Alright, so your site is almost ready to go. You love the design, it’s been developed and the content is in.
Everything’s set to go, right?
Well, not quite. Before the website goes live and you make that final payment to the developer, you need to go over the site one last time to make sure everything is correct and how you want it to be.
But what should you be looking for? So glad you asked. Here are my biggest items that you should look for before the site goes live.
Is everything readable?
I feel like this should be obvious, but you first need to make sure visitors can, you know, read the content on your website.
Check to make sure the text is readable and isn’t going outside of the bound. Text and it’s background . Also check to see if you can navigate to pages that a user might need to get to.
I’d also recommend making sure that the web accessible, or is usable by those with disabilities. Chances are your small business isn’t required , like say a state school, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly 20 percent of American have a disability, and they still want to access website, albeit in different ways. Ignoring them is a pretty significant business risk. Your site ought to be usable by all.
Also on this point, make sure all of the information is correct. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, make sure the address and times are right. Check to see if your phone and email is correct. And also make sure that there’s no dummy text left over on the site.
It’s the simple things that tend to get overlooked before the site goes live.
Tell the Story of Your Small Business With a Website
Every small business has a story. And every small business needs a website to help tell it. A website allows people to find you online, serves as a home base for any marketing effort and can help you tell the story of your business. So if you’re ready to give your business its first website or are ready to take your site to the next level, let’s get started on making that happen.
Let’s Get Started on Telling Your Story With a WebsiteAre the colors correct?
Next, check to see that all of the colors on the website are correct. Again, it’s something small, but it is pretty important.
Color is essential to your branding as a small business. It helps people quickly identify your business. So why wouldn’t your website have the same colors as the rest of your business.
So go through the website and make sure that all of the colors are correct. I know that stuff like this should be worked out in the design stage, but flukey things can happen. Checking one last time won’t take too long and will keep your website on-brand.
How does it look on mobile?
Finally, you need to check the mobile version of your site. According to Statista, roughly 49.7 percent of webpage visits were via a mobile phone. So to ignore how your website looks on a phone is to ignore a potentially large user base at your own peril.
Of course, if you’ve selected a reputable developer, they should have made sure the website is responsive. But sometimes things get missed. And an iPhone might render something completely different from an Android phone. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen.
So take out your phone and look through the website and make sure everything is visible and working on it as well.
So before you allow the site to go live and make the final payment, run through these items. Make sure the website is to your liking. Go over it with a fine eye. If something doesn’t look quite right to you, ask about it and see if the developer can fix it.
Everything will be much better if you do.
