How to Check If Your Website Is Ready to Launch

It consists of items grouped into topics, if any item corresponds to your site, mark it as complete. If there is no such thing on the site, we advise you to take it to work. In the material itself, there are points with explanations, at the end of the article there is an Excel file that you can download and mark what has been done. The original from Raven Tools in English is also at the end of the article.

This checklist will help you check the site for readiness and not to forget important details.

visitors

1. The site responds to users' requests and can help solve their problems.
2. On the main page, it is clear what the site is useful for.
3. It is convenient for users to make purchases through the site in a minimum of clicks (relevant for online stores with a payment system).
4. Guests have an incentive to leave their contacts with you. They understand how to do it on the website.
5. The site is easy to navigate, the menu clearly structures the information.

Design

6. The website displays correctly in all popular browsers.
7. Website pages display correctly on all devices (mobile phones, tablets, and desktops with different screen resolutions).
8. CSS, HTML, and all scripts have been checked and optimized.
9. Font styles, line spacing, colors, and navigation are consistent across all website pages.
10. The favicon has been installed and displays correctly.
11. Typography is consistent: all text uses the same paragraph styles, spacing, and quotation marks. We have a detailed article about the relationship between typography and SEO.
12. The font is easy to read.
13. The text and background provide sufficient contrast (for example, black text on a dark blue background is likely to be difficult to read).

Technology

14. After submitting a contact or subscription form, the user sees a thank-you message.
15. A thank-you message or thank-you page appears after submitting every contact form.
16. Contact form autoresponders are configured.
17. Google Analytics is configured and tracks conversions.
18. Website forms send data to the appropriate databases.
19. All links work correctly and lead to the appropriate pages.
20. Social media icons link to the correct social media pages.
21. RSS is enabled and functioning properly.
22. The company logo links to the homepage.
23. Integrations with the CRM, e-commerce software, and other services required for the website to operate are working properly.
24. The website achieves a high score in Google PageSpeed or Pingdom Tools, and the recommendations from these services have been implemented.
25. Users can contact you through the website. Contact forms and call buttons are available.
26. The website has an SSL certificate.

Content

27. Texts have been checked for grammar and spelling errors.
28. The current year is displayed in the website footer.
29. Contact information is accurate and consistent throughout the website.
30. No placeholder text such as "Lorem Ipsum" remains on the website.
31. Each page has headings and subheadings (H1–H6 tags) containing relevant keywords. There is a detailed article explaining the importance of these tags.
32. The website pages include internal linking.
33. Keywords are used naturally throughout the text without keyword stuffing.
34. The website pages include calls to action that help increase conversions.
35. You have a content publishing schedule for the website that you consistently follow.

When working with content, it is important to check how the meta tags are filled, which keywords were used, whether they are relevant, as well as how the content page itself behaves: how quickly it loads, whether it has micro markup... The Content Analysis tool will help analyze this, it will consider the relevance and density of keys, analyze the technical composition of the page and give recommendations.

SEO

The Google Search Console service will help track how the site's position in search engines changes. It will determine by which sites users find the site, which keys work best and will show the dynamics of site position changes.

Social networks

46. The website includes social media widgets with links to the company's social media pages.
47. Users can contact you through the linked social media platforms.

Images and files

48. Images, audio and video can be opened and played on all devices.
49. Images have descriptions with keywords.

We have material on image optimization on the site.

50. All studies, e-books, technical files and manuals that you add additionally can be opened on any device.
51. The files are checked, there are no grammatical and spelling errors in them.

Analytics

52. You have full access to the Google Analytics account for your site. If you are not the owner of the site, ask him to give you access to the account.
53. The Google Analytics tracking code has been added to the site. The method of adding the tracking code may depend on the CMS.
54. Configured filters that block traffic from your IP addresses.

You can determine your IP using the tool My IP address pr-cy.ru/browser-details/ in one click.

55. The site has a sales pitch.

We wrote more about the eruption in the article.

Backup copies

59. 24/7 monitoring scripts are installed on the site.
60. A copy of the latest version of the site is saved as a backup and stored somewhere in a separate place, for example, in the cloud. Periodically update your copy of the site in case you need a backup.
61. You store site credentials and passwords in a secure database.

Convenience

62. The website is accessible to people with disabilities.
63. The website uses cookies and notifies users about them.
64. If you purchased images, fonts, or other copyrighted assets, documentation confirming the licenses for all such assets has been retained.
65. The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are available for all users to review.
66. If the website stores or processes credit card data, it complies with PCI standards.

Final check before launch

67. Content that requires regular updates has been identified and included in a separate content calendar.
68. If the website has been redesigned, a ZIP archive of the previous version has been saved in case content needs to be recovered.
69. The list of domains has been verified. If additional domains should point to this website, access to all domain registrars has been confirmed.
70. The email address used for contact forms and notifications has been verified.
71. You have all the domain registration information.
72. You have the complete list of the domain's DNS settings.

This information can be found using the Domain name to IP address tool. It will determine the relationship between DNS and the domain name of any page.

Launching the site

The Site Analysis tool will help monitor the dynamics of Google Analytics indicators. He can analyze the results and compare the data with competitors. The tool will determine whether searchers see the company's pages in social networks and displays statistics on factors affecting promotion, evaluates optimization, position in search engines, server information and other technical characteristics.