School Website Launch Checklist for Admissions Season
G
Groweik Team
groweik.com · Digital Marketing Experts
7 min read··groweik Team
A school website launch checklist protects admissions season from avoidable mistakes. Before go-live, confirm that every page has real content, the admissions form reaches a person, the site works on phones, the domain and redirects are ready, tracking is verified, and staff know how to post notices. After go-live, watch the first weeks closely and fix small problems quickly.
Launch day is when parents who have been waiting for the new site finally see it, so a broken form or an empty events page costs trust you cannot easily win back. Work through the list below in order. Each item is a yes or no question, and anything that is a no gets fixed before the switch.
Content: nothing should look unfinished
Parents judge how organized a school feels from the first screen. Empty sections make a site look abandoned.
Every page in the menu has real, approved text.
Unfinished pages are hidden or removed rather than left as placeholders.
Admissions information is current: how to apply, what to prepare and who to contact.
Faculty and staff profiles have photos, qualifications and department listings where you plan to show them.
The notice board and the event calendar already contain current entries, such as open days or parent-teacher meetings.
Contact details, phone numbers and email addresses are checked by a person who did not write them.
Forms: the enquiry has to arrive
The admissions form is the most important thing on the site. Test it like a parent would.
Submit the enquiry form and the application form from a phone and from a computer.
Confirm that each submission reaches the admissions team's inbox or CRM, and that nothing lands in spam.
If the application form accepts documents, upload a real file and open it at the other end.
Check what the parent sees after submitting. A clear thank-you message with the next step reduces repeat enquiries.
Decide who replies, and how quickly. A form that nobody watches is worse than no form.
Mobile: most parent visits happen on a phone
Parents often check a school between other tasks, so the phone view is the main view.
Open the homepage, a program page, the admissions page and the contact page on at least two different phones.
Tap every button and menu item with a thumb, not a mouse.
Read a long page on a small screen and check that text, tables and images do not run off the edge.
Confirm that the enquiry button is visible without hunting for it.
Technical: domain, hosting and redirects
This is the part most likely to be forgotten, because it is invisible until it breaks.
The domain is registered in the school's name and the login details are stored somewhere safe. The domain and hosting setup service puts every account in your name and delivers documentation.
SSL is active, so the site opens on HTTPS with no warnings.
Old page addresses that parents may have saved or that Google has indexed redirect to the matching new pages.
Email addresses on the school domain still work after the switch.
Uptime monitoring is on, so someone is alerted if the site goes down.
Tracking: know which pages produce enquiries
Without tracking, admissions season produces numbers nobody can explain.
Analytics is installed and receiving data.
A successful form submission is recorded as a conversion, not just a page view.
If you plan to run ads, the conversion events are verified before any budget is spent. See the Google Ads management service for how conversion tracking is checked end to end before launch.
Staff: the site stays current only if people can update it
Administrators have logins and have practiced posting a notice.
Someone is named as the website owner, with a backup for holidays.
There is a simple routine for adding events and removing old ones.
The school website design company service ends with a training session for exactly this reason, so administrative staff can manage notices and content without a developer.
Go-live day
The switch itself
Switch the domain at a quiet hour, not during an open day.
Check the homepage, the form and the phone view again after the switch, because settings can differ between a test site and the live one.
Tell the admissions team the site is live so they expect enquiries.
The first weeks after launch
Review form submissions daily at first, and confirm each was answered.
Note any broken link or confusing page that a parent mentions.
Keep the event calendar and notice board current, because stale content is the fastest way to lose the trust you just built.
Use the support window. Groweik includes 30 days of post-launch support so small issues get fixed quickly.
What should be on a school website launch checklist?
Cover content, forms, mobile, domain and redirects, tracking, staff training and a plan for the first weeks. Each item should be a clear yes or no check before go-live.
How do I test that the admissions form works?
Submit it from a phone and a computer, confirm the submission reaches the admissions inbox or CRM, upload a real document if the form accepts files, and check the thank-you message.
Why do old page addresses need redirects?
Parents may have saved old links, and Google may have indexed them. Redirects send those visitors to the matching new page instead of an error.
Who should be able to update the site after launch?
Administrative staff. The notice board and content sections are built so non-technical staff can post updates without a developer, and a training session covers it at launch.
What support is available after go-live?
Groweik includes 30 days of post-launch support, which is the period when small issues usually appear.
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