Our Guide to Preparing Your Website for Launch

Your website serves as the face of your business in this highly digitalized world as it works around-the-clock to connect you with your audience. It’s what powers up your online presence as it is an avenue wherein you can advertise your products, share your work, write about content that relates to your field, and more. For that reason, launching a website is a crucial step that you can’t take lightly as it can make or mar the growth of your business. 

After all, building your online empire from the ground up requires time, money, and a well-thought-out plan to be successful. In spite of working with a reliable team that cemented the path to your website launch, it’s in your best interest to take the extra mile by double-checking for any minor errors that can stain your start. 

To that end, we made a fool-proof checklist that enables you to sift through the essential elements you need to fortify before the website launch: 

Tip #1: Proofread Your Content for Errors

Common mistakes such as a typo on your homepage may look small, but it can make a negative impact on your company’s credibility. For that reason, it’s vital for your team to take the time to proofread your site’s content to ensure that it is polished and professional. 

Your content should be free from any form of error and should have the correct font size, short sentences, and concise paragraphs. Additionally, it should contain bullet points whenever necessary, have proper interpunction, as well as an appropriate amount of white space to make it easier for visitors to scan your copy. 

Here is a list of elements you should check out:

• Web copy 
• Spelling and grammar mistakes
• Paragraph headings, lists, and format
• Correct company contact details
• Images, videos, and audio

Tip #2: Check for Browser and Mobile-Friendliness

Testing for the responsiveness of your site to mobile devices and desktop use is a mandatory step. After all, user-friendliness is one of the main goals of a website, so compromising on their experience can quickly spell a recipe for disaster for your website launch.

At the bare minimum, your site must have a smooth run on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Other elements you should check out are the following:

• Check whether your website pages are compatibility with popular browsers
• Check whether your website pages are compatible with any device
• Check whether images are optimized across web pages
• Check the CSS and JS optimization across the web pages

Tip #3: Test Your Site’s Usability and Functionality

Your site’s usability and functionality are all vital aspects as there would be no point to a website if consumers find it challenging to navigate or use. Before anything else, test if your URLs are running, especially when you transition your site from staging to live. The next step is to check the following:

• If forms are submitting properly
• Does a “thank you” message show after form submissions? 
• Check if the form data is emailed to its proper recipients and if it is stored in the base
• Check if the autoresponders are working properly
• Click every internal and external link to check if they are working properly
• Check if social media share icons work properly
• Check if the feeds work properly, such as RSS
• Check if the company logo links to the homepage
• Check for the optimization of load time for site pages

Launching a website is the start of expanding your business as it opens up digital avenues where you can connect to various consumers from across the globe. For that reason, checking for any last-minute changes or correcting errors before the big launch is crucial as it can make or mar your success. 

While fortifying the content, usability, functionality, and SEO-friendliness of your site are all vital, one of the last notes you need to check is if your site has achieved your goal. Be sure it reflects the nature of your business and reach out to the right audience that you want to serve. To that end, this list should help you check if your website is ready for the world wide web. 

If you’re looking for a website design agency based in Winnipeg to help you with your site – get in touch with us today to see how we can help!