How to Review Startup Website Before Handover: Essential Checklist – 5 Pro Tips

Before we share tips on how to review startup website, let us share how and why we thought of writing this.

A few days ago, we were commissioned to write website content for one of our clients. Since their website was already live, we reviewed the existing pages to know what’s already there.

Our job was to create SEO content for the website. Hence we had to make sure that the existing content was as optimized for search engines as possible. That also meant that the website should be technically SEO-compliant.

So, we performed a full audit of their website. We found that there were many technical issues and the site eas not optimized and was showing errors. We created an audit report and shared it with our client. They were actually surprised as they were unaware of the errors on their website.

That made us realize that this was not a sole case. There must be many startup owners and entrepreneurs who fail to properly audit their websites before taking handover from the website developers. Either their busy schedule does not allow them, or they are not conversant with the technicalities of website development.

So, we thought, why not post a checklist of how to review startup website before taking the handover?

And here it is!

Review Startup Website SSL Certification for Security

The first thing on your checklist should be to check if your website uses an SSL certificate. This is indicated by HTTPS.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is important because it protects data, helps you rank higher in search engines, and builds trust with customers.

Checking if your site has an SSL certificate is very easy. If the URL starts with HTTPS, then the website is using SSL. If the URL only has HTTP://, then the website is not using SSL. Alternatively, the padlock icon in the browser’s address bar shows that the website is secured with SSL. You might have to click the slider icom on left of the addressbar

In 2017, Chrome started flagging websites that don’t have SSL. Currently, SSL certificates are a requirement for all websites. Browsers, led by Google and Mozilla, have mandated that all sites be served with encryption via HTTPS.

Bonus Tip for SSL Certificate

Nowadays, most hosting providers include SSL with all their plans. If not, you will have to purchase this SSL certificate separately. If you have not purchased hosting yet, it’s a good idea to check if your hosting provider provides an SSL certificate with your hosting plan.

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How Your Website Appears on Google: Key Things to Check

The next thing you would want to check is how your website looks on Google results. This is only if your website is live and is not blocked by Google.

Search for site:<yourdomain>.com on Google. Google will return all the pages it has indexed for your website. Check if the titles and results are the way you want them or not. In many cases, you will find the following issues:

Homepage links would show some random text from your website. Typically, it should show a short intro about your webpage.

Check if the titles read correctly and are the way you want them. Many like the title to have their brand name, tagline, some emojis, or maybe some special characters as dividers.

Check if any page is showing up that should not show up. Often the developer creates the website based on a template. The templates usually have some dummy text, and the developer might forget to change the dummy text, which is now showing up.

In case nothing shows up on Google, don’t worry. It’s perfectly okay. A good practice in developing a website is hiding it from search engines until it is approved and tested. It’s possible that your web developer is temporarily hiding the website from search engines until you’ve approved it.

Bonus Tip – Google Search Console

Install Google Search Console on your website to track your websites search engine visibility and a lot of more information. You can also use this to request Google to index pages that are not indexed yet.

Review Startup Website Social Media and Contact Links for Accuracy

Most websites have links that connect to the band’s social media profiles and their contact channels. Ensure the links are updated and working, as many visitors would want to learn more about your company.. They may want to visit your social profile to learn more about your business, or they might try to contact you. If your social media profile links don’t work or link incorrectly, you send the wrong message to visitors and risk losing potential customers.

However, checking this is pretty easy and straightforward. Open all the social media links you have and check if they point to the correct profiles. Also, make sure you check all the places they appear on your website, such as the top bar, the footer, and the contact page. Ensure that the correct social media icon/link points to the correct social media profile. Also make sure that your website has the updated X icon and not the old Twitter one.

Apart from that, make sure your contact details are correct. Whether you want to make them clickable or not is a matter of choice. Many don’t prefer to make them clickable as they don’t want bots to harvest their contact details. However, there is a pitfall that if the contact links are not clickable, most visitors won’t take the time to copy-paste the details to contact you. If you plan to make them clickable, make sure that the phone number opens your phone dialer by default, the email opens your default email app, and the WhatsApp link opens on your WhatsApp app.

Bonus Tip – Chat Widget

If you have any widget for chat, make sure it is working and the person in charge of replying gets proper notifications. Also, if your chat support does not work 24/7, make sure you adjust the widget accordingly.

Test Website Forms and Email Notifications for Smooth Functionality

If you are using forms of any kind, this is for you. Usually, we use forms for inquiries, quotes, comments, or to request callback. In most cases, these are from your potential customers and current leads, so it is a top priority from a business point of view that these work flawlessly. However, technical glitches often mar this aspect.

So how to review startup website for such errors? It’s easy!

Once your website is live, test all the forms you have to check if they work as intended. Also, try deliberately filling out wrong information to check if the form can detect errors. For example, try using a 9-digit mobile number, an email address without an @ symbol, or leaving the mandatory fields blank. You should test the forms extensively to confirm that they are working fine.

A working form that does not send notifications to your email is as good as a non-working form. So, check if you and other stakeholders are getting email notifications. Also, make sure the user receives a confirmation email, and check that the styling, color, and fonts match your brand guidelines.

Lastly, ensure that the form on your website provides confirmation of submission and informs users when they can expect a reply. It’s also a good idea to let the user know what went wrong if certain fields throw an error.

Bonus Tip – Lead App

Consider using services like Privyr, which sends mobile notifications when a form is submitted on your website. This is better as you can respond instantly from the app itself.

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Optimize Your Website for Mobile and Responsive Design

Nowadays, most people visit websites on their mobile phones. Around 79-80% of your website visits are from mobile phones. So, make sure that your website looks good and works as intended on mobile phones.

It is also a good practice to start creating the website for mobile phones and then adapt it for desktops, rather than the other way around.

In the old days, there were two versions of websites: one for desktop and one for mobile. However, nowadays a single theme supports not only mobile and desktop but also various other screen sizes. It does so by adapting the website, its elements, and sizes as per the screen size on the fly. In many cases, the website also recognizes a variety of inputs and finger gestures.

So, make sure you visit all the pages, click all the links, and fill out all the forms on a mobile device to check if everything works as intended on mobile.

It is also a good idea to test the website in a variety of browsers on both desktop and mobile.

Bonus Tip – AMP

Additionally, if you want, you can go for AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages. AMP pages look great and load quickly on mobile devices, which is crucial as smartphone traffic often surpasses desktop traffic. Although this is not mandatory and in many cases not even needed, you may read more about this or enquire with your web designer to see if it would help.

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We hope you found this checklist on how to review startup website helpful for ensuring your startup’s website is in top shape before handover.If you spot any missed steps or have additional topics you’d like us to cover, please let us know. Your feedback is valuable and helps us provide the best possible guidance for your website needs.

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