The Ultimate Pre-Launch Checklist for Your New Business Website

The weeks leading up to a website launch are exciting and nerve-racking in equal measure. You've invested time, money, and creative energy into building something that will represent your business to the world. The last thing you want is to hit publish and discover a broken contact form, a page full of placeholder text, or a design that falls apart on mobile phones. Launching with confidence requires a systematic review of every element that could impact your visitors' experience, your search engine visibility, and your business outcomes.

We've launched hundreds of websites for Kenyan businesses over the years, and we've distilled everything we've learned into this comprehensive checklist. Bookmark it, print it, and work through it methodically before going live.

Content and Copy Checks

Content problems are the most common launch-day embarrassments, and they're the easiest to prevent with a thorough review.

• Proofread every single page. Read the content aloud—it's the best way to catch awkward phrasing and errors that your eyes might skip over during normal reading. Better yet, have someone who hasn't been involved in the project read it with fresh eyes.
• Verify all contact information. Phone numbers, email addresses, physical address, and opening hours. Call your own phone number and email your own address to confirm they work.
• Remove all placeholder content. Search for "Lorem ipsum," "TBD," "Coming soon," "placeholder," and any other dummy text that might have been used during development.
• Check image alt text. Every image should have descriptive alt text for accessibility and SEO purposes.
• Review calls-to-action. Ensure every page has a clear, compelling CTA and that every CTA button links to the correct destination.

Functionality Testing

Broken functionality on launch day isn't just embarrassing—it directly costs you leads and sales.

• Test all contact forms. Submit a test entry through every form on your site and verify that submissions are received at the correct email address. Test validation messages for required fields and incorrect formats.
• Check all internal links. Click every navigation link, every button, and every text link throughout the site. A single broken link can frustrate visitors and harm your SEO.
• Test external links. Verify that all links to external websites, social media profiles, and third-party resources open correctly and point to the right destinations.
• Test interactive elements. Dropdown menus, accordions, tabs, sliders, modals, and any other interactive components should work smoothly on both desktop and mobile.
• Verify payment processing. If you accept payments, run test transactions to confirm the entire checkout flow works correctly, including confirmation emails and receipts.

Browser and Device Compatibility

Your development team may have built the site primarily in Chrome, but your customers use a variety of browsers and devices.

• Test on major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge at minimum. Check layout, fonts, and functionality on each.
• Test on multiple mobile devices. Don't just rely on Chrome DevTools. Test on actual physical phones—an iPhone, a Samsung, and a budget Android phone will cover the most common devices in Kenya.
• Test on tablets. iPad and Android tablet views sometimes reveal layout issues that don't appear on phone or desktop.
• Check different screen sizes. Resize your browser window through various widths to ensure the responsive design transitions smoothly without breaking.

SEO Essentials

Getting SEO right at launch gives your site the best possible start in search engines.

• Install Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Set these up before launch so you capture data from day one.
• Write unique title tags and meta descriptions for every page. Each should include relevant keywords and accurately describe the page content within the character limits.
• Create and submit a sitemap. Generate an XML sitemap and submit it through Google Search Console to ensure all pages are discovered and indexed.
• Set up proper 301 redirects. If you're replacing an old website, redirect every old URL to its equivalent new URL. Broken redirects cause 404 errors and lose accumulated SEO value.
• Verify robots.txt. Make sure your robots.txt file isn't accidentally blocking search engines from crawling important pages, which is a surprisingly common mistake on newly launched sites.

Security and Performance

• Install and verify SSL certificate. Every page should load over HTTPS with no mixed-content warnings. The padlock icon must appear in the browser address bar.
• Set up automated backups. Establish daily automated backups so you can restore your site quickly if anything goes wrong after launch.
• Run a speed test. Use Google PageSpeed Insights and aim for scores above 80 on both mobile and desktop. Fix any critical performance issues before going live.
• Verify mobile performance. Speed test specifically on mobile, as this is how the majority of your Kenyan visitors will experience your site.

Legal and Compliance

• Privacy policy. Include a clear privacy policy that explains how you collect, use, and protect visitor data.
• Cookie consent. If you use cookies for analytics or advertising, implement a cookie consent banner.
• Terms and conditions. Especially important for e-commerce sites that process transactions.

A thorough pre-launch review takes time, but it's infinitely better to spend an extra day checking everything than to launch prematurely and spend weeks fixing issues that damage your reputation. At Cyril Creatives, our rigorous quality assurance process ensures that every website we launch has passed every item on this checklist and more. Planning a new website? Let's ensure it launches perfectly.