Launch day should be calm, not stressful. Work through this checklist on a staging copy of your site before you switch it live.
Content and design
Read every page for spelling and accuracy. Check that your business name, address, phone number and email are correct and consistent. Make sure every image is sharp, properly sized and has a short description. Remove any placeholder text and dummy pages.
Mobile and browsers
Open the site on at least one Android phone, one iPhone and a laptop. Check menus, buttons and forms. Test in Chrome, Safari and one other browser. Make sure text is readable without zooming.
Forms and contact
Submit every form and confirm the message reaches the right inbox. Test the WhatsApp and phone links. Make sure visitors see a clear thank-you message after submitting.
Speed
Run your key pages through Google PageSpeed Insights. Compress large images, enable caching and remove unused plugins. See our guide on speeding up a slow WordPress website.
SEO basics
Check that each page has a unique title and description and one main heading. Confirm search engines are allowed to index the site, because many sites are launched with indexing switched off by mistake. Create and submit an XML sitemap in Google Search Console. If you are replacing an old site, set up 301 redirects from the old addresses.
Security and backups
Install an SSL certificate so the site loads on https. Use strong passwords, remove unused admin accounts and set up automatic backups. Consider managed hosting and a maintenance plan.
Legal and tracking
Add a privacy policy, terms and cookie notice that match what you actually do. Install analytics and set up Google Search Console so you can measure results from day one.
After launch, watch your site closely for the first week. If you would like a team to handle all of this for you, see how we design and build WordPress websites.
