Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@n3zukochan

n3zukochan/Website checklist.md

Last active September 19, 2015 06:39
Show Gist options
  • Save n3zukochan/2b69c393d331680da79e to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save n3zukochan/2b69c393d331680da79e to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
This is a checklist for any simple website before launching. This checklist is a simple version of the checklist I got from guide.co
Raw
Website checklist.md

Website checklist

Standards And Validation

  • Check your code: Remember to validate your code
  • Validate that all of your forms are working: Check any automatic emails for spelling mistakes and that it looks good on all email clients. Also, it's a great idea to add a link to social networks on all of your touchpoints.
  • Check your site on multiple browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE or Edge(LOL)
  • Check your site on mobile: Mobile site checking

Website SEO

  • Check your keywords: Ensure you have your meta description in place, and that any keywords are suitable for the site
  • Check your titles: A popular structure for page titles is: Name of my page | websitename
  • Check your URL structure: Google Webmaster Tools
  • Add metadata descriptions to each page: The header of your website. Each page should have a short description of what's on the page.

Website Copy

  • Remove all test copy: Make sure there is no test copy on any pages (Lorem Ipsum, Acme Co., or personal notes).
  • Check That Each Page Has A Clear Purpose And Call-To-Action: Review EVERY SINGLE PAGE. Is it clear what the page is doing? Does it serve a specific purpose? Is there a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) on the page (examples: contact us, buy now, learn more, etc...)?
  • Check Your Spelling: Send your "pre-launch" website out to several friends to review it and point out issues that you may not have noticed.
  • Check Your Tone: Try to avoid using "jargon" or "techspeak". If you've used a specific spelling, terminology or abbreviations, make sure they remain consistent throughout the site.
  • Check The Contact Details: Make it easy for your users to contact you. Make sure your contact information is easy to find.
  • Create An XML Sitemap: Here is a free tool for generating your website sitemap: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
  • Check "Hidden" Copy: Be sure to double check all the ALT text (used for images) and make sure the descriptions are present and accurate. If there are any Javascript alerts, be sure that they are aligned with the tone and style of the website.

Tracking and Analytics

  • Setup Google Analytics: Setup
  • Create Signup Goals: best way is to use URL Destination.
  • Save These Custom Reports: idk what this is...
  • Add Google Tracking To Every Form Submit Button: Add the javascript code below to every button to capture the event in google analytics:
_gaq.push('_trackEvent', 'my category', 'my action');

Site functions

  • Social Integration And Links: You should have social icons on your website. Use this ShareThis to easily add social sharing capability to your site.
  • (Optional) Check Your Search: If you have added a search bar to your website, make sure that it works as you expect and the search result page displays as expected.

Indexing your website

  • Check For Dead Links: You'll want to make sure that all links are redirecting correctly or at least bring up a 404 page. A tool like Xenu’s Link Checker will help do this efficiently.
  • Submit To Google: Use Google Webmaster Tools
  • Check All Browser Versions: Try using BrowserShots to test multiple browsers at one in one place.

Site security

  • Create (And Automate) A Backup Of Your Website: Ensure you have your site files backed up!
  • Check Form Fields: Check your form fields against SQL injections, and test any anti-spam functions you have in place to prevent spam bots. To limit the capture of spam emails, use capchas.
  • Check robots.txt: Here's more information about robot files: http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html
  • Make Sure Password-Protected Pages Are Password Protected: If you have any sections of your website that require a password, logout of your website, clear any cookies on your browser (in your browser settings section), and try to access those pages to ensure that someone can't see them.

Performance

  • Check Image Optimization: Try to reduce the image sizes to as small as possible while maintaining the highest quality. A great way to help optimize your images is http://www.smushit.com/ysmush.it/
  • Check To Make Sure Caching Is Enabled: Don't turn caching on until you have all your content finalized and the site is working as expected.
  • Minify Your Javascript And CSS Files: Ensure your code is delivered as quickly as possible.

Legal

  • Check Copyright: Check that this is set to automatically refresh from the time stamp on the server, and that the copyright owner stated is correct.
  • Check Terms And Conditions: If your site has a promotional element or takes payment then you will need to make available t's and c's. Always consult either the Institute of Sales Promotion or a lawyer for the best advice on these, or if they are supplied to you then make sure they have been checked.
  • Check The Privacy Policy: If you use cookies, capture data, or distribute data, then you need one. The best advice is always to be honest, and to state clearly what you collect data for, how it is stored, and to whom might it be passed.
  • Check Your Registration Information: If you are a registered company then you must display on your website the registered company name, number, and address. Simple, but so often forgotten about.

Site icons and error pages

  • Check Your Favicon: Here is a website that will help you create your favicon: http://www.favicon.cc/
  • Check your 404 pages: This is a great opportunity to turn an error into a funny moment, check out Mashable's great list of funny 404 pages that have garnered lots of attention and virality: http://mashable.com/2012/04/04/funny-404-error-messages/
  • Icons For IPad: You should also add the following icons in the root folder of your website (the numbers represent the width x height of the image):
    • apple-touch-icon.png
    • apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
    • apple-touch-icon-57x57-precomposed.png
    • apple-touch-icon-72x72-precomposed.png
    • apple-touch-icon-114x114-precomposed.png

Driving traffic to your site

  • Outreach To Influencers: Who are the influential people in your industry? It's a great idea to reach out to them to let them know about your new website. You can do it through their website or through social networks.
  • Comment On Popular Forums And News Sites: Where do your prospective users or clients "hang out"? Do they read digg.com, linkedin groups, or reddit.com? Search for the kind of topics that your users would search for and participate in ongoing conversations to promote your website.
  • Create A Mailing List: Email is still a very popular way to communicate with users. Adding a mailing list signup on your website is a great way to capture leads.
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment