Launch

Before you point the domain

Work through this in order.

Content

• Every page proofread by someone who is not you.
• No placeholder text anywhere. Search the site for "Lorem".
• Phone number, email and address correct on every page they appear.
• All links work, including in the footer.

Function

• Contact form submitted and confirmed arriving in your daily inbox.
• Form tested on a phone, on mobile data.
• Phone number is a tappable link on mobile.
• Every page checked on a phone.
• Checked in a second browser.

Technical

• Page titles and meta descriptions on every page.
• Alt text on every image.
• Images compressed.
• PageSpeed Insights run on the home page.
• WAVE run on every page.
• Favicon set.
• A 404 page that offers a way back.

Legal

• Privacy policy published and linked in the footer.
• Cookie banner if — and only if — you added tracking.

Connecting the domain

Your builder will give you DNS records to add at your registrar. Usually an A record and a CNAME.

Read this before you touch anything. If you have email at this domain, from chapter 3:

• Change only the records you are told to change. Add or edit the A and CNAME. Do not replace the whole zone.
• Never move your nameservers to your website host unless you have first copied every existing record. Switching nameservers hands the whole zone to the new provider — including your MX records — and your email stops, usually a few hours later when someone mentions they have not heard back.
• Leave MX and TXT records exactly alone. They are your email.

Then wait. DNS changes take anywhere from minutes to a few hours. Yours may work while a customer still sees the old one; this is normal.

After it is live

• Load the site on a device that has never seen it.
• Confirm https:// works and shows a padlock.
• Confirm both yourdomain.ca and www.yourdomain.ca reach the site.
• Submit the sitemap in Search Console.
• Send one more test enquiry through the live site.
• Update your Business Profile, invoices, email signature, social accounts and van with the new address.

What to do now

• Work the checklist top to bottom.
• Connect the domain carefully.
• Tell people. Nobody visits a site they do not know exists.