Framer Launch Checklist: 7 Essential Steps Before Going Live

Finishing the design is only one part of launching a website.

Before you hit Publish, it’s worth taking a few minutes to check the things that are easy to miss while building: broken links, unfinished content, mobile issues, missing SEO settings, or a form that doesn’t actually send anywhere.

Here are seven things I’d check before launching a Framer website.

1. Connect Your Custom Domain

If your website is ready to go live, connect the domain you want people to use.

In Framer, go to Site Settings → Hosting → Domains, connect your domain, and follow the DNS instructions provided for your domain provider.

Once it’s connected, test both the main domain and the www version to make sure visitors are sent to the correct URL.

2. Review SEO and Social Settings

Before launch, check how your important pages will appear in search results and when someone shares them.

Review the SEO title, meta description, and social image for your main pages. If you’re using CMS pages for projects or blog posts, make sure each item also has the right metadata connected.

At minimum, check:

• Page title

• Meta description

• Social sharing image

• Whether the page should be indexed by search engines

3. Check Every Responsive Breakpoint

A page can look perfect on desktop and still have problems on a smaller screen.

Go through your important pages on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Check text wrapping, spacing, navigation, buttons, images, forms, and anything placed close to the edges.

Use Preview and actually scroll through the site instead of only resizing the canvas.

4. Test Links, Buttons, and Forms

Click everything a visitor might use.

Test your navigation, buttons, project cards, social links, external URLs, email links, and any other interactive element.

Then submit your forms yourself. Make sure required fields work correctly and that submissions actually reach the destination you configured.

A form can look completely finished while still not sending anything.

5. Optimize Images and Media

Large images and media files can make a website feel slower than it needs to be.

Check that you’re not using unnecessarily large files, especially near the top of the page or on pages with lots of project imagery.

Pay extra attention to hero images, backgrounds, videos, and other large media.

You don’t need to sacrifice image quality just to chase a perfect performance score. The goal is simply to avoid files that are much heavier than necessary.

6. Review Your CMS Content

If your website uses Framer CMS, open your collections one last time before publishing.

Check titles, descriptions, images, categories, links, slugs, and any other important fields.

Also open a few CMS pages to make sure everything displays correctly. Since those pages share the same structure, one layout issue can affect every project, article, or item using it.

And don’t forget to remove any demo or placeholder content that’s still visible.

7. Set Up Your 404 Page

Eventually, someone will land on a URL that doesn’t exist.

Instead of sending them to a generic dead end, create a simple 404 page that still feels like part of your website.

Let them know the page couldn’t be found and give them an easy way back to your homepage or another important section.

One Final Preview Before Publishing

Before publishing, open the site in Preview and do one final walkthrough.

Check the navigation, important pages, forms, links, and mobile version. Look for unfinished content, broken interactions, or anything that feels off.

Once everything works as expected, publish the site. You can always use Update later to push future changes.