How to check a client website before you show it or hand it over
A simple way for a one-person AI agency to check a client website: what to look at on a computer and a phone, in what order, and how to note what you checked.
The client's first look at their website sets the tone for everything after it. If the phone number is wrong or the booking form sends nowhere, that is what they remember, not the layout you spent a week on.
A check before the client sees the site, and another before you hand it over, catches most of this. Here is a method a one-person AI agency can repeat on every project, whether you or your agent built the site.
How do I check a website before handover?
Check one named version, in a set order, on two screen sizes:
- Write down the version or preview link and the date.
- Compare the words with the approved brief.
- Try every link, form, phone number and email address.
- Look at the layout on a computer screen and on a real phone.
- Run a few basic checks for people with disabilities.
- Look at the images and video, and how fast pages load.
- Try each thing the site is for, from start to finish.
- Write down what you found, what you fixed and what you chose to leave.
The rest of this article explains the order, and the reason behind each check.
Why check a named version?
Websites change quickly near the end of a project. If you don't write down which version you checked, a fix made afterwards can quietly break something you already looked at. With a version and a date, you know exactly what passed and what still needs a look, and the client can approve that exact version rather than "the site".
What should I check first?
The words, before the design. Business name, address, phone, email, opening hours, prices and service names cause the most damage when they are wrong, and they are the first things a client looks at. Compare them with the approved brief, not with your memory; the brief should start from your research notes on the business.
Remove every stand-in: sample text, stock photos you meant to replace, "coming soon" sections. Stand-in content makes a finished site look unfinished.
How do I test links and forms properly?
Click every link in the menu, the footer and the page itself. Tap every phone number on a phone and check it starts a call. Send every form with test details and confirm the message arrives where the client expects it, not in your own inbox from testing.
A form that looks fine but sends nowhere is one of the most expensive mistakes on a small business website, because nobody notices until the enquiries stop.
Why check on a real phone?
Because many of the client's customers will use one, and because Google looks at that version. Google's guidance says it uses the phone version of a site to decide what to show in search and in what order. If words are hidden or cut off on phones, they may as well not be there.
A shrunk desktop browser is a useful first look, but it doesn't show you buttons too small to tap, the on-screen keyboard covering a form, or a header that stays on screen and takes half of it.
What accessibility checks can I do without special tools?
Accessibility means people with disabilities can use the site too. The W3C, the group that sets web standards, publishes Easy Checks that make a good start: page titles, text descriptions for images, headings, text that stands out from its background, using the site with a keyboard only, and labels on form fields. Each takes a few minutes and needs no special software.
For text against its background, the web accessibility standard (WCAG 2.2) asks for a contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text. Check text over photos in particular; it is often hard to read on one side of the image.
Be clear with the client about what this is. Basic checks catch common problems. They don't mean the site meets the standard, which needs a full check.
How do I check the site does its job?
Try each thing the site is for, from start to finish: book a table, order a bouquet, send an enquiry, find the shop on the map. Do it on the phone first. A page that looks right but fails at the task has not passed.
What should I write down after the check?
The version, the date, what you checked, what you fixed and anything you chose to leave for now, with a reason. Send the client the short version. It shows the work behind the site, and it gives you both something to point to if questions come up later.
Volant does this for you: your agent builds the website, Volant saves each version so you can compare them or go back to an earlier one, and you choose which one goes live. The page on delivering websites shows the steps. The checklist also works on its own, however you build the site.