Advertorial Disclosure: We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

12 Things You Need on Your New Website Checklist

Date: 4/28/2021

By Errol D. Crockett

New Website Checklist

I woke up this morning feeling a little overwhelmed, thinking about,  “have I done everything I need to do to make sure my marketing and website development is on point and ready to go.”

Not only was I thinking about my own website development,  I was also considering the framework for new clients that I’m currently doing work for. So, I decided to make a check list. It’s crazy how organization can make you feel better.

#1 Secure Domain Name

Ok, I have my domain name, that’s a check. I have a couple of names, so, right now I’m split testing to see if there are advantages to using one company over another. I have one with Godaddy and another with Dreamhost. I’ll keep  you posted if there are any unusual developments

#2 Hosting

I have my hosting with Hostgater,  but I’m about to split test them too. I’m considering A2 Hosting.

#3 Secure Great Photos

I have all my photos in place.  I feel good about them, although some may change in the future.

#4 Keyword Research

I’ve done my keyword research to make sure people are searching for what I’ll be discussing. I don’t want to fill my pages up with content that nobody’s looking for; that’s a sure fire way to get, no website visits.

#5 Create Website Logo and Site Identification

I hit canva.com, made my logos and made sure they were the right size.

#6 Ssl Certificate

I made sure the hosting company included my Ssl certificate. I want to have a secure site for my visitors. I don’t want to see that little “unsecure” in my browser,  it’s scary looking.

#7 Create My Social Media Networks

I created my Facebook page and my Twitter account.

#8 Google Analytics

I set up my Google Analytics account to make sure I could monitor my website traffic,  because what good is just having a website and you don’t know if anyone is visiting, or where they’re visiting from or how long they stay or which pages get the most traffic?

You have to have analytics or you’re not really serious,  in my humble opinion.

#9 Webmaster Tools Verification

Hey, you have to be signed up with the webmasters.  How you gonna know your top keywords or if something is wrong with your site or if your pages are being crawled by Google?

If you want to get on the first page for your important keywords,  your going to need help from Webmaster tools.

#10 cPanal Backup

I worked many hours building this beautiful website; I had to back it up in my cPanel, just in case. I really would hate to have to do all that work over again.

#11 Social Media Links Work

I had to make sure my social media links worked. It’s super important that my visitors arrive at the right place when they click my little Facebook icon.

#12 Website Firewall

I checked to make sure my hosting company had my firewall set. Sometimes they forget. I don’t want any virus problems,  they’re a real pain and you can’t fix the with Robitussin. To clean them, you need professional help, it cost money and even when they clean the virus Google takes their sweet time putting your site back up

Bonus: Mobile Responsive Website

I had to make sure all my content was structured to fit my mobile phone and my tablet. People hate to look a websites that aren’t easily visible on their phone and Google won’t give you any “props” if the user experience is not great, which also means they won’t show your content.

New Website Check List:

  • Mobile Responsive

  • Google Analytics

  • Webmaster tools verification

  • Contact form delivers messages

  • Ssl certificate

  • Website firewall

  • cPanel backup

  • Secure domain name

  • On page seo

  • Social media links work

  • Keyword research

  • Secure great photos

  • Create social media networks

  • Create graphic design for social media covers

  • Create site identification logo

  • Create main logo

Get A Quote
Get A Quote