Online project checklist [289 points to check]

I decided to gradually add to the checklist of things that are good to check once in a while. It’s like doing an audit once a year. I do it when I start working with new clients. It gives the client a lot of information, and I can set a meaningful strategy. It’s a simplified list that we have in my advertising agency more elaborated… but I think it’s perfectly adequate for small businesses.

Basics

What access do you have, who can see the data, and where can you actually go? Isn’t it good to update and check it regularly? Sometimes it happens that the domain or webhosting is written on a previous agency that somehow went bankrupt ?… then it’s damn hard to fix it.

Important information

Before auditing the content of your communications and communication channels, it’s important to understand some things across the entire team of people you’re working with. Yes, again, refresh every year! Write it down in a shared document:
  • Domains of competitors
    • FB pages of competitors
  • Important keywords (I highly recommend at least a quick check of the competition in the system ahrefs and/or keyword analysis)
  • Products, product categories (just 3-5 pcs)
    • Highest margins
    • Best Sellers
  • What about GDPR and other documents
    • The cookie bar will be important from 1 January – see the article from Petra, who I work with
    • Documents on the website (in the footer, terms, and conditions, etc.)
      • Cookie Policy
      • Privacy Policy
    • Checkboxes in the order
  • Persona of the target group – Mainly to describe the problems – it is easier to write the communication then.
  • Target group
    • Aren’t there any geolocations where people are ordering from 70%? For example, connections to Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc, and the Central Bohemia Region.
    • Isn’t some gender more important in terms of orders? E.g., Women.
    • Isn’t there any device more interesting for orders? E.g., iPhone.
    • Isn’t any channel more interesting for acquisition? E.g., Glami, FAVI, etc.
  • What is a realistic PNO max. for an advertising expert and turnover? For example, how many of the orders are acquisition orders, and how many are retargeting orders?
  • Do you do customer analytics? RFM analysis?
  • Is there an inventory of redirected pages (old-new)?

Orders

If you have an e-shop or even a simple contact form, try to make the conversion yourself (order or fill in a questionnaire).
  • Ordering on mobile – how difficult is it? Try Android and iPhone
  • Order from your desktop – install the modules in Google Chrome and make sure you’re sending conversions correctly to systems like Google Analytics (GA4 too!), Google Ads, Facebook Business, or Google Tag Manager (if you use it). Control the remarketing pixel in general (on all pages) + events: visiting a product, adding it to the cart, going to checkout, and completing an order
  • What do transactional emails look like, and do we use them for upsells as well?
  • Are all prices (VAT) + the number of products + pictures in the cart?
  • Can you remove and add items to the cart easily?
  • Is it possible to get from the cart to the product detail by clicking through the title and image?
Try it for different payment and shipping methods if you have a credit card. Do you have a credit card? Try paying via mobile and desktop!

Products

In this paragraph, I want to focus only on e-shops. For other projects, it can be handled a little differently. You have selected the products with the highest margins and the best sellers. So, here are the questions I would ask:
  • How does it stack up price-wise with the competition? Shall we switch to a few core products and a price watch?
  • Can’t I incorporate a dynamic price change based on where the buyer came from?
  • Does the category have filters that match the keyword ranking analysis (if you have one) or at least replicate the relevance to the product? Look at the bigger competition… how do they have it? They’ll probably have the analysis done…
  • Does the product whisperer work in search?

XML feeds

Damn important stuff. Some systems won’t tell you if something is wrong. If, for example, the address of the old XML feed is still valid, but you already have another one, and you don’t update the old one!
  • Heureka feed
    • Are the products pairing? Is there something wrong with the names or categorization? Mergado or PPCBee can help.
  • Product feed
    • Feed errors? Do you see changes in the product loading history?
    • Are the products pairing? Unfortunately, sometimes you have to do it manually. Mergado or PPCBee can help.
    • Can you select product categories in Sklik when creating product campaigns?
  • Google Shopping feed
    • Google Merchants – no errors in loading products? What kind?
    • Facebook Business – are there any bugs? Linking to the site? Is it updated regularly?
  • FAVI, Glami, etc.

Pixel

We focus on sending information to the tools. You have already checked various important events (adding to cart, etc.) in your order. If order values are sent, they should be:
  • without VAT, if the company is a VAT payer
  • without transport price
What to check next:
  • Facebook pixel
  • Google Ads
    • Does the pixel ID on the page match?
    • Does the conversion ID + pixel ID (e.g., when ordering) match?
    • are events with ID sent in the cart? (check through Google Merchants login)
    • aren’t there more IDs? ATTENTION!
  • Sklik
    • check ID directly in the code (homepage, category, product detail)
    • audience loading check (everyone who visited the site for 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days)
    • audience loading check from conversions (order, registration)
    • audience loading check through the connection to Zbozi.cz
    • if possible, check the code of sending the conversion at order completion (especially the value!)
  • Google Analytics
    • Does the pixel ID on the page match?
    • Aren’t there more IDs? ATTENTION!
    • events as in the case of others (extended e-commerce?), but mainly:
      • order
      • insertion into the cart
  • DreamROI – personalization, and prediction of email distribution
    • everything is green in the administration (check)
    • lead scoring changes with the audience (COLD, WARM, HOT) – ATTENTION! Link to FB, Google Ads, and Sklik
    • can you see the results of views and clicks in statistics?
    • Is there a remarketing pixel in the HTML code?
  • Other pixels and conversion codes
    • Do conversions for product compare work? Heureka, Zbozi, FAVI, Glami….
    • Do remarketing pixels work?

Google Analytics

I know it’s IN when you have GA4… but please still have the old Google Analytics running in parallel ? A gradual move to server-side events (without javascript) will start in the next year. CAPI from Facebook or Google Tag Manager (server-side) is just the beginning. We’ll see how far it goes… also concerning Google Analytics. Generally speaking:
  • Both GA4 and GA3 are on
  • Unfiltered Data Selection – RAW data
  • Set domain, category
  • Activated demography
  • Extended attribution activated
  • Exclusion of data sources is ok (e.g., payment gateways)
  • Connected to Google Search Console (data is transferred)
  • Robot filter set
  • Exclude parameters (fbclid, etc.)
  • E-commerce currency, e-commerce enabled (extended?)
  • A search parameter is set (e.g., “s”)
  • Data selection
    • RAW data (see above)
    • Multiple domains (if you have them) at once with domain display in statistics
    • Each domain separately (e.g., a 3rd order domain)
  • Proper filtering of office IP addresses for data sources
    • sure, mobiles and dynamic providers can’t be set up… but at least something
  • Setting targets
    • Order with a passage from the basket
    • Getting a contact into the database
    • Soft conversions – they can come in handy later (e.g., “stayed on the site for more than 2 minutes”, “clicked through more than 8 pages”, “watched a video” (via Google Tag Manager)
  • Fix channel grouping (social, list, etc.) – important for Google Data Studio!
  • Isn’t the bounce rate very low? Like under 10%? Problem!
  • Set up saved reports
    • All traffic by Source/Medium sorted by Ecommerce + in the traffic and sales chart
    • Comparison of attributional modeling: Last non-direct vs. First vs. Linear
  • Costs from Facebook and Sklik are loaded into Google Analytics? Solve FREE through scripts (under your own account) by Standa Jílka
  • Costs from product compare are loaded into Google Analytics? Solve BY PAYING through scripts (under your own account) by Standa Jílka
  • Connecting to Google Ads
    • creation of audience from Transactions – 30 days back
  • Do you use YouTube? Is it connected to Google Analytics?
  • Set alerts when traffic drops/grows
  • Who has what access to Google Analytics at the account (company) or service (domain/project) level?

Google Ads

Some things will be repeated, but better to double-check ? Generally speaking:
  • Connected to Google Analytics
    • Connected audience and conversion
  • Linked to Google Merchants and Youtube
  • What conversions are set up, working, and counted in the campaign results?
  • What audiences and from what source are they collected? Possible sources:
    • Google Ads (pixel on sites)
    • Google Analytics (audiences, conversions with connection to Google Analytics)
    • YouTube
    • Custom audiences (uploaded emails only for some accounts!)
  • Campaigns
    • Basic for e-shops
      • Google Shopping
      • Dynamic remarketing (split by days since last visit 0-7, 8-14, 15-30 days)
    • Basic for all
    •  Other
      • Search (information with DSA campaigns, product information with PPCBee)
      • Smart Google Shopping (compare with classic Google Shopping)
      • Acquisition banners (mostly poor performance!)
      • Address brand through video and YouTube – I recommend using remarketing in conjunction with DreamROI Lead Scoring
    • Unify campaign names, sets, and creatives across Sklik, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads
  • Who has what account access?
  • Are you the billing contact? ATTENTION! A big problem in the future if you are not!
  • Scripts for checking (broken links, etc.)

Google Merchants

Here, it would be good to keep an eye out for any products rejected at the remarketing or google shopping level. Generally speaking:
  • Set up transport correctly for the entire account
  • Is the XML feed ok?
  • Connecting to Google Ads
  • Who has access rights?

Google Search Console

Two-way communication with Mr. Google. I recommend dealing with it sufficiently, and most importantly – overall check:
  • Connection to Google Analytics
  • Possibility to connect to Ahrefs
  • Are there any bugs on the site?
  • What is the mobile version of the site?
  • There is a working sitemap – is it up to date?
  • Who has access rights?

Sklik

The list is becoming generally smaller compared to Google. But sometimes, it makes a lot of sense and depends a lot on the persona of the target group. Generally speaking:
  • Audience, pixel, and conversion work
  • Setting up automatic ad tagging
  • Campaigns
    • Basic for e-shops (connection to Zbozi.cz)
    • Other
      • Search (product categories, PPCBee)
      • Acquisition banners (mostly poor performance!)
      • Video ads – better to solve through Youtube
    • Unify campaign names, sets, and creatives across Sklik, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads
  • Who has what account access?

Facebook Business

Quite an important part of perhaps any B2C business. I recommend focusing on CAPI for collecting conversions. Generally speaking:
  • pixel measures all events (javascript and server)
  • CAPI is set and deduplicated
  • The company’s Facebook page is part of the Business account
  • Isn’t there a budget limit on the entire account?
  • The domain is verified
  • Campaigns
    • Basic for e-shops (connection to catalog)
      • Dynamic remarketing (split by days since last visit 0-7, 8-14, 15-30 days)
      • Acquisition campaigns by
        • Similar audiences (5% of the Czech Republic per at least 5,000 buying emails/phones with customer value)
        • Topics
      • Contact acquisition (yes, even if you’re an e-shop, do campaigns to acquire email and then follow-up sales)
    • Other
      • Special events (ideally running in parallel with campaign-level cost optimization)
      • Brand campaigns (similar to Youtube)
    • Unify campaign names, sets, and creatives across Sklik, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads
  • Who has access to the account? Look into partners too!

Heureka, Zbozi, FAVI, Glami …

  • XML feed is correct, and the number of products is updated
  • Correct product pairing
    • Categorization
    • EAN (does it exist?)
    • Product name
  • Conversion is measured
  • You can see the correct sources in Google Analytics

Website

In my Nytra Digital agency, we focus on technical stuff and the usability of the sites. Generally speaking:
  • How does the web work for these tools?
  • What to focus on with the tools above
    • Image sizes – a common problem on the homepage
    • Webhosting – is there a problem with the initial server response? It could also be bad caching
    • Web vitals
    • Does it use CDN, and if so, are the Czech Republic and Slovakia servers? I recommend BunnyCDN also because of the automatic optimization of images to webp format.
  • Is there an introductory slideshow (mostly on the homepage)? Remove it!
  • Check robots.txt
  • For e-shops
    • The basket is easily traceable (watch out for mobiles!)
    • The order is without registration and simply pass-through
    • Categories are not visible in the order, menus and buttons are clearly visible
    • Each step of the order page works fast
  • Mobile version
    • Go through the order
    • Go through filtration of categories
    • Go from the homepage to a specific product
    • Search
  • Check https://wave.webaim.org/
  • Check the non-existent page (404)
  • Check the page when nothing is found… what is displayed?
  • If pushing for registration, then clearly post the benefits
  • The advantages of an e-shop at the top of the footer (e.g., 4 boxes: All in stock, 20 years in the Czech Republic, a Czech company, FREE shipping over USD 100, etc.)
  • Quickly traceable shipping and payment page
    • The least complicated description of the shipping price
    • What is paid in case of cash on delivery (or pick up at the branch)
  • Quickly searchable page on warranties, returns, etc.
  • The contacts show real people, offices, warehouses
  • Design and control are related to the persona of the target group (IT students vs. mothers on maternity leave)
  • Product details
    • TITLE, META DESCRIPTION, H1 – also important for PPC (DSA campaigns)
    • ALT for images
    • Products that will no longer be sold
      • Not in the internal search
      • They have the lowest position in the category
      • They are in Google and Seznam search results
      • In the product detail, I show an alternative or a link to the category
  • Product categories
    • TITLE, META DESCRIPTION, H1 – also important for PPC (DSA campaigns)
    • Category descriptions
  • I pay attention to duplicates in pagination
  • There is a sitemap, and it is embedded in Google Search Console
  • Smart URL for images, videos, doc, pdf, and other documents
  • SSL certificate – is it good? How about a new one?
  • Is there breadcrumb navigation?
  • Does the language and currency change work without problems, including cart and order?
  • Is user login remembered when they come to the site again?
  • Is web availability monitored?
  • Monitor the web in a tool like ahrefs (project) – see below

Email marketing

As you know, I am working intensively on the DreamROI system, which has everything you need for intelligent and effective communication via email: Content personalization (email and web), send prediction (who-send-what), and automation (special campaigns that send themselves). Generally speaking:
  • What campaigns are running, how often, and for whom?
  • Is there any segmentation? RFM analysis?
  • Is the content personalized? The subject of the email?
  • Can the system predict the distribution?
  • Are utm tags automatically assigned, and can you see the visits in Google Analytics?
  • Are DKIM, SPF, and DMARC set correctly – https://www.mail-tester.com/
  • Was there a server warm-up during the transition?
  • Send a test email to your mobile (iPhone, Android) and desktop

Competition

Do not copy but be alert! In the first part, you prepared competitor domains, competitor FB pages, and keywords. Now, it will become handy ⚡
  • Use the service ahrefs and enter your competitors’ domains into it
    • How old is the domain?
    • How many domains and sites link to it?
    • How many backlinks are there?
    • What are the lost backlinks (can’t be used?)
    • Top 10 best sites and most interesting keywords
      • What’s the type? (Image, Page, Featured snipet, Suggestion, etc.)
    • Compare the keywords – are you missing anything?
    • What Google Ads are running on them?
  • You can see what ads are running on FB on your competitor’s FB page
  • You can test keywords in the form of PPC, and if they are profitable, you can create additional content on them
    • If you already have content, I recommend using the DSA campaign (see above)

Automatic website check

Use servers like ahrefs or ubersuggest by Neil Patel and specify a new project for automatic site checking. This way, you’ll always be in the loop if anything happens to your site or how to improve your site from an on-page SEO perspective. Generally speaking:
  • Web speed
  • Titles, meta descriptions
  • Duplicity
  • Watching Google positions for given keywords (of course, you can also use the List collabim)
  • Weird URL
  • Prohibition of indexation

Conclusion

Now that I see it in retrospect, I haven’t mentioned everything, and even then, there’s a thousand stuff mentioned. If you need any help with the project, I have colleagues at Nytra Digital that would be happy to help you out. More checklists on UX can be found here and for programmers here. If there’s anything you’d like to add to this checklist, post it in the comments!

Leave a Comment