Pre-launch checklist
Everything in this course converges here. Before the new site — or a redesign of an existing one — goes live, work through this list deliberately rather than trusting that everything got done along the way. A launch is the worst time to discover a broken form.
- Redirects mapped. If this replaces an existing site, every old URL that has traffic, links or rankings gets a 301 redirect to its new equivalent — see Chapter 3 for why URL structure was worth planning early.
- Custom 404 page in place. A clear, on-brand "page not found" page with a link back to the homepage or search, rather than the platform's bare default.
- SSL certificate active and verified. The padlock shows on every page, and HTTP, non-www and www variants all redirect cleanly to one canonical, secure address (Chapter 7).
- Every form tested end to end. Submit each form with real test data and confirm the notification email or lead actually arrives — a broken form silently loses every enquiry sent through it.
- Mobile tested on a real device. Not just a resized browser — an actual phone, checking navigation, forms, and tap targets (Chapter 8).
- Core pages proofread. Spelling, broken links, placeholder "lorem ipsum" text, and unfinished sections checked on every primary page, not just the homepage.
- Legal and policy pages present. Privacy policy, terms, and — for a store — shipping and returns pages, all accurate and easy to find (Chapter 5).
- Backups configured and confirmed working. An automated, off-server backup schedule is active before launch, not set up as an afterthought once something goes wrong (Chapter 7).
Launch day checklist
Launch day itself is short on drama when the pre-launch list above is genuinely complete — but a few things only make sense to check once the site is actually live at its real address.
- Analytics installed and confirmed tracking. Load the live site and check that a real visit actually registers in your analytics tool within a few minutes — installed-but-not-firing is a common, invisible failure.
- Sitemap submitted to search engines. Submit the XML sitemap through Google Search Console (and Bing Webmaster Tools, if used) so crawling and indexing can begin promptly.
- Site not accidentally blocked from indexing. Double-check that any "discourage search engines" or staging-site
noindexsetting used during development has been switched off on the live site. - DNS and domain fully propagated. Confirm the domain resolves correctly from more than one network or location, particularly if this was a platform or host migration.
- Site speed spot-checked live. A quick real-world load-time check on the actual production environment, not just a local or staging copy (Chapter 6).
Post-launch checklist: the first week
The days right after launch are when small, otherwise-easy-to-miss problems tend to surface — traffic patterns from real, unpredictable visitors reveal things a pre-launch checklist cannot.
- Watch analytics daily. Confirm traffic is arriving roughly as expected and nothing has silently broken tracking.
- Check Search Console for crawl errors. New indexing or crawl errors often surface within the first days as search engines begin actively revisiting the site.
- Click through every navigation link and footer link once more. A final pass on the live site, not the staging copy, catches anything the migration itself introduced.
- Monitor form submissions and order notifications. Confirm real submissions are still arriving correctly under live conditions, not just the pre-launch test.
- Ask a few real people to try it. A colleague or customer using the site cold, without guidance, will find friction and confusion that familiarity has made invisible to you.
Keep this checklist somewhere reusable — every future redesign, migration or major update deserves the same discipline as the original launch, and "we'll remember what to check" is exactly how redirects and forms get missed the second time.
What "good" looks like after launch
A successful launch is not a dramatic event — it is the quiet absence of problems. Analytics tracking cleanly from day one, no spike in broken-link or 404 reports, forms and checkout working reliably under real traffic, and search engines steadily indexing the new pages without errors in Search Console. That unglamorous stability is the actual goal, and it is what the checklists above are built to protect.
From here, the work shifts from launch to iteration: watching real visitor behaviour, refining the pages that underperform, and revisiting the planning questions from Chapter 1 as the business itself evolves. A website is never really "finished" — it is maintained, measured, and improved, chapter by chapter, the same way it was built.