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Essential Site Launch Checklist: Steps to Ensure Your Website is Ready to Go Live
Making your site launch as successful as possible requires thorough preparation. Here's what you need to check and complete before going live:
Design and Branding Essentials
- Set your site title and upload a logo
- Review style settings (fonts, colors, spacing)
- Add cookie banner if needed for privacy
- Upload custom favicon for browser tabs
Page Setup and Content
- Create compelling homepage that reflects your brand
- Organize navigation menus logically
- Proofread all pages for errors and placeholder text
- Verify URL slugs match page titles
- Set up mobile layouts for Dynamic Editor pages
- Ensure collection pages match site's style
- Keep page sizes under 5MB for faster loading
- Consider adding members-only content
- Create custom 404 error page
Image Optimization
- Add featured images to all pages
- Check social sharing images
- Verify image link destinations
- Ensure image quality and proper formatting
- Fix any odd image cropping
Domain and Technical Setup
- Add custom domain
- Set primary domain if multiple exist
- Test all form submissions
- Verify social media links
- Consider Google Workspace email integration
- Set up multi-language support if needed
SEO Preparation
- Add SEO descriptions to all pages
- Complete full SEO checklist
- Verify search engine optimization
E-commerce Setup
- Connect payment processor
- Configure tax rules
- Set up shipping options
- Test complete checkout process
- Verify product details and pricing
- Disable test mode
- Consider adding product tags
- Customize email notifications
- Style checkout area
- Prepare launch promotions
Pre-Launch Final Checks
- Remove page passwords
- Disable Coming Soon page
- Update collaborator permissions
- Submit to Google Search Console
- Test on multiple devices and browsers
- Set up analytics tracking
Post-Launch Marketing
- Share site with network
- Enable social sharing
- Follow SEO best practices
- Set up email marketing
- Use announcement bars and pop-ups
- Connect social commerce features
Blog-Specific Checks
- Publish initial posts
- Configure comment settings
- Add content categories
- Set post display options
- Verify author attribution
Event Page Setup
- Review landing page
- Verify event details
- Add supplementary content
Portfolio Requirements
- Style subpages consistently
- Test layout options
- Add supporting content sections
Remember to conduct final testing across all features before making the site public, and continue monitoring and optimizing after launch.