly reviewing all content will ensure that the website presents a professional and credible image to visitors. 

Additionally, ensure that all text is easy to read and understand by your users.

3. Test your website for cross-browser and device compatibility

Before launching your website, it’s essential to test it on multiple browsers (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and on various device displays such as desktop, tablet and mobile to ensure device and browser compatibility. 

This will ensure that all elements of the website display and function correctly across different platforms and devices, providing a consistent user experience for all visitors.

4. Set up your website analytics

Setting up analytics and tracking is an essential step before a website launch. This includes installing tracking codes such as Google Analytics and configuring them to track key metrics such as website traffic, user behaviour, and conversion rates. 

This will provide important data to understand how the website is performing and make data-driven decisions to optimize its performance.

5. Optimize website for speed

It’s crucial to assess and enhance your website speed before launch, utilizing tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. This will evaluate the website and offer recommendations on how to improve its overall performance and loading time.

You can provide performance improvement by optimizing pictures, minifying code, and limiting HTTP requests, thereby ensuring a better user experience and positively impacting SEO and search engine rankings.

6. Verify and optimize site media

Ensuring that all images and videos on the website are properly optimized for web performance is crucial before launching your site. This includes compressing images and videos, using appropriate file types, and adequately sizing them. 

Optimizing media will reduce loading times, improve user experience and increase the website’s overall performance.

7. Optimize website for Search Engine (SEO)

Before launching your website, conduct a thorough SEO audit to ensure that search engines can crawl your website. 

This includes analyzing the website’s technical SEO, on-page elements, content, and backlinks to identify opportunities for optimization. 

The audit will help to ensure that the website is fully optimized for search engines (search engine optimization) and improve its chances of ranking well in search results.

Additionally, verify that your website has all necessary SEO elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, keywords and generate an XML sitemap that you can submit to search engines. SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math can be of great help.

Also, ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.

8. Ensure your website’s security

Test your website for security vulnerabilities and implement the necessary security before launching. 

This process includes using tools as such WordFence to scan for vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and then taking the necessary steps to fix any issues found. 

Ensuring that your website is secure will protect both the website and its users from potential threats. Don’t forget to install an SSL certificate.

9. Test 3rd Party Integrations

Testing any necessary integrations, such as email marketing or payment processing, is an important step before launching a website. 

This includes ensuring that email campaigns and contact forms are properly configured and that payment gateways as well as social media sharing buttons and third-party analytics tools are appropriately integrated and tested.

It’s also a good idea to get feedback from users or beta testers to ensure that your website integrations are working properly. Ask them to test your website and provide feedback on any issues or areas for improvement.

This will ensure that all the features of the website are fully functional and provide a seamless user experience.

10. Test Website User Experience

This includes testing the website’s navigation, layout, and overall design to ensure it is easy for users to find what they are looking for, and that the website is visually appealing and easy to understand. 

This will ensure that the website provides a positive user experience or user engagement.

After completing all the above steps, it’s time to launch your website. Ensure that you notify search engines and social media platforms about the launch.

And after your new site launch, make sure you monitor its performance regularly. Track your website’s traffic, user behaviour, and other metrics to improve website performance and user experience.

Website Launch Checklist FAQs

Conclusion

By using this seo website launch checklist, you can make sure that your website is prepared for use by the public and that you have everything you need to market and expand it.

It can also help facilitate better collaboration among team members thus ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that all necessary tasks are completed.

If you liked this checklist, you may also check out my WordPress Beginner Toolkit or my Elementor Pro BootCamp course.

Do forget to make backups and add a privacy policy as this is a requirement in some countries where your website readers may come from.

For any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comments box below. Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel and newsletter for more tips and tutorials.