by Eugene Teslya

Created on: April 23, 2010

Launching a new website is a very exciting step. Regardless whether you are launching a personal blog or a business website you are probably anxious to finally release it for the whole world to see. That is exactly why it is crucial to slow down a bit, take a deep breath and carefully double check the vital elements.

Remember, if the first impression in a real life is important, then in the internet world, with millions website competing for visitors, the first impression is everything. You can always fix things on your website later on, and you will get new visitors – but chances that someone, who saw the “missing image X-icon”, will return ever again are quite slim. Thus, to paraphrase a famous Geico commercial: “A five minutes check-up will gain you thousands of clicks in web traffic.”

What to check before launching a website:

1. All page’s elements loading properly
2. All URLs are linked correctly
3. All website’s functionalities work
4. Spell check
5. Page preview in a re-sized browser window

Additional things to check if you hired a web designer

1. Check website in different browsers
2. Load time
3. Copyrights
4. Keyword’s density
5. sitemap.txt

Make sure all pages load properly

It sounds trivial but beware of the following challenge – you had lost the ability to be objective some time between a design stage and a website’s first draft. Get someone you trust but who was not involved in the website development to navigate through your website. Compare their impressions of each page to the message/idea you want it to deliver. Get ready to be surprised.

Make sure all URLs are linked properly

Make a list of all pages on your website; list all existing links (for each page) including clickable images. This is your URL check list - test them all. It gets complicated if you have a dynamic website with a business flow (when the next action depends on what page user came from.)

Make sure that all functionalities work

Member’s signup, sign-in, password reset, newsletter sign up, sending email or adding a comment - all those functions need to be double checked (preferably by someone with a “fresh eye”.)

Spell check

No kidding. Highlight entire page and paste it in MS Word to check the spelling. Also, remember to check every page’s <title> and <description> tags, as that is what your visitors will see on Google result page (before they make a decision to visit your website)

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