Author Website Checklist
Complete Audit Guide for Indie Author Websites
Your Author Website Has Gaps You Don't Know About. This Checklist Finds Them.
A practical, fillable checklist system extracted from The Author Website System: A Strategic Framework for Visibility and Email Growth — designed for authors who want a professional, discoverable website that actually grows their email list.
The strategy exists. The Checklist is ready. The only thing left is to work through them.
Why the Digital Version Works Better
Type directly into the workbook (no printing required)
Save your progress and come back anytime
Reuse pages for multiple projects
Designed for clarity, structure, and real implementation
SAMPLE PAGES
Pre-Launch Checklist sample from the Author Website System Checklist.
Go through the Launchday Checklist to make sure that your site will work properly and is optimized for discoverability.
THE PROBLEM
Most authors spend weeks building their website, only to go live with broken links, missing meta descriptions, email forms that don't connect, and pages that Google can't find.
And after launch? The site quietly deteriorates. Plugins go unpatched. Bios go stale. Book purchase links die. Analytics stop tracking. Readers arrive and leave without signing up for anything.
It's not that authors don't care. It's that nobody handed them a clear system for what to do — before launch, on launch day, and long after.
This checklist is that system.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Five professional checklists covering your entire author website journey:
Pre-Launch Checklist (50 items) Everything that needs to be in place before your site goes public — from domain and hosting setup, to core page content, technical SEO, email integration, mobile usability, legal requirements, and final quality checks. Use this to launch with confidence, not crossed fingers.
Launch Day Checklist Exactly what to do in the final hours before you hit publish — and during your first four hours live. Includes what not to do (no redesigning based on hour-one feedback).
Post-Launch Checklist (20 items) Your action plan for the first 30 days after launch — organized week by week. Covers monitoring, promotion, technical verification, and your first data-driven review.
Quarterly Maintenance Checklist (15 items) A 90-minute review to run every three months (January, April, July, October). Keeps your site technically healthy, your content accurate, and your metrics tracked — without consuming your writing time.
Annual Deep Maintenance Checklist (25 items) A 3–4 hour yearly audit covering content, design, performance, navigation, backup verification, and strategic review. Ensures your site continues to serve your goals as your publishing career evolves.
Bonus: Troubleshooting Checklist Step-by-step guidance for the most common website problems — site won't load, email signups not working, slow loading, contact forms not sending, broken links, and not showing up in Google Search.
WHO THIS IS CHECKLIST FOR
This checklist is for you if:
You're building your first author website and don't want to miss anything critical
You launched your site but suspect there are gaps you haven't caught
Your website has been live for a while but you've never done a proper audit
You're tired of vague advice and want a concrete, item-by-item action list
You want your website to grow your email list — not just sit there looking pretty
This checklist works for authors across all genres and publishing paths — fiction, nonfiction, children's books, memoir, and beyond. It's platform-agnostic, whether you're on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or another builder.
WHY THIS CHECKLIST IS DIFFERENT
Most website checklists are surface-level. They tell you to "add a contact page" and call it done.
This checklist goes deeper. Each section includes the specific sub-items that actually matter — the ones that get skipped because nobody told you they existed. Things like:
Verifying your SSL certificate is active (not just that HTTPS appears in your URL)
Checking that your email welcome sequence delivers your lead magnet correctly
Confirming your XML sitemap has been submitted to Google Search Console
Testing your forms from an actual phone — not just a browser resize
Making sure your copyright year is current or dynamically updated
These aren't optional extras. They're the difference between a website that works and one that quietly underperforms.
No fluff. No filler. Just the complete system for making sure your author website does what it's supposed to do — help readers find you and give them a reason to stay.
Need more resouces to build your website? Check out the Author Digital Toolikit for additional useful resources.
This workbook is part of a book: Author Website System: A Strategic Framework for Visibility and Email Growth designed to help you move from confusion to a clear, structured, working website. Paperback: 449 pages. Available on Amazon.com The Companion Workbook is also available in paperback 78 pages on Amazon.com.
FAQ ABOUT THE CHECKLIST
Do I need to buy the book to use the checklist? No. The checklists stand on their own. The book provides detailed context and troubleshooting for every item, but the checklist works independently.
What platform does this work for? All of them. The checklists are platform-agnostic and work for WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Showit, and any other website builder.
I already have a website. Is this still useful? Absolutely. The Quarterly and Annual Maintenance checklists are specifically designed for sites that are already live. The Pre-Launch checklist also works as a retroactive audit — use it to find gaps in your existing site.