Website design checklist

Checklist for creating a website

Before you launch a website, there’s a whole lot more to think about than just hitting the “go live” button. From polishing your content and copy to ensuring the User Experience feels smooth, and double-checking all the technical details, to ensuring your site’s security, setting up analytics, and planning backups. It’s a pretty packed to-do list! To save you from juggling a hundred sticky notes, we’ve bundled all the essentials into nine clear categories so you can tackle everything step by step and launch without unnecessary stress.

1. Content and copy

Your content and copy determine how readers perceive your site. Well-written, optimized text builds authority, increases visibility, and keeps audiences coming back. In short, polishing your content is one of the most important steps before launch:

• We know that proofreading takes time – but it’s definitely worth the effort. Focus on the big picture and the small details, such as captions. Ensure that you have maintained consistency with the tone and style you chose and look for misspellings;
• If you wish to speed up the process, we recommend thinking about useful AI tools that might help you catch spelling and grammar mistakes but also adjust tone, rephrase your writing, or even produce complete pieces of content on their own.

2. Branding and visual identity

Don’t let your site blend in with every other template out there. Maintaining a consistent brand identity through logos, colors, and design ensures you stand out:

• Pay attention to the visual details. Use only high-resolution images and add a favicon (a small icon that represents your site, visible next to the page title in the browser tab) to polish your brand identity. At the same time, check for consistency across your site, meaning typography, color schemes, and styling. They all should follow the same rules everywhere;
• When people click on a logo, typically located in the top-left corner of the website, they expect it to redirect them to the homepage. That’s why you have to make sure your site works the same way.

3. User Experience (UX) and accessibility

A site that’s hard to navigate, slow, or unreadable on mobile drives people away fast. UX and accessibility ensure that everyone, including users with disabilities, can enjoy your content:

• First things first – check responsiveness, as it’s crucial for delivering seamless experiences no matter what device the user is using;
• Alt texts are crucial for accessibility because they aid screen readers, but they also play a vital role in Search Engine Optimization. They help search engines understand what an image represents;
• Review the website navigation and ensure that menus, links, and buttons are easy to use and lead to the intended destinations. And finally, don’t overlook breadcrumbs! They enhance navigation and help users understand their location within the website’s structure.

4. Performance and technical optimization

Speed matters, and performance also. A slow-loading website frustrates users and negatively impacts your search rankings. For publishers, technical fine-tuning has a direct impact on user satisfaction and traffic growth:

• Monitoring and, if necessary, improving Core Web Vitals can help your site run smoothly and can even boost your search engine rankings. These Google metrics are like a quick health check that evaluates key aspects of your site. They show how fast your pages load, how frequently layout shifts occur, and how responsive your website is.

5. SEO and visibility

Search Engine Optimization helps your website get noticed. Optimizing titles, meta descriptions, headings, etc., helps search engines understand your site and bring in organic traffic. For publishers, this means more readers, more engagement, and ultimately higher ad revenue:

• Before showing your website to the world, we recommend conducting an in-depth SEO review. Make sure every page has a clear focus, with well-chosen keywords, optimized titles, and meta descriptions that match what people actually search for. Check your page addresses (URLs), they should be short and readable (for instance, example.com/our_history instead of example.com/564532yeq);
• Additionally, it’s worth taking a moment to review your internal linking. A good one helps readers find related content easily and aids search engines in understanding how your site is structured;
• For a deeper dive in the world of Search Engine Optimization you can check out our SEO glossary or keep an eye on our SEO blog section;
• In some cases, for instance, if you want people to find you on Google Maps or in local search results, it’s a good idea to update your Google Business Profile (GBP). It will improve the visibility of your business.

6. Security

Publishers who take security seriously show professionalism and reliability. Security isn’t just a technical detail; it’s what keeps your site, your data, and your readers safe:

• You can start by obtaining an SSL certificate. It encrypts the connection between your site and visitors, protecting sensitive information and showing browsers that your page can be trusted;
• We also recommend thinking about tools like reCAPTCHA, which prevents spam and bot activity.

7. Testing and quality assurance

If you want to launch with confidence, test everything. Small errors can quickly damage credibility, and it’s vital to spot issues early so that visitors only see a polished, professional site:

• Before going live, test how your website looks and functions across all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. Don’t forget to check the mobile versions of these browsers too;
• It’s a good idea to create a custom 404 error page. It indicates that the requested webpage is missing, helping users and search engines understand it isn’t available. What’s more, a friendly 404 page keeps users on your site instead of leaving.

8. Analytics and monitoring

You should rely on data to make informed decisions; thus, monitoring your website is crucial. Analytics tools help you understand your audience, see how they interact with your content, and identify what works best:

• Google Analytics is widely considered a highly effective analytics tool. It lets you track user activity, see which pages are popular, and understand where visitors drop off. Importantly, there are free and paid versions of this solution – Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which is free of charge, provides essential tools, while Google Analytics 360 (GA360) offers more advanced options.

9. Maintenance

Some prevention never hurts anyone, do it for your site’s sake and your peace of mind:

• Set up and schedule regular backups so that, if anything goes wrong, you can quickly restore your site without losing content or data. We recommend going for backup tools provided by a hosting provider or installing plugins in your CMS, for instance, UpdraftPlus in the case of WordPress.

When everything checks up

That’s pretty much all! Congratulations, you just set yourself up for future success. If your website checks all the points mentioned above, it’s undoubtedly ready to be published! However, if you want to succeed even further, we recommend considering monetizing your digital content with a trusted monetization partner. Don’t hesitate and knock on our doors – we know a lot about website monetization!