Website Launch Checklist for Your Author Platform: What I Check Before Going Live

Launching an author website is more than buying a domain, choosing a WordPress theme and making the homepage look good. Before you announce your new website, you need to make sure your books are easy to find, your author information is clear, your book pages work, your purchase links lead to the right places, your email forms actually deliver messages, and the entire website works properly on a phone.

After designing and building websites for authors, small businesses and other organisations, I have learned that some of the problems that appear after launch are not design problems at all. They are small things that were never tested: a button pointing to the wrong page, a book purchase link that no longer works, a contact form that does not deliver messages, a mobile layout that breaks, or important pages that were never properly connected.

That is why I do not consider an author website ready simply because the design looks finished. I consider it ready when I can go through the website as a reader and test the important parts from beginning to end.

This is the author website launch checklist I would use before putting an author platform in front of readers.

What Should You Check Before Launching an Author Website?

At minimum, check these areas before announcing your website:

• Your author identity and message
• Homepage and navigation
• Books and individual book pages
• Book descriptions and purchase links
• Contact and email forms
• Mobile display
• Images and page speed
• Internal links
• Search-engine visibility
• Analytics and Search Console
• HTTPS and basic security
• Privacy and other necessary legal information
• Backups
• Final proofreading
• Real-world testing before announcing the launch

The important thing is not to treat these as technical boxes to tick without thinking. Go through the website as if you were a reader who has never met you before.

That is where many launch problems become obvious.

1. Make Sure a Visitor Immediately Knows Who You Are

The first question I ask when looking at an author’s homepage is very simple:

Who is this website for, and what does this person do?

An author website should not make visitors investigate your identity.

Your author name should be visible.

Your photograph should be appropriate.

Your writing focus should be understandable.

And if books are the reason the website exists, visitors should not have to search through several pages before finding them.

You do not need a complicated homepage.

You need a clear one.

For example, an author homepage might communicate:

Olayinka Joseph

Author, Teacher and Publisher

Then immediately introduce the author’s books, writing focus, resources or whatever the platform is actually built around.

The mistake I see is spending too much time making the homepage visually attractive while leaving the actual message unclear.

A beautiful homepage that does not tell me who you are is still a poor author homepage.

2. Check Your Author Name Everywhere

This sounds almost too simple to mention.

It is not.

Before launch, check the way your name appears on:

• Homepage
• About page
• Books page
• Individual book pages
• Author bio
• Blog posts
• Footer
• Contact page
• Social links
• Author photo captions where relevant
• Search-engine titles and descriptions

Make sure you are not using one version of your name on the homepage and another version elsewhere.

This becomes especially important if you have already published books under a particular author name.

Your website should reinforce that identity rather than create another variation.

3. Make Sure Your Books Are Easy to Find

If you are launching an author platform, your books should not be hidden.

I would normally expect the main navigation to make the books easy to reach.

For example:

Home | Books | About | Resources | Blog | Contact

The exact menu can be different, but the principle is the same.

A reader who arrives because of one of your books should be able to move from the homepage to that book without confusion.

If you have several books, do not simply throw every cover onto one page and call it a catalogue.

Organise them.

Group them by series, subject or another meaningful structure where appropriate.

The reader should understand what they are looking at.

4. Check Every Individual Book Page

This is one of the most important checks for an author website.

Every major book should have its own page.

I want to see enough information for a reader to understand the book before being asked to buy it.

Depending on the book, the page might include:

• Book cover
• Title and subtitle
• Short description
• The problem or need the book addresses
• What the reader will learn
• Who the book is for
• Contents or selected chapters
• Preview or sample where appropriate
• Author information
• Reviews or genuine reader feedback where available
• Format information
• Purchase options

The book page should not simply say:

Buy my book.

It should help the reader decide whether the book is relevant to them.

I have written separately about how to design a high-converting book landing page, because the sales page itself deserves more attention than can fit into a launch checklist.

5. Click Every Book Purchase Button Yourself

Never assume that a purchase button works because it looks like a button.

Click it.

Then click it again from your phone.

Check every destination.

If you sell through Amazon, go to the correct Amazon book page.

If you sell directly, test the direct purchase process.

If you use a payment service or digital-delivery system, complete a proper test.

This is particularly important when you have several books.

It is surprisingly easy to copy a button from one book page to another and forget to change the destination URL.

A visitor does not know that it was an innocent mistake.

They only know that they clicked Buy Now and ended up somewhere they did not expect.

6. Test Your Contact Form With a Real Message

Do not just look at your contact form and decide that it is working.

Submit it.

Use a real test message.

Then check whether the message actually arrives in the intended email inbox.

I learned to treat forms as functions rather than design elements.

A contact form can look perfect and still be useless.

If your website is also intended for speaking invitations, publishing enquiries, media requests, coaching, ministry invitations or business enquiries, make sure the relevant forms and email addresses are properly tested before launch.

7. Test Your Newsletter or Reader Signup

If you are building an author platform, your email list may eventually become one of the most useful parts of the website.

So test it before launch.

Subscribe yourself.

Check whether:

• The form accepts the email address
• The subscriber receives the expected confirmation
• The email reaches the correct list
• The promised free resource is delivered where applicable
• The thank-you page works
• The unsubscribe process is available

Do not wait until you have your first hundred subscribers to discover that the signup system was not properly connected.

8. Check Your Homepage-to-Book Journey

This is a test I particularly recommend for authors.

Open your website as though you discovered it through Google.

Start at the homepage.

Then ask:

Where would I go if I wanted to read about the author’s books?

Click there.

Choose a book.

Read the description.

Look for a preview.

Look for the purchase option.

Then return to the website.

Can you easily discover another book?

Can you find the author’s story?

Can you find useful articles?

Can you join the email list?

That sequence matters.

An author website should not simply contain pages. The pages should connect.

A reader should be able to move naturally from discovering you to discovering your work.

9. Check Your Navigation on a Phone

I never consider the desktop version alone sufficient.

Open the website on a phone and actually use it.

Do not just resize the browser window and assume that is enough.

Check:

• The mobile menu
• Font sizes
• Buttons
• Book covers
• Images
• Text spacing
• Forms
• Tables if you have them
• Pop-ups
• Sticky headers
• Purchase buttons
• Horizontal scrolling

This is particularly important for authors because book websites can contain a lot of images.

A page that looks excellent on a large monitor can become frustrating when viewed on a small screen.

When I test websites, I pay attention to whether I can actually complete the task I came to perform.

Can I read the book description?

Can I tap the purchase button?

Can I open the menu?

Can I submit the form?

If the answer is no, the website is not ready.

10. Check Your Book Images Before Launch

Authors naturally use many images:

• Book covers
• Author photographs
• Promotional graphics
• Interior previews
• Series graphics
• Blog images

Before launch, check all of them.

Make sure the correct cover is attached to the correct book.

Make sure images are not unnecessarily huge.

Make sure they are displayed properly on mobile.

Also check the alternative text where it is appropriate, especially for meaningful images.

One of the easiest mistakes to make on an author website is uploading a beautiful image without considering how large the file actually is.

A website can become noticeably slower simply because nobody checked the images.

11. Check the Website Speed Before Announcing It

I am not interested in making an author website fast simply because a speed-testing tool produces a nice score.

I care about whether the visitor can use the website comfortably.

Pay particular attention to:

• Large book-cover images
• Hero images
• Unnecessary animations
• Video backgrounds
• Excessive plugins
• Large image galleries
• Pop-ups
• Heavy page-builder elements

If the homepage takes too long to become usable, a reader may leave before discovering your books.

I have written separately about fixing Core Web Vitals and website speed, so I would keep detailed performance troubleshooting there rather than turning this checklist into another speed-optimization article.

12. Check Every Internal Link

Before launch, click the links throughout the website.

Check:

• Main menu
• Footer
• Book links
• Related-book links
• Blog links
• Author bio links
• Buttons
• Category links
• Resource links

I pay special attention to internal links because an author website can grow quickly.

You may publish a book page today and a related article next month.

If those pages are never connected, the website becomes a collection of isolated pages instead of a useful platform.

For example:

Article → related book → book page → purchase page

is much more useful than an article that simply ends.

13. Make Sure Your Important Pages Are Actually Public

This is an easy one to overlook during development.

Before launch, check that pages you want visitors and search engines to see are not accidentally:

• Drafts
• Password protected
• Private
• Set to noindex
• Blocked by a development setting
• Linked only internally but not accessible from the main navigation when they should be

I have seen enough website problems to know that it is worth checking the simple things before assuming there is a complicated technical problem.

14. Check Your Domain and HTTPS

Type your domain into the browser.

Then check that the secure version loads correctly.

Make sure your primary domain consistently loads through HTTPS.

Also test the www and non-www versions if both are relevant to your setup.

You want one clear primary version of your website.

This becomes particularly important when a website is being moved, redesigned or rebuilt.

15. Connect Google Search Console Before You Need It

I recommend having Google Search Console connected when launching an author website that you want to grow through organic search.

It gives you a place to monitor:

• Indexing
• Search queries
• Impressions
• Clicks
• Average position
• Search visibility
• Indexing problems

Do not expect Search Console to make your website rank simply because you connected it.

That is not its job.

Its value is that it gives you information about how Google is seeing the website.

I use that information when diagnosing search visibility rather than guessing.

16. Check Your Sitemap and Robots.txt

These are two technical checks I would not skip on a WordPress author website.

Make sure your sitemap exists and contains the pages you actually want search engines to discover.

Then check your robots.txt file.

You do not need to become a technical SEO expert to perform this check.

You simply need to make sure you have not accidentally blocked search engines from accessing the website you are trying to make discoverable.

If your site is live but Google cannot properly crawl it because of a configuration mistake, publishing more articles will not solve the underlying problem.

17. Give Your Important Pages Proper Search Titles

Do not leave every page with vague titles such as:

Home

Book

About

Your page title should tell both the visitor and the search engine what the page is about.

An individual book page, for example, should clearly identify the book rather than simply being titled:

Books

The same applies to articles and important resource pages.

This is one area where I prefer clarity over trying to make every title sound clever.

18. Proofread the Website as an Author, Not as the Designer

This is an important distinction.

When you have been working on a website for days, you can become blind to mistakes because you already know what the page is supposed to say.

Read the website as a visitor.

Look for:

• Spelling errors
• Missing words
• Incorrect book titles
• Wrong author information
• Old dates
• Placeholder text
• Broken sentences
• Inconsistent punctuation
• Incorrect links
• Duplicate information

Then read your book descriptions again.

A typo on a private draft is one thing.

A typo on the website representing your author brand is different.

19. Remove Anything That Still Looks Like a Website Under Construction

Before launch, search the entire website for things such as:

Lorem ipsum

Coming soon

Sample text

Test

Demo

Insert image here

Your text here

Also check for empty categories, empty author pages and unfinished sections.

You do not have to launch every feature you eventually want.

It is better to have a smaller complete website than a large website filled with unfinished sections.

20. Make Sure Your About Page Is Actually About You

The About page is one of the places where an author’s first-hand credibility matters.

Do not fill it with vague statements that could describe thousands of authors.

Tell the reader who you are, what you write, your relevant experience and why your work exists.

Your biography should agree with the information appearing elsewhere on the website.

If you have published books, taught, spoken, worked in publishing or have professional experience relevant to your subject, present it accurately.

The goal is not to make the biography sound impressive.

The goal is to make it credible.

21. Check Your Author Photograph

Use the same professional author identity consistently.

Check that the photograph:

• Loads correctly
• Looks sharp
• Is properly cropped
• Does not appear distorted
• Looks good on mobile
• Is used consistently where appropriate

I have found that small visual inconsistencies can make a website feel less finished even when the rest of the design is good.

22. Back Up the Website Before You Announce the Launch

This is one of the lessons I take seriously because I learned it the hard way.

Creativity Publications was originally built in 2017. While I was away working remotely, the domain eventually expired. The site and its content were lost, and I did not have the backup I should have had.

When rebuilding it, that experience changed how I think about websites.

Your website is not just pages sitting online.

It contains your writing, images, book information, settings, design work, links and months or years of effort.

Before launching a major website, make sure you have a usable backup.

And do not assume that because the hosting company exists, you personally have a backup strategy.

Keep copies of important content and assets somewhere you can access independently of the website.

That is not a glamorous part of website design.

It is one of the most valuable.

23. Check Your Domain Renewal Information

A website can be beautifully designed and still disappear if the domain is allowed to expire.

Check:

• Domain renewal status
• Renewal email address
• Hosting renewal
• Important account credentials
• Payment method used for renewal

Use an email address you actively monitor.

This is another lesson that became very real to me when rebuilding Creativity Publications.

A domain is not something you should purchase once and then forget about.

24. Check the Website on More Than One Browser

I do not expect every browser to produce a completely identical visual experience.

I do expect the website to function properly.

At minimum, test the major browsers you and your audience are likely to use.

Check the things that matter:

• Navigation
• Book pages
• Buttons
• Forms
• Images
• Menus
• Purchase links
• Mobile layout

You are looking for functional problems, not tiny differences in how every browser renders a particular font.

25. Ask Someone Who Did Not Build the Website to Use It

This is one of the simplest tests you can perform.

Give the website to someone who was not involved in building it.

Do not explain everything first.

Ask them to do a few things:

Find my books.

Open one book.

Tell me what the book is about.

Find where to buy it.

Find my contact information.

Find a way to subscribe or get the free resource.

Then watch what happens.

If they struggle, resist the temptation to tell them where the button is.

Their confusion is useful information.

You already know how your website works because you built it.

Your readers do not have that advantage.

26. Do a Final Author-Platform Test From the Reader’s Point of View

Before I announce an author website, I would go through this complete journey:

Google or social media

↓

Homepage

↓

Author introduction

↓

Books

↓

Individual book

↓

Book information

↓

Purchase or retailer link

↓

Return to website

↓

Related book or article

↓

Email signup

↓

Contact

If that journey feels natural, the website is doing more than displaying information.

It is functioning as an author platform.

That distinction matters.

My Final Author Website Launch Checklist

Before announcing the website publicly, I would want to be able to tick every box below.

Author identity

☐ Author name is consistent
☐ Author photograph is correct
☐ About page is complete
☐ Biography is accurate
☐ Writing focus is clear

Books

☐ Books are easy to find
☐ Every important book has its own page
☐ Correct cover is used for each book
☐ Book descriptions are complete
☐ Purchase links are correct
☐ Preview/sample links work
☐ Related books are easy to discover

Reader experience

☐ Navigation is simple
☐ Homepage makes sense immediately
☐ Book journey is clear
☐ Contact information is easy to find
☐ Newsletter signup works
☐ Forms have been tested

Mobile

☐ Mobile menu works
☐ Text is readable
☐ Buttons are easy to tap
☐ Book covers display correctly
☐ Forms work on mobile
☐ No unwanted horizontal scrolling

Search visibility

☐ Important pages are public
☐ HTTPS works
☐ Sitemap is available
☐ Robots.txt has been checked
☐ Search Console is connected
☐ Important pages have clear titles
☐ Internal links connect related pages

Quality control

☐ Website has been proofread
☐ Placeholder content has been removed
☐ Images have been checked
☐ Website speed has been reviewed
☐ Major browsers have been tested
☐ Someone else has tested the website

Protection

☐ Website backup exists
☐ Important files are preserved separately
☐ Domain renewal is under control
☐ Hosting information is recorded
☐ WordPress and essential components are up to date

What I Would Not Do Before Launch

There is also a temptation to keep adding things because you think an author website is not impressive enough yet.

I would resist that.

You do not need twenty menu items.

You do not need every social-media platform.

You do not need a complicated animation on the homepage.

You do not need a dozen plugins because another author uses them.

You do not need to build every feature you might eventually want.

Get the important parts working first.

Your readers should be able to understand who you are, discover your books, read about them, take the next step and contact you without having to fight their way through the website.

That is a successful launch.