The Go-to-Market Website Checklist

1

Before You Start: Strategy

Get these right before touching design or code. Skipping them costs weeks later.

Define your target audience Who are you selling to? Be specific: not "small businesses" but "Swedish e-commerce founders under 10 employees."
Write your value proposition One sentence: what you do, for whom, and why it matters. Test it on someone who has never heard of you.
List your top 3 competitors and what makes you different Not "better quality" - something observable and specific. Faster delivery? Narrower focus? Different price point?
Decide on your primary conversion action Book a call? Buy now? Sign up for a trial? One action. Everything on the site points toward it.
Set a launch deadline Recommended: 2 weeks from kickoff. A deadline forces decisions. Without one, websites drift forever.

2

Essential Pages

The minimum viable set. Every page must exist before you go live.

Home page with clear hero, value prop, and CTA above the fold Visitors decide in 3 seconds whether to stay. Your headline and call-to-action must be immediately visible.
About page: who you are and why you are credible People buy from people. Show the human behind the business. Include a photo.
Services or pricing page: what you offer and what it costs Hiding prices increases friction. Even a range ("from €1,500") qualifies leads before they contact you.
Contact page with a real form Not just an email address. A form lowers the barrier and lets you collect structured information.
Legal pages: privacy policy, terms, cookie policy Required by GDPR if you collect any data (including analytics). Do not skip this.

3

Content That Converts

Good design does not save bad copy. Get these right.

Hero headline that speaks to the customer's problem, not your product "Stop losing clients to competitors" beats "We build professional websites." Lead with their pain.
Social proof: testimonials, client logos, case studies, or numbers Even one genuine testimonial with a name and photo outperforms generic claims like "trusted by thousands."
Clear call-to-action on every page, not just the home page Visitors land on all sorts of pages. Every page needs a next step.
FAQ section addressing common objections What do people ask before buying? Answer it on the page so they do not have to email you.
Blog with at least 3 articles targeting keywords your audience searches Organic traffic compounds over time. Start with the 3 questions you answer most often in sales calls.

4

Technical Foundation

These are table stakes. If any are missing, fix them before launch.

Mobile-responsive design tested on real phones Browser resize is not the same as a real device. Test on at least one iOS and one Android phone.
Page load under 3 seconds Use static or edge hosting. Compress images (AVIF/WebP). Every second of delay drops conversions by roughly 7%.
SSL certificate (HTTPS) Non-negotiable. Modern browsers flag HTTP sites as insecure. Most hosts provide this free.
Analytics installed (Google Analytics or equivalent) You cannot improve what you cannot measure. Install before launch so you have day-one baseline data.
sitemap.xml and robots.txt submitted to Google Search Console Helps Google discover and index your pages faster. Takes 10 minutes to set up.
Open Graph meta tags for social sharing Controls how your pages look when shared on LinkedIn, X, and WhatsApp. Add og:title, og:description, and og:image to every page.
Favicon and touch icons The tiny detail that tells visitors you are serious. 32x32 favicon.ico plus a 180x180 apple-touch-icon.png.

5

SEO Basics

One-time setup that pays dividends for years. Do it properly now.

Unique title tag for every page, under 60 characters The blue link in Google search results. Make it descriptive and include your main keyword for that page.
Meta description for every page, under 160 characters Not a ranking factor, but it is the preview text in search results. Write it to earn the click.
H1 tag on every page (one per page, matching the page topic) Your main heading. One H1 per page. It should contain the primary keyword for that page.
Alt text on all images Describes the image for screen readers and search engines. "Team photo at our Stockholm office" is good. "IMG_4521" is not.
Internal links between related pages Helps search engines understand your site structure and keeps visitors exploring. Link naturally in body copy.
Google Business Profile set up (if local business) Free. Required to appear in local map results. Add photos, hours, and respond to reviews.

6

Launch Day

Run through this list the day you go live. Do not skip it.

Test all forms: submit a real test and confirm you receive it Forms break silently. Submit a test entry from each form and verify it arrives in your inbox.
Test all links: internal navigation and external references Broken links signal neglect. Use a free checker like Broken Link Check or simply click through every page.
Check on mobile, tablet, and desktop Real devices. Ask a friend to load it on their phone if you can.
Set up 301 redirects if replacing an old site Old URLs returning 404s destroy any SEO value you had. Map old paths to new equivalents.
Announce on social media and email your network Your first traffic should come from people who already know you. Do not wait for Google to find you.
Submit sitemap to Google Search Console Go to Search Console, add your property, and submit your sitemap.xml URL. Google will start indexing within days.

7

First 30 Days After Launch

Launching is the start, not the finish. These habits compound.

Monitor Google Analytics weekly Look at: traffic sources, top pages, and bounce rate. Notice what is working and do more of it.
Publish at least 2 new blog posts Fresh content signals to search engines that the site is active. It also gives you something to share.
Collect and add testimonials Email your 3 happiest clients and ask for a sentence or two. Most will say yes if you make it easy.
Run a Lighthouse audit and fix critical issues Open Chrome DevTools, go to Lighthouse, and run it on your home page. Aim for 90+ on Performance and Accessibility.
Check Google Search Console for crawl errors Pages Google cannot access do not rank. Fix any 404s or server errors that appear.
Ask 5 people to use the site and give honest feedback Watch someone use it without helping them. Where do they hesitate? What do they misunderstand? Fix those things first.

The Go-to-MarketWebsite Checklist