Guide · 2026-09-04
39 things to check before you launch your website
A site can look completely finished and still be broken underneath. Here's the full pre-launch checklist I run on every build, grouped into 6 areas you can work through yourself in ten minutes.
If you're about to launch your website, stop for a second before you hit publish. A site can look completely finished and still be broken underneath: missing pages, dead links, forms that fail the moment a real customer tries to use them. I check for this on every single build before it goes live, so here's the full list, grouped into six areas you can run through yourself in the next ten minutes.
Legal and trust. Your privacy policy, a terms page, cookie consent, and real trust signals, testimonials, reviews, anything that proves a stranger can trust you with their money before they've ever met you.
SEO foundations. A robots.txt file, a sitemap, meta titles and descriptions on every page, canonical URLs, alt text on your images, and a custom 404 page instead of a dead end that sends visitors straight back to Google, and straight to a competitor.
Conversion basics. A clear call to action, an FAQ section, social share buttons, a favicon, a proper mobile version, your contact details visible without a hunt, and pricing that's clear, not hidden behind a contact form nobody wants to fill in.
Forms and interactions. Test every single form yourself. Check validation, success states, spam protection. Hunt down dead buttons that go nowhere. And if you sell anything, run through the entire checkout flow with your own card before a customer does.
Links and navigation. Fix your redirects, kill broken links, check every external link opens, test your download links, make sure search works, the mobile menu opens and closes properly, browser test across Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, and confirm HTTPS is switched on, not just assumed.
Performance and accessibility. Page speed, image compression, font loading, layout shifts while the page loads, general performance, accessibility for screen readers, and analytics tracking before a single visitor arrives, so you're not flying blind in week one.
Six categories, thirty nine things. Miss even a handful and your finished site is costing you leads every single day it's live, without ever telling you why, because a visitor who hits a dead form or a broken link doesn't complain, they just leave.
None of this needs to take long. Most of it is clicking every link on your own site, submitting every form with a test entry, and opening the site on your phone to see what a real visitor actually sees. The pages that look perfect on a big desktop monitor are usually the ones that fall apart first on mobile, which is how most people are actually going to find you. If any of this sounds familiar, it's worth reading 7 signs your website is quietly costing you enquiries next.
I build sites that pass every one of these before they ever go live. If you want yours checked over before or after launch, take a look at how I build websites and I'll give you a straight answer on what's missing.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a finished-looking website and a launch-ready one?
Finished usually means the pages exist and the design looks right. Launch-ready means every link works, every form actually submits, the legal pages are in place, and the site is set up to be found and trusted, not just looked at.
Do I need to check all 39 things myself before launching?
Most of them take seconds to check even if you didn't build the site yourself. Click every link, submit every form with a test entry, and open the site on your phone. That alone catches the majority of what actually goes wrong.
What's the most commonly missed item on a pre-launch checklist?
A custom 404 page and broken redirects. Sites get restructured after launch and old links quietly start dead-ending, which is invisible to the owner but is exactly the kind of thing that erodes trust for a visitor and hurts SEO.
Does a small business website really need all of this, or is it overkill?
Not all 39 carry equal weight, but each one is there because it's caused a real problem on a real site. A missing contact form success state or an unclear price loses you a lead just as easily as a slow page does.
Topics: Website Tips, Web Development, Small Business
By Lee Day · leeday.uk · UK-wide support