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The Ultimate Website Launch Checklist

A comprehensive checklist that all websites should be checked against before launch (e.g. security, validation, performance, content).

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Dan Zambonini
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4K views

The Ultimate Website Launch Checklist

A comprehensive checklist that all websites should be checked against before launch (e.g. security, validation, performance, content).

Uploaded by

Dan Zambonini
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
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Web Development & User Experience

www.boxuk.com

The Ultimate Website Launch Checklist


Pre-Launch

Content & Style


Typography and layout □
‣ Check for incorrect punctuation marks, particularly apostrophes, quotation marks and
□
hyphens/dashes
‣ Check headings for where you could potentially use ligatures □
‣ Check for widow/orphan terms in important paragraphs □
Spelling and grammar □
Consistency □
‣ Capitalisation (especially of main headings) □
‣ Tense/Style of writing □
‣ Recurring/common phrases (e.g. ‘More about X’ links) □
‣ Variations in words (e.g. Websites vs Web Sites, or UK vs US spelling) □
‣ Treatment of bulleted lists (e.g. periods or commas at end of each item) □
Check for hard-coded links to staging domain (i.e. ensure all links will change to ‘live’ URL/domain
□
when site is launched)
Ensure no test content on site □
Check how important pages (e.g. content items) print □
For re-designs, ensure important old/existing URLs are redirected to relevant new URLs, if the URL
□
scheme is changing
Check all ‘Hidden Copy’ (e.g. alt text, transcriptions, text in JavaScript functions) □

Standards and Validation


Accessibility □
HTML validation □
JavaScript validation □
CSS validation □

Search Engine Visibility, SEO and Metrics


Page Titles are important; ensure they make sense and have relevant keywords in them □
Create metadata descriptions for important pages □
Check for canonical domain issues (e.g. variations in links to http://site.com http://
□
www.site.com http://www.site.com/index.html should be reduced to a consistent style)
Ensure content is marked-up semantically/correctly (<h1>, etc.) □
Check for target keyword usage in general content □
Check format (user/search engine friendliness) of URLs □
Set up Analytics, FeedBurner, and any other packages for measuring ongoing success □

Ultimate Website Launch Checklist www.boxuk.com


Create an XML Sitemap □
Configure Google Webmaster Console and Yahoo! Site Explorer □

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.),
□
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 □
Check image optimisation □
Check and implement caching where necessary □
Check total page size/download time □
Minify/compress static (JavaScript/HTML/CSS) files □
Optimise your CSS: use short image paths; make full-use cascading nature of CSS, etc. □
Check correct database indexing □
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 □
Create a favicon □

Ultimate Website Launch Checklist www.boxuk.com


Post-Launch

Marketing
Social Marketing: Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc. □
Submit to search engines □
Set-up PPC/Google Adwords where necessary □
Check formatting of site results in SERPs □

Ongoing
Monitor and respond to feedback (direct feedback, on Social Media sites, check for chatter
through Google, etc.) □
Check analytics for problems, popular pages etc. and adjust as necessary □
Update content □

For an updated list, check: http://www.boxuk.com/blog/the-ultimate-website-launch-checklist

Ultimate Website Launch Checklist www.boxuk.com

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