Launching a website? Make sure that you release a website that follows established norms and best practices. If your site is buggy or contains errors, it will put off visitors, buyers, and customers which will adversely affect website performance.
The following is a website checklist that can help you launch an effective website.
Copy
- Make copy consistent (first letter capitalization, tense, writing style, etc.). If writing is not your cup of tea, hire a professional copywriter.
- Check grammar and spelling. Read every line carefully and correct homonyms, tense-related errors among others.
- Remove test content.
- Check hidden copy for errors (AJAX/Javascript). This copy must be short and crisp.
Validation
- Validate HTML, Javascript and CSS.
- Ensure website is accessible to all visitors.
- Is your website W3C compliant? It not, get it audited at the W3C site and fix errors.
SEO and search visibility website checklist
- Did you do proper keyword research for your web pages, including your home page. Don’t guess. Get proper search data by doing keyword research. If you’re not sure how to do effective keyword research, grab my free guide which goes through keyword research extensively.
- Write effective tags (title, meta data, alt tags, H1, H2, etc., tags). Include keywords in tags. The title tag is very important.
- Include important keywords in headings. Use long tail keywords, which can bring in high quality traffic. Do not stuff in keywords – make your copy flow naturally.
- Fix canonical domain issues, if any.
- Mark-up content semantically.
- Include keywords in content, including long tail keywords.
- Website must work in all browsers (IE, FF, Chrome, Opera, etc.). IE is mostly used in USA, but many people find it buggy, and other browsers like FireFox and Chrome are catching up fast. Chrome and FireFox also give away plugins that can help you audit your website and strengthen its SEO.
- Create a sitemap (XML).
- Create and install Robots.txt.
- Set up a Google Webmaster Console. This tool will help you understand how the major search engines view your site and analyze search data.
- Set up a Google Analytics account and insert analytics code in your site so you can track website performance.
- Create 404 pages. When visitors land on 404 pages, they should be directed appropriately. Be sure to exclude any pages/posts you don’t wish to give public access to.
Legal Pages
Ensure you have the appropriate legal pages such as Privacy, Terms and Conditions, and any disclaimer pages applicable to your site.
Admin Pages
Ensure your About and Contact pages are accurate.
WordPress Tip
Ensure you don’t have the “Privacy” option clicked under “Privacy Settings” on the “Settings” menu.
Sharing and Social Media
If you’re integrating social media, do you have the applicable sharing buttons and widgets on your site working properly.
Consider adding Facebook Like and the Google +1 button to your pages and posts. Another sharing WordPress plugin I use is SexyBookmarks.
Navigation website checklist
Test your navigation. Invite friends and family to test-drive your site and ask for honest feedback. You want to ensure your site is easy to navigate.
Pre-launch website testing
- Check ALL links. Fix all broken links and ensure that all links are working fine.
- Double-check complex programming.
- Check how website looks like in different screen resolutions.
- Fill in all forms and test.
- Are auto responders working? Check the entire sales funnel.
- Test website without running AJAX or Flash, etc.
Back up and security
- Create a backup schedule.
- Test backups.
- Install anti-hacker, anti-virus and all necessary security tools.
- Install email/SMS monitoring tools.
Performance audit checklist
- Perform a load test.
- Are images optimized?
- Implement caching.
- Check page download time.
- Compress and optimize javascript and CSS.
- Test database functionality.
- Ensure site is compatible across all browsers.
- Install server logs.
After you launch your website, be sure to track performance. In the early days you’ll likely make some revisions to improve performance – whether it’s sales, traffic, etc.
This website checklist will help you launch an effective website. Remember, if any element of your website does not function the way it is supposed to work, it will turn off visitors and cause loss of sales. So go ahead and build a robust website and see your sales flourishing.
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- Lost and Confused? Website Layout & Navigation Tips
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- I’ve Come to Realize Website Design Is Very Important For Website Success?
