Musée / Journal
What should you receive at the end of a website project?
A handover checklist covering accounts, CMS, forms, basic SEO, analytics, hosting and maintenance.
A published website is not the same as a handed-over project. Handover should let you change content, receive enquiries and understand who keeps the site running. Agree these points in the proposal before design begins.
Accounts and ownership
- The domain and registrar account, with the owner confirmed.
- Hosting and the procedure for renewal, access and moving provider.
- CMS and staff roles, without sharing one password across the whole team.
- Which code, designs, assets and licences are handed over under the agreement.
- Third-party services and costs continuing after launch.
Test the customer route
Open the site on a real phone. Find the offer, contact details and a form. Submit an appropriate test enquiry and verify where it arrives, who receives it and how they respond. An on-screen “Sent” message does not prove the team received the email.
The acceptance checklist
| Area | Evidence to request |
|---|---|
| Content | Accurate copy and contact details; authorised images with descriptions. |
| Mobile / accessibility | Keyboard navigation, form labels and no horizontal page overflow. |
| Basic SEO | Titles, descriptions, canonical URLs, sitemap and crawlable public pages. |
| Forms | A test enquiry actually received and clear error handling. |
| Measurement | Agreed events, consent limits and the distinction between a click and an enquiry. |
| Maintenance | Backups, recovery, updates and responsibility for incidents. |
SEO at handover is not a ranking guarantee
Important pages should explain the offer and be readable by crawlers. Search Console helps inspect URLs and indexing status. A sitemap supports discovery; it does not guarantee indexing or position. Do not redirect every old URL to the homepage when the content does not match.
An example from our studio
The Musée website uses Albanian at the root and English at /en, distinct service pages and a project gallery with publication controls. It is an internal project, not a claim about client performance. Use it as an example for content and handover questions.
After launch
Agree a review period, what counts as a bug and what is a new request. Name the content owner and technical contact. Keep a change log and retest the contact route after updates.
This guide was prepared with AI assistance for Musée. Examples are illustrative plans, not client results. Adapt them to your offer, resources and business data.
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