The internet has become a primary source of information and shopping, making websites crucial to many businesses and individuals. A poorly designed website with inaccurate information or broken links can damage your reputation and turn potential customers away. Previewing your website enables you to identify these problems and guarantees that it is well-designed, user-friendly, and functional.

This blog article will address the value of previewing your website and provide advice on ensuring it is accurate, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly before making it public.

Why previewing a website before publishing matters

Given the convenience of the internet, more consumers prefer to shop and research online. Your website is vital to attracting potential customers and showcasing your brand. However, creating a website is more than just putting up a few pages and hitting publish. There are several things to consider, and one crucial step is previewing your site.

Previewing your website lets you see how it will look and function before it goes live. This step is crucial as it will reveal any areas that need improvement, such as the content, design, or navigation. By previewing your site, you can fix and adjust any issues before visitors see them. You will also see how your site looks on different devices, ensuring responsiveness across all platforms.

Previewing your website is a straightforward process requiring you to click through it and ensure everything is where it should be. This process can also help catch any mistakes that may have been missed in the creation process. Previewing your site allows you to check for broken links, missing images, and other issues. This check provides your website visitors with an enjoyable browsing experience.

Ultimately, previewing your website is vital for creating a functional, well-designed website that caters to the user's preferences. This process is critical in delivering a positive user experience and ultimately, satisfied customers. By previewing your website, you ensure you launch a site that reflects your brand and values and is user-friendly to all visitors.

List you need to check before publishing your website

Content check: Ensuring your website's information is accurate

When creating a website, ensuring that the information included is accurate and up-to-date is essential to gaining audience trust and engagement. A content check should be crucial to your website previewing process. One of the best ways to approach this task is by creating a checklist of all the information you include on your website. This may include contact details, product descriptions, service offerings, or other pertinent information useful to your visitors.

One of the most significant things to remember while conducting a content check is the audience you are trying to reach. Ensure the information is delivered clearly and concisely so your target audience can easily understand. Your content should be relevant and engaging, making visitors want to stay longer on your site and increasing the likelihood that they will take the next step, such as making a purchase or contacting your business.

It's also important to ensure your content is free of grammatical and spelling mistakes. These mistakes are easy to make but can harm your credibility as a business owner or professional. Suppose you lack confidence in writing or editing skills to complete this task. In that case, it might be worth hiring a professional writer or editor who can ensure that your content is of the highest quality.

A content check is essential to the website previewing process. It ensures that the information on your website is accurate, concise, and engaging, helping build trust with your audience. With a little effort and attention to detail, you can ensure that your website's content is of the highest quality and ready for publishing.

Design check: Make sure your website looks good on all devices

When building a website, one of the most important things to remember is ensuring the design is visually appealing and easy to navigate. This is where a design check comes into play. Checking your website's design ensures it looks good on all devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.

One of the reasons why it’s essential to ensure your website looks good on all devices is that visitors increasingly access the internet from their mobile devices. In fact, according to a study done by Statista, about 52% of the world's website traffic is from mobile devices. This means that if your website isn’t designed to be mobile-friendly, you risk losing a lot of potential traffic and customers.

A design check also ensures your website is aesthetically pleasing and visually appealing. This means ensuring that the fonts, colors, and images are used in a way that is consistent with your brand’s image and messaging. A visually inconsistent or unappealing website can turn off visitors and cause them to leave your site before engaging with your content.

Another important tool of a design check is testing the functionality of your website. Are all buttons and links clickable? Is the page loading speed fast enough? Are the images loading correctly? These are all questions you should ask yourself when checking the functionality of your website. By putting this effort into optimizing the design of your website, you can create a visually appealing and engaging experience for your visitors that helps them feel confident in your brand and makes them more likely to stay and explore your content.

Navigation check: Ensuring your website is easy to navigate

Ensuring your website is easy to navigate is crucial to the success of your website. If visitors struggle to find what they’re looking for, they will quickly become frustrated and, more likely, leave your site. To ensure your website is easy to navigate, start by organizing your content. Think about how your visitors will use your site and structure your content in a way that makes sense.

Another way to make your website easy to navigate is to use clear and concise labels for your navigation menu. Visitors should be able to easily identify what each menu item is for and where it will take them. Avoid using vague or generic labels like “Services” or “Products”. Instead, use specific labels like “Web design services” or “Product Catalog”.

Make sure your navigation menu is visible and easy to access. Visitors should be able to find it quickly and easily from any page on your website. For example, a common location for a navigation menu is at the top of the page or in a sidebar on the left or right-hand side of the page. It's also important to note that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive, providing an optimal user experience on any device.

Finally, consider adding internal links or html to your website. This can improve your website's navigation and help with search engine optimization. Internal linking involves linking to other pages on your website, providing users with additional information on a specific topic, and keeping them engaged on your site for longer periods of time. By doing this, you can keep visitors on your site longer, increasing the chances they will convert into customers or clients.

Functionality check: Ensuring your website works as intended

Having a website that looks good on paper is only half the battle. Ensuring your website functions as intended is just as important, if not more so. A broken or poorly functioning website can quickly turn potential customers away, leading to lost sales and missed opportunities.

To avoid these pitfalls, conduct a functionality check. This involves reviewing your website's features and ensuring they all work as intended. This can include checking that all links/URLs lead to the correct pages, ensuring that forms and other interactive features are working correctly, checking meta descriptions and meta tags, and verifying that any e-commerce functionality is properly set up.

Another important aspect of the functionality check is ensuring your website is optimized for search engines. This means ensuring that your website's metadata is correctly set up, using alt tags to describe images, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly. These steps can help improve your website's visibility in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find.

In addition to these technical considerations, it's also important to consider the user experience when conducting a functionality check. This means ensuring your website is easy to navigate, with clear calls to action and well-organized content. By doing so, you'll be able to provide website visitors with a positive experience that encourages them to stay on your site and engage with your content.

Overall, conducting a thorough functionality check is essential to ensuring your website is user-friendly and capable of achieving your business goals. By ensuring that everything is working as intended, you'll be able to avoid frustrating technical issues and provide potential customers with a positive experience that encourages them to engage with your brand.

Final checks before hitting 'publish'

Before hitting the publish button, review the website's content and ensure all the information is up-to-date and accurate. Providing accurate and valuable details is essential to help your audience understand your business better.

Next, look at your website's design and check that it looks consistent across all devices. You want to ensure your website is mobile responsive and easily navigable on different screen sizes. Most users access the internet through their mobile devices, so prioritize a mobile-friendly website design.

After checking the design, assess how easy it is to navigate your website. Your visitors should be able to find what they are looking for quickly without encountering any confusion or difficulty. Check your website for broken links, errors, or blank pages that may disrupt the user experience. A navigable website ensures that your visitors stay longer and find what they need effortlessly.

Lastly, test the website's functionality and make sure it works as intended. They are unlikely to return when website visitors find navigation issues or technical errors. By testing the website functionality, you can ensure that the website loads quickly, user forms function seamlessly, and all site features work correctly. After running through these checks, you can be confident that your website is optimized to give visitors the best user experience.

Create and launch your website through B12

A well-designed website can make a strong first impression on potential clients, nurture leads, and drive conversions. Use B12 to launch a user-friendly site with brand consistency and all the tools you need to sell and offer professional services. Our on-platform web designers will ensure your website is publish-ready, from its images to its copy, load speed, and user experience. Get started launching yours today."