The Ultimate Pre-Launch Website Checklist: Don’t Ship Broken Dreams
Whether you're a vibe coder crafting something beautiful, a business owner building your first site, or an indie hacker preparing for that big Product Hunt launch, this checklist will help you avoid those cringe-worthy "oops" moments that happen when you discover issues after your users do.
The "Please Don't Embarrass Me" Basics
1. Does Everything Actually Work?
Before anything else, click through your entire site like you're the most skeptical user ever. Test every button, every link, every form. That contact form you spent hours styling? Make sure it actually sends emails. Those social media icons? Verify they go to the right profiles (not your competitor's – been there, done that).
Pro tip: Get a friend to test it too. Fresh eyes catch things you've become blind to after staring at your code for weeks.
2. Mobile-First Reality Check
Here's a uncomfortable truth: most people will see your site on their phone first, not your beautiful 4K monitor. Open your site on your actual phone (not just the browser's mobile view) and use it like a normal human would.
Does the navigation work with thumbs? Can you read the text without squinting? Does that hero image that looks amazing on desktop turn into an unrecognizable blob on mobile? If yes to the last one, fix it. Your users will thank you.
3. Speed Matters (More Than You Think)
You know that feeling when a website takes forever to load and you immediately hit the back button? Yeah, that's what happens to your visitors too. Your site should load in under 3 seconds, ideally under 2.
Quick wins:
- Compress those huge images (seriously, that 5MB hero image needs to go on a diet)
- Remove unused CSS and JavaScript
- Use a good hosting provider (not your friend's Raspberry Pi)
SEO: Making Friends with Google
4. Title Tags That Don't Suck
Every page needs a unique, descriptive title tag. Not "Home Page" or "About" – something that actually tells people (and Google) what they'll find. Think "Portland's Best Artisan Coffee Roasters" instead of "Welcome to Our Site."
Keep them under 60 characters so they don't get cut off in search results. No one likes a cliffhanger title.
5. Meta Descriptions: Your Site's Elevator Pitch
This is the little snippet that shows up under your title in search results. It's like your website's pickup line – make it count. Describe what the page is about in a way that makes people want to click.
6. Alt Text for Images
This one's huge for accessibility and SEO. Every image should have alt text that describes what's in it. Screen readers use this to help visually impaired users understand your content, and Google uses it to understand your images too.
Bad: alt="IMG_1234"
Good: alt="Team celebrating product launch with laptops and coffee"
7. URL Structure That Makes Sense
Your URLs should be readable by humans. /products/amazing-coffee-beans is infinitely better than /p?id=12847&cat=beverages&ref=home. Clean URLs are easier to share, remember, and rank better in search.
Social Media: Looking Good When Shared
8. OpenGraph Tags (Social Media Previews)
When someone shares your site on social media, what shows up? A broken image and generic text, or a beautiful preview that makes people want to click? Set up OpenGraph tags so your site looks professional when shared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and everywhere else.
Test how your pages look when shared using Facebook's Sharing Debugger or Twitter's Card Validator.
9. Favicon (That Little Icon)
It's a small detail, but it matters. That tiny icon that shows up in browser tabs, bookmarks, and mobile home screens should represent your brand. Don't leave it as the default browser icon – it screams "amateur hour."
Content and User Experience
10. Spell Check Everything
Nothing kills credibility faster than typos. Read every word on your site, then read it again. Use tools like Grammarly if writing isn't your strong suit. Your content is often the first impression people have of your business.
11. Contact Information (Make It Easy to Reach You)
People need to know how to contact you. Whether it's an email, phone number, or contact form, make it easy to find. If you're a business, include your address and hours. If you're a freelancer, make sure your email actually works.
12. Privacy Policy and Legal Stuff
Boring but necessary. If you collect any user data (including analytics), you need a privacy policy. If you're running a business, you might need terms of service too. Don't copy-paste someone else's – get templates specific to your situation.
Performance and Technical Health
13. SSL Certificate (The Little Lock Icon)
Your site should use HTTPS, not HTTP. Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates now. Without it, browsers will warn users that your site isn't secure, which is not a good look.
14. 404 Error Page
People will end up on broken links eventually. Instead of showing a generic "Page Not Found" error, create a helpful 404 page that guides them back to your content. Add some personality – it's a chance to show your brand's human side.
15. Analytics Setup
How will you know if your site is working if you're not measuring anything? Set up Google Analytics (or your preferred alternative) to track visitors, popular pages, and user behavior. You don't need to become a data scientist, but basic metrics help you improve over time.
The Final Countdown
16. Test on Different Browsers
Your site might look perfect in Chrome but break in Safari or Firefox. Test on at least the major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) to make sure everyone can use your site properly.
17. Load Testing
What happens if you get that viral moment you've been dreaming of? Will your site handle the traffic, or will it crash right when you need it most? Test your site under load, especially if you're expecting a traffic spike.
18. Backup Everything
Before you launch, make sure you have backups of everything – code, content, database, the works. Things go wrong, and you don't want to lose weeks of work because of a server hiccup.
The Pre-Launch Reality Check
Here's the truth: no website is ever "perfect" at launch. You'll find things to improve after you go live, and that's okay. The goal isn't perfection – it's launching something that works well and doesn't embarrass you.
Your website is never really "finished" anyway. It's v1.0 of something that will keep evolving. But by checking these boxes, you're setting yourself up for a launch you can be proud of.
Ready to Launch with Confidence?
Going through this checklist manually can be overwhelming, especially when you're wearing all the hats as a solo founder or developer. That's exactly why we built Cheeeck – to catch all these details in seconds instead of hours.
But whether you use our tool or go through this checklist manually, the important thing is that you check. Your future self (and your users) will thank you for taking the time to get it right.
Now go ship something amazing. The internet is waiting for what you've built.
