The Ultimate Website Launch Checklist
The Ultimate Website Launch Checklist
www.boxuk.com
Functional Testing
Check all bespoke/complex functionality □
Check search functionality (including relevance of results) □
Check on common variations of browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome etc.),
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version (6, 7, 2.2, 3.1 etc.) and platform (Windows, OSX, Linux)
Check on common variations of Screen Resolution □
Test all forms (e.g. contact us, blog comments), including anti-spam features, response □
emails/text, etc.
Test without JavaScript, Flash, and other plug-ins □
Check all external links are valid □
Security/Risk
Configure backup schedule, and test recovery from backup. □
Protect any sensitive pages (e.g. administration area) □
Use robots.txt where necessary □
Security/Penetration test □
Turn-off verbose error reporting □
Check disk space/capacity □
Set-up email/SMS monitoring/alerts (e.g. for errors, server warnings); consider internal and
external monitoring services □
Performance
Load test
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Check image optimisation
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Check and implement caching where necessary
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Check total page size/download time
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Minify/compress static (JavaScript/HTML/CSS) files
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Optimise your CSS: use short image paths; make full-use cascading nature of CSS, etc. □
Check correct database indexing
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Check configuration at every level (Web server, Database, any other software e.g. Content □
Management System)
Configure server-based logging/measurement tools (e.g. database/web server logging) □
Finishing Touches
Create custom 404/error pages
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Create a favicon □
Marketing
Social Marketing: Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc. □
Submit to search engines □
Set-up PPC/Google Adwords where necessary
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Check formatting of site results in SERPs
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Ongoing
Monitor and respond to feedback (direct feedback, on Social Media sites, check for chatter
through Google, etc.)
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Check analytics for problems, popular pages etc. and adjust as necessary
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Update content
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