Launching a new website is something that most businesses will only do once every few years, and while it’s always exciting to see a new design finally go live, there’s considerably more involved than simply uploading a few files and pointing your domain name at a different server. Having been involved in more website launches than I can remember over the years, I’ve seen plenty of occasions where something that should have been relatively straightforward has turned into a rather stressful experience, usually because somebody has overlooked an important detail during the preparation.
Fortunately, most of the problems associated with launching a website are entirely avoidable, provided you spend a little time planning the process properly. Whether you’re launching your first website or replacing an existing one, there are several things I’d recommend checking before making it available to the public, particularly if your business relies on its website for enquiries or sales.
Make Sure Everything Actually Works
This might sound rather obvious, but you’d be surprised how frequently websites are launched without being properly tested. Just because the homepage looks fantastic on your computer doesn’t necessarily mean everything else is working as expected, particularly when visitors start using different browsers, devices and screen sizes.
I’d recommend testing all the important pages on both desktop and mobile devices, paying particular attention to navigation menus, contact forms, buttons and any interactive functionality. If you’re launching an ecommerce website, make sure you’ve tested the entire purchasing process, including adding products to the basket, applying delivery charges, completing payments and receiving confirmation emails. It’s also worth checking what happens when something goes wrong, such as a customer entering incorrect payment information or leaving a required form field empty.
One thing I always recommend is getting somebody who hasn’t been involved in developing the website to test it. When you’ve spent weeks looking at the same pages, it’s surprisingly easy to overlook problems that somebody encountering the website for the first time will spot immediately.
Don’t Forget About SEO
If you’re replacing an existing website, this is probably one of the most important considerations. Your old website might already have established rankings in Google, along with links from other websites pointing to particular pages. If you simply replace everything without considering what happens to those existing URLs, you could potentially lose a substantial amount of organic search traffic.
Ideally, I’d recommend keeping your existing URL structure wherever possible, particularly for pages that already perform well in Google’s search results. Where URLs genuinely need to change, you should implement permanent 301 redirects from the old addresses to their most relevant replacements. For example, if your existing services page is located at /what-we-do/ but the new website uses /services/, anybody visiting the old address should automatically be redirected to the new one.
You should also check that page titles, meta descriptions, headings and other important SEO elements have been transferred correctly. There’s little point spending years optimising a website only to discover that the new version has replaced all your carefully written page titles with something generic.
Check That Google Can Actually Access Your Website
Another surprisingly common problem is launching a website that’s accidentally been configured to prevent search engines from indexing it.
During development, it’s normal to restrict access to a website while it’s being built, particularly if you’re working on a temporary development address. However, those restrictions need to be removed when the website goes live.
For WordPress websites, I’d recommend checking the ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site’ option under Settings > Reading, along with any indexing restrictions introduced through SEO plugins or the website’s robots.txt file.
You should also make sure your website has been added to Google Search Console, which allows you to monitor indexing problems, submit an XML sitemap and see how your website performs in Google’s search results. If you’re replacing an existing website, it’s particularly important to monitor Search Console during the weeks following launch, as significant changes to your URL structure can sometimes cause temporary fluctuations in rankings.
Make Sure Your Analytics Is Working
There’s little point launching a new website if you can’t measure whether it’s actually performing any better than the old one. Before going live, I’d recommend checking that Google Analytics has been installed correctly and is recording visits as expected.
If you’re replacing an existing website, you should ideally retain your existing Google Analytics property so that you can continue comparing performance against historical data. I’d also recommend checking any goals you’ve previously configured, particularly those measuring contact form submissions, purchases or other important conversions.
It’s surprisingly easy for conversion tracking to stop working during a website redesign, particularly when forms are replaced or thank-you page URLs change. This can cause problems with Google Ads campaigns that rely on conversion data to optimise their performance.
If you’re using Google Tag Manager, it’s also worth reviewing any tags and triggers that might depend on elements of the old website, rather than assuming everything will continue working automatically.
Hosting, Domains and Email
The technical process of launching a website will depend largely on where it’s hosted and whether you’re changing hosting providers. If you’re moving to a new server, you’ll generally need to update your domain’s DNS settings, which can take some time to propagate across the internet.
However, I’d strongly recommend checking your existing DNS records before making any changes, particularly if your business uses email addresses associated with the same domain. I’ve encountered situations where somebody has changed DNS settings to launch a new website and accidentally disrupted the company’s email service in the process.
You should also make sure the website has a valid SSL certificate, loads correctly over HTTPS and redirects visitors to the appropriate version of the domain. It’s worth checking that any backup systems are working properly too, particularly if you’re replacing an existing website that might need restoring if something goes wrong.
What About the Content?
One thing that’s easy to overlook during a redesign is whether the information on the website is actually correct. It’s not unusual for development websites to contain temporary text, outdated contact details or photographs that were only intended to demonstrate how a particular section would look.
Before launching, I’d recommend checking that everything is accurate, particularly telephone numbers, email addresses, opening hours and product prices. For UK businesses, you should also make sure any required company information, privacy notices and cookie consent functionality have been included where appropriate.
If you’ve introduced new content, it’s worth asking somebody to proofread it before launch. While the occasional spelling mistake probably isn’t going to cause a disaster, having incorrect prices or misleading information about your services could create considerably more serious problems.
The Launch Isn’t the End of the Project
Finally, I’d suggest resisting the temptation to consider the project finished as soon as the website goes live. In fact, the first few days after launch are often when previously unnoticed problems begin to emerge, particularly once real visitors start interacting with the site.
I’d recommend keeping an eye on Google Analytics, Search Console and any error reports generated by the website, while also checking that enquiries and orders are coming through correctly. If you’ve changed your URL structure, monitor your redirects and make sure visitors aren’t encountering unnecessary 404 errors.
Personally, I think the most successful website launches are usually the ones where nothing particularly exciting happens, because everything has already been checked and tested before anybody notices the change.
Launching a website doesn’t need to be complicated, but there are plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong if you rush the process. My advice would be to prepare properly, test everything you can and make sure you’ve got a way of restoring the old website if something unexpected happens.
After all, there’s little point spending thousands of pounds on a fantastic new website if half your customers can’t actually use it.