My Complete Website Launch Checklist
10 things that you need to do before launching your Squarespace website
You’ve been working on your website for what feels like forever, and you’re ready to publish the dang thing already! But maybe you’re feeling anxious that you forgot something, or stressed about finally putting yourself out there. I’ve been there, done that (multiple times!)
Your website launch should inspire excitement, joy, and relief - not more feelings of overwhelm or imposter syndrome! I always feel less scatterbrained and stressed if I have a detailed list to check off, whether it’s for a home project, a weekly to-do list, or a website launch.
Today, I’m sharing the checklist that I use for successful site launches, so you can feel confident and organized when you go live.
This checklist is applicable whether you’re launching a brand new website, or you’re relaunching a rebranded business.
Psst - seriously, don’t skip no. 10. It’s the most important part of your launch!
01. Proofread your copy
Always check for sneaky errors! You should proofread your copy after you write it and again after you upload it to your site, but consider this a third and final check before you publish your site. It helps to have a friend or colleague review for spelling and grammatical errors too. A fresh set of eyes can catch things you may have missed!
02. Check and triple-check your links
Nothing is worse than launching with broken links! It hamstrings your user experience and makes you look unprofessional. Make sure you’re navigating through your entire site to ensure each button, text link, email newsletter sign up, contact form, and social media icon are connected correctly. A second set of eyes also helps here, or you can use tools like Ahrefs (also a great SEO tool!) or Dead Link Checker to scan your site for problems.
03. Optimize your images
I like to do this step when I first upload my photo content to the site, but if you haven’t done this yet, now is the time. Large images are usually the culprit behind slow loading webpages. If your website pages don’t load immediately, you’re all but guaranteeing that visitors will abandon your site immediately. Slow loading pages also hurt your SEO - Google doesn’t like slow sites!
Always make sure to use an online image compressor like TinyPNG or Optimizilla to reduce your image sizes before uploading them to your site. They’re free tools, and they won’t reduce the quality of your images.
04. Check your site on mobile
You should toggle between desktop and mobile view as you build your site to make sure that your formatting, images, and backgrounds translate on your mobile site. This is the final check to make sure that your logo looks great, your copy is legible, and your menu navigation is formatted how you want it.
05. Make sure that your new URL is updated everywhere
If you’ve completely rebranded your business and updated your URL with your new name, you’ll want to make sure that your site is set up under your new domain name. Beyond that basic update, your old URL should be swapped out with your new one wherever you have it listed, such as:
Social media bios (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn)
Your Google Business listing
Review sites (Yelp)
Listing sites (industry-specific search tools like The Knot, Airbnb, etc.)
You’ll also need to update your email! If you have a new URL, make sure that you have a new email address set up. When I rebranded, I kept my old email address and set up a new email alias in Gsuite so that I could continue receiving any emails that may still come through my old account, but send and receive new mail with my new email. To be honest, it was a bit of a headache to set up - let me know in the comments below if you’d like to see a tutorial for this process.
06. Market your launch
It’s up to you to decide whether you should hype your launch before you go live, or market after your site has been published. My advice is to pick a strategy that feels the most comfortable and the least stressful for you. There are so many different ways to market yourself, but I believe that there’s no “right” way to do it. Whatever feels the most natural for you will ultimately help you feel excited for your launch rather than overwhelmed.
Don’t feel pressured to have a dozen blog posts ready to publish, a month of IG content planned in advance, or reveal “teasers” of your new site if those options don’t feel good for you, or if you simply don’t have the time. Work with what you have, and remember that organic growth is better than trying to force it all at once.
07. Set up heatmapping to track UX
Heatmapping is a great way of observing how your audience interacts with your site, where they get stuck, what they’re drawn to, and where they lose interest. You can use a tool like HotJar to set up heatmapping on your site, and your launch is a perfect time to utilize their free trial!
I set up HotJar the day before I announced my site launch so that I could track all of the data from an influx of new site visitors. It was tremendously helpful to collect data from a multitude of visitors at once so that I could observe patterns that emerged and tweak my site to improve user experience. I set up heat mapping for my client site launches for this reason!
08. Get acquainted with your site analytics
If you use Squarespace, Squarespace Analytics is invaluable in helping you understand your site traffic and audience. Before you launch your site, you should get familiar with navigating your analytics so that you can understand the data that will flow in when you launch your site.
Squarespace’s built-in analytics tools are really helpful, and I find that you can stick with just that tool and still gain valuable insight into your site traffic. When you have so much going on and limited time as a small business owner, I’d recommend sticking with the basics and make your life easier. However, if you want to deep-dive even further, I recommend setting up Google Analytics because it offers some functionality that Squarespace doesn’t. With Google, you can:
Track audience demographics and interests, which helps you define your niche and understand your audience.
See real-time site usage and behavior.
The cons of Google Analytics? The platform is more difficult to navigate and requires more time to set up and understand, in my opinion. It also does not automatically exclude your internal traffic - meaning that all of your views and interactions with your site will register as user traffic, something that Squarespace automatically excludes based on your IP.
Whether you decide to use Google Analytics or not, make sure that you’re keeping an eye on your Squarespace Analytics and using the data to see where you can make site improvements.
09. Submit your site to Google Search Console
This one is a must! Google Search Console is such a great tool for helping you understand how searchers find your site, and how they spend their time on it. It can provide you insights about organic searches that lead people to your site, and help you improve your SEO.
This guide and this guide are great reference points for getting started with Google Seach Console.
Last but definitely not least…
10. Celebrate
It’s all too easy as a small business owner to get caught up in never-ending to-do lists, feeling overwhelmed or comparing yourself to others, and never slowing down. It’s so important for your mental health and the success of your business to give yourself breaks and cut yourself some slack. Be mindful. Cultivate gratitude and self-love practices. Remind yourself of your journey to this point and all of the amazing things that you’ve accomplished to get yourself here.
Launching (or re-launching) your website is a huge milestone, so give yourself the kudos that you deserve! Throw yourself a party, open a bottle of your favorite wine, or book yourself a massage. You deserve it!
And there you have it! Simple steps that will help you feel confident, organized, and stress-free as you launch your site.
Are you planning your website launch? What are you struggling with? Let me know in the comments!
