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Going Live Checklist
Setting up your site

Use this checklist to help you make sure your ShoutCMS website is fully set up & optimized before launch.

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The Website

Explore ShoutCMS

Set up pages

Customize theme

Manage accounts

The Online Store

Configure store settings

Add your products

Organize your store

Other Settings

Add integrations

Set up your webmail

Adjust remaining settings


The Website

1. Explore ShoutCMS

If you're new to ShoutCMS, we'd recommend that you take some time to make sure you've explored the various areas & features available to you.


There's an incredible variety of tools & features within ShoutCMS, so make sure you know what you can do in each area.

Here are some easy-to-do activities to help you get familiar with ShoutCMS:

  1. Created, edited, and saved a page
  2. Appended articles to a page
  3. Used the Theme Designer
  4. Created one or more forms
  5. Added & organized some contacts


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2. Set up your pages

Create the pages that are essential for your website, and ensure your navigation is easy to understand. Within each page, make sure you're including unique, interesting, and useful content.

The following items should help you know if your pages are set up correctly:

  1. Short summary has been added
  2. SEO information has been added (Options)
  3. Images are properly sized & appropriate
  4. Text is unique, interesting, and useful
  5. Links go to the correct destination
  6. No grammar or spelling errors


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3. Customize your theme

Use the Theme Designer or custom CSS area to adjust the appearance of your ShoutCMS website. Adjust the colours, fonts, buttons, spacing, and more until you're satisfied with the look of your website.

Here are some useful parts of your website you can customize with the Theme Designer:

  1. Fonts
  2. Colours
  3. Buttons
  4. Spacing
  5. Backgrounds


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4. Manage your accounts

Add in all of your contacts, and organize them however you need to. Make sure you add any administrator accounts if you have multiple people managing your website.

These are some recommended activities for managing your contacts in ShoutCMS:

  1. Create groups & identifiers
  2. Import your contacts
  3. Delegate Administrator Roles


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The Online Store

1. Configure your store settings

Go to Settings, and make sure all of your store information is added & up-to-date. In order for your online store to function properly & smoothly, please make sure that you've filled out all of the fields as accurately as possible.

Make sure you fill out these areas in your Store Settings:

  1. Your business address
  2. Checkout settings
  3. Shipping methods
  4. Payment methods

You may also want to adjust your store emails to include any necessary messages or information.


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2. Add your products

Create, add, and organize as many products as you need on ShoutCMS website. Check to see that all of your products are organized well for customers, and that they have been properly set up.


If your products aren't properly set up, you may have a hard time making online sales. Take some time to review and even test your products.

Here's some tips for properly creating ShoutCMS product pages:

  1. Use high quality imagery
  2. Add configurable options
  3. Add SEO information
  4. Adjust stock tracking if needed
  5. Add related products
  6. Add supporting content & FAQs


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3. Organize your store

Ensure your store is properly organized & easy-to-use by customers. You can accomplish this by adding product categories, tags, and promotions across your online store.


These additions make the shopping experience easier for your customers, improving your overall online sales.

Consider these additions to your online store:

  1. Add pages for product categories
  2. Add tags to your products for filtering
  3. Add promotional banners
  4. Add lots of secondary navigation


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Other Configurations

1. Add integrations

Ensure that any third-party integrations you are using or would like to use are properly connected. For example, if you are using Google integrations for analytics, make sure you've linked your accounts from the Settings area of ShoutCMS.

Examples of integrations you may want to connect:

  1. Google Analytics
  2. Google Optimize
  3. Google Tag Manager
  4. Google AdSense
  5. Google Doubleclick


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2. Set up your webmail

Your ShoutCMS webmail can not be set up until you've set your site live. This requires you to have selected and paid for your preferred ShoutCMS hosting plan.


Once your ShoutCMS website is live, you can begin setting up your webmail through the Settings area of ShoutCMS. If you'd like to add additional email accounts that go beyond your hosting plan, please contact our team.

Complete the following before setting up your ShoutCMS webmail:

  1. Select install
  2. Design and build website
  3. Review website
  4. Set website live


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3. Adjust remaining settings

Take some time and review the remaining areas of Settings that you haven't configured yet. There might be options you want to enable or disable depending on the goal of your website.


You can always adjust your settings in the future, but doing it earlier than later is the best way to avoid issues.

Here are some recommended areas in Settings to look at:

  1. Automatic emails
  2. Form notifications
  3. Website access roles
  4. Welcome emails


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