Website Development Checklist

At‑a‑glance: Website development checklist

• Define goals, audience, success metrics and must‑have features
• Choose platform and hosting suited to needs and budget
• Plan IA (navigation), page templates and content inventory
• Set non‑negotiables: speed (Core Web Vitals), security, accessibility
• Prepare content: copy, images, video, downloads, legal pages
• Implement SEO fundamentals and structured data
• Configure analytics, consent and conversion tracking
• Integrate forms, CRM, email, payments and other tools
• Run cross‑device and browser testing, fix issues
• Complete redirects, backups, launch plan and rollback steps
• Post‑launch: monitor, maintain and improve conversions

1) Planning and scope

• Objectives: leads, sales, bookings, support or hiring (set KPIs)
• Stakeholders: who approves copy, design, budget and timelines
• Scope: pages, features, integrations, languages and content volume
• Platform fit: WordPress, Shopify, headless, or custom (match to goals)
• Hosting: Australian or regional POP, SSL, backups, staging, CDN
• Budget and timeline: align expectations with content readiness
• Risk register: content delays, integrations, migrations, dependencies

Tip: lock the minimum viable scope first. Add “phase two” items to protect timeline and budget.

2) Information architecture and content

• Sitemap and navigation: logical, shallow structure for core journeys
• Page templates: homepage, service, location, blog, contact, legal
• Content inventory: what to keep, rewrite or create from scratch
• On‑page clarity: outcome‑first headings, scannable sections, CTAs
• Media: optimised images (WebP/AVIF), captions, transcripts for video
• Legal pages: Privacy Policy (APPs), Terms, Returns (ACL), cookies
• Local trust: ABN, warranty and Australian contact details

3) Accessibility and compliance (Australia)

• WCAG 2.1 AA: semantic HTML, ARIA as needed, focus states, colour contrast
• Keyboard navigation, skip links and descriptive alt text
• Form labels, errors and success messaging that are screen‑reader friendly
• Privacy: Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and data handling clarity
• Spam Act 2003: clear consent for email signups and unsubscribe links
• Cookie notices where tracking requires it; store consent preferences

4) Technical build and performance

• Core Web Vitals: LCP, CLS, INP budgets and monitoring
• Responsive layout: mobile‑first, tap targets, fluid media
• Caching and CDN: HTML, page, object and edge caching where applicable
• Assets: minified CSS/JS, HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, critical CSS, defer non‑critical JS
• Security: SSL/TLS, WAF, brute‑force protection, least‑privilege access
• Backups: automated daily, off‑site storage, tested restore
• DNS and email: SPF, DKIM and DMARC for domain trust

5) SEO foundations during development

• Clean URLs, unique titles and meta descriptions
• H1–H3 hierarchy that matches search intent
• Internal linking and breadcrumb schema
• Structured data: Organisation, Article, Product, FAQ, LocalBusiness (as relevant)
• XML sitemap and robots.txt (block staging, allow production)
• Canonicals to prevent duplicates; handle pagination where needed
• Image alt text, filenames and lazy‑loading strategy
• Migrations: map every old URL to a new one via 301 redirects

6) Analytics, consent and conversion tracking

• GA4 configured with business‑relevant events and conversions
• Tag Manager setup and container governance
• Consent mode and cookie preferences respected
• Form, phone click, file download and outbound link tracking
• Ecommerce events (Shopify/GA4) or custom purchase funnel mapping
• Server‑side tagging where appropriate for data quality
• Dashboards and reporting cadence for stakeholders

7) Integrations and functionality

• Forms: spam protection, CRM or email platform integration, confirmations
• Payments: AUD, GST, refunds, shipping, tax and rates logic
• Booking systems, live chat, search, calculators or member logins
• Data flows tested end‑to‑end (submission to notification to CRM)

8) QA, testing and launch checklist

• Cross‑device tests: iOS, Android, major browsers, common viewports
• Content QA: links, typos, CTAs, 404s, forms, email notifications
• Performance pass: lab and field metrics, image sizes, third‑party bloat
• SEO pass: indexing rules, sitemaps, metadata, schema validation
• Security pass: admin users, passwords, update status, firewall rules
• Launch sequence: maintenance mode off, cache warm, DNS cutover
• Rollback plan: backups verified, revert steps documented

9) Post‑launch monitoring and maintenance

• Uptime alerts, error logs and ongoing Core Web Vitals monitoring
• Platform, theme and plugin updates on a safe schedule
• Security scans, patching and access reviews
• Crawl health: index coverage, redirect chains, broken links
• CRO: review key pages, improve messaging, add social proof
• Content plan: publish new content, refresh winners, fill gaps

Common website development mistakes

• Building without a content‑ready plan or IA
• Ignoring Core Web Vitals and shipping slow pages
• Forgetting redirects during a redesign or migration
• Launching without GA4, consent or conversion tracking
• Weak accessibility: poor contrast, missing labels, no keyboard support
• No rollback plan, backups or post‑launch monitoring

Who this checklist is for

This website development checklist suits SMEs, ecommerce stores and professional services in Australia planning a new build or redesign. It is designed to reduce risk, improve speed and search readiness, and protect launch outcomes.

Related Website Development pages

Related pillar checklists and guides