Website launch checklist for small businesses

A website launch is the day you tell customers the address, and a launch checklist is how you make sure the site is ready for them when they arrive. This one is for a small business owner, not a developer. It covers 33 checks in 7 groups, in the order you would do them, with the reason behind each. If you are still deciding what goes on the pages, what to put on a small business website comes first; this guide starts where that one ends.

Most of the checks take a minute. Three of them, the form test, the phone-width pass and the Google Business Profile link, catch the problems that cost you customers, so if you do nothing else, do those.

What should be ready before launch day?

1. The domain is registered in your name, with auto-renew switched on and the registrar login saved somewhere a second person can find. A domain you already own stays yours and your builder connects it. A new one costs about $10 to $25 a year, paid to the registrar, in your name.
2. You have one list of every login: registrar, hosting or platform, Google Business Profile, Search Console, and the email address that the site’s form will write to.
3. The final text has been read aloud once by someone who did not write it. Reading aloud catches the doubled word and the missing price that silent reading skips.
4. The photos are yours to use, sized for the web, and named for what they show. A 6 MB phone photo on a service page is a common reason a small business site loads slowly.
5. Legal names, license numbers and insurance statements match the paperwork. If you hold a license, the number on the site must match the one on the certificate.

Are the facts right on every page?

85% of consumers rate contact information as an important factor when researching a local business, and 56% often or always check that a business’s information is consistent across sources (BrightLocal, April 29, 2025, 1,000 US adults). The facts on the site have to match the facts everywhere else.

6. The business name is spelled the way it appears on your Google Business Profile. Google asks that the profile name reflect your real-world business name, so the site should carry the same one, without a city or a slogan attached.
7. One phone number, the same everywhere. Google’s guidelines prefer a local number to a central call-center line. Use the number you answer.
8. Hours match the profile, including any days you close. Google asks for your regular customer-facing hours; if the site says open and the door is locked, the review writes itself.
9. The address or service area matches the profile. A service-area business lists the towns it serves rather than a home address, on the profile and on the site.
10. The services list is complete and current. Nothing you stopped offering, nothing you only did once, and a page for each of the main ones.
11. Prices and ranges match what you say on the phone. If you publish prices, publish the ones you charge.

Do the paths to a sale work?

A site exists to produce a call, a form submission or a booking. Test each path yourself before anyone else can.

12. Submit every form with a real message and confirm the email arrives, including a look in the spam folder. A FreeWebGuy site includes a contact or request form that emails you; test it the same way.
13. The thank-you message says what happens next, and when. “We reply within one business day” sets an expectation that the inbox then has to meet.
14. Tap the phone number on a phone. It should start a call, not open a page with the number on it.
15. The Book button opens the scheduler you already use, or a request-a-time form that emails you each request. Click through to a real time slot.
16. Someone owns the replies. Decide who answers form messages, by when, and from which address, and write that reply time on the contact page.

Does the site work on a phone?

73% of local searches start on a mobile device (BrightLocal, Local SEO Statistics 2026). Google says a mobile version of your pages is not required to be included in its results but is very strongly recommended, and it uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking (Google Search Central, updated December 10, 2025). Most of your visitors will only ever see the phone version.

17. Open every page at phone width. Nothing should scroll sideways, and no text should run off the edge.
18. Text reads without zooming, and buttons fit a thumb. The phone number and the form button in particular.
19. Images load and are sized for phones, and each one has alt text that describes it. Google’s SEO starter guide calls alt text a short, descriptive explanation of how the image relates to the content.
20. Run Google’s PageSpeed Insights on the home page and your busiest service page, and fix anything it flags in red. Oversized images are the usual cause.

Are the technical basics done?

21. HTTPS is on, on every page. Chrome labels a site without a private connection “Not secure” and says the site owner must secure it with HTTPS to fix it (Google Chrome Help, checked October 14, 2026). Hosting with SSL is part of every FreeWebGuy build.
22. One address. The www and non-www versions, and the http and https versions, all land on the same page.
23. Every page has its own title and description. Google’s starter guide says a good title is unique to the page, clear, concise and accurate, and a good meta description is short, unique and includes the page’s most relevant points (Google Search Central, December 2025).
24. No filler text, no “coming soon”, no stock caption left behind. Search every page for “lorem”, for your builder’s default headline, and for the previous client’s name if the layout was reused.
25. Every link works, and the 404 page helps. Click each menu item and each button. The page people reach by a bad link should show your phone number and a way home.
26. If you are replacing an old site, every old address redirects to its new page. Printed brochures, directory listings and old emails all carry the old links.

Can Google find it?

27. The noindex rule is off. Builders set it while a site is under construction. Google says a page marked noindex is not shown in search results (Google Search Central, March 24, 2026), so a forgotten setting makes the launch invisible.
28. The site is verified in Google Search Console and the sitemap is submitted. Search Console is a free service that helps you monitor, maintain and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results, and you do not need it to be included (Google Search Console Help, checked October 14, 2026). You need it to see what Google found.
29. The website field on your Google Business Profile points to the new address. Google asks profile owners to provide a website that represents the individual business location. This is the link most customers will follow.
30. Search your business name after a few days. If the new site is missing, use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool, which shows how Google sees a page.

Are the legal pages in place?

31. A privacy policy, if the site collects anything: form submissions, analytics or cookies.
32. Terms of sale or service, if you take payments or bookings through the site.
33. Accessibility basics: alt text on images, readable color contrast, and a site you can move through with a keyboard.

FreeWebGuy does not give legal advice and does not guarantee compliance; the Terms ask you to have qualified counsel review the requirements for your business and location. Requirements differ by state, industry and what the site does, and a lawyer who knows yours is the right check for this group.

What should you do in the first week after launch?

The checklist gets the site ready; the first week puts it to work.

• Put the address everywhere. The Business Profile, your social pages, your email signature, your invoices, your truck.
• Ask the next 5 customers for a Google review with Google’s review link or QR code. Google prohibits offering a discount or a gift for one. 54% of consumers visit a business’s website after reading positive reviews (BrightLocal, February 2026, 1,002 US adults), so the reviews and the site feed each other.
• Check the form inbox every day and Search Console at the end of the week.
• Put the domain renewal date in your calendar, a month ahead.
• Decide who makes edits. On a FreeWebGuy site, that is you, with the AI builder and the platform’s 24/7 chat support. What website maintenance costs per month covers the ongoing bills for every kind of site.

How a FreeWebGuy launch works

A FreeWebGuy launch follows the same checklist, with the build side handled before you see the preview. You send a brief, which takes about 3 minutes. We build the full site and send a private preview, with a first version within 48 hours of your brief. Bigger sites, or briefs missing key details, take a few days more. We use AI to build fast, and a person checks every first version before you see it.

The layout built for phones first, hosting with SSL, and the page titles, descriptions and structure are part of every build. You check the facts in groups 2 and 3 against your own records in the preview, we revise until the site matches your brief, and you decide. Hosting is $15 a month and starts only when you approve the site and set up your SMBcrm plan. Then we connect your domain and the site goes live. The profile link, the replies and the legal pages stay yours, as they would with any builder.

What happens after you request a free website walks through the days between the brief and the launch. When you are ready, send your website brief. About 3 minutes. No credit card. Pay nothing until you approve it.