To make your launch successful, it is recommended that you go through the short checklist to determine how your website and your web page design will fare in the virtual world. This is especially helpful if this is a project that a client asked you to do. He or she would want to know that you checked for every possible glitch and that before you let the owners take over, you're guaranteeing, if not zero problems, then at least you've minimized the potential.
The first thing that should be checked out is the Page Title, which is basically the most valuable Google SEO text on your web page. Also, view each page to be sure that pages are not sharing the same title, and that instead of describing what your website is about, the title name has the word “home” or “welcome” in it. The initial 60 characters of the title text count a lot. Stop words (a, and, like, the) should be removed. Remember these little things all help towards your web site optimisation.
This happens more often than people think they do. And when the web design or the pages don't load up in certain browsers, it is a major problem. Fix it yourself or get someone to repair it for you. Don't delay. For testing, you don't have to actually use the different browsers, there are various cross browser testing systems that are available. Try crossbrowsertesting.com. The major browsers are of course Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome. Click on all the links and view all the pages. Remember to check pages that contain validation forms. Remember, the same thing applies to your email newsletter.
You can either choose to do it manually or use the automated link checker tool. An example is the W3C Link Checker tool located at validator.w3.org/checklink. The tool will detect if the website has broken links or redirected links.
Find out if the site's validation works or if requisite emails were sent and if they arrive inside the right mailboxes. Most of these forms send copies of their inputs to the webmaster or the owner as well. The individual who sent the form will receive a brief thank you note.
I can't overemphasize this. It's embarrassing to find misspellings and grammar errors. Have another pair of eyeballs to read the content if you're unsure. Cut out unnecessary text. If necessary, adjust the web design to make your content stand out. If you have too much clutter on your web pages, the content will not be able to get the attention it deserves.
The sitemap should be automated and using a creation script. This can be manually accomplished but it is not recommended. You don't want to expose yourself to errors. Find out if the sitemap works. All the pages should show in the automated XML output.
Code that's necessary for the web statistics should load on each page. Make sure too that the log information is being collected to determine if the testing is recorded, this should all be part of your search engine marketing plan. There's no better system to utilize than Google Analytics. It's free and the results are brilliant. Isn't that what we all want?
This icon is important for the website's visual branding. You can see this as favicon.ico located inside the site's root folder. This should be appearing. This shows as a portion of the bookmark in many browsers. You should have one if you want to be noticeable. When these icons show up on people's bookmarks, sometimes they just can't help but click on it. People are naturally drawn to bright colors and graphics. Take advantage of that tendency.
Other suggestions include listing the website in numerous directories such as Google or Yahoo and adding the website to Google Webmaster Tools. A professional website developer will perform a through checklist of the site however it is good for you do to the same and become familiar with your website.