Here are my critical, “prelaunch” items to check before making a new site live. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching a new website, but don’t forget to double check everything before launching. We all get excited for finishing up a project and seeing our creations come to life, but overlooking certain things could jeopardize the success of your launch. This 29 point (and growing!) checklist covers the most important aspects of developing a website, including content, functionality tests, and debugging.

My checklist covers 3 main properties of a Website. The Frontend, aka the interface which your visitors view and use while on your website. This includes content, imagery, and any external links. Next up comes the Backend, which is more “for you” – basically things that may be overlooked such as cross-browser testing, site loading speeds, and any third party tracking script installations. Finally, the third category is relating to offsite topics such as scanning your website with Xenu Link Sleuth, or using W3′s Code Validation to scout for problems.

Website Components
 

Frontend (User’s Interface)

  1. Meta tags are present, accurate, and unique
  2. Spell checked and proof read content
  3. Logo linked to homepage
  4. Latin filler text removed
  5. Template stock images removed (when applicable)
  6. Site navigation organized & tested
  7. Internal links structured
  8. External media files tested (embed codes)
  9. Social icons linked
  10. Images tagged with ALT and Title text
  11. Contact information in header (when applicable)
  12. Contact information in footer (Company name + phone)
  13. Contact form active & tested
  14. Footer link to contact page
  15. Footer link to XML sitemap
  16. Footer link to credit Developer (when applicable)

    17.  
    Web Coding

    Backend (Under the Hood)

  17. Google Analytics installed
  18. Google Webmaster Tools installed
  19. Search engine friendly URLs (clean and short)
  20. Domain permanent redirect WWW to non-WWW / non-WWW to WWW
  21. User SESSIONS tested thoroughly (when applicable)
  22. Cross-browser testing and evaluation
  23. Mobile browser experience testing
  24. Caching and Script Compression

    25.  

    Offsite (External Tools)

  25. Xenu Link Sleuth scan and any errors fixed
  26. W3 HTML & CSS Validation and fix any critical errors
  27. Website Optimization Test (loading size / time test)
  28. Submit XML Sitemap to Webmaster Tools Dashboard
  29. Run “Prelaunch” Ranking Report for main keywords (when applicable)

Hopefully this list acts as a resource to some. It may seem like second nature to experienced Developers, but I find having a checklist a necessity when working on several projects at once. It prevents any critical errors from falling through the cracks before the site launches, and it’s a great way to reassure a client that you know what you’re doing. Clients like checklists, especially completed ones!

Found this post helpful?

Website Prelaunch Checklist was written by Dan Bochichio is a freelance Internet Specialist with over a decade of experience in web design. I specialize in taking new businesses from a web-zero to a web-hero by creating attractive sites which meet today's standards on the Web.