Side Project Launch Checklist: 30 Things to Do Before, During and After Launch
Lukas9 min read
Launch day is weirdly easy to mess up. Not because launching is hard, but because there are 30 small things to remember and you're running on coffee and nerves. A broken sign-up link, a page title that still says "Vite App", or a share image that shows up blank can quietly cost you the clicks you worked for.
So here's the checklist we wish we'd had: what to do the week before, on launch day, and in the weeks after. It's written for indie makers with a side project and no marketing team. The worked example throughout is BuildShipper, the free weekly launch board we run, because it's built for exactly this moment: you drop your URL, your project goes on a board ranked by real clicks, and you can see whether people actually visit.
Copy the list into your notes app and tick things off as you go.
Why a checklist beats a big launch plan
Most launch advice is a 40-step strategy that assumes you have an audience, a budget and a free month. Most makers have none of those. What you do have is one product and a few hours.
A checklist keeps you honest. It stops you from polishing the logo for the fifth time while the pricing page still 404s. And it makes launching something you can repeat, which matters, because one launch is rarely enough. The makers who get traction usually launch in several places over a few weeks, learn from each one, and tweak as they go.
That's also why BuildShipper resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC. A fresh week means a fresh board, so a new project isn't buried under products that collected votes for years. If you like the idea of launching in small, repeatable steps, bookmark buildshipper.com now. You'll want it again for your next project, and the blog keeps adding practical launch guides like this one.
The week before launch
1. Pick one clear goal. Sign-ups, first sales, feedback, or simply visits. One goal tells you what to measure later.
2. Write your tagline. One plain line that says what it does and for whom. Product Hunt's launch guide caps taglines at 60 characters, so aim under that and the same line will fit almost everywhere. Our guide on how to write a product tagline walks through formulas you can steal.
3. Fix your page title and meta description. These are your tagline in Google, and many launch sites read them too. When you submit to BuildShipper, it reads your page and fills in the name, tagline and image for you. If that autofill looks weak, your own page's first impression probably needs work, and it's much better to find out now.
4. Add Open Graph tags. These control how your link looks when shared. The Open Graph protocol lists four required properties for every page: og:title, og:type, og:image and og:url. Paste your link into a chat with yourself and check that the preview shows the right image and text.
5. Make a sitemap and tell Google about it. Google's sitemap guide explains how to submit one in Search Console's Sitemaps report. It also says plainly that a sitemap is "merely a hint," so treat it as a nudge, not a guarantee.
6. Request indexing for your homepage. Search Console's URL Inspection tool lets you request that a URL be crawled. Do it once, then move on.
7. Click every button yourself. Sign up, log in, pay, reset a password, open it on your phone. Ask one friend to do the same without your help.
8. Set up simple analytics. Anything that shows visits and where they came from. You need it to know which launch site sent real people.
9. Prepare your screenshots. Two or three images that show the product in use, not just the logo.
10. Draft your launch posts. A short X or LinkedIn post, a Show HN title if your project qualifies, and a friendly message for the five people who'll actually share it.
11. Make a launch list. Pick where you'll post. Start with BuildShipper, since listing is free and you can see clicks on your project page from the first day. Then add the bigger boards and a few directories. Our list of where to launch your SaaS in 2026 covers 28 options, and the best launch directories page lists what to check before you submit anywhere.
Launch day
12. List on BuildShipper first. Drop your URL at buildshipper.com/submit, edit the autofilled details, and you're live. It's free, every listing gets a followed backlink from its project page, and that page is in the sitemap. Listing early in the week gives you the most days on the current board before the Monday reset.
13. Post on Product Hunt if you're ready for it. Product Hunt's launch guide says every launch goes live at 12:01 AM Pacific on its scheduled date, and suggests picking a day you can be around for the first few hours. If you go, you can use the same tagline you tested on BuildShipper. Our page on Product Hunt alternatives shows indie products already listed on BuildShipper if you want company outside the big board.
14. Post a Show HN only if people can try it. The Show HN guidelines say it's "for something you've made that other people can play with," and list sign-up pages and newsletters as off topic. A working demo qualifies. A waitlist doesn't.
15. Share where you already hang out. One honest post on X, a relevant community you're actually part of, a message to friends. Link to your project page on BuildShipper or straight to your site, whichever you want to track.
16. Reply to everyone. Every comment, every question, every DM. Early replies are where you learn what people actually think.
17. Write down what breaks. Keep a note open. Every bug and every confused question is free product research.
18. Watch the clicks, not just the votes. On BuildShipper the board is ranked by clicks, with likes only breaking ties, and your project page shows the click count. If clicks are flat, your tagline or image is the first thing to change. You can browse the current board to see how other makers word theirs.
The first two weeks after launch
19. Thank the people who helped. A quick reply or message goes a long way and makes them more likely to share the next update.
20. Fix the top three issues. Not ten. Three. Then tell people you fixed them.
21. Post an update. "Here's what I learned from launching" is one of the easiest posts to write, and people like reading them. Our guide to build in public on X has templates.
22. Submit to a few more directories. Spread them out over the week instead of blasting 50 at once. Our list of free startup directories with dofollow backlinks is a good place to pick from.
23. Check the winners page. Each finished week's top project is shown on the BuildShipper winners page. If yours made it, that's a nice thing to share. If not, the next week is open.
24. Look at your analytics. Which source sent people who stayed? Do more of that one, less of the rest.
25. Wait before judging search. Google's SEO Starter Guide says some changes take effect in hours and others can take months, and suggests waiting a few weeks to judge your work. Don't panic if you're not in search results on day three.
26. Relaunch when you ship something real. A big new feature is a reason to launch again. On BuildShipper you can try a new week with a sharper tagline and compare the clicks.
Optional: a little extra push
27. Consider a boost only if the free listing is working. BuildShipper has optional paid boosts that sit above the numbered list: Spark is $6.99 for 48 hours, Rocket is $14.99 for 7 days and Orbit is $34.99 for 30 days. A boost doesn't change your rank number, and the free listing works on its own. If clicks are already coming in, a boost can stretch a good week. If they aren't, fix the tagline first.
28. Reuse what worked. Once you know which line and image pull clicks, use them on your homepage, your page title and every directory you submit to later.
29. Save your launch kit. Keep your tagline, screenshots, descriptions and launch list in one folder. Your next launch will take an hour instead of a weekend.
30. Bookmark your launch spots. Keep the places that worked one click away. BuildShipper is an easy one to keep, since the board, the directory list and the launch guides all live in one place.
