Before, During, and After launching a website: 12 tips

So you’ve decided to launch a website. Congratulations! The world wide web is waiting for your amazing creation. But before you hit that “launch” button, there are some things you need to do to get your site ready. 

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first website. It was a simple page of hyperlinked text, but it laid the foundation for the billions of pages that exist on the internet today.

In the years since launching a website has become easier and easier. Now dozens of platforms and content management systems (CMSs) allow anyone to create a website, regardless of their technical skills.

Despite this, launching a website can still be a daunting task. There are many moving parts, and it’s easy to forget something important in the excitement leading up to launch day.

With the assistance of this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of prepping, launching, and post-launch activities so your site can start getting the traffic and conversions it deserves. Let’s get started!

Preliminary Steps To Creating A Website. 

If you want to launch a successful website, the first step is to sit down and determine what you want it to achieve. It means setting some goals and objectives for your website and your target audience. By knowing these things, you can start designing your site with launching a website in mind from the very beginning. Consider the following during the pre-design phase:

1. Review Your Previous Website (If Applicable): 

Before launching a website, you need to take a step back and analyze your current site. If you have an existing website, look at your Google Analytics data to see what content is popular and where visitors leave your site. It will give you some insight into what is and isn’t working on your current site and how to avoid them on your upcoming website.

2. Document The Structure Of Your Old Site (If Applicable). 

Use Screaming Frog to crawl your old website and document its structure. Later, you will need this information to create redirects from your old pages to your new pages.

3. Confirm Testing Procedures And Obtain Benchmark Data From Your Previous Website (If Applicable).

In the case of an existing site, you already have some benchmark data that you can use to measure the success of your new site. Things like pageviews, unique visitors, time on site, and bounce rate are all important metrics to track. Plan out how you’ll collect this data before you launch your new site.

4. Define The Goals For The New Design, How To Achieve Them, And How To Measure Success.

Launching a website is pointless if you don’t have any goals or objectives for your site. What do you want your site to achieve? Do you want more traffic? More leads? Sales increase? Knowing your goals will help you design your site with launching a website in mind from the very beginning.

5. Create A List Of Action Items, Responsibilities, And Roles.

Launching a website is a team effort. Before you start designing or building your site, you must assign roles and responsibilities to everyone on your team. It will then be clear for everyone.

6. Consider Worst-Case Scenarios When Planning.

Launching a website is a big undertaking, and there are bound to be some hiccups along the way. That’s why it’s important to prepare for worst-case scenarios before you launch your site. What if something goes wrong? What happens if your website crashes? What if you lose all your data? A plan for handling unexpected situations will help you keep cool when things don’t go as planned.

7. Choose A Solid Cms.

Launching a website takes a lot of effort, and you don’t want to do it again anytime soon. That’s why choosing a solid content management system (CMS) for your site is important. A good CMS will make it easy to add and update content, create new pages, and manage your website with the launching website.

8. Develop A Consistent Brand.

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to develop a consistent brand for your business. If you have an existing website, look at your branding and see if there are any areas you can improve. If you’re starting from scratch, now is the time to develop your brand identity.

9. Plan Your Technical Seo Strategy.

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to create a technical SEO strategy for your site. Technical SEO involves optimizing your site for search engines so that you can rank higher in search results. If you optimize your website before you launch it, you’ll be able to hit the ground running with launching a website and get ahead of your competition.

10. Strategize Your Conversion Paths.

Building a website is time-consuming, but it’s all for nothing if people don’t convert to your site. That’s why it’s important to strategize your conversion paths before you launch your site. What do you want people to do when they land on your site? Would you like them to go to a certain place? How do you want them to act? Answering these questions will lead to a website that converts.

11. Activate Your Analytics Software:

Launching a website takes a lot of time, but it’s all for nothing if you can’t measure your results. Therefore, you should set up analytics before you launch your site. By setting up analytics, you’ll be able to track your progress and see what’s working and what’s not.

12. Launch Your Website:

Your website is finally live after all your hard work! Once your site is live, don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishment. Making your first website is a huge achievement, and you should be proud of yourself for making it happen.

What Should You Check After Building Your Site?

After launching a website, it’s important to check in on your site and ensure everything is working as it should. Check these things:

1. Check your site speed.
2. Check your content for errors.
3. Check your links and forms.
4. Check your analytics to see how people interact with your site.
5. Check in with your team to see how they feel about the launch.
6. Celebrate your success! Launching a website is a big accomplishment, and you should take the time to celebrate it.

Checklist For Website Pre-Launch: 

Now, let’s take a look at a pre-launch checklist. This checklist is designed to help you launch your website with launching website.

Verify Text For Accuracy And Error-Free: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to make sure that all of your text is accurate and error-free. Take the time to proofread your site and fix any errors before you launch it.

Replace Placeholder Images With Final Images:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to replace all placeholder images with final images and designs. Check that all of your photos are aligned with your brand before you launch your site.

Align The Copy With The New Brand:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to ensure that all of your copy aligns with your new brand. Take the time to review your document and ensure it reflects your brand voice and values.

Ensure All Styling Preferences Have Been Implemented:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to check that all your styling preferences have been implemented. Take the time to review your site and ensure that everything looks how you want it to.

Ensure Your Design Is Aesthetically Pleasing:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to ensure that your design is aesthetically pleasing. Take the time to review your site and make sure it looks professional and polished.

Be Sure All Images, Fonts, And Other Content Is Properly Licensed Or Cited:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to ensure that all of the content on your site is properly licensed or cited. It may be illegal for you to use images, fonts, or other content you don’t have the right to. Verify the licenses and citations for your site’s content before you launch it.

Test Your Website For User Experience (Ux): 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to test your site for UX. When you use tools like Google Analytics and HotJar, you can see how people interact with your site. It will enable you to determine where you can make improvements.

Make Sure Conversion Paths Are Implemented Correctly: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to check that the conversion paths on your site have been implemented properly. You can track visitors to your site using tools like Google Analytics and HotJar. You can identify areas where you can improve the site by doing so.

Create Your Site Backup Strategy: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to create a backup strategy for your site. Prepare a backup plan for backing up your site so you can restore it if something goes wrong.

Secure Your Passwords And Credentials: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to store all of your passwords and credentials in a secure place. LastPass or 1Password are two password managers that will help you store and keep your passwords safe.

Review The Technical Seo Implementation For Errors: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to audit the technical SEO implementation for mistakes. Use tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to find any errors that need to be fixed.

Conduct A Stress Test: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to conduct a stress test on your site. By doing so, you will be able to identify areas where your site could break down under heavy traffic. Use tools like LoadImpact or Blitz to conduct a stress test on your site.

Checklist For Website Post-Launch:

There you have it now, launching your website like a pro! Once your site is live, make sure to check off each of the items on this post-launch checklist:

Retest The User Experience Of The Site:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to test your site for UX. You can track how people interact with your site using Google Analytics and HotJar. This way, you’ll be able to identify areas where you can improve the site.

Test Your Conversion Path’s Functionality: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to check that the conversion paths on your site are working properly. Analyze your website’s traffic with tools like Google Analytics and HotJar. You can use this to identify areas where you can improve your site.

Verify That Integration With Third-Party Tools Is Working Properly: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to check that all your integrations with third-party tools run smoothly. If you use any devices that are integrated with your website, make sure to check that they are working properly.

Backup The Final Website: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to make a backup of your site. Have a plan to back up your site to restore it if something goes wrong.

Ensure That Backups Are Running Properly: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to check that your backups are running properly. You should have a plan to back up your site to restore it if something goes wrong.

Verify That Your Site Is Secure: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to make sure your site is secure.

Use tools like Sucuri to scan your site for security vulnerabilities.

Set Up Analytics: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to set up analytics on your site. It will help you track your site’s performance and identify areas for improvement.

Create A Post-Launch Enhancement List: 

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to start a list of enhancements you want to make to your site. This list can help you keep track of the things you want to improve on your site. Thanks for reading! I hope this checklist enables you to launch your website like a pro!

Conclusion:

Launching a website is the perfect opportunity to test your site for UX, test your conversion path’s functionality, check that integration with third-party tools is running smoothly, make a backup of your site, ensure that backups are running properly, make sure your site is secure, set up analytics, and start a post-launch enhancement list.