A website launch checklist is the cheapest insurance you can buy before going live. Most launch problems, such as a broken contact form, a hidden search setting or missing contact details, take minutes to fix before launch and weeks to notice afterwards. Work through these twelve checks in order, ideally with a friend who hasn’t seen the site. If you’re still building, start with our main guide on how to build a small business website.
Website Launch Checklist: 12 Things to Check
Content
1. Proofread every page aloud
Reading aloud catches typos, clumsy sentences and missing words that your eyes skip. Ask someone else to read the Home and Contact pages too, since they’ve never seen them before.
2. Check your contact details are identical everywhere
Your phone number, email, address and WhatsApp link should match across the site, your social profiles and your Google Business Profile. Inconsistent details confuse customers and make you look less established.
3. Make sure the key pages exist
Home, Services, About, Contact and a Privacy Policy should all be live, with a helpful 404 page for broken addresses. Our list of small business website pages explains what each should include.
Function
4. Test on a real phone and a laptop
Don’t rely on a resized browser window. Open the site on an actual phone and check that text is readable, buttons are easy to tap and nothing runs off the screen.
5. Click every link and button
Check the menu, footer, buttons and every link inside your pages, including links to other websites. Broken links make a new site look unfinished.
6. Submit your own contact form
Fill in the form and confirm the message reaches you, including your spam folder. Also tap your phone number and WhatsApp link on a phone to make sure they open the right app.
7. Check the loading speed
Large, uncompressed images are the most common cause of slow pages, so compress them before uploading. Then open the site on mobile data, not just your home Wi-Fi, and see how long the Home page takes to appear. For a full guide, see WordPress website speed.
Search
8. Turn search visibility on
WordPress has a setting under Settings → Reading called “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. It’s useful while you’re building, but it’s a request that major search engines respect, and it doesn’t switch itself off at launch. Make sure it’s unchecked on your live site, and check again after launch.
9. Check titles, descriptions and image alt text
Each key page should have a clear title and a short description that reads naturally, and each important image should have a short description (alt text). It helps search engines understand the page and helps visitors who can’t see the image.
10. Add your site to Google
Add your site to Google Search Console. According to Google’s guide to getting started, Google can discover your pages without it, but submitting a sitemap might speed up discovery, and the tool shows you problems to fix. If you serve a local area, set up your Google Business Profile too: see how to set up a Google Business Profile, then write a Google Business Profile description that attracts clicks.
Safety
11. Check that HTTPS works
Visit your site with https:// at the start and look for the padlock in the browser. If you see a warning, ask your hosting provider to fix the certificate before launch.
12. Set up backups and keep your accounts safe
Confirm that backups are running and that you know how to restore one. Use strong passwords for your admin login, keep your domain and hosting accounts in your own name, and set renewal reminders, as we explain in our guide on how to choose a domain name. See website hosting explained for what to look for in backups.
After Launch: The First Week
Check Search Console for errors, test your contact form again, and ask three people to browse the site and tell you what confused them. Fix the small things quickly, since early visitors form their first impression of your business from what they see now.
Quick Questions
How long does a website launch checklist take?
For a small site, about an hour if everything is ready.
Should I wait until the site is perfect?
No. Launch once the core pages work and your checks pass, then improve it every month. Waiting for perfect usually means never launching.
The Bottom Line
A good website launch checklist isn’t long, but skipping it is expensive. Check your content, test everything that can break, make sure search engines can see you, and secure your accounts. Do that, and you can launch with confidence. If you’d like help with the build or the launch, our website design services are a good place to start. And if you want to avoid the most common problems, read our list of website mistakes too.
