9 Vital Things To Do Before Your Launch your New Website

It’s exciting to get to the point of launching your website redesign! All those hours spent in design and user testing. If it is like most design projects the launch date is already overdue and you couldn’t be happier to finally launch it out into the world.

Stop just a minute!

There are some vital checks you must make before launching your new website. Without taking these steps you run the risk of customers not being able to use it. Have you done these yet?

• SEO Ready
  Titles and meta-data are key to the performance of your website on search engines and you want them to begin working for you from the get-go. Take the time to check each page and ensure titles and meta-data are correct.
• RSS Feed and Social Page Links
  Double check that your RSS feed is working and that when a person clicks on your social page links they are actually taken to the correct site. These are the vital details so often missed!
• 404 Page
  A 404 page comes up if a user tries to navigate to a page that doesn’t exist. Bad 404 pages will encourage a user to leave the website. A good one will provide additional options for them to explore. Including a link to return to your home page or contact the helpdesk.
• Proof-read the content
  Get someone else to check your words. A single grammar mistake can turn a client off or confuse a potential customer.
• Back Up Your Website
  Before you launch it live, ensure your website is backed up. There’s nothing worse than losing all that hard work you’ve done.
• Install Analytics
  Ensure your website is connected to Google Analytics right from the start so that you can start measuring the success of your design and marketing.
• Double Check Functions
  Fill out every form. Buy every product. Click every link. Don’t let a piece of your website languish for lack of attention. Web developers are astounded at the amount of times people forget to actually test their website. Do it. Test it. Make sure it works.
• Cross-check Browsers
  Open up your website on each type of browser; Internet Explorer, Google, Firefox, Safari etc and browse through your website. You will be surprised at the different ways your website behaves on each browser! You may have to make decisions about how your website behaves on each one and which platform is more important. Talk with your website designers about this. Use your Google analytics to discover which platform your customers use the most.
• How Does Your Website Print?
  Have you tried to print a page of your website? If you think your customers might be printing pages, particularly informational ones, ensure your print styles are set up so that there’s not a lot of ink wasted on unnecessary menu items and logos.

Once you’ve gone through all these elements then you’ll finally be ready to launch your website! Congratulations! Remember though that a website is constantly under construction and that you’ll need to keep checking back and tweaking to ensure optimum performance.

If you need help with any of the above or launching your website, contact Complete Cloud.