Pre-Launch Guide for your website

What to do before you launch your website

Your just about to launch your website so what next
You have crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s. All your copy is written, and your website looks great – it functions smoothly and all your landing pages and calls to action work.

So, what next?
Here is our simple check list to make sure your site hits the mark you want it to.

Business Pages
Using the power of social media platforms to drive traffic to your site.

Facebook Page
Facebook is great and we love it for bringing in new customers and helping them see the benefits of our services.

Have you created a Facebook page yet for your new site? You have that’s great – make sure you edit your page so that it includes your new website address and talk about your website on your Facebook page. In fact, write an article on your website about what you hope to achieve on your website and why you want people to use it. Then share the link to your Facebook page. If your website is set up correctly then it should pull through an image and extract (short summary of the article)

Take a screen grab or some of your site imagery and share these on your Facebook page. Talk about your sites booking or shop functionality.

Google Pages
There is nothing quite like Google Pages for generating traffic to your site, so it’s important to ensure you create one. Answer the questions it asks when creating your page like address and opening hours. Remember to use the address business.

Check your site links
We see websites that link out to a Facebook page, often this will be for the customers Business Facebook page but often it will be to the site developers or theme developers Facebook, so it is worth doubling checking these links before your site goes live. Make sure your new site links to your page and vice Versa.

Payment Gateways
If you have set up a shop on your Website then make sure you have set up your Payment Gateways correctly. If you are using PayPal then make sure you have taken it out of Sandbox mode.

Google webmaster tools / Google search console
You can set up a Google Account for free and you’ll need to do this to receive services from Google, these services can be really useful some would say vital in running your business.

Google search console provides you with detailed reports about your pages’ visibility on Google
By inserting the Google webmaster code into your site header or by inserting a Google produced HTML document onto your server it allows you to use Google Analytics to give you important information about your site performance and visitor traffic information.

If you are using WordPress then you can consider using the Yoast SEO plugin.

Your Google code will be similar to UA-000000-01

Google Analytics
There are many things we can learn about our websites by using Google Analytics;

Marketing Professionals can learn:
Where visitors come from and what do they do on the site
How can the website convert more visitors into customers
Which keywords resonate with prospects and lead to conversions
Which online ad or creative is the most effective

Content & Developers can learn:
Where people leave the site
Which pages retain visitors the longest
What search terms people use to find the site

There are plenty of tutorials available online to help you further understand the intricacies of Google Analytics.

Are you including a Map
Do you have a map on your site?  Then does it work correctly, have you included your google map API key. If you want your map to work correctly then you will need to have included your Google Map API.

Worried about Spam on your website
Have you checked your website for Spam and set up Askimet Anti Spam – If you have a WordPress site then it would be wise to set up Askimet to stop your site being inundated with Spam comments. It is quick and easy to do for free by registering your site at the Askimet website. Spam comments can slow your website down affecting your site speed and therefore your Google Ranking.

Contact Forms
Lastly, make sure that you have turned on Captcha on those forms. This makes sure that the only messages you get through the forms is from real enquiries.

Good Luck and remember we’re here if you have any questions