Website launch checklist
Finish these checks before the domain points at the new site, then again the morning it goes live.
Launch is the morning the address people already know starts showing the new pages. Until that morning, the new site can live on a private link while you read it. The expensive mistake is pointing the domain over while a form still goes nowhere, an old page has no redirect, or the business email stops arriving.
When Artol builds the site, launch is part of the job. We write, design, build, launch, and host it, with $0 down and $249/mo hosting. 12-month ownership terms: 12 months of hosting at $249/mo, then month to month. Leave earlier and the remaining hosting or a buyout of the build is due. You still have to approve the pages. This checklist is that approval, in order.
What launch means
A preview on a temporary address is not a launch. A launch is the public address, with and without www, opening the new pages over HTTPS, with the old addresses that people and Google already know sending visitors to the closest new page.
Keep the old site up until the new one is ready. Builders and hosts do not hand you a designed site you can drop somewhere else. You copy the words and the photos you still want, rebuild the pages, then switch. The move off Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy guides cover that switch for those three products.
Before the domain moves
Do this while the current site is still the one the world sees. Nothing here requires you to cancel a plan yet.
- Confirm you can log in to the domain registrar
The registrar is the company you pay to keep the name. It may not be the company that hosts the site. If you cannot log in, fix that before any launch date.
- Write down where email is handled
Mail often uses records at the registrar that have nothing to do with the website. A launch that replaces every record can silence the inbox. Leave mail records alone unless a person who understands them is changing them on purpose.
- Save the words and photos you still want
Copy them into a document and a folder. A theme, a Wix layout, or a Squarespace design does not export as a working site.
- List every public address the old site uses
Home, services, a blog post people still share, and any page a Google Business Profile or an ad already points at. Each one needs a decision: keep a matching page, or redirect it.
- Approve the new copy on the private link
Read services, towns, hours, and the sentences that describe what you will not do. The content checklist is the list of what you owe that draft.
- Send a test through every form
Submit one request and confirm it arrives where you actually read mail. Check the page on a phone, not only on the laptop you approved it on.
- Decide what is out of scope before launch day
Online stores, custom apps, and large multi-section sites are not part of the $0 down offer. Those are quoted on packages.
The day the site goes live
- Point the domain at the new host
Change the nameservers or the address records your designer specifies. Do not also rewrite mail records in the same edit.
- Open the bare domain and the www version
Both should land on the same HTTPS site, without a browser warning. The website grader checks that the name resolves and that HTTPS loads. It does not read your pages. In our local website study, a missing redirect from http:// to https:// was the usual reason a site failed the HTTPS check.
- Click the old addresses
Each one should open the right new page, or a sensible neighbor, not a missing-page error. Redirects protect rankings as far as a redirect can. They do not promise you will keep every position.
- Update the Google Business Profile website field
Point it at the new site, not at a social page and not at a retired builder address. Match the business name, hours, and service area to the site. The local SEO checklist is the rest of that pass.
- Place one real request and one real reply
Call the number you published, or send the form, and answer it the way you will on a Tuesday. A button that looks right and a path that works are different things.
The days after launch
- Cancel the old builder only after the new site has been public and the mail still arrives
Cancelling first can take the old site, and sometimes the domain connection, down while the new records are still spreading.
- Watch the inbox and the form for a few business days
A missing message is easier to catch while the change is fresh.
- Fix small wording with the updates included in hosting
Artol hosting includes two small content updates a month, daily backups, and SSL. A new service line or a new town is a content update. A new online store is not.
- Ask for the logins that should be in your name
The registrar account, the Google account that owns the profile, and any analytics access. The site can be hosted by us. The business name should not be trapped in someone else's account.
What we handle on a launch
On an Artol site the private link, the page build, the domain cutover, the redirects we agreed, SSL, and the Google Business Profile setup are part of the engagement. The team is 100% US-based, made in the USA, in Yardley, PA. We reply within one business day. The site is fully custom, after a deep business audit and competitive market research, and it is live in less than a week.
You still supply the facts only you know: which jobs you want, which towns you cover, and which sentences are wrong. We do not invent a phone number, a street, or a review. If you are comparing the hosting term with paying a project fee first, the zero-down calculator and the cost calculator show the shape of that choice without inventing a market price.
The offer, next to the other ways to pay
Three common ways to get a small business website, side by side.
| Compare | Artol Web Studio | Typical agency | DIY website builder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $0 down | A build fee, often partly due before work starts | No build fee, but you pay with your own time |
| Monthly cost | $249/mo hosting with 12-month terms | Hosting and maintenance are often billed separately | A plan fee, plus paid add-ons |
| Time to launch | Less than a week | Depends on the agency's schedule and your revisions | Depends on how many evenings you can give it |
| Who does the work | We write, design, build, and launch it | The agency, with you managing the project | You do |
| Design | Fully custom | Custom or template, depending on budget | A template you adapt |
| Business audit and market research | Included | Sometimes, often as a paid discovery phase | Not included |
| Backups and updates | Daily backups and two small content updates a month | Depends on the maintenance plan | Depends on the plan, and updates are on you |
| Google Business Profile | Setup included | Sometimes, as an add-on | Not included |
| Support | Reply within one business day from a 100% US-based team | Depends on the agency | Help center and support tickets |
Ask any provider, including us, for the full terms in writing before you sign.
Questions we get asked
Can I launch if I still need to rewrite a page?
Launch the pages that are true, and hold the domain if a core service page is still wrong. A missing extra page can follow as one of the small updates. A wrong description of the work you do should wait.
Will my Google rankings stay the same?
No one can promise that. Redirects from the old addresses to the closest new pages protect rankings as far as a redirect can. A new site with different words can also move in search. Treat the redirect list as required, not as a guarantee.
Should I cancel Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy on launch morning?
No. Point the domain, confirm the new site and the email, then cancel. Those products are the subject of the migration guides linked above.
What if I need a store on launch day?
A store is outside the $0 down website. Say so before kickoff and we will quote it from packages instead of forcing a catalog into a brochure site.
