You have bought or remixed a Framer template, replaced the words and photos, and it looks ready. Before you press publish, it is worth spending half an hour on a few checks. Many of the problems people find after launch are easy to catch beforehand: a contact form that sends enquiries to nobody, demo text left on a page, a site that looks broken inside Instagram's browser or a page Google has not indexed.
Here are 15 things to check, grouped by area.
Forms first
1. Connect every form to your own email. This is the most important step. Many templates ship with forms that are deliberately not connected, so the demo does not send messages to real people. getsites templates such as Half Light Film, Stonefold and Selvedge say this clearly: the form ships demo-safe and pointing it at your own email is step one. Late August's reservation form ships in demo mode, and MARROW's enquiry form opens a prefilled email until you connect it. If you skip this step, enquiries, orders or bookings will not reach you.
2. Send a test submission from every form. Use a phone and a different email address. Check that the message arrives, that it contains all the fields and that it does not land in spam.
3. Check what happens after someone submits. Is there a confirmation message? Does it say what happens next and how soon you will reply?
Content
4. Remove all demo content. Search every page for the template's sample names, placeholder text, demo prices, sample addresses and stock photos. Check CMS collections too, such as sample articles, projects or products. Delete what you do not need rather than hiding it.
5. Check every number and fact. Prices, opening hours, phone numbers, addresses and any figures you quote. Make sure they match your Google Business Profile and other listings.
6. Click every link and button. Navigation, buttons, footer links, social media icons and links inside text. Make sure none point to the template's demo site, to "#", or to pages you deleted.
7. Add alt text to images. Alt text is a short description of an image, used by screen readers and search engines. Describe what is in the photo in plain words, such as "Healed fine line rose tattoo on forearm".
Search settings
8. Set page titles and descriptions. In Framer's page settings, give every page a title and meta description. The title should say what the page is about and, for a local business, where you are. The description should be under about 155 characters and tell a searcher what they will find.
9. Check your site's search engine indexing settings. Make sure the pages you want found are not set to be hidden from search engines. Check that pages you do not want found, such as a template's setup guide page, are either deleted or hidden.
10. Set up the 404 page. Many templates include a branded 404 page. Make sure it has a link back to the home page.
Domain and sharing
11. Connect your custom domain. Framer requires a paid plan for a custom domain. Follow the steps in Framer's domain settings, and allow time for DNS changes to take effect. Our guide on how to connect a domain in Framer walks through it.
12. Set the social sharing image. When someone shares your link on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or elsewhere, the preview shows an image, a title and a description. Set these in Framer's site settings so the preview shows your business, not the template demo. Set a favicon, the small icon in the browser tab, while you are there.
Devices and browsers
13. Check every page on a real phone. Framer lets you preview breakpoints in the editor, but also open the published site on your own phone. Look for text that wraps badly, images that are cropped awkwardly, buttons that are hard to tap and sections that overlap.
14. Check the site inside Instagram's browser. If customers will find you through Instagram, open your link from your Instagram bio or a DM. Apps such as Instagram open links in their own built-in browser, which can behave differently from Safari or Chrome. One designer posted on X about a hero section that broke in Instagram's browser after launch. It takes a minute to check.
After you publish
15. Submit your site to Google and check it later. Add your site to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. A week or two after launch, search for your business name and check which pages Google has indexed. Our guide on whether Framer is good for SEO covers the settings in more detail.
A few extra checks worth doing
If you have time, these are also worth a look:
- Speed. Open the site on mobile data and see how quickly it loads. Large images and autoplaying videos are the usual causes of slow pages. If you host video directly on Framer, consider embedding from YouTube or Vimeo instead to save bandwidth.
- Analytics. Framer includes basic analytics. Check that it is recording visits after launch.
- Legal pages. Depending on where you operate and what you collect, you may need a privacy policy, terms or cookie notice. Check what applies to you.
- Your Google Business Profile. Add your new website link.
- Your Instagram bio and other profiles. Update them with the new link.
Use the template's own checklist
Many templates include a setup guide inside the project. Some getsites templates include a pre-publish checklist as part of that guide, as Stonefold and Selvedge do. Work through the template's own checklist first, since it covers anything specific to that template, then use the list above for the rest.
The short version
If you only have ten minutes, do these five:
1. Connect every form and send a test.
2. Remove all demo content.
3. Click every link.
4. Check every page on your phone, including inside Instagram.
5. Set page titles, descriptions and the sharing image.
Most launch problems are small and easy to fix. The difference is whether you find them before your customers do.