16 Points New Website Launch Checklist (Never Miss a Step‎)

There are many little things in launching a new website that make this task a bit difficult for developers and digital marketers, that’s why I came up with this website checklist.

But before we get to know about the website launching checklist here I want to share a very interesting fact about website user behavior.

It takes about only 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about the website that determines whether they like your site or not, it means whether they’ll stay or leave.

Launching a website has several factors that need to be considered to make this process hassle-free. Many components should be covered from debugging to testing performance on various devices.

But most importantly these factors should be observed whether it is a newly built website or a site that is being redesigned. It may seem basic but it is important to launch a website successfully. Attention should be paid even to the little details. 

To ensure professionals do not miss anything in this article I’ve prepared a checklist for launching a website. 

In this article, you’ll get to know about all the key points that make this process error-free. It’s a result of years of experience and mistakes that I made on my learning path, this checklist will help you to ease the process of website launching.

Let’s look into the factors that should be focused on before launching a new website:

Make Sure Text Visibility

It is important to check the visibility of the text. It will help the reader of the webpage to easily navigate through the content.

Visibility is the factor that determines how readable is the text of a webpage and how effective it is. Low visibility will negatively affect the traffic and ranking. So, before launching a new website, it is relevant to check the visibility of the site.

Have a Look at the Content Page

It is essential to look at the content page before launching a website. It must be proofread for grammar and spelling. The content page should be attractive and easy to read.

To make sure your content is easy to read or not, let your friends or coworkers read the content first before launching. It is important to optimize the images properly. One should pay attention to audio and video files.

If the site contains unfinished pages, users might think of it as abandoned. The content page is very crucial in a site and it can be provided with advice, unique views, actionable takeaways, and interview industry leaders.

Related: How to Write High-Quality Content?

Check to Make Sure the SSL Is Working

The site without an SSL certificate shown as ‘not secure’. Here is an example of a not secure website.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate will help to improve the value of the identity of the site. It also enables the site to use HTTPS which makes sure the data transferred on the internet is secure.

Apart from that, the lock symbol on your site makes your site to be seen as trustworthy by users and search engines that play a significant role in ranking.

Some websites need distinct types of certificates and they should be purchased in such cases. It will help to reroute traffic to the site through HTTPS. Thus, it can be ensured whether the data going in and out of the site is secured.

If HTTPS is enabled on the site, browsers will display it. If the site is not configured to use HTTPS, a warning will be visible when the visitors try to access the site. It will affect the traffic level negatively.

It ensures that no hackers can intercept data within the site as it is encrypted. It will boost the website as SSL is included in Google’s search ranking algorithm.

Related: Organic Web Search Ranking Factors

Update Your Content Management System

Content Management System (CMS) enables the design of the site from an already created template, improves the content, and edit after publishing it.

It has several tools for creating, updating, and managing the pages even without knowledge about web development. There is a need to update CMS like any other software and this will help to make sure the stability and deal with the latest features.

WordPress, Wix, Drupal are some of the popular CMS platforms. It should be checked whether the site is using the latest features and it works accurately on the website before launching the site. Almost all CMSs will give alerts when there is an update in the software.

Have a Backup Solution

It is essential to have a backup plugin while preparing for a website launch. It will help to restore the website when anything has gone wrong. Having a backup plugin installed on the site will also restrict the loss of data and will protect from damages.

There are several ways to back up the site. Manually copying and downloading the files, using the service of a third-party, and can back up through the web host. But it is not effective if it is not tested. Anything can be restored with low clicks whether something went wrong or any other issue.

There will be different possible things that bring the website down. So, it will definitely help the website to get protected.

Adding Analytics

Adding analytics to the site helps to know how many people visit the site, where they are from, which browsers did they use, which pages they visit, how much time the users stay on the page, and so on.

It is essential to understand what the visitors are doing within the site. For example, looking at the bounce rate of the site and if it is a high rate, there is a requirement for taking action. It can be possible only if the bounce rate can be analyzed.

Many platforms are available for analytics, among which Google Analytics is the most relevant. A new website will never get too much traffic, which means it takes a while until the analytics tools begin to collect every valuable detail.

Check the Website on Mobile

It is an important part of the website’s launch checklist, as the use of mobile devices increased in a huge manner.

It is essential for the website to be accessible on mobile devices as on desktops. The content must be easy to read on the mobile and should be the same in every version of the site.

There are several tools to check the mobile-friendliness of the website. Mobile phones of friends, families, and colleagues can be used to check how the site looks in various versions.

It will be efficient to see the errors on several devices. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can be used to check the mobile-friendliness.

Make Sure URLs Are Correct

Every site is created with a URL. The URL is not the final destination of the site. When the site is moving to the production stage, changing the URLs is essential. As URLs are very important in the site, it should be checked that they are correct before launching the site.

There are several ways to test the URLs. It can be checked by entering the live URLs one by one. It is possible only for small websites.

They don’t need any tools for checking the URLs. But for large websites, checking of URLs will be automated. Screaming Frog & SEO Spider Tool can be used without any cost to find bad URLs for sites with less than 500 URLs.

Have a Look at CTA (Call-To-Action)

Using CTA in a site as the major banner image is very effective. Because users can’t read the mind of the site owners. A prominent Call-To-Action will help to explain the function which the visitors are expecting to perform.

Content present on the rest of the webpage must be related to the Call-To-Action like explaining the benefit of taking action. CTA directs the visitors to the desired action.

Several factors should be considered while creating CTA. It is not attractive to use “click here”, instead it is suitable to try “Read more on the blog” or “Download the app” or “Buy now”. A clear CTR should be added on every page which is efficient to encourage the people to order the services.

Related: Top 10 On-Page SEO Techniques for Higher Ranking

Check The Robots.Txt File

These files tell the search engines about the pages that should be crawled and which pages not. It also allows the site owners to tell crawlers about treating external links and blocking specific agents. It helps the search engines to crawl the website with better efficiency.

Checking the robots.txt file is important in the checklist as it will allow the site owners to avoid unimportant sections or pages from crawling.

There are many complications with these files and so it is essential to keep up with the guidelines of Google on what should be included and how to format the files.

Sometimes creating a robots.txt file is a tedious task for most webmasters that’s why we have created a free robots.txt file generator tool on our website which you can use to create these files in a quick time.

Delete the Unwanted Plugins From the Website

There will be plugins that were merely added to test the ideas in a website. When the site is getting ready to launch, it is important to check and remove those unwanted plugins in order to provide a better launching experience.

The problem with those unwanted plugins is that they will interact with the efficient plugins in the site and may get it down by dominating the space.

That’s why there is a need to audit and delete the least important plugins. It should be done before launching the website and if not, it may affect the user experience.

Test the Internal Links

Internal links direct to other pages within the website. It enables the search engines to analyze the structure of the site and the users to easily navigate the site as it shows relevant content related to their search. Thus, it is significant to test them before launching a new website.

The presence of broken links in the site will affect the site negatively. Broken links are bad for the user experience.

There are many online tools to check the links. It will take only a few minutes to fix the broken links if they are pointed. It is relevant to check whether all links are working properly.

Related: Link Building Guide For Beginners

Ensure the Website Is Easy to Access

It is all about the usability of the website to everyone. A good website must provide a great user experience for that it is essential to check the accessibility of the site to both the search engines and the audience. It means that the site should be easy to navigate, read and interact with.

The site can be made accessible by adding alt text to the images, properly using the headers, and so on. It will provide satisfaction to the visitors. It should be easily accessible on every device (mobile or desktop), browsers of different types, etc.

There are several methods to check the accessibility of the website like Screaming Frog and Google Search Console.

Use Schema Markup

Using schema markup helps to tell the search engines what the content on the site means. Schema markup is a code that can be included on the page that will help to improve the CTR of the website.

Using schema markup will help to show the pages to significant users in the search results. The pages can be shown as rich snippets by using these types of codes. It will provide information that is more contextual that increases the interest of the audience.

If the site is publishing a recipe, a snippet that shows photographs or cooking time, etc can be created by using Schema markup.

Don’t Forget to Add Business Social Media Links

Social media can be used for enhancing the business. It is a kind of successful marketing. Sharing the links through social media has a wide range in influencing the reach of the business.

Social media is a platform where people spend major time. Almost all people think that the reputed companies will have social media presence in a proper way.

Social media is the best platform to announce the launching of the website. In fact, the responsibility for the social media management of a starting project relies on copywriters.

It is their duty to create effective bios, photos, and videos, cover images, etc. Thus, social media pages will never have a diminished look. 

Related: SEO vs Social Media

Protect the Website From Spam

Spam content is disturbing for both site owners and users. It is significant to check with it before site launching to keep the quality of the content.  

The content should be unique to provide a great user experience. Many anti-spam plugins are there to protect the site from spam.

Site builders will provide spam filters with all the necessary settings. Some pieces of the page will be similar in multiple pages like size data, technical parameters, etc.

But the major portion of the page should be unique. Search engines always require uniqueness in the content to provide fresh content to the visitors.

Conclusion

Starting a website is an easy task. There is a need to check each component of the site before launching. These checklists will allow you to launch the website with high confidence and low stress.

I shared my checklist to launch the website with you, hope you get the points to remember while launching the website. If you still have any queries, feel free to contact us. Give us a call at +1 (916) 273-6673 for consultation for your new website development.