Isn’t it the worst to feel you might be missing something, especially when you’re launching a client’s website and helping them represent themselves online?
- What if you missed a step in SEO and they won’t show up in search?
- What if you forget to back up their site and something goes down?
- What if you don’t put in their email address on the contact form and they miss a quote?
- What if your intern or new team member doesn’t know that you ALWAYS turn something off in development that needs to be turned back on when it goes live?
DOZENS of other things that can go wrong when you launch a new website without a checklist
My brain isn’t into remembering that many details at once. (I need a list if my wife wants more than 3 things at the grocery store)
That’s why we use a 31-Point checklist when we’re launching a client’s website – a list that we’ve used for more than 100 site launches. Up until then, our process was a bit sketchy, (including the time I tanked a website for a dairy farmer because I forgot to turn off “Discourage Search Engines From indexing” and they disappeared from Google. I was in a pile of manure.)
You’ve put so much time into design, revisions, tweaking, mobile formatting, and HTML table or two, that you don’t want to let your launch go to chance. Launch with confidence by having a checklist that works for your business.
Website Launch Checklists are essential, even if you’re an army of one
If you’re looking to scale your WordPress web design business, at some point you’ll need to grow your team. Maybe that will be an intern, an outsourced designer, an on-staff designer, an administrative assistant, a tech-support person, or a VA.
Checklists for every process in your business create a standardized way to be sure something gets done. Unless there’s malice (or you’ve hired outside of the realm of expertise) a checklist will either make sure everything gets done, OR allow someone to say “I see this on the checklist, but I’m not sure what that means. Would you clarify?”
Get Your 31-Point Launch Checklist And Save Yourself Some Headaches!
Whether you’re talking about making sure that default WordPress plugins are updated, your media library is cleaned out of unnecessary stock photos, your images have alt tags, and the old website links have been redirected to relevant pages on the new WordPress website (so visitors and search engines don’t get discouraging 404 errors), this checklist will help you launch your next site with confidence.
Never feel like you’re missing anything again!
PS. As a bonus, I’m also including my 10-Point Jumpstart Checklist (copy and paste) for clients who want to fast-track traffic to their new website: Just email them the checklist that includes the WHAT and WHY for each point and they’ll feel like they’re contributing to their site’s success.
AND If your agency uses Trello for Project Management, I’ve already created the full checklist as a “To-Do” template and included it in the bundle (upload the JSON file to your Trello Board)
AND, I’ve included a link to a free downloadable PSD portfolio mockup file so you can provide a mockup to your clients to use in promotion (checklist item #29), and add the same mockup to your agency’s portfolio (Checklist item #30)
Now that you’ve gotten that website launched, it’s time to find new clients!
