We won’t lie, the build-up to any website launch is stressful. Whether it’s your first or one-hundredth launch the same rules will always apply, but we are confident that in our 13 years of designing we have managed to refine our ‘must follow’ launch list down to just a 4 minute read to help you run a site launch as smoothly as possible.
Communication
First and foremost, it’s important to get all the necessary information from our clients well before the launch so that we know all the basics; things such as where the site is being hosted and where the domain name settings can be accessed. This allows for plenty of time to carry out things such as domain pointing if necessary. The last thing we’d need is to find out where the client needs to point the domain name the day before a launch. However cliche it may sound, communication will always be key!
Sometimes It’s Worth Saying No
One of the biggest questions you need to ask yourself when leading up to a launch is, ‘Think you’ve finished checking it?’ The answer is no, check again. The detail required to make sure a site is ready for launch is mind-boggling but necessary. The site needs to be checked again and again for things such as last-minute spelling errors (yes, it can happen!) which we’ll then pass back to the client so it can then be signed off when they are 100% happy. This helps to reduce the risk of problems occurring once the website is launched and ensures smooth sailing.
Take Your Time
There is absolutely no point in rushing a website and its launch to try and make the stress go away more quickly, as 9 times out of 10 this will cause issues to have been missed and draws out the process even more in the long run. The best advice we could give? Allow for obstacles in your planning for a launch so that if they arise, there’s plenty of time to rectify the issue along with everything else that needs to be done.
For example, if a domain name is hosted separately from your website hosting, this can take up to 48 hours to point and complete so you need to factor in this time so that it can be done before the launch not after!
Weekends Are Off-Limits!
However great it may sound to launch a new site on a Friday or Saturday, we say to never, ever launch a website at the end of a working week. Why you ask? The first few days after a website has been launched are critical and the website needs to be monitored closely to make sure that there are no glitches. In our eyes, launching on a Friday just isn’t feasible as there will be no one to monitor the site over the weekend and give it the attention it deserves which could lead to issues being unseen and not dealt with … which worst-case scenario could lead to detrimental effects to our clients’ businesses.
Stay Safe, Protect The Site, Save Time
Website security is always in our prime interest and we make sure that our sites have an SSL certificate and security plugin installed so that the site is secure ongoing after the launch. Keeping your site safe and secure is a huge responsibility as this’ll massively reduce the risk of things such as sensitive information being stolen from the site by hackers and cyber thieves.
Aftercare
The previous 5 steps will have seen you safely from pre-launch all the way through to seeing your new website live and ready and should have helped to reduce the kind of stress a website launch can create but in our eyes, it doesn’t and can’t stop there.
Once a site has launched it is sensible and only right to provide clients with an aftercare pack that tells them how to look after their new site and how to maintain it to be just as happy and healthy as when it launched.
Providing clients with a useful guide on how to set up Google Analytics and staying secure is also a great way to make sure that clients feel steady on their feet when entering into the digital world on their own. It would be such a shame to create a mega website for our clients and then for them to then not be able to utilise it and track its traffic so that they can progress in their business and target more specific audiences.
Happy Clients, Happy Life!