At LexBlog our support team gives new and redesigned sites a detailed QA check before your site goes live. Our launch QA ensures that your site is set up as expected and is up to date with modern web standards. We run this QA in Two Phases: Pre-launch, and Day of Launch.
PRE-LAUNCH QA
Before your launch, we get a head start on preparing your site to go live.
Pages
- Title tag & meta description configuration
- Static content review (pages & menus)
- QA navigation menu & widget links
- Author/editor page configuration
Email notifications
- Confirm account & subscriber list is connected to the blog
- Confirm active Mailchimp campaign uses site RSS feed
- Set firm name
- Set firm address
- Enter from name
- Enter from email
- Confirm subject line is correct
- Confirm send time (in Eastern Time)
- Confirm frequency (usually daily, every day of the week)
- Make sure the live domain URL is listed under “Where did people opt to this list?” This helps our subscribers recognize how they joined our email campaign.
- Confirm the email template matches current firm branding & design
- Email template link check: Confirm social links reflect firm’s social links
Design assets
- Confirm favicon is in place
- Set open graph image
- Check firm logo and alt firm logo are up to date
Cookie disclaimer
- Confirm if blog will have a cookie disclaimer
- Confirm cookie disclaimer text is correct
- Add cookie code to the appropriate section of the site source code
- Confirm cookie disclaimer loads and displays properly
RSS feed formatting
- Configure RSS feed formatting
- For Blackstone plan blogs: check for firm-level RSS customizations and deploy
MIGRATIONS
For sites moving to LexBlog or existing sites on our platform upgrading to an Enterprise Network. These steps don’t apply to new and redesigned sites.
Pre-live Content Setup: User Import
- Content import: All content including but not limited to blog posts, static pages, categories, tags, and addresses.
- SFTP content migration (all media library files)
Pre-live Content Setup: Sitemap Check
- Run link checker on the live version of the site
- Use this link check to create a sitemap on pre-live site
- Run link checker on the sitemap to confirm all content has been transferred from the live site to the pre-live
- Run link checker on the pre-live site
- If broken links are found, repair them as needed
Spot Check: Users
- Confirm user count is correct
- Confirm roles match users on live site
- Confirm authors are correctly assigned to posts, including multi-author posts
Spot Check: Media
- Confirm images appear correctly on appropriate
posts on the front end of the pre-live blog - Confirm there are no broken images in blog posts
Spot Check: Email subscribers
- Confirm email subscriber count is correct
- Confirm subscriber list is correct
DAY OF LAUNCH QA
On launch day, we take extra care to make sure your site is ready for it’s debut! Prepare for this process to take all-day and to pause any logins or publishing. The LexBlog support team will inform you when your Launch is complete by close of business on your launch day. Any announcements or marketing communications should be planned for the next day at the earliest.
Migrations Only: Content & Assets
- Check for new posts from the live blog and transfer them to the pre-live
- Repeat all migration steps
Domain pointing
- Add primary domain to blog
- Add any secondary domains to blog
- Add www version of domain and designate it as the Primary domain
- Configure DNS records in Cloudflare
- Confirm non-www on the live site redirects to www
- Confirm CloudFlare is active on the site • Run HTTPS checker on the site
- If there are HTTPS errors, fix as needed
Email campaigns
- Activate campaign
- Test email subscription form
- Send a test email to main launch contacts
SEO & Analytics
- Check Google Analytics measurement ID for the blog is installed and tracking properly
- Add client’s indicated Google account(s) to User Management
- Confirm existing Google Search Console & Bing Webmaster tools are verified
- Confirm that blog property has a sitemap submitted in Google Search Console & Bing Webmaster tools
- Install Status Cake (website uptime tracker)
General
- Final check of all main navigation page title tags and archive pages
- Final check to ensure unique open graph image properly displays when shared on social media channels
- Update LexBlog.com syndications
- Send launch completion message when launch QA is complete