A website can look finished while still losing enquiries: a button leads nowhere, a form says “sent” without delivering an email, or a mobile menu covers the page. Before announcing your launch, test the complete customer journey, not just the homepage.
This checklist is for service businesses launching a first site or replacing an existing one. Work through it with the person building your website and record any issue, who owns it and whether it must be fixed before launch.
1. Can a new visitor explain what you do?
Show the homepage to someone unfamiliar with your business. Ask what you offer, who it is for and what they would do next. If they cannot answer, rewrite the opening message. “Digital solutions” is less useful than naming the service and the problem it addresses. Keep the real location visible, and explain your service area separately if you work internationally.
2. Does every important page have a next step?
Service pages should help visitors understand the scope, likely process and how to enquire. Choose a primary action, such as discussing a project, instead of giving every button a different destination. Open every navigation, footer, email and telephone link. Remove template pages, invented testimonials and unfinished offers rather than hiding them behind attractive cards.
3. Does it work on a real phone?
Check the menu, headings, images and forms on a phone, not only a resized desktop window. Try portrait and landscape views. Look for sideways scrolling, overlapping text and buttons hidden behind floating widgets. Ask someone else to complete the main task without coaching. A page that technically fits the screen may still be difficult to use.
4. Can people use the site without a mouse?
Use the Tab key to move through links, menus and form fields. You should see where focus is and be able to activate controls using the keyboard. Give meaningful images useful alternative text. Decorative images should not add noise for screen reader users. These checks are a starting point, not a complete accessibility audit.
5. Do enquiries actually reach your inbox?
Submit a realistic test enquiry and confirm it arrives in the destination mailbox. Reply to it and check that the reply reaches the visitor. Also test missing information, an invalid email and a delivery failure: the site should not claim success when delivery fails. Clearly label fields and explain errors next to the relevant input. W3C’s form label guidance explains why visible, associated labels matter. Placeholders alone are not a substitute.
6. Is the final domain secure and consistent?
Open the final address over HTTPS and check for browser warnings. Try both the main domain and its www version, then confirm the preferred address with your developer. If replacing a site, list valuable old URLs and arrange appropriate redirects. Check email separately after changing hosting or domain settings. A working homepage does not prove the mailbox still works.
7. Are images helping rather than slowing the page?
Use images sized for their actual role. A huge camera original is rarely necessary for a small card. Check the crop on desktop and mobile and confirm you have permission to use each asset. Re test pages after replacing images: a portrait photograph in a wide banner can crop out the subject even when the file uploads correctly.
8. Is search visibility intentional?
Give each key page a clear title and a descriptive address. Link related services naturally and publish information that answers real customer questions. Google’s SEO Starter Guide prioritises useful content and a structure people and search engines can understand. There is no guaranteed first place formula. If your site is still a preview, keep indexing disabled. When it is genuinely ready, ask your developer to review robots directives, canonical addresses and the sitemap before requesting discovery through Search Console.
9. Do privacy notices match the actual website?
List what the site collects and which services receive it: forms, email delivery, maps, analytics or advertising tools. The privacy notice should describe that setup rather than another company’s practices. Confirm any consent requirements for the markets you serve with a qualified adviser. Do not install tracking simply because it appears on a generic launch checklist.
10. Who owns maintenance after launch?
Keep domain, hosting and recovery access under the business owner’s control. Agree who handles updates, backups and urgent faults. Ask for a short handover explaining how to replace content and how to restore an earlier version. A backup is more useful when someone knows how to recover it. Keep passwords in a password manager, not a shared document or website form.
Your final launch decision
Broken enquiries, inaccessible navigation, exposed private information and insecure access are launch blockers. Minor styling preferences can go onto a dated improvement list. After release, repeat the contact test and review the main journeys on the live domain, local previews cannot prove the production setup works.
Planning a new site or a refresh? Explore our web design and development services or tell PictureArc about your project. We can help turn the checklist into a practical plan for your next launch.