How to launch a website: a 12-step checklist
Launching a site is mostly a sequence of small, boring steps. Miss one and you'll find out at the worst moment. Work through these in order.
- Define the goal. One sentence: who the site is for and the one action you want visitors to take.
- Get your domain. Short, easy to spell, ideally .com. Turn on WHOIS privacy and the transfer lock, and set it to auto-renew.
- Pick your platform. Static site, website builder or WordPress. See builder vs WordPress.
- Choose hosting. Match the hosting type to the platform. See how to choose.
- Connect the domain. Add your host's DNS records (or nameservers) at your registrar. Changes can take minutes to a few hours.
- Confirm HTTPS. Make sure SSL is active and that http:// redirects to https://.
- Write the core pages. Home, About, Services/Products, Contact. Clear headings, one call-to-action per page.
- Add the legal pages. Privacy policy, terms, and an affiliate disclosure if you use affiliate links.
- Set up email. A professional address on your domain and, if you'll collect subscribers, an email marketing tool. See email tools.
- SEO basics. Unique page titles and meta descriptions, a sitemap, and verify the site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Back it up. Turn on automatic backups and test one restore.
- Test on a phone. Check every page and form on mobile, then launch and tell people.
Want to do this together? Join our free launch class.