Launching a website without a checklist is like flying a plane without a pre-flight check. Most of the broken sites I get hired to fix were launched in a rush — and almost every problem was preventable. Here is the exact website launch checklist I run through before any site goes live.

1. Test on a Real Mobile Phone More than half of your visitors will arrive on a phone. Resizing your desktop browser is not the same thing. Open the site on an actual phone and tap through every page: buttons must be easy to tap, text readable without zooming, and nothing should overlap or overflow.

2. Check Your Page Speed If your homepage takes more than 3 seconds to load, a large share of visitors will leave before reading a single word. Compress images, enable caching, and remove plugins or scripts you do not need. Run a free speed test and fix whatever it flags first.

3. Set Up Basic SEO Every page needs a clear, keyword-focused title tag and a meta description that makes people want to click. Use one main heading per page, add descriptive alt text to images, and make sure your XML sitemap is working so Google can discover everything from day one.

4. Test Every Form and Button Submit your contact form yourself. Click every button and link. A form that silently fails means lost customers you will never hear from. Check that confirmation messages appear and that enquiry emails actually arrive in your inbox.

5. Install Analytics You cannot improve what you do not measure. Install Google Analytics and Google Search Console before launch so you have data from the very first visitor — not from the day you finally remember to set it up.

6. Set Up Automatic Backups Set up automatic off-site backups before launch, not after the first disaster. With a good backup, a hacked or broken site is a 10-minute restore instead of a 10-day rebuild.

7. Lock Down Security Make sure your SSL certificate is active (the padlock in the browser), update everything to the latest version, and use strong, unique passwords. Most hacked websites I rescue were compromised through something basic — an outdated plugin or a weak password.

8. Proofread Everything Read every page out loud. Typos and leftover placeholder text destroy trust instantly. Double-check phone numbers, email addresses and prices.

9. Add Legal Pages At minimum, publish a privacy policy — especially if you use contact forms or analytics. It is required in many regions and it signals professionalism.

10. Do One Final Walkthrough Pretend you are a first-time customer and try to complete your site's main goal — buying, booking or contacting. If anything feels confusing, fix it now. Real visitors will not tell you; they will just leave.

A launch checklist takes an hour. Skipping it can cost you weeks. Go through these ten points and your launch will be boring — which is exactly what you want.