The Only Webflow Website Pre-Launch Checklist You'll Ever Need

You’ve spent weeks, maybe even months, building your Webflow site. The design is sharp, the content is spot-on, and the animations flow seamlessly. But is your site truly ready for launch? Those final details can make all the difference between a smooth launch and a stressful one.

In this blog, we’ll cover all the key steps you need to take before going live. From fine-tuning your SEO to ensuring everything on your site works as it should, this checklist will help you ensure that nothing has been overlooked. By the end of this blog, you’ll know your site is ready for launch day, without unneeded surprises.

Let’s begin.

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Preparation Before Launch

Before your Webflow site goes live, it’s important to ensure all foundational elements are in place. These are the absolute basics that your site must contain. Here are the things you need to check to ensure everything is set up correctly:

1. Project Settings

• Ensure Your Domain Is Properly Set Up:
  • Connect and verify your custom domain in Webflow.
  • If you’ve added a custom SSL, double-check the SSL settings to ensure everything is implemented and working properly. *Enterprise Only*
• Upload Your Favicon and Webclip Icon: Make sure these icons are uploaded and properly visible on browser tabs and mobiles.
• Review all Custom Code and Integrations: Review all custom scripts, API integrations, and third-party tools you’ve added to your website to ensure they’re correctly implemented and functioning.

2. SEO Essentials

• Optimize Meta Titles and Descriptions: Go through each page and ensure meta titles and descriptions are filled out with relevant keywords.
• Set Up Open Graph Tags for Social Sharing: Configure OG tags to control how your pages appear when shared on social media.
• Review and Clean Up URL Structure: Ensure all URLs are descriptive, concise, and SEO-friendly.

3. Analytics & Tracking

• Set Up Google Analytics: Integrate Google Analytics to track visitor behavior and site performance.
• Establish Conversion Tracking: Set up conversion tracking for key actions, like form submissions or purchases.
• Test Tracking Pixels: Make sure any advertising pixels (like Meta pixel or Linkedin pixel) are firing correctly and capturing the intended data.

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Design & Content Verification

Now that your project settings, SEO, and analytics are in place, it’s time to focus on the design and content. This step will ensure that everything looks and functions as intended, providing a seamless experience for your visitors.

1. Consistency in Design

• Verify Design Consistency Across Pages: Ensure that typography, color schemes, and overall design elements are consistent throughout the site. This will help create a cohesive brand experience.
• Check for Responsive Design: Review your website on various devices and screen sizes to ensure it looks good on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Adjust layouts if needed to maintain a polished appearance across all platforms.

2. Proofread and Polish Content

• Proofread All Text: Go through every page to check for spelling and grammar errors. Ensure that the content is clear, concise, and free of typos.
• Ensure Content Accuracy: Double-check facts, figures, and any other critical information to ensure everything is correct and up-to-date.

3. Verify Links and Navigation

• Test All Internal and External Links: Broken links can frustrate users and harm your SEO. Go through all the links on your site to ensure they work and direct users to the correct pages. You can use Screaming Frog SEO Spider to crawl your site and identify any broken links that need fixing.
• Check Navigation Menus: Ensure that your navigation menus are intuitive and that all menu items link to the appropriate sections of your website.
• Review Footer Links and CTAs: Don’t forget to test the links in your footer and any call-to-action buttons to ensure they are functioning as intended.

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Performance Optimization

A fast-loading website isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s important for keeping visitors from leaving the website and improving your search engine rankings. In this section, we’ll focus on optimizing your Webflow site’s performance to ensure it loads quickly and runs smoothly.

1. Optimize Images and Media

• Compress Images Without Sacrificing Quality: Use Webflow’s native image optimization tool, or tools like TinyPNG or Optily to reduce image file sizes while maintaining visual quality. Smaller images load faster, improving overall site speed.
• Implement Lazy Loading for Images and Videos: Enable lazy loading so that images and videos load only when they enter the user’s viewport. This reduces the initial load time and improves performance, especially on media-heavy pages.

2. Minimize CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

• Remove Unused CSS and JavaScript: Clean up any unused CSS classes, JavaScript functions, and animations that are not being utilized on your site. This reduces the amount of code that needs to be downloaded and parsed by the browser.
• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML Files: Use Webflow’s built-in minification tools to compress your site’s CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files. This reduces file sizes and improves load times by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and line breaks.

3. Optimize Web Fonts

• Choose Web Fonts Wisely: Limit the number of web fonts used on your site, and select only the weights and styles you need. remove unneeded fonts as these can increase load times.

4. Use Performance Testing Tools

• Run Performance Tests: Use tools like Google Lighthouse, GTmetrix or Pingdom to analyze your site’s performance, identifying areas where load times can be improved.

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Functionality Checks

Once your website is optimised for speed and performance, we’ll focus on the functionality checks. To ensure that all elements function as intended, we’ll test all forms, interactive elements, and error pages to make sure nothing disrupts the user journey.

1. Test Forms and Interactive Elements

• Check All Forms for Functionality: Submit test entries on all forms (contact forms, subscription forms, etc.) to ensure they are working properly. Confirm that submissions are being received where they should be and that users receive any confirmation messages or emails.
• Verify Error Handling: Test forms with incorrect data entries (e.g., invalid email formats) to ensure that error messages are clear and helpful, guiding the user to correct their input.
• Ensure All Interactive Elements Function Correctly: Test elements like sliders, galleries, buttons, and animations across various devices and browsers to ensure they work smoothly and as expected.

2. Set Up and Test Your 404 Error Page

• Create a Custom 404 Page: Make sure your 404 error page is customized to fit your brand and includes proper navigation options to guide users back to active pages.
• Test the 404 Page: Trigger the 404 page by visiting non-existent URLs on your site to ensure it displays correctly.

3. Review and Test Site Search

• Check the Functionality of Your Search Bar: If your site includes a search bar, test it with various queries to ensure it returns relevant results. Make sure it handles misspellings or incomplete queries effectively. Learn more about site search here.
• Ensure No-Results Pages Are Helpful: If a search has no results, the page should clearly inform the user and provide suggestions for alternative searches or navigation options.

4. Review Browser Compatibility

• Test on Multiple Browsers: Test your website on all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) to ensure full compatibility and consistent functionality across each platform. You can use tools like BrowserStack to perform cross-browser and cross-device testing.

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Ensuring Comprehensive Accessibility

Accessibility is a big part of the Web. Making your website accessible isn’t just about compliance; it’s about ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can navigate and interact with your site effectively. Here’s how you can ensure that your Webflow site is accessible to all users.

1. Meet WCAG 2.1 Compliance Standards

• Check Contrast Ratios: Use Webflow’s native contrast ratio tool or tools like WebAIM’s contrast checker to ensure that text contrasts sufficiently with its background, making it readable for users with visual impairments.
• Ensure Keyboard Navigation: Navigate your site using only a keyboard to ensure all interactive elements (like links, buttons, and forms) are accessible without a mouse. Ensure focus indicators are visible as users tab through the site.
• Use ARIA Labels and Roles: Implement ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) labels and roles to provide screen readers with additional context for interactive elements, improving navigation for users with disabilities.

You can learn more about WCAG 2 compliance here.

2. Implement Semantic HTML

• Structure Content with Proper HTML Tags: Use appropriate HTML tags (e.g., <header>, <nav>, <main>, <footer>) to organize your content logically. This helps screen readers interpret the structure of your site and improves SEO.
• Use Heading Tags Thoughtfully: Ensure that headings (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc.) are used in a hierarchical order, providing a clear outline of your content for screen readers and improving content navigation.

3. Provide Alternative Text for Images

• Add Descriptive Alt Text to All Images: Ensure every image on your site has alt text that accurately describes the content or purpose of the image. This helps users who rely on screen readers to understand the visual elements of your site. Asset Bae is a great Webflow app to help you achieve this faster.
• Avoid Redundant Descriptions: If an image is purely decorative and adds no context, consider using empty alt attributes (alt="") so screen readers skip over it.

4. Test Your Site’s Accessibility

• Use Automated Accessibility Tools: Leverage tools like WAVE or Axe to scan your site for common accessibility issues. These tools can highlight areas that need improvement and offer suggestions for fixes.
• Conduct Manual Accessibility Testing: Beyond automated tools, manually test your site by simulating different disabilities (e.g., using screen readers like NVDA or VoiceOver). This helps identify issues that tools might miss.

5. Ensure Accessible Forms

• Label All Form Fields Clearly: Ensure every form field has a clear and descriptive label that is programmatically associated with the input field, making it easier for screen reader users to understand.
• Provide Error Messages That Are Easy to Understand: Make sure that error messages for forms are specific and clearly indicate what needs to be corrected, and ensure they are announced to screen reader users.

6. Make Sure All Media is Accessible

• Add Captions and Transcripts for Videos: Provide captions for all video content to make it accessible to users who rely on captions to access videos. For audio content, include transcripts.
• Use Descriptive Links: Ensure that all links are descriptive and make sense out of context (e.g., avoid using “click here”). This helps all users, especially those using screen readers.

By following these steps, you’ll not only meet accessibility standards but also create a more inclusive experience for all users.

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Final Pre-Launch Tests

We are almost there. Now before you hit that "publish" button, it’s essential to run a final round of tests to ensure everything on your Webflow site is functioning as expected. These last checks will help you catch any issues that might have slipped through our initial checks and give you confidence that your site is truly ready for launch.

Conduct a Live Environment Check

• Preview Your Site in Its Live Environment: Use Webflow’s staging or preview mode to see how your site will look and function once it’s live. This helps you identify any discrepancies that might not show up in the design or editor modes.
• Ensure No Unpublished Changes: Double-check that all changes and updates have been published and that no work is left unpublished before going live.

Once you’ve tested all the staging links across devices, and made sure everything is looking and working like you’d expect, you can confidently launch your website on the live domain.

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Post-Launch Maintenance

Once your Webflow site is live, your work isn’t over. Post-launch maintenance is essential to keep your website running smoothly, secure, and up-to-date. Here are the key steps to ensure ongoing success:

1. Monitor Website Performance

• Track Site Speed and User Experience: Continuously monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics, GTmetrix, or Pingdom. Keep an eye on load times, bounce rates, and user behavior to identify and address any issues quickly.
• Set Up Regular Performance Audits: Schedule regular performance audits to check for any degradation in speed or user experience. Address any bottlenecks that could affect site performance over time.

2. Update Content Regularly

• Refresh and Add New Content: Regularly update your website with fresh content, such as blog posts, case studies, or new product information. This not only keeps your audience engaged but also helps improve your SEO rankings.
• Ensure Content Accuracy: Periodically review existing content to ensure it remains accurate and relevant. Update any outdated information or statistics.

3. Maintain SEO Health

• Monitor and Update SEO Settings: Regularly review your meta titles, descriptions, and keywords to ensure they remain relevant and effective. Use tools like Google Search Console to track your site’s SEO performance and make necessary adjustments.
• Check for Broken Links: Use tools like Screaming Frog to identify and fix any broken links on your site, which can negatively impact both user experience and SEO.

4. Implement Security Measures

• Schedule Regular Backups: Set up regular backups of your website to ensure that you can quickly restore your site in case of any data loss or security breaches.
• Monitor for Security Vulnerabilities: Regularly check for security updates and patches for any third-party tools or custom code you’re using. Implement these updates promptly to protect your site from vulnerabilities.

5. Engage in Regular Site Maintenance

• Update Webflow and Integrations: Keep your Webflow account and any integrated tools or plugins up-to-date to ensure compatibility and security.
• Test Functionality Periodically: Regularly test your site’s forms, navigation, and other interactive elements to ensure they continue to work properly. Address any issues as soon as they arise.

6. Review Accessibility Compliance

• Conduct Accessibility Audits: Periodically audit your site’s accessibility to ensure ongoing compliance with WCAG standards. Make any necessary adjustments to improve accessibility for all users.
• Incorporate User Feedback: Actively seek feedback from users, especially those with disabilities, to identify areas where your site’s accessibility can be improved.

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Conclusion

You’ve successfully optimised your website for the launch. Launching a new website is a big milestone, and getting everything right before going live can make all the difference. By following this checklist, you’ve covered every critical aspect—from project settings and design consistency to functionality checks and performance optimization. You’ve also ensured that your site is accessible to all users and prepared for ongoing maintenance.

With everything in place, you can feel confident that your website is not only ready to go live but is also set up to provide a smooth experience for your visitors.

To make your future launches smooth just like this one, We’ve made a downloadable checklist that you can use for all your future websites. You can download it here.

Congratulations on your new launch, and here’s to its success!