This post contains 10 things (in random order) that I would advise to check before the site can go live.
1. Update your websites metadata
Often harder than it looks but should definitely not be forgotten.
2. Check cache settings and enable output caching
Both the performance output caching settings (enabled by default) and document settings must be enabled to use output cache.
3. Enable document versioning
Either with or without workflow...
4. Double check the registered users and review their permissions
Ensure that all the users have passwords specified and remove the (unwanted) users that were created based on templates. Also update the global administrators account that has been installed by default.
5. Personalize the user interface of the CMS
Hide unnused features via UI personalization:
6. Update the admin and no-reply e-mail addresses
Easily update all the e-mail address settings via the following query:
-- Update all no reply emailaddresses
DECLARE @noreply nvarchar(100)
SET @noreply = 'noreply@domain.com'
UPDATE
[CMS_SettingsKey]
SET
[KeyValue] = @noreply
WHERE
[KeyValue] = 'no-reply@localhost.local'
-- Update all admin emailaddresses
DECLARE @admin nvarchar(100)
SET @admin = 'admin@domain.com'
UPDATE
[CMS_SettingsKey]
SET
[KeyValue] = @admin
WHERE
[KeyValue] = 'admin@localhost.local'
7. Review the URLs and search engine optimization (SEO) settings
-
Enable "Remember original URLs when moving documents". This setting specifies if a new document alias should be created if the document URL or alias path is updated or when the document is moved.
-
Enable "allow permenant (301) redirection". This ensures the use of 301 redirects instead of standard 302 redirection.
-
Enable "Redirect document aliases to main URL". This ensures unique content per URL throughout the website.
Note: some of these settings might need to be disabled based on your websites setup.
8. Create a custom 404 error page
Download, install and configure the Page Not Found Kit from the Kentico Marketplace and specify the URL in the "Page not found" settings:

9. Disable debugging
You can easily globally disable debugging via the "Disable debugging" setting.

10. Keep an eye out for errors
Check the event log from time to time and try to fix the errors.
