Did you just create a brand new website for your business and are wondering if it is ready for Google?
We have come up with a website launch checklist to help you get your business website running quick and smooth for your customers.
1. Make sure your website is responsive
Check how your website displays on all devices. This is extremely important because if it does not look good on mobile, tablet, laptop and ultra wide screens, you are hurting your SEO. You don’t want to create a bad experience for a first time user on your website.
2. Contact forms
Make sure all your contact forms are working and that you are receiving all form submissions to your email address. Sometimes they may end up in your spam folder.
Always add a Google reCAPTCHA and Honeypot to all your forms to prevent spam and keep your website secure.
3. Copy and Images
Have another look at all your website copy to make sure there are no grammatical errors.
Review all images to make sure they are all clear and optimized for page speed. I recommend Optimizilla for any image compression.
It is also good to add alt tags to all your images to help with SEO.
4. Links
Ensure all the links on the website are going to the correct pages.
5. Downloadable documents
Make sure all your forms and buttons are going to the correct PDF’s.
6. Integrations (e.g. Mailchimp, Hubspot, Google Analytics)
It is always a good idea to integrate any email marketing platforms on your website so that you can easily track form submissions and newsletter subscriptions.
I highly recommend adding Google Analytics to your website so that you can track where your visitors are from and what pages they are visiting the most. This is extremely helpful when it comes to growing your business.
The platforms mentioned above will typically have a script of custom code you will need to add to the website in order for it to work properly. If you are not comfortable with this you should contact a web developer for assistance.
7. Site speed and performance
This is very very important! In this non-stop world, you do not want your clients to wait on your website to load. Fast websites rank higher on Google.
Make sure your website has page caching setup, a CDN, a good hosting platform like Siteground, minified Javascript/CSS, and all your images compressed. These are just some of the things you can do to help with page speed. At AJ Web Design, we always aim for 90% or more for speed scores.
8. Dynamic elements (e.g. hovers, scrolls, pop-ups)
Ensure any interactive features like animations and popups are all working correctly.
9. Meta Data
For search engine optimization, all pages on your website need meta titles and meta descriptions added. These are the short titles and descriptions you see when searching a keyword/phrase on Google.
It is always best practice to include keywords you want to rank for in your meta data to help with traffic.
10. Security and Backups
The last step is making sure your new website is secure. Always have an SSL certificate installed along with a reputable hosting platform.
If you are using WordPress, make sure all your plugins are up to date and are built by trustworthy developers. Same goes for your website theme.
Always have strong passwords for any admin users on your website and make sure to update them regularly.
Lastly, always do regular website backups and maintenance to keep things running at optimal performance.
Need help getting your website off the ground? Contact us today so that you don’t have to stress about launching your new website!
