Before You Go Live
The checks that are easier now than after visitors start arriving.
Pointing a domain at your site takes a minute or two. Everything that makes it uneventful happens before that.
This is the list worth working through while the site is still on its staging address, because every item is easier to fix now than after real visitors are arriving.
Before You Begin
- A domain you control the DNS for
- Every page you intend to launch with, published
Steps
Publish everything that should be live
Go through your pages list and check the status of each one. A page left as a draft is invisible to visitors, and a link pointing at it goes nowhere.
This is the single most common thing missed at launch, because a draft page looks completely finished in the editor.
Run the link map
Open the Link Map and get broken and self-links to zero. Pay attention to anything reported as Draft — that is a published page linking to an unpublished one.
Doing this before launch rather than after is the difference between fixing a link and fixing a link somebody has already complained about.
Check your error pages
Visitors will hit your 404 — from old links, mistyped addresses and search results for pages you have since removed.
The built-in page works, so this is not urgent, but a 404 that offers your navigation and a route back is worth the few minutes.
Check the site on a phone
Open the staging address on an actual phone, not just the editor's mobile preview. Scroll every page.
The preview is accurate about layout and cannot tell you how the site feels to use — whether the header gets in the way, whether a button is reachable with a thumb.
Check your search-engine defaults and share images
Confirm the site's default title and description are set, and that your important pages have their own. Check the share image appears — paste a staging link into a chat and see what comes up.
A launch announcement with a blank preview is a weak first impression, and it is a two-minute fix beforehand.
Decide about analytics and the cookie banner
If you want visitor tracking from day one, turn it on in Site Settings before launch rather than after, so your first day of traffic is recorded.
If your audience is somewhere that requires a cookie notice, configure it now too.
Result
A site where everything is published, every link resolves, and nothing is waiting to be discovered by a visitor.
