Website Launch Monitoring Checklist

Most teams set up monitoring after their first outage. That means the first incident teaches you about a gap you could have closed before launch. This checklist covers everything to have in place before you go live — so your first downtime alert comes from your monitoring tool, not from a customer.

---

Before Launch

Uptime Monitoring

• Add your homepage as a monitor — set expected status to 200, add a content check for a key phrase that confirms the right page is loading
• Add your most important user-facing pages — signup page, pricing page, product or service pages that drive conversions
• Add your application health check endpoint — if your site has a backend, monitor /health or equivalent directly; see how to set up uptime monitoring
• Add any API endpoints your site depends on — authentication, search, checkout
• Set check frequency — 5 minutes is fine for most pre-launch; plan to move to 1 minute for critical endpoints once live. See how to choose monitoring check frequency

SSL Certificate Monitoring

• Add SSL monitoring for your primary domain — verify the certificate is valid and not close to expiry
• Add SSL monitoring for all subdomains that will be live at launch — www, api, app, etc.
• Set expiry alert threshold — 30 days minimum; 60 days preferred. See what is SSL certificate monitoring
• Verify the certificate chain is complete — see how to fix an incomplete certificate chain

Domain Monitoring

• Add domain expiry monitoring for your primary domain
• Check auto-renew is enabled at your registrar — and verify the payment card on file is current. See why domain auto-renew fails
• Add DNS record monitoring — so you're alerted if DNS changes unexpectedly after launch
• Verify nameservers are correct before launch and confirm they're being monitored

Alerting

• Add at least two notification contacts — the primary person to alert and a backup
• Enable email alerts for all monitors
• Enable SMS alerts for downtime on critical endpoints — email isn't fast enough during an active incident. See SMS alerts
• Set up a Slack channel for monitoring notifications if your team uses Slack. See Slack notifications
• Configure recovery alerts — know when the site comes back up, not just when it goes down
• Test that alerts actually work — point a monitor at a URL you know returns an error and confirm the alert fires. See how to test your website monitoring setup

---

On Launch Day

• Verify all monitors are green before announcing the launch
• Confirm check frequency is appropriate for expected launch traffic
• Ensure on-call coverage — someone should be reachable during and immediately after the launch window
• Have your hosting provider's support contact handy — if something goes wrong, you want their number, not just a URL
• Set a maintenance window in your monitoring tool if you have planned post-launch deploys. See maintenance windows

---

First Week Post-Launch

• Review your baseline response times — establish what normal looks like so you can set meaningful response time alert thresholds
• Check uptime reports to confirm consistent availability
• Set up a public status page if you have users who would benefit from real-time status visibility. See how to create a public status page
• Verify alert contacts are receiving notifications — confirm the right people got the test alert and can act on it

---

The 10-Minute Setup

If you're launching imminently and need the essentials right now, the minimum viable monitoring setup is:

1. Uptime monitor on your homepage
2. SSL monitor on your domain
3. Domain expiry monitor
4. One email + one SMS alert contact

Domain Monitor covers all four in a single tool. Create a free account and have basic coverage in place before you go live.

---

Related Articles

• How to Set Up Uptime Monitoring
• How to Test Your Website Monitoring Setup
• Website Monitoring Checklist for Developers
• New Domain Monitoring Setup Checklist