Before launching a business website, complete the tasks a customer will actually attempt: find a service, understand an offer, contact the business or begin an order. Then check that the public pages can be discovered and that someone owns the follow-up. A site looking finished on a laptop is only one part of being ready.
Start with three customer journeys
Write down three short routes through the site. For a local shop, these might be “find the phone number,” “ask for a service quote” and “check where the shop is.” For a store, try “choose one item,” “compare two items” and “find order help.”
Begin each route from more than the homepage. A visitor may arrive on a product page or an article. Check whether that page provides the information and navigation needed for the next step.
Review the first screen and the scrolled page
Inspect the header before scrolling, then scroll down and back up. Check logo contrast, navigation and fixed elements. On the N3 Sales site, a recent header correction made the navy background visible from the first view, rather than depending on the scrolled state.
Check at least a narrow phone layout and a wider layout. Long headings, phone numbers and menus are common places where a design needs adjustment. Use a keyboard as well: links and controls need a visible focus state and a usable order.
Follow every important action
- Telephone: confirm the number and the destination of the call link.
- Email: check the address instead of relying on the visible label.
- Forms: run an agreed test and verify delivery, confirmation and validation errors.
- Shopping: check variants, quantities and totals using the payment provider’s test process where available.
- Policies: make sure order-help links lead to the current information.
A test should have a known owner. Avoid sending unexplained messages to a client’s inbox or creating real orders just to see what happens.
Check search discovery on the real domain
Confirm that public pages load successfully, have descriptive titles and are linked from the site. Check that launch pages have not retained a staging restriction that prevents indexing. Include the intended public URLs in the sitemap, and inspect redirects if addresses changed.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide explains the basics of helping search engines find and understand content. Passing launch checks does not guarantee indexing or rankings; it removes avoidable obstacles.
Hand over responsibilities, not just a link
Record who maintains opening hours, prices, articles and contact details. Give the business a route for reporting a problem, and confirm who receives enquiries. Access should be assigned through the relevant service rather than posted in a shared document as a password.
Keep a dated record of what was checked and anything still outstanding. If a feature could not be tested, say so. “Published” and “verified” should not become interchangeable labels.
For the scope before a build, start with a useful project brief. For navigation specifically, see the N3 Sales walkthrough.