Whether you’re building a new website from scratch or giving your existing one a makeover, a website launch can feel daunting. Months of planning, designing, and optimization go into creating a site people will love to spend time (and shop!) on.
Creating a website launch checklist can help you prevent small details from slipping through the cracks. Here are 19 essential tasks to review before, during, and after your website launch to deliver a smooth user experience.
Prelaunch website checklist
- Choose a CMS and configure Google Analytics
- Review metadata
- Tease the launch to generate buzz
- Develop an SEO strategy
A comprehensive prelaunch checklist sets the foundation for a successful website launch. Without one, you may find yourself scrambling to fix overlooked issues once your new website is live:
1. Choose a CMS and configure Google Analytics
The first step in building out a new website is to find the right content management system (CMS). Platforms like Shopify lets you manage customer information and track orders and inventory.
Set up your Google Analytics and ensure you’re properly tracking key events, like conversions. Google’s latest analytics property, GA4, tracks standard events like purchases, but you may also want to tag custom events, like specific button clicks, through Google Tag Manager.
2. Review metadata
Metadata helps search engines understand your website content to accurately rank your pages. This includes:
3. Tease the launch to generate buzz
Use social media, email teasers, and prelaunch incentives to build anticipation. Since SEO can take months to gain traction, early promotion ensures you have an audience eager to check out your website on day one. Share product sneak peeks or behind-the-scenes content to generate excitement.
4. Develop an SEO strategy
Having a strong on-page search engine optimization (SEO) strategy helps you gain more visibility in search engine rankings, driving organic traffic to your website without ad spend. Target the right keywords—words that drive search traffic—by doing keyword research and creating content plans for new product pages, landing pages, and blog posts.
At-launch website checklist
- Run a site audit
- Generate an XML sitemap
- Check third-party integrations
- Create back-ups
- Check for compliance
- Check redirects
- Check your robots.txt file
- Check for responsiveness
- Review accessibility
- Review copy, links, and branding
Congrats—you’re live! But before popping the champagne, there are a few more tasks to complete:
5. Run a site audit
A site audit helps you to spot any technical errors you may have missed during the staging process (broken links, duplicate content, site security issues, or poor responsiveness). Run a site audit with tools like Semrush or Ahrefs and gather technical performance data in Google Search Console (GSC) to catch errors, identify areas for optimizations, and benchmark against competitors.
6. Generate an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap lists all indexable pages on your website in a text file format. Google’s crawlers use this file to crawl and index your site more efficiently.
Shopify stores automatically generate sitemaps, accessible at [yourdomain.com]/sitemap.xml. You can also create the sitemap before launching, but you can’t submit it for indexing until your site is live.
Submit your sitemap to GSC by navigating to Indexing > Add a new sitemap, and entering your sitemap’s filename.
7. Check third-party integrations
You may have integrated third-party tools like an email marketing service, customer relationship management (CRM) software, or ecommerce analytics tool. Check your integrations to make sure data is transferring and mapping correctly.
8. Create back-ups
Make a copy of your website, then plan to back it up monthly to avoid data loss. If you regularly update your website—like adding new products weekly—plan for a weekly backup schedule. Test that backups are running correctly and store them in multiple locations, like an external hard drive and the cloud.
9. Check for compliance
Although the internet has no borders, your ecommerce business must still comply with local laws and regulations. This includes:
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General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance if you’re collecting data from users in the European Union
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California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) compliance if you’re targeting users in California
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A cookie consent banner with a clear opt-out (if applicable)
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Accessibility standards according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
10. Check redirects
If you’re migrating or redesigning your website, you’re likely removing or consolidating pages—maybe to improve the user experience (UX), search engine optimizations (SEO), or simplify content. When old pages are removed or merged, these changes could result in URL changes or links to pages that don’t exist anymore. Redirect old pages to their new counterparts to guide users to the correct destination.
11. Check your robots.txt file
A robots.txt file helps search engines understand which parts of your new site to crawl, ensuring only valuable pages are indexed and avoiding duplicates or low-value content. Before launching, make sure your robots.txt file is up to date with instructions to allow and disallow specific pages.
12. Check for responsiveness
A responsive website adjusts to the user’s device and screen size across laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Review your entire site experience on different devices and flag anything that’s out of place, like misaligned text. If you don’t have access to various devices, you can check for responsive web design on Google Chrome by right-clicking, selecting Inspect, and toggling the device icon in the toolbar.
13. Review accessibility
The American Disabilities Act requires websites to be accessible to those with disabilities. There are various ways users with disabilities interact with websites, including screen readers, video captioning, keyboard navigation, or voice recognition. Ensure your website follows web accessibility guidelines before launch.
14. Review copy, links, and branding
Chances are you’ve spent a lot of time iterating on your web copy and design. After all that work, launching with typos, broken links, or a wrong version of your logo would be a shame. Thoroughly review your copy and test internal and external links to ensure they’re error-free. Audit brand identity elements, like images, logos, fonts, and colors, to ensure compliance.
Post-launch website checklist
- Test the user experience (again)
- Secure your site
- Announce your launch
- Map out a maintenance plan
- Build out your blog
Once your website is launched, make sure it’s set up for growth. Your website post-launch checklist could include the following:
15. Test the user experience (again)
Review your entire site again and consider making a test order to verify all conversion paths. Are purchases flowing through to Shopify correctly? Are notifications being sent to the correct email addresses? Check that data is piping through the back end properly, too.
Most ecommerce websites have multiple conversion points, like purchases, email submissions, or quiz completions. Test every form and button—a single broken element can make the difference between a sale and losing a frustrated customer.
16. Secure your site
Make sure your website isn’t vulnerable to data breaches. Protect shared logins and passwords with a password manager like Dashlane or LastPass, and update passwords quarterly. Double-check that your website has an SSL certificate—which encrypts data transferred between your web server and the user’s browser—by ensuring your URL starts with “https://”.
Shopify provides free SSL certificates to all domains.
17. Announce your launch
Send out an announcement on all your marketing channels. Consider offering promotions or discounts to incentivize new customers, or hosting a launch party—real or virtual—with demonstrations, showcases, and influential trendsetters in your industry.
18. Map out a maintenance plan
Create a plan with routine tasks to keep your website up to date, covering performance, content, and security checks. These may include:
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Monthly technical audits
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Regular content optimization
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Monthly key performance indicator (KPI) reporting
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Biannual keyword reviews
19. Build out your blog
SEO is an ongoing effort to ensure your website is consistently growing, and a blog is a powerful way to target keywords in your niche. It also helps establish your authority as an expert and gives you a channel for answering user queries.
Website checklist FAQ
What are the most important things to do before launching a new website?
Before launching a new website, the most important things to do are:
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Check user experience
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Test conversion paths
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Check site security
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Check legal compliance
How do I test a website before launching?
You can manually test your website by using it on different devices, making purchases using different devices to see whether they go through, and signing up for email. You can also run the website through a tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to find broken links and other performance issues.
How should I structure my website?
Organize your site into logical categories and prioritize important pages like the homepage and product pages. Make sure every page is linked to others to prevent orphan pages that can’t easily be found.
