The Small Business Website Launch Checklist

A website is ready to launch when the important customer journeys work, the content is accurate and the business knows how to operate it. Check the real public site on a phone as well as a computer, and keep a written record of what passed, what failed and who owns any remaining work.

We build websites, and our view is that launch readiness is about more than a finished design. Someone needs to check what happens when a customer uses the site and who will deal with problems afterwards. This checklist turns that into a set of tasks you can work through with your own supplier.

This checklist suits a small business brochure or service website. Shops, memberships and regulated services need additional checks for their specific transactions and obligations. Passing this list is not a complete security, accessibility or legal audit.

Download the free editable launch checklist and assign an owner to each section. The text file can be copied into your preferred document editor and printed.

1. Confirm the launch scope

Agree which pages and features belong in the first release. Identify the main visitor actions—such as requesting a quote, calling or booking—and write down the expected result of each.

Record non-essential follow-ups separately. A slightly imperfect image crop need not delay a launch, but a contact form that loses messages should. Agree who makes that judgement before launch day becomes rushed.

2. Review the actual content

• Check service descriptions, prices, locations and opening hours.
• Remove sample text, development labels and unused pages from public navigation.
• Confirm that claims, qualifications and testimonials are accurate and authorised.
• Check image rights and ensure stock photography is not presented as your own premises or team.
• Read the title, introduction and next step on every important page.

Ask someone outside the build process to read the pages. They are more likely to spot an unexplained acronym or an assumption that everyone else has stopped noticing.

3. Test every contact route end to end

Send a realistic test through each form to an authorised destination. Check validation errors, the success message, the destination inbox and the ability to reply. Test phone links and booking journeys on a mobile device.

For a hypothetical consultancy, the website may offer both a general enquiry and a consultation booking. Test them separately: one working route does not prove the other works. Include cancellation or rescheduling where those are part of the service.

4. Review mobile use and basic accessibility

Check text size, navigation, buttons, tables and forms on a narrow screen. Use the keyboard to move through the page and confirm that focus is visible. Check meaningful image descriptions and form labels.

The W3C’s Easy Checks cover useful first steps, including headings, contrast, keyboard use and forms. They are preliminary checks, not proof that a site meets every accessibility requirement.

Look for sticky banners or overlays that obscure the action a visitor needs. Test at a larger text size as well as the default view.

5. Check search and migration essentials

Confirm that important public pages have descriptive titles and working links. Ask the person responsible for SEO to verify the intended indexability and sitemap setup. A development site’s restrictions should not accidentally travel to the public site, while private areas should remain protected.

If replacing an existing website, map important old URLs to appropriate new destinations and test the redirects. Do not send every removed page to the homepage regardless of its original purpose. Keep business ownership of Search Console and other measurement accounts.

6. Check performance and privacy behaviour

Open the main pages on a normal mobile connection and look for slow-loading or shifting content. Use PageSpeed Insights as a diagnostic aid, then test the real journey rather than chasing a number alone.

Review the actual forms, cookies, analytics and third-party services against the notices and controls you intend to provide. Check the applicable ICO guidance and obtain suitable advice where needed. A copied privacy page or a visible banner does not by itself establish that the implementation is correct.

7. Confirm access, backups and recovery

Record who controls the domain, hosting, editor and email accounts. Check renewal and recovery arrangements. Verify that a usable backup exists and that somebody knows how to restore the site.

Agree the response if launch causes a serious problem. Know who can revert the change and where the recovery material is held. Our website ownership guide helps organise the account map.

8. Practise the handover

Ask the person who will maintain the content to change a normal item—such as a service paragraph or opening time—and preview it. Confirm that they can correct mistakes without needing a developer for every edit.

List ongoing responsibilities: content accuracy, software updates, enquiry checks, backups and renewals. “The website is managed” is too vague unless everyone knows by whom and what is included.

9. Recheck after launch

1. Visit the public domain and key pages while logged out.
2. Repeat the contact and booking tests.
3. Confirm redirects, downloads and important images load.
4. Check that measurement receives the intended data under the appropriate controls.
5. Record issues and schedule a follow-up review.

Use a simple record: check, result, evidence, owner and next action. A launch is a handover into normal operation, not the end of responsibility. If enquiries disappoint later, return to our twelve enquiry checks before assuming the whole site needs replacing.