The Complete Website Launch Checklist for Service Providers
You’ve perfected your services, defined your ideal clients, and crafted your brand identity. Now comes the moment of truth: launching your website. We don’t want to half-ass this part, so this complete website launch checklist is a must-read.
As a service provider, your website isn’t just a digital business card. It’s one of your most powerful sales tools, the hub of your marketing efforts, and your clients’ first impression of your brand.
But let’s be honest, website launches can be overwhelming. With so many moving parts, technical considerations, and content decisions, it’s easy to overlook some things. Many service providers rush through the launch process. Only to discover missing contact forms, broken links, or content errors after going live—when potential clients are already forming their opinion of you.
That’s why I’ve created this comprehensive website launch checklist specifically for service-based businesses. Whether you’re a copywriter like me or a coach, consultant, designer, stylist or any other service provider, this guide will walk you through every essential step to ensure your website launches without a hitch and starts working for your business immediately.
From pre-development planning to post-launch monitoring, I’m going to cover the must-have elements for a distinct website that sets you apart from your competition.
Let’s get into it ⬇️
Pre-Development Planning
The first item on your website launch checklist is a question — what do you want your website to do? Most service providers will say they want it to sell for them in their sleep — and PERIODT, don’t we all? But you need to get specific about your website goals and objectives. Do you want to grow more qualified leads? Decrease cart abandonment rates? Increase email subscribers? Increase your site traffic and conversion rate?
Whatever your website goals are, you’ll then need to identify your ideal client and their journey. You can use this formula to define your ideal client. But then you have to figure out every step they’ll take before they land on your website to the moment they become a paying client.
Do they arrive to your website from social media? An email newsletter? A paid ad? Or a link from that podcast interview you did? Do they land on your home page, services page, or about page? If they’re about to ‘x’ out from your website, do you have a pop-up in place to entice them to stay, or keep connected with the brand? Those are the things you want to think about.
Mapping out essential pages and site structure is next. Every service-based business should have a home page, about page, services page, and contact page. But you can expand beyond this! You could have dedicated pages for each of your services. A guest speaking page to secure more teaching opportunities. A blog page and resources page to share your expertise. A branded 404 error page for broken links, and more.
And choosing the right platform and hosting for your services is a BIGGIE. I started on Wix, where I think a lot of us newbies first make our mark, and eventually made my way to Showit. But every website designer on the planet will have their opinions about the best platforms for SEO and more. I’m still considering making the switch to Squarespace, and want to learn more about Webflow myself. So do your research on all the options to find the best one for you!
You can also gather inspiration and examples for how you want your website to look and how you want to approach the copy and content. I have a folder called ‘Sites I Like’ for this very reason, and I suggest you have something similar.
Content Creation & Organization
Okay, now for the actual copywriting bit of your website launch checklist! One of the hardest pages to write, in my opinion, is the homepage. Because it needs to be enticing enough to keep people on the website, have enough information to tell people exactly what they want to know in case they don’t want to go to other pages, and compelling enough to convert.
Then comes the services page, which should have enough information for the people who landed on that page first, descriptions that sell like hotcakes, and social proof to validate that you’re THE SHIT.
Creating an about page that builds trust is also important. And it can be hard to write an about page that feels distinct and says the right thing. But with the research you did and a copywriter on your team, you’ll find out when to talk about you and when to talk about how you can help your reader.
Showing your work is one of the best ways to prove to your target audience that you know what you’re doing, you’re good at what you do, and can consistently create diverse work. You could have a style, but you can create work that serves all kinds of styles. So developing portfolio/case study content is a biggie for your website too.
Another great way of impressing your readers is by displaying your expertise with free value that actually helps them. So you’ll want to plan your blog strategy and initial posts to display your expertise, promote your offers, and sell for you in the long-run.
And the most important part of any high-converting website are the calls-to-action and lead generation. So make sure to strategize what the button copy says, where you’re sending people, and how you generate leads.
Design & User Experience
How your website looks and how people navigate it are so important. Because if your website doesn’t look good and it’s a pain to use, people will bounce super quick and never come back.
So you’ll want to make sure your website looks consistent on every page, and looks aligned to your branding in other places.
And since mobile devices generated 54.4% of global website traffic, mobile responsiveness is also very important. Your website designer will likely have a website launch checklist before passing your website off to you. So make sure to ask them about this when fielding different designers.
They’ll also make sure your fonts and colours are implemented properly. That your images look FIRE and are optimized for SEO. And your web pages load quickly and perform properly.
You’ll also want to optimize navigation so people can easily get to other pages. And make sure the entire website flows so smoothly you could cut through it like a knife through butter.
Functionality & Technical Elements
You want to stay booked and busy, right? Well, it’d be nice to do that without having to sell all the time. Your website should be doing that for you! And these elements need to be working together like a unit to make that happen:
- Contact forms and testing → Fill out your contact form to make sure you send the right emails and your CRM is working properly
- Booking/scheduling system integration → It should be very easy for potential clients to book a call with you, so try and have a CRM that allows you to easily integrate your booking link to your website, syncing it to your calendar of choice
- Payment processing setup → If you’re going to accept payment on your website, it should be seamless and secure. It’d also be great to accept multiple methods of payment — like all major credit cards, AfterPay, Klarna, and more
- Email marketing integration → You can do this with a pop-up or in-line form that people can easily fill-out to subscribe to your newsletter
- Lead magnet delivery systems → Again, you can have forms that people can fill out to get your lead magnets, and in return subscribe to your newsletter. Or have a painless click-to-download button, like I do at the bottom of my home page
- CRM connections → Whether that be through your contact form or booking/scheduling system, your website should be connected to whatever CRM you use. Dubsado, Honeybook, etc.
- Install analytics → HotJar and Google Analytics are great for seeing how people are using your website, and how you can improve your performance
Legal & Compliance
Your website will likely be getting information from potential clients — whether that’s their email or payment information. So you’ll need a privacy policy and terms of service, and for it to be easy to access. You can work with a lawyer or buy legal templates from lawyers like The Boutique Lawyer or The Lethal Legal Bodega.
If you use cookies, you need to tell website visitors the kind you use, how personal data may be collected and used, and who may have access to it. You’ll need to follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which tells you what to do when handling personal data. And you’ll have to comply with industry-specific requirements if there are any.
You’ll also want to consider how accessible your website is for impaired visitors. You don’t want to ostracize any of your readers, so think about how you can make your website easy to access for all visitors.
SEO Fundamentals
In order for your website to sell for you, it needs to get found. Not everyone will get there from your social media or newsletter. you’ll also want them to come from the most popular search engine: Google.
So implementing optimized keywords on important pages — like your home, services, and contact page — will help you rank higher on those search engines results pages (SERPs).
Having optimized meta descriptions and title tags — the stuff you see on the results page — will also help, as well as optimizing the alt text of your images and well-structured URLs.
And having a Google Business Profile will make you look more legit, so you’ll want to set that up — and including a link to this profile in your offboarding process, so clients can leave a public review will be great for social proof and for not-yet website visitors that haven’t decided whether or not it’s worth going to your website yet.
Quality Assurance
This is what I like to call the nitty-gritty so it ain’t sh*tty check. You don’t want your website to have any broken links, so you should check all of them. Is everything up to code on every single browser? Because not everyone will use Google Chrome or Safari, so make sure your website works on them all.
Did you triple check that it works well on mobile? If you haven’t, do that now. And when you fill out your contact form, do you get all the info on your end of your CRM? Make sure the workflow works well.
Proofread all your content — because if you don’t think people judge typos or grammar mistakes, think again — and make sure your pages load fast. 40% will abandon a site that takes over 3 seconds to load, so let’s not give them a reason to leave.
Launch Preparation
Alright, it’s time to launch! Now before you strap in, let’s do some final prep. If you currently have a website, you’ll want to create 301 redirects that send people to your new website.
If anything goes wrong, you’ll want to have a professional email address people can reach out to, and backup procedures in place.
Finally, if you’re more than a one-person team, everyone else that has a stake in this website launch should review the final website before launch.
And there should be a launch timeline that gets people amped for when you do finally launch. This can include you talking about who you serve, BTS content of you creating this new website, etc.
Launch Day Protocol
IT’S LAUNCH DAY! Let’s make sure your website is up to scuff.
Are your DNS and domain configured? Have you installed an SSL certificate? You don’t want people to browse a website that’s not secure, do you? Nah, of course you don’t. You’re good people!
After you’ve launched, you might run into some problems —even after crossing your Ts and dotting your Is, so you’ll want to square away time to troubleshoot just in case sh*t hits the fan.
Post-Launch Tasks
Your website is just one part of your online presence, and it needs to work cohesively with all the other parts. You’ll want to set up search console to monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. Your social media profiles should be updated with the new website link, and you’ll want to let everybody know that your website got an 🔊UPGRADE🔊.
Then, monitoring analytics and your performance, which is something you’ll be doing all the time after launch. You might find ways to improve your website, A/B test copy or design elements, and make changes. And that’s okay! No website should ever stay the same after launch day. It’s not a static thing, it should always be dynamic. So lean into that.
Conclusion
Congratulations, babes! If you’ve worked through this website launch checklist, your service provider website is now live and ready to start attracting your ideal clients. The careful planning, thoughtful content creation, and attention to all the technical nitty gritty will lead to a professional online presence that truly represents your top-notch services.
But remember, your website launch isn’t the end of your digital journey, it’s just the beginning. I want you to view your website as a living, evolving asset that grows with your business. So update content, monitor performance, and maintain it on the regular.
In the weeks after launch, pay close attention to how visitors interact with your site. Which pages are getting the most traffic? Where are potential clients spending the most time? Are your contact forms generating the inquiries you hoped for? This valuable data will guide your first round of updates.
Also, don’t forget to get feedback from colleagues, existing clients, and new visitors. Fresh perspectives can reveal blind spots in your user experience that you might’ve missed during development.
Above all, celebrate this milestone! Launching a website is a BIG DEAL, and in important step to having a legit, badass business. This is a powerful platform to showcase your expertise, connect with ideal clients, and scale your services.
And if you want your website copy to do all that, while being compelling, conversational, and cultured AF, I gotchu.
Website Copywriting for Women & BIPOC Small Businesses
I’ve written website copy for dozens of clients in all kinds of industries. Designers, systems specialists, therapists, and more — all with website copy that checks all the boxes. Just ask them:
“I chose Storytella because it was a Black woman that was going to know how to speak to my audience, in a voice that they’re use to, without making it cringy and weird. Jemilla’s copy sold me, and I’m a seller, so I knew she could create content that would help us better convert folks on our site. She did the work we needed in such a timely manner and kept us abreast, the entire time. The money was worth it because this process was so simple and easy and I really just got to sit back and be wow’d.” — Shaque’l W., 6 Figure Chick Consulting
“I felt supported, heard, and understood at every step. Seeing the progress of the work made me even more excited because it seemed like you could anticipate my thoughts, even the ones I hadn’t explicitly expressed. Reading my copy was quite emotional. Working with you was unquestionably worth the investment. If given the chance, I would hire you 100 times over.” — Jasmine H., She Found Power
“I was DIY-ing my copy and I felt like I was beginning to sound like everyone else. I also didn’t feel like my copy was cohesive across all platforms. My biggest frustration was not feeling like my brand voice was standing out & feeling like I had to “call my audience out” to get their attention. Now, Day to Day Assist has a voice that feels good to me and stands out amongst the competition. Working with you was definitely worth the investment! I love the way your copy retainer works and how quickly you were able to get things done. I also feel like you listened to what I wanted. My copy feels 100% aligned with who I am” — Jennifer S., Day to Day Assist
