This pre-launch checklist will guide you through the necessary steps to ensure that your website launch is successful. 🚀 If you have any questions that aren’t covered in these instructions, reach out and let me know.

1. Content & Page Settings

Before you go live, you’ll want to back throughout your website and ensure all the content, images and links work correctly.

Make sure the content is complete

• Ensure all written content is completed

• Check that all images and videos are correct

• Delete anything that is unnecessary

Proofread & test all links

• Proofread all text on the website

• Click all links to ensure they work and lead to the correct destination

Double-Check Mobile Views

• Go through your mobile view again to ensure everything is in the right place

• Check every page of your website and make changes if necessary

Add alt-text to all images

Adding alt-text to images helps Google understand what the image is, which improves your SEO and accessibility. Be sure to make it descriptive and concise. For example, if the image is a picture of a cat sleeping on a windowsill, your alt-text could be "A gray cat sleeping on a windowsill." You can learn more about alt-text here.

• Click on an image in the builder

• Click the "Edit" button (the pencil icon) from the pop-up menu

• Scroll down until you see “Image Alt Text” and "Filename"

• Add the alt-text and make the filename more descriptive

Set Individual Page Settings

• Click on the gear icon on the page settings

• Ensure that the page title and navigation title match and are correct

• Check the URL and ensure it's correct

• Ensure the page is enabled and has no password

🚨 Remember to do this for every page

• Go through the gear icon for every page and portfolio item

• Check all settings for every page and portfolio item

• Ensure that the URLs are correct

🚨 And do this for all portfolio items

• Ensure that the URL is correct for all portfolio items

• Check all the settings for all portfolio items
  

2. Site Settings

Double-check SEO Settings

• Go to Marketing > SEO Appearance

• Go through the SEO Checklist

• Set a specific title and description for your website

• Optional: Set your Google Search Keywords (note: needs to be connected to Google Search Console)

Set Site-Specific Settings

• Go to the "Home" section and click on "Settings"

• Check the language and region settings and make sure they are correct

• Go to "Business Information" and fill out your contact number, email, physical location (if applicable), and business hours

• Be cautious about what you include in your business information as Squarespace doesn't allow for deletion of certain information

• Check and update your social links

• Set up connected accounts to pull and push data from platforms like Google Search Console, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

• Check permissions (most people don't need to worry about this)

Mobile Information Bar

• The mobile information bar is available for those who have a paid plan.

• It appears at the bottom of the screen and allows you to add links for call or get directions.

• It is not necessary for the launch, but you can use it if you want.

URL Formatting (Optional)

• You can change the URL format of your blog through the URL Formatting option. This is an optional step and I wouldn’t change this unless you know what you’re doing from an SEO perspective. I recommend leaving this as-is for most people.

Cookies & Visitor Data

• It is advisable to enable Cookies and Visitor Data.

• I can’t make any strong recommendations here for legal reasons, so I recommend reading up on GDPR to see if this applies to you and your business.

• If you're doing any business or have visitors on your website in the UK and are using built-in analytics or Squarespace Analytics or Google Analytics to track that visitor data, you must have a cookie banner.

• There are opt-in and opt-out options, pop-up or bar style, and customization options.

• Squarespace Analytics cookies must be enabled to view traffic in the analytics section of Squarespace.

3. Publishing your site

Moving Your Site to Squarespace

• Squarespace has a lot of resources that makes switching your site to Squarespace easy. I recommend reading through the articles below that best suit your current situation.

  • Moving an existing site to Squarespace (ie. Webflow)

  • Moving from Wix or Weebly to Squarespace

  • Moving from Wordpress to Squarespace

  • Moving from GoDaddy to Squarespace

Connecting Your Domain

• There’s two ways to get your custom domain set-up through Squarespace:

  • Connecting (Recommended) - Allows you to keep your domain provider the same, but “point” it to your Squarespace site.

  • Transferring - Move your domain provider so that Squarespace manages everything under one roof.

• Personally, I recommend keeping your domain hosting separate (and specifically recommend Google Domains), but I advise you to read through the differences and choose the option that works best for you.

• If you already have a domain purchased through Google Domains or Blue Host or GoDaddy, you can point it to Squarespace using a CNAME record (ie. Connecting the domain)

• Squarespace will give you instructions in-app to add/forward your domains.

Upgrading to a Paid Plan

• To publish your website live to the web, you need to upgrade to a paid plan

• When you’re ready to upgrade you automatically get 20% Off ANY annual plan

• This is the best discount you can get and it will be automatically applied (no coupon code needed)

• You can upgrade to a paid plan from within squarespace by visiting the ‘billing’ tab, or clicking the blue ‘Subscribe’ button at the bottom of your screen.

4. Adding Google Analytics

5. Drive Traffic with SEO 🚀

Once your site is published, the next thing you should focus on is driving local traffic to your website via SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I know SEO can seem daunting, but I promise you don’t need to be an expert to see great results. In many cases, making small tweaks to your copywriting and keywords is all it takes.

The chart below is from my Google Analytics dashboard. The chart is showing me how many active users (ie potential customers) were on my site each day over time. You’ll notice two points in time where things started changing:

1. I made small, strategic changes to the keywords on my main pages

2. I started blogging using strategically picked topics

Both of these things only took a few days of work to complete, but now my website gets around +1,000 new visitors every single day. SEO is truly one of those big-lever activities where if you do it right once, it pays off for years and years.

If you want to learn more about SEO for Video Agencies, check out my SEO Blueprint Course (and get 20% off with code SQSPTEMPLATE).

6. Celebrate 🎉

Once your fully launched and the champagne is flowing, email me with a link so I can check it out. I’d love to showcase my favorite sites and link to them from my websites (which will give you a lil’ SEO boost!).