Your first week should tell you whether people can use your website, whether their messages reach you and whether you can look after it. A polished homepage is a good start. A working enquiry form, a reliable inbox and access to the right accounts are what let you use the site for business.
We suggest spreading these checks across a week so you can follow a visitor's journey without trying to change everything at once. If you discover a broken booking form on day one, fix it then. The days below are a practical order, not a reason to leave a problem waiting.
Day one: visit as someone who has never heard of you
Open your public website on a phone without signing in to its editor. Read the first screen. Can you tell what the business does, who it serves and what you should do next?
For a local repair business, that might mean the repair service, the area covered and a clear way to request a quote. For a consultant, it might mean the type of work, the people it helps and how to arrange a conversation. Replace broad lines such as “solutions for every need” with the answer a prospective customer came for.
Follow the main menu and the most important button. Check the pages it opens, including the contact page. Look for leftover sample text, wrong phone numbers, empty sections and links that lead back to the wrong place. Keep one short repair list instead of making unrelated design changes as you go.
Day two: send a real enquiry through the site
Use a message clearly marked as a test. Submit it from the public contact form, read the confirmation and check that it arrives in the intended inbox. Reply to it and confirm the reply reaches your test address.
Repeat this for each route you expect customers to use, such as a quote request or booking enquiry. A success message on the page does not prove that someone has received the email. Check who monitors that inbox, too. An address nobody opens can lose an enquiry just as easily as a broken form.
For an online shop, agree a safe checkout test with the person managing payments. Check the order confirmation, order record and notification. Do not create an unplanned charge or treat a pending payment as permission to try again.
Day three: collect the keys to the website
Make a private record of who manages your domain registration, hosting, website editor, DNS and business email. These may be separate services. Record the account owner, renewal date and recovery contact for each one, without keeping passwords in a shared document.
If a designer built the site, confirm which accounts belong to your business and how you will receive access. Ask what their continuing work covers. You need to know who can correct a page today and who is responsible for software maintenance next month.
For hosting with us, our dashboard guide explains where to find your services, domains, invoices and support. Keep the website's own editor access separate from your hosting-account access.
Day four: check the pages people will actually read
Read your service or product pages carefully. Confirm prices you publish, opening hours, delivery areas and contact details. Remove claims you cannot support. Ask a colleague to find the answer to one ordinary question, such as whether you serve their postcode or how they request a quote.
Check the same pages on a phone. Text should be readable, buttons usable and images relevant. A large photograph can be attractive and still make a page awkward to use. Pay particular attention to anything that covers the screen, including pop-ups and sticky banners.
Day five: establish a recovery plan
Find out how the website is backed up, what each backup contains and how a restore would be requested or performed. For WordPress, the files and database both matter. Do not assume that a copy of the theme contains your pages, settings or orders.
Read our backup and restore guide before relying on a backup arrangement. Keep a copy outside the live site and agree who checks it. Do not restore over a working website simply to see whether the restore button works.
Days six and seven: hand over a routine you can keep
Give each recurring job a named owner: answering enquiries, updating content, checking software and reviewing renewals. Put the next review in the calendar. A short routine that gets done is more useful than a long checklist nobody owns.
Finish the week by revisiting the repair list. Close the items that could stop an enquiry or sale, assign the remaining work and keep a record of the checks. Your website is ready to support the business when customers can complete their task and you know who will keep it working.