Blog

Website Launch Checklist

April 29, 2014   /   by  Michael Westafer

Lift Off: A GUIDE TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING A WEBSITE

We’ve launched a lot of websites here at Roger West – and in fact, we just launched our new website this week. Through our experiences, we’ve compiled a website launch checklist that we follow before going live with a new website.

The list is not meant to be 100% comprehensive – we learn new things after each launch and keep adding to it. But this should act as a guide to help you successfully launch a website, and you can modify it or add to it in order to make it your own.

Content

Get out your magnifying glass and examine every sentence, word, and letter.

  • Spelling & grammar is correct
  • Paragraphs, headers, lists, and other formatting is correct
  • Copyright date is current
  • Accurate contact details
  • All dummy “lorem ipsum” content is removed
  • Rich content is correct and working – images, videos, audio, etc.

Design

Take the necessary steps to ensure that the site is pixel perfect.

  • Cross-browser compatibility (IE 7 8, 9 and 10, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc)
  • Cross-device compatibility (Android, iPhone, tablets, etc.)
  • CSS/HTML Validation
  • Page Optimization: scripts, images, and CSS
  • Favicon

Functionality

Test and validate that everything on the website is working properly.

  • Forms are submitting
  • Thank you message displays after the form is submitted
  • Form data is being emailed to a recipient and/or stored in a database
  • Auto-responders are working properly (if applicable)
  • All internal links work properly
  • All external links work properly and open in a new tab
  • All social media share icons work properly
  • All feeds work properly (RSS, News, Twitter, etc.)
  • Company logo links to index page
  • Check load time for site pages
  • Page accessibility for users with disabilities (WAI-ARIA)
  • 404 Redirect pages are in place (page-not-found.aspx)

SEO

Make sure that your website has a solid foundation for SEO success.

  • Redirect non “www” traffic to “www” site
  • Create a dynamic XML sitemap
  • Submit XML sitemap to search engines
  • Verify page URLs consistently reflect site information architecture
  • Add alt tags to every image
  • Pages have title tags (less than 70 characters, includes keywords)
  • Pages have descriptions (less than 156 characters, includes keywords)
  • Pages have keywords (less than 10 – all words appear in page copy)
  • Spelling and grammar is correct in all metadata
  • 301 redirects are in place for all old URLs (redirect old to new pages)
  • Smart URLs are in place
  • rel=”nofollow” are in place on applicable links and pages
  • Add RSS feed to header meta data
  • Add social media meta data to the header (image and page description)

Analytics

Collect valuable analytics that will allow you to continually improve the website going forward.

  • Embed analytics code on the page
  • Set up a filter to exclude IP addresses for web company and client
  • Set up goals (if applicable)

Security & Backups

Prevent the loss of data and protect against malware or other damages with site security and regular backups.

  • Setup secure FTP accounts
  • Install 24/7 monitoring scripts
  • Create daily backups
  • Test client CMS access

Did we forget anything? Is there something you do that we don’t? Let's Talk.

Michael Westafer

Michael Westafer

CEO

As the CEO and founder of Roger West, Mike brings over 25 years of marketing, leadership, and business strategy experience to our team, clients, and partners. Under his leadership, the Roger West has grown from a scrappy startup to a full-service, award-winning agency. He believes in getting things done, making big things happen for clients, and delivering expert fist-bumps.