5 Things You Need To Know Before Launching A New Website

Launching a website is about more than having someone develop and publish it for you but your readiness is far more important. What about all the pre-launch tasks you need to handle?

Before the big launch, you need to think about a few important things. This will make your site, launch and future maintenance run more smoothly and help prevent embarrassing problems later on.

Plan The Launch

You can’t just launch a site and expect it to be successful. You have to create a launch plan. This includes marketing, working alongside the developers to set a realistic launch date, building an audience, seeing what visitors might want from your site, testing, uploading content and much more. Start planning before the site is even finished so you’re not trying to do everything at the last minute.

Think of it as launching a new product. You’d want to build buzz about it and get feedback from your target audience before you started selling it. Create a checklist of tasks to do before launching to ensure nothing gets forgotten.

Setup A Testing Plan

A testing plan is one of the most important pre-launch tasks. The last thing you want to do is get visitors excited about a site that doesn’t work correctly. Even the best developers can’t find every bug. You need real users to dig deep on a test version of your site. They’ll then send feedback to you and the developers so bugs are fixed before the launch date. It’s not difficult to setup a test plan and you’ll definitely be glad you did.

Think Social

To create a unified presence, you should try to setup social media accounts that correspond with your domain name. You’ll need to already have these accounts created so they can tie into your website. Plus, you need to start building an audience with them now, not after the launch. This is not only great for marketing, but it ensures your visitors can start engaging with you the moment the site launches.

Consider Content

Many websites launch with only a few pages of content and maybe a single blog post. In the launch rush, you’re so busy with interacting with visitors and marketing the site, you forget about adding new content. It’s a good idea have at least a month’s worth of content ready to be uploaded before the launch date if possible.

By having content stockpiled, you can create a regular content schedule and stay ahead of the game. It’s vital to your site’s success to post new content on a regular basis. Why create more stress for yourself? Prepare now and worry less later.

Prepare For Website Maintenance

Your site is brand new. Why would you possibly need to think about maintenance? Many site owners make the fatal mistake of thinking about maintenance after it’s too late. They wait until their site gets hacked or a page loading glitch drives thousands of visitors away. Your site needs monthly and possibly weekly maintenance from day one. You need to decide who will take care of these tasks. Will it be one of you, one of your employees or another company?

Visitors expect a site to work right and be up to date all the time. They also want to see it improve over time. Hiring a website maintenance or web support company before launch allows the company to check out your site and work with you to establish a maintenance plan. When your site launches, you can rest assured knowing all the regular maintenance tasks are taken care of.

Conclusion

Launching a new website is something to get excited about. Make sure it’s actually a good experience by preparing in advance and making sure you fully understand what launching a site entails. With the right prep work, your launch will be far more successful.

Credit: FatLabWwebsupport