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Posted on • Originally published at prateeksha.com

The Hidden Work a Web Design Company Does Before Your Homepage Ever Goes Live

Hook: why the pre-launch phase matters

A beautiful homepage is the visible end of a long pipeline of decisions, tests, and small fixes. For technical founders and indie hackers, understanding that pipeline helps you avoid surprises, improve performance, and ship with confidence. This article pulls back the curtain on the exact pre-launch work a good web design company does — and what you should expect and verify.

Context: the goal of pre-launch work

A launch isn't a single moment; it's the culmination of discovery, design, development, QA, and deployment planning. Skipping any step increases the risk of broken flows, slow metrics, or security gaps. The emphasis is on predictable performance, accessibility, tracking, and a rollback-ready release process.

The typical pre-launch checklist (what actually gets done)

Here’s a condensed sequence most professional teams follow before a homepage goes live. Treat this as a checklist to ask your vendor or run through yourself.

  1. Discovery & strategy
    • Goals, target users, KPIs, and competitive analysis are defined.
  2. Information architecture
    • Sitemap, user journeys, and content requirements are finalized.
  3. Wireframes & prototypes
    • Structural layouts validated without visual styling to catch usability issues early.
  4. Visual design & brand application
    • High-fidelity mockups, style guide, and imagery are approved.
  5. Content & SEO
    • Copy, metadata, alt text, and structured data are prepared for search and conversion.
  6. Development & integration
    • CMS setup, responsive components, forms, analytics, and any third-party integrations are built.
  7. QA & testing
    • Functional tests, cross-browser checks, accessibility audits, and performance tuning are completed.
  8. Launch prep
    • DNS, SSL, backups, redirects, and rollback plans are configured.
  9. Post-launch monitoring
    • Error reporting, analytics validation, and quick-fix processes are in place.

If you want a complete case study of these steps in practice, see https://prateeksha.com/blog/hidden-work-web-design-company-before-homepage-launch for a full walk-through.

Hidden tasks most people miss (and why they matter)

Beyond design and code, a lot of work prevents headaches after launch:

  • Project management: scope control, deadlines, and stakeholder communication.
  • Compliance: GDPR, cookie consent, and accessibility (WCAG) checks.
  • Performance engineering: image optimization, critical CSS, and caching rules.
  • Security basics: SSL, CSP headers, and automated backups.
  • Deployment process: CI/CD pipelines, staging environments, and rollback strategies.

These “boring” tasks are what keep a site fast, legal, and reliable under load.

Practical implementation tips for developers

Ship like an agency — prioritize automation and measurable checks.

  • Performance: run Lighthouse and WebPageTest during CI. Budget for Core Web Vitals and set performance budgets in CI (Lighthouse CI or PageSpeed thresholds).
  • Images & media: serve modern formats (WebP/AVIF), use srcset, and lazy-load non-critical media.
  • Build & deploy: use a CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) with automated tests and atomic deploys.
  • Testing: add end-to-end tests (Playwright or Cypress) for critical flows like signup and checkout.
  • Monitoring: configure Sentry/LogRocket and synthetic uptime checks; verify Google Analytics events after deploy.
  • Accessibility: integrate axe-core in test suites and fix issues before launch.

Quick commands/tools: Lighthouse CI for performance gating, Brotli/Gzip via your server or CDN, and Playwright for smoke tests on each merge.

Modern trends shaping pre-launch work

A few evolving practices are now standard in agency workflows:

  • Headless CMS: decouples content from presentation for faster iteration and multi-channel publishing.
  • Automated testing & CI/CD: reduces human error and makes launches repeatable.
  • AI personalization: content and UX tailored by segments before traffic reaches the site.
  • Sustainability: lower page weight, green hosting, and conscious resource use to reduce carbon and load times.
  • Accessibility & Core Web Vitals: both are increasingly required, not optional.

For more resources and examples, browse https://prateeksha.com/blog or visit the studio at https://prateeksha.com to see how teams combine these practices.

Conclusion: what you should ask your team

Before launch, ask for:

  • A public pre-launch checklist and staging URL.
  • Test results: Lighthouse scores, accessibility reports, and E2E test logs.
  • Deployment plan: backups, SSL, redirects, and rollback steps.
  • Monitoring setup and post-launch support window.

A reliable agency treats launch as a process, not a single day. If you want a partner that documents these steps and helps you run them, check https://prateeksha.com for services and reading material.

Understanding the hidden work before a homepage goes live helps you plan realistic timelines, improve performance, and lower post-launch firefighting. Ship predictable, measurable, and maintainable websites — and insist on the checklist.

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