When you want to launch a new website, you need to look into many details to avoid any inconvenience for both yourself and your visitors. Here is a list of things you have to remember in order to ensure the perfect launch:

1. Cross Browser Testing

Before the big launch, you need to make sure that the website is compatible with any other browser your visitors might be using. The website should look the same and should be fully functional even in less-privileged browsers.

2. Set up web analytics

Web analytics provide you with a much wider array of statistics and information about the websites and their users. Analytics can also be used to track any searches, popularity of articles and watching the visitors use the website in real-time. as soon as you launch your website.

A macbook with the internet opened viewing Google Analytics.

3. Create a Favicon

Favicons are a good branding technique and add a little spice to the menu bar next to your websites URL. Favicons should always be kept simple and memorable.

An animated image displaying what a favicon is.

4. Removing link/images borders

Unless you want the default border to be a part of your design, it will be a good idea to remove the outline of any links and images you have added with a few simple CSS modifications.

5. Testing forms

Most designers are focused so much on testing the design of the form across different borders that they forget to make sure whether it’s even functional. Make sure a thorough test of the form is undertaken.

6. Spell check

Never be too confident about your spellings. Everyone makes mistakes and typos are a common one. Take some time out to ensure a full spell-check for all the text and content on your website before you launch. Having grammatical and spelling errors can give off a very unprofessional look to the visitors and may prompt them to leave.

7. Check for broken links

When you’re in a rush for finishing the design and functionality of your website, it becomes quite easy to ignore any broken links incorporated in your website. You can use many links validating software for this purpose.

Multiple multicoloured Lego spelling 404

8. Meta Information

Like a lot of SEO strategies, adding metadata to your website helps search engine crawlers to understand the page content and provide searchers with better results. Adding a meta description and meta title to posts and pages also gives you greater control over what SERPs display, giving you a great opportunity to improve the click-through rate.

9. Setup a 404 page

Even after checking, sometimes, broken links can be unavoidable. In such cases, you may need a backup plan, for example, setting up an Error 404 page to give direction to visitors even if they have come across a broken link or web page.

10. Setting up 301 redirects

If you are re-launching an old website, you need to set some redirecting pages for the old URL’s. This is quite easy to do and will not take up much of your time either.

After you have ensured all the above, your website is ready for website launch!

All of Castle’s websites come with a responsive design enabling them to be used with all mobile devices effectively. We can also build on any platform, work from any code, and create amazing features at the same time. Our websites are designed with search engine optimisation in mind, and they are compatible with thousands of third-party plugins.