Tips for a stress-free website launch day
Are you wondering… What are the essential tasks to complete before launching a website? How can I ensure a smooth and error-free website launch? What are the common challenges to anticipate and overcome during a website launch? I got you!
Launching or re-launching a website is a very exciting milestone, but it can also be a nerve-wracking experience. However, with careful planning and meticulous attention to detail you can ensure a stress-free website launch day. As someone who has been through this process before, I'm here to share my expertise and guide you through the journey. In this article, I will provide you with some valuable tips to make your website launch day seamless and successful. Let's dive in!
Create a website plan
First things first. How stressful or successful your launch day is will largely depend on all the work that came before the launch day. To set you up for success, you need to ensure that you plan out all the work on your website from start to finish. Thorough preparations in the beginning will save you a lot of time and headaches later down the line. Therefore, take the time to identify the key goals of your website and its contents and know that these will steer the whole project. Before diving in, you need to be clear about the structure and contents of all your website pages and features included on your website. You also need to create or gather all content, including text, images, videos, and any other media elements that will go into your website. The design characteristics like layout, structure, and overall flow of your website (and oh so many more elements) are taken care of by your website designer to ensure that the design meets your goals and ensures a seamless user experience. If you are DYing your website then of course, the website design part is also an important task that requires thorough planning. By having a clear vision and well-prepared content, you'll streamline the development process and set the stage for a successful launch day.
Prepare a launch day plan
Same way as you prepared a plan for creating a website, you also need to prepare a plan for launching your website. When you’re nearing the finish line with your website creation you need to have a clear launch day plan and checklist that outlines all the tasks and their respective timelines leading up to the big day. Break down the activities into chunks, prioritize all activities and allocate sufficient time for each one of them. A structured launch day plan will help you stay organized and tackle one task at a time, reducing stress and ensuring everything is ready for the big launch.
While there’s a level of customization for each launch day, there’s a ton of tasks and checks you need to perform for all website launches. I always go through my “Nail your launch day” checklist that includes all the nitty gritty details that sets each website up for a successful launch + important tasks and things to remember following the launch. Even though I do a lot of work on website design & development (which also included preparing for the launch) and I also guide my clients through the launch as there’s a long list of things that only they can check or perform themselves. It’s part of my job to properly inform and guide my clients to ensure their website not only looks great but also works in the long-term.
Below is a quick view of some of the most important tips from the Focused Design Co Launch Day Checklist that I always go through for every single launch.
Proofread your content three times
Review your whole website copy for spelling, grammar, and formatting errors. You need to make sure that your website copy is clear, concise, and aligned with your brand voice. You also need to triple check your most important information such as your contact information or pricing details for accuracy. A professional and error-free website promotes confidence in your business and first impressions matter so it’s so worth it to spend the extra few hours to double and triple check everything is in order. If you’ve been drafting and redrafting your website copy it’s a good idea to ask someone else to proofread your content as you will miss some mistakes simply because you’ve seen the content many times before.
TEST, TEST and oh yes TEST your website
The days before your launch day are all about testing your website and if everything looks and works as intended. Before going live, it's crucial to thoroughly test your website's responsiveness and ensure it adapts seamlessly to mobile devices as well as different browsers and screen sizes. You should also check all links and buttons, and confirm that all forms and any interactive features on your website function as intended. In case your website has a specific flow, a few clear user paths or any specific workflows, the best way to test it is to do a couple of dry-runs. You need to go through the whole workflow as if you are the intended user and test if it all works and connects the way it should and all elements work as intended. By thoroughly testing your whole site you get to identify and resolve any issues before the launch. And trust me, there’s always something that comes up at the last minute. No matter how small the issue, any errors on your website send a negative message about your business and your brand so you want to do everything in your power to fix these before your website goes live.
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Test your website’s performance
A slow-loading website frustrates and makes your audience lose interest in your website very quickly so it’s important to ensure that your website’s performance and loading time has been optimized. Most of the groundwork for optimizing your site’s performance happens while creating your website but when it’s all done and ready it’s a good idea to test your website’s performance as surprises can always arise. The quick win ways to improve your site’s performance are checking that all images have been properly formatted and compressed and minifying CSS and JavaScript files. These small but mighty changes will significantly improve your website's load time, giving a smooth experience for your shiny new website’s visitors.
Prepare for post-launch technical support
Despite careful planning, technical issues may still arise even after you hit ‘publish’ for your new website. I always think about how if you fail to plan you plan to fail. So you should plan for the worst and be prepared to provide prompt technical support to address any unforeseen problems. In the first launch days and weeks of your new website you should monitor it closely and be ready to troubleshoot and resolve any issues promptly. Having a dedicated support team can prove to be invaluable for the first 30 days after your website launches. Usually your website designer/developer can provide on-call support and help with any issues that might arise.
Create your marketing communications
Creating a marketing strategy and plan for your website launch is (nearly) as important as creating the website itself. It’s important to create incentives that drive traffic and engagement to your new website. In order to create a buzz around your website launch, you should create a social media and marketing launch plan as well. To give you some examples, think of scheduling a special series of social media posts ahead of time, sending out email campaigns to your mailing list subscribers and creating announcements that coincide with your website launch day.
Setup analytics and monitoring
Once your site is live you can start analyzing and optimizing its performance. To do that, you can start with Squarespace’s built-in analytics feature that provides comprehensive insights into the site's performance. Website owners can track essential metrics such as visitor traffic, page views, and visit duration to understand the website's popularity and engagement levels. Additionally, Squarespace offers detailed information about traffic sources, allowing users to identify which devices and channels are driving the most visitors to their site. Additionally, you can make use of third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics to track your website's performance, to monitor user behavior, and analyze traffic sources. By monitoring key metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions for optimizing your website and your overall marketing efforts.
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for reading this blog post on tips for a successful website launch day and beyond. These tips were only small insights into the work that goes into publishing a stunning website and ensuring that the launch goes as smoothly as possible. When working with my clients I always follow a comprehensive launch day checklist for a successful launch day and provide further details on the tasks that they should perform themselves.
I'm thrilled that you’re here and took the time to explore the insights I shared. I hope that you found the content valuable and can apply these for your own website. I also wanted to let you know that you absolutely can and should…
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