Website hosting
Know the monthly bandwidth limits.
Know the cost for extra bandwidth each month.
Read and understand the Terms of Service.
Verify the amount of server storage allowed.
Understand the policy regarding CGI scripts.
Verify database access and ecommerce shopping cart access.
Confirm your access to server logs.
Pre-launch
Choose typography and layout.
Check content and style.
Check headings for where you could potentially use ligatures.
Check for widow/orphan terms in important paragraphs.
Correct all spelling and grammar errors.
Use capitalisation.
Use recurring/common phrases (eg. 'More about X' links).
Use variations in words.
Check for hard-coded links to staging domain.
Ensure no test content on site.
Check how important pages (eg. content items) print.
For re-designs, ensure important old/existing URLs are redirected to relevant new URLs, if the URL scheme is changing.
Check all 'Hidden Copy' (eg. alt text, transcriptions, text in JavaScript functions).
Create a custom error page.
Standards and Validation
HTML validation.
JavaScript validation.
CSS validation.
SEO
Ensure page titles make sense and have relevant keywords in them.
Create metadata descriptions for important pages.
Check for canonical domain issues.
Ensure content is marked-up correctly.
Check for target keyword usage in general content.
Check format of URLs.
Set up Analytics and any other packages for measuring ongoing success.
Create an XML Sitemap.
Configure Google Webmaster Console and Yahoo! Site Explorer.
Functional Testing
Check all bespoke/complex functionality.
Check search functionality (including relevance of results).
Check page display in all browsers and operating systems.
Test pages at different screen resolutions.
Test all forms (eg. contact us, blog comments), including anti-spam features, response emails/text.
Test without JavaScript, Flash, and other plug-ins.
Verify all hyperlinks.
Security/Risk
Configure backup schedule, and test recovery from backup.
Protect any sensitive pages.
Use robotstxt where necessary.
Perform security/penetration test.
Turn-off verbose error reporting.
Check disk space capacity.
Set-up email/SMS monitoring/alerts for errors and server warnings.
Performance
Test your page load speed.
Check image optimisation.
Check and implement caching.
Minify/compress static (JavaScript/HTML/CSS) files.
Optimise your CSS.
Check correct database indexing.
Check configuration at every level (Web server, Database)
Configure server-based logging/measurement tools.
Post-Launch
Use social marketing: Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon.
Submit to search engines.
Set-up PPC/Google Adwords.
Check formatting of site results in SERPs.
Monitor and respond to feedback.
Check analytics for problems, popular pages and adjust when necessary.
Update content regularly.

Website Checklist

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