Launching your business website: the complete checklist for founders

• Choose and register your domain. Short, easy to spell and say aloud. Register it in your business's name, with an email address you control, and turn on auto-renew. See Choosing a domain name and Registering a domain.
• Check the name is available to use. Search trademark records and check the social handles you want. The USPTO's trademark search is a starting point in the US.
• Set up professional email on your domain. you@yourbusiness.com builds trust in a way a free webmail address doesn't. See Professional email options and Why not free email?.
• Set up email authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) so your messages reach inboxes. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC for email.
• Start a password manager and turn on two-factor authentication for the domain, email and every account you create from here on. See Using a password manager and Setting up 2FA.
• Start an account list. Record every account, who owns it and when it renews. Use the Asset inventory tracker. See also Website ownership.

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• Decide the one main action. Book a call, request a quote, buy, join a waitlist. Every page should lead towards it.
• Write your core message. In one or two sentences: who you help, what you help them do, and why you. This becomes your homepage headline. See Writing hero copy.
• List the questions customers ask before buying. These become your pages and FAQs.
• Plan a small site. Most new businesses need only: Home, Services or Products, About, Contact, and the legal pages. Add more once you know what visitors want.
• Decide who builds it. See DIY vs. freelancer vs. agency. If hiring, write a short brief: How to write a website brief.

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• Choose a platform that fits what you need and who will update it. See Which platform is your website built on? for the options we support, and Webflow vs. WordPress.
• Write the pages. Plain language, short paragraphs, specific benefits. See Writing a great homepage, Writing service pages and Writing about pages.
• Use real photos where you can, and only images you have the right to use. See Where to get images and Stock photos and licensing.
• Add the contact route. A short form, a tappable phone number and, if it suits you, a booking link. See Calls to action.
• Add legal pages. At minimum a privacy policy; terms of service if you sell online; cookie consent if you use tracking that requires it in your customers' regions. See Cookie consent law and Data privacy basics.
• Set up payments, if you sell online, through a reputable provider. See How online payments work.
• Build in accessibility from the start: headings in order, alt text, readable contrast, labelled form fields. See Web accessibility basics.

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• Test every form and confirm submissions arrive, including on a phone. See Form testing.
• Check every page on a phone and in at least two browsers.
• Proofread. Names, phone numbers, prices and addresses especially.
• Check speed on your key pages. See Measuring your speed.
• Write page titles and descriptions for each page. See Page titles and meta descriptions.
• Set up Google Analytics and mark your main action, such as form submissions, as a key event. See Setting up GA4 and Conversions and goals explained.
• Confirm HTTPS works with no browser warnings. See SSL and HTTPS.
• Make sure search engines are allowed in. Many platforms hide a site from search while it's being built; switch that off at launch. See Sitemaps and robots.txt.
• Set up backups and know how to restore. See Backups explained.

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• Add the site to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. See Google Search Console.
• Create or claim your Google Business Profile if you serve customers locally or have a location. See Google Business Profile for SEO.
• Tell your network. Email contacts, update your LinkedIn and social profiles, add the site to your email signature.
• List the business in the directories and professional bodies relevant to your field. Keep name, address and phone identical everywhere. See Local SEO basics.
• Ask early customers for reviews. Genuine ones only, and never in exchange for incentives on platforms that forbid it.
• Reply to every enquiry fast. Your first leads are precious. Set up notifications so none sit unread.
• Follow the plan in Your first 90 days after launch.

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