Website acceptance checklist: what to check before the final payment

The website has been shown, the link works, everything looks decent - and the contractor is waiting for the final payment. After that, attention shifts to advertising, and problems surface when there is no longer anyone to fix them. That is why acceptance is worth doing before you transfer the remaining balance.

Why shouldn't acceptance be put off until later?

After the final payment, you move from the position of a client to the position of a petitioner. While the balance has not been transferred, the contractor has a reason to see the work through. Afterwards, fixes turn into a favor or into a new task for money. This does not mean the contractor cannot be trusted - it means checking is more convenient at the stage when it costs neither you nor them anything.

Do enquiries from the website reach you?

This is the main check. Send a real enquiry from the website - the way a client would, with your own name and contact details. Check:

The enquiry arrived - in the chat, in your email or wherever you agreed.

It has all the fields - name, contact, comment, not a cut-off fragment.

The contact is clickable - you can reply to it right away, without retyping.

You can see where the enquiry came from - which page the person came from.

The form behaves correctly - after sending, it is clear that the enquiry has gone, and pressing the button again does not create a duplicate.

Send another enquiry from your phone - over mobile data, not home internet. That is exactly where forms break.

What should you check in analytics before paying?

Installing counters is not enough - they have to see the form submission. Ask the contractor to show you on screen that your test enquiry was recorded as a completed goal, not just as a page view. Without this, advertising will run blind: you will see clicks but will not understand which of them brought in enquiries. While you are at it, check that the counters are on every page, not only on the home page, and that access to them is registered to your account.

How do you check the website on a phone?

Open the website on your own phone, not in a shrunken browser window. Go through the client's whole path: home page, service, form, submission. Look at:

Buttons - whether you can hit them with a finger, whether they run together.

Text - readable without zooming in.

Sideways scrolling - there should be none.

The keyboard - it does not cover the field you are filling in.

Menu and phone number - they open and work when tapped.

If the website was built "for the computer, then the phone", it shows right away.

What should you look at in the texts and images?

You do not need to read the whole website aloud, but go through the places where mistakes are costliest: the first screen, service names, prices, contacts, button labels. Check that there is no placeholder text and no other businesses' names left over from a template. Contacts deserve separate attention: the phone number, address and working schedule must match the real ones and be the same on every page. If the website is multilingual, check every version: untranslated fragments hide on minor pages.

How do you check speed and how the site performs in search?

Open the website on a phone over mobile data and see whether the first screen appears right away or you are looking at a blank page. If the website is sluggish, see the breakdown: Why Your Website Loads Slowly and What to Do. Then ask the contractor to show you:

Page titles - each page has its own, not the same title for the whole site.

Descriptions - meaningful, not a scrap of the opening text.

The sitemap and indexing - the site is open to search engines, not closed off after development.

The preview image - pages have a picture set for when a link is shared, not an empty space.

The preview is easiest to check yourself: send the link to yourself in a chat and see how it looks. For what the basic technical side includes, see What SEO Services Actually Include.

What access must be handed over to you?

The website is your asset, and it should not depend on the contractor. Take over:

The domain - registered to you, with access to the registrar's panel.

Hosting - the login and password for the control panel.

The admin panel or CMS - if content is edited, with your own owner account.

Analytics - counters on your account, the contractor added with limited rights.

Source files - the website files or access to the repository.

Email and forms - where exactly enquiries arrive and how to change that.

Check each access right at handover: log in with your own credentials while the contractor is still reachable. Why the domain and hosting should be in your name: Domain and Hosting: What They Are and Whose Name They Go In. How to choose a contractor so that access is agreed in advance: How to Choose a Web Developer and Not Get Burned.

What should you do if you find flaws?

Gather everything into a shared list and send it all together, not in portions as you find things. For each item - the page, the device and what exactly is wrong. Split the list: what belongs to the agreed scope and must be fixed before payment, and what is a new wish - that is a separate task and separate money. A list like this saves effort for you and the contractor alike: they know what to fix, you know when the work is finished. What gets fixed in the scope in advance: What a website spec is and whether a small business needs one.