Free Black Friday checklist
Will your site survive Black Friday?
The 21 point check I run on my clients' WordPress and WooCommerce sites before their busiest weekend of the year. A fillable PDF, with the five checks to do first if you only have an hour.
- The five minute test that catches the checkout failures most shops only find out about from an angry customer
- Why "no complaints" is the worst way to know your order emails are working
- The caching mistake that empties baskets on the busiest weekend of the year
- One question to email your host this week, and what to do if the answer is vague
- What a backup you have never restored is really worth
- The update you should never click on Black Friday morning
- A one page plan for when it breaks, so the weekend does not depend on one person
What is inside
Seven areas, sorted by how much a failure costs. Each check says what good looks like and exactly where to look.
Section 1
3 checksCheckout and payments
If a shopper cannot pay, nothing else on this list matters. Start here.
Section 2
3 checksForms and emails
Orders and enquiries that arrive silently are lost sales, and you rarely find out until someone complains.
Section 3
3 checksSpeed
Black Friday shoppers compare. A slow product page sends them to the next tab.
Section 4
3 checksHosting and capacity
A traffic spike is the one time cheap hosting shows its limits.
Section 5
3 checksBackups and rollback
A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup.
Section 6
3 checksUpdate freeze
Most Black Friday outages I see start with an update nobody needed that week.
Section 7
3 checksMonitoring and the plan if it breaks
Something will go wrong eventually. What matters is how fast you know and what you do next.
Also included
- The five checks to do first
- A score out of 21 and what it means
- The mistake to avoid in each area
Before you enter your email
Is it really free?
Yes. Enter your name and email and the download link arrives straight away. No card and no call.
Is it only for WooCommerce shops?
It is written for shops, but most checks apply to any WordPress site expecting more traffic or more enquiries in November: forms, emails, speed, backups and monitoring.
Do I need a developer to do the checks?
No. Every check says where to look in WordPress, your hosting panel or a free tool. A few, like a test restore, are easier with help, and the checklist says so.
What happens to my email address?
You get the checklist and three short emails before Black Friday, then nothing unless you reply. Unsubscribe in one click. Your address is never sold or shared.
Rather not do it alone?
From Thursday 26 November at 8am to Monday 30 November at 10pm I watch your WooCommerce shop: uptime, a test order twice a day, payment and email checks, and a response within one hour to anything that breaks, 8am to 10pm. 5 shops only, so every alert gets a real response.