What Should You Check Before Launching a Small Business Website?

By Bill Stilwell · Last reviewed October 16, 2026

The short answer

Before a website goes live, check that every fact is right, every link and phone number works, pages work on different screen sizes and with a keyboard, every form and payment goes where it should, and analytics records what it should. Then write down who approved the launch and when. Do this on a test copy first, then again on the live site right after launch.

Why it matters

Most launch problems are small and easy to fix before launch: a wrong phone number, a form that sends to an old inbox, a page still blocked from search engines, a payment that never sends a receipt. After launch, those same small problems cost real customers, and you may not hear about them.

A made-up bakery, Main Street Bake Shop, launches a new site with online cake orders. Its checklist catches that holiday hours on the site don’t match Google, the order form sends to the owner’s old email, and the refund email never fires. Fixing those took an afternoon. Finding them after launch would have meant missed orders.

One related outline line lives on another page. 13.8.8 Backup review is covered by 11.8.8 Backup Recovery Test.

The checklist

13.8.1 Content review

What it means: Check facts, prices, service areas, hours, policies, and claims.

How to do it: Read every page against your Master Business Record (see 5 Master Business Record). Check the business name, phone, address, and hours against your Google Business Profile (GBP). Check every price and offer. Confirm every claim has proof (see 11.3.1 Truthful Advertising Claims). Remove placeholder text and test pages.

Common mistake: “Lorem ipsum” filler text or a “Coming soon” page still live somewhere on the site.

13.8.2 Link review

What it means: Test internal, external, phone, email, and booking links.

How to do it: Click every menu item, button, and footer link. Tap every phone number on a phone and make sure it dials the right line. Send a test email from every email link. Run a broken link checker (see 19.5.6 Broken Links and Redirects). If you’re replacing an old site, set up redirects from old page addresses to new ones.

Common mistake: Links that still point to the test site address.

13.8.3 Mobile review

What it means: Test on multiple screen sizes.

How to do it: Check every main page on at least one small phone, one large phone, a tablet, and a computer. Look for text that’s too small, buttons too close together, and content that runs off the screen (see 19.5.4 Mobile-Friendly Pages).

Common mistake: Testing only on the designer’s large monitor.

13.8.4 Accessibility review

What it means: Test keyboard access, labels, contrast, headings, captions, and errors.

How to do it: Use the site with only a keyboard. Check that images have text descriptions, form fields have labels, color contrast is strong, headings are in order, videos have captions, and errors are explained in text. The U.S. Department of Justice says the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to the online goods and services of businesses open to the public. The full method lives on 9.7.3 Website Accessibility.

Common mistake: Running one automated scan and calling it done. Automated tools miss many problems a keyboard test catches.

13.8.5 Form review

What it means: Test delivery, notifications, records, confirmation, and routing.

How to do it: Submit every form on the live site. Confirm it reaches the right person, creates a record in your customer system, shows the confirmation, and sends any confirmation message (see 13.2.8 Form Delivery and 13.5 Website Forms). Test a wrong entry to check error messages.

Common mistake: Testing on the staging copy only. Live sites often use different email settings.

13.8.6 Payment review

What it means: Test payment, receipts, refunds, and failure handling.

How to do it: Use your payment provider’s test mode to run a successful payment, a declined card, and a refund. Then make one small real payment on the live site and refund it. Check the customer receipt, your notification, and your bookkeeping record. Use your provider’s hosted checkout or payment form where you can, so card numbers don’t pass through your own site, and ask the provider what security steps apply to you (see 10.7.6 Payment Security).

Common mistake: Leaving the payment tool in test mode after launch, so real customers can’t pay.

13.8.7 Analytics review

What it means: Confirm events and conversions are recorded correctly.

How to do it: Open your analytics real-time or debug view. Visit the site, submit a form, tap the phone number, and book or buy if you can. Confirm each action shows up once (see 13.7.1 Analytics Setup and Measurement Plan and 13.7.3 Form Tracking). Then make sure search engines can reach the site. Remove any “noindex” setting left from testing (see 19.5.2 Index Control), submit your sitemap in Google Search Console (see 19.5.8 XML Sitemaps), and expect crawling to take days to weeks. Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Common mistake: A “discourage search engines” setting from the test site still turned on at launch.

13.8.9 Launch approval

What it means: Record who approved publication and when.

How to do it: Before switching the site live, have the owner or the person responsible sign off on the completed checklist. Write the name, date, time, and any known issues accepted for later. Save it with your website records.

Common mistake: The designer launches on their own schedule and nobody at the business checked the final version.

When to get help from a pro

A web developer: for redirects from an old site, payment setup, and search engine settings. Ask:

Are all old page addresses redirected to the right new pages?
Is anything still set to block search engines?
Is the payment tool in live mode, and do refunds work?

An accessibility specialist: for a full review beyond a keyboard check.

Bill’s note

[Bill: add a short story or lesson here. For example, a launch where a site stayed hidden from Google because a test setting was left on, or the checklist you use before launching a SiteSmarty client site.]

If you’d rather have this done for you, SiteSmarty tests and launches websites for local businesses.

How I did this for SiteSmarty

[Date I did this:]
[What I actually did, step by step: each checklist item for the SiteSmarty site and what I found]
[What it cost and how long it took:]
[What surprised me or what I’d do differently:]
[Screenshot or photo to add, with private info blurred: the completed checklist and the launch approval record]
[Result so far:]

Questions people ask

How do I test my website before launch? Test on a staging copy first, then again on the live site. Check content, links, phones, screen sizes, accessibility, forms, payments, and analytics.

How do I test my contact form? Submit it on the live site and confirm it reaches the right person, creates a record, shows a confirmation, and handles wrong entries.

How do I test online payments? Use test mode for a payment, a decline, and a refund. Then make one small real payment and refund it.

How do I know analytics is working? Watch the real-time or debug view while you visit pages, submit a form, and tap your phone number. Each should show up once.

Who should approve a website launch? The owner or the person responsible for the business. Record the name and date.

Audit check

Outline line	Question	Pass looks like	Fail looks like	Evidence to collect
13.8.1 Content review	Were facts, prices, areas, hours, policies, and claims checked?	Every page checked against the Master Business Record and GBP. No placeholder text	Wrong hours. Old prices. Filler text	Signed content checklist
13.8.2 Link review	Do all links, phones, emails, and booking links work?	Every link clicked. Phones dial the right line. Redirects set	Broken links. Links to the test site	Link checker report and test notes
13.8.3 Mobile review	Does the site work on several screen sizes?	Tested on small and large phones, tablet, and computer	Desktop only. Content off screen	Screenshots by device
13.8.4 Accessibility review	Does the site pass a keyboard and basic accessibility check?	Keyboard access, labels, contrast, headings, captions, and text errors checked	Automated scan only. Mouse-only features	Accessibility checklist (see 9.7.3)
13.8.5 Form review	Does every form deliver on the live site?	Delivery, alerts, records, confirmation, routing, and errors tested live	Staging-only tests. Forms to old inboxes	Form test log
13.8.6 Payment review	Do payments, receipts, refunds, and declines work?	Test mode runs plus one real payment and refund	Test mode left on. No receipts	Payment test log and receipts
13.8.7 Analytics review	Are events recorded once and is the site open to search engines?	Each action shows once. No leftover noindex. Sitemap submitted	Double counts. Site blocked from search	Real-time screenshots and Search Console sitemap status
13.8.9 Launch approval	Is there a record of who approved launch and when?	Signed checklist with name, date, and known issues	No record	Launch approval record

Where this fits

Do this first: 13.4.1 Home Page, 13.5 Website Forms, 13.7.1 Analytics Setup and Measurement Plan, 13.7.3 Form Tracking

Do this next: 5 Master Business Record

Sources

Google Search Central, "Ask Google to recrawl your URLs" (checked October 16, 2026)
U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov, "Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA" (checked October 16, 2026)
W3C, "Understanding Success Criterion 3.3.1: Error Identification" (checked October 16, 2026)

This page explains general rules and Bill's own experience. It is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Talk to a qualified professional about your situation.