How to Launch a Website in a Great Way

Website launch seems like a scary idea but there are certain steps to take that make the whole process easier. Whether you’re looking to start an online store, a blog or portfolio, what follows are guidelines that will help you. There are several things that you need to keep in mind in order to have a successful website launch. If you start out with a good plan, this will ensure better end results.

Before doing any of the technical stuff, you need to have a clear idea of what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, if your goal is to sell products, knowing this will help you to plan things out properly. You may have a different approach depending on what your goal is. From there, you could look at the technicalities such as the design of your website, domain name, hosting platform, etc.

The Name of Your Website

One of the first things that you need to consider is how your website will be named. This is basically what defines the URL of your website. So for example, YouTube.com is one of the Internet’s best-known URLs. It’s a catchy name which makes it easy for people to remember it and pronounce it. The meaning also ties in with the goal of the site which is to stream videos that users upload.

A good website name will help your potential visitors to come your way. If the name is short and clear, people won’t have any troubles with misspelling and things of that nature. Make sure that the URL represents your brand right. You wouldn’t like your website name to be misleading and turn visitors away. Also, keep a couple of names as options in case some of them have already been taken.

More about Your URL

Sometimes it’s hard to get creative especially when it comes to thinking of a good URL for your website. But don’t worry, there are tools i.e. websites that deal with this exact issue, and they could be of help. In general, you provide keywords and these sites will try to put together an effective URL.

One such site is NameMesh which allows you to enter words and then get multiple suggestions for your website name. What’s great is that sites like NameMesh take the availability factor into consideration. In other words, you could get suggestions for available names only, which is great.

Take Care of Hosting

Another important decision that you need to make is which type of hosting service to choose. If your website starts getting a lot of traffic, the last thing you would like to happen is a crash. In fact, what you want is the exact opposite. You need your website to be stable and perform with excellence especially when the traffic is high. A great hosting service offers fast performance and flexibility.

But what exactly does hosting mean? The answer is simple. Hosting is about having the files of your website “stored” on the Internet. When your website is stored on a server, other people using the Internet could access it. For you to be able to do this, you need to find a hosting provider that will take care of the storage of your website. It’s advisable to find it sooner rather than later.

Find the Right Hosting Service

There are several things to look for when picking the right hosting service for your website. As mentioned earlier, one of them is reliability. Your website is bound to go down at times but this definitely shouldn’t be a regular occurrence. Look for hosting providers that ensure uptime.

Another factor is speed. If your website is fast operating this will help you out massively. For one, speed will improve the ranking of your website. You should also consider your budget. Free hosting services are likely to crash and be deemed unprofessional. Dedicated hosting is far more stable.

Pick a Suitable Platform

In order to launch a website, you will need to choose a platform which will allow you to build it. The usual choice is platforms like WordPress, but of course, there are many others as well. This will make the task easier on you, and also cheaper. If you build a website without a platform, this will take quite a long time. And if you don’t have coding skills, hiring someone who does could be expensive.

One of the best things about WordPress is that it’s very accessible to anyone. Not only it’s free to use but it could fulfill all of your requirements when it comes to website building.  WordPress is also great in regards to SEO. Other website builders are often accompanied with a lot of limitations and this probably isn’t something that you want. Definitely consider WordPress before making a choice.

Additional WordPress Benefits

When you launch a website, one of the most desired outcomes would be to receive a lot of traffic. In general, people use the searching capabilities of Google in order to find what they’re looking for online. This is when SEO comes into play, and WordPress is very suitable in that regard.

For example, you have plug-ins like Yoast which will help your website to generate more traffic. In combination with its overall ease of use, WordPress could be the right choice for you. Managing content with WordPress isn’t complicated at all. It’s also a very safe platform that ensures stability.

The Importance of Setting a Deadline

Whenever you’re working on a task and have a set deadline, this is helpful in many ways. Take musicians for example. Many of them have said that setting a deadline could, in fact, boost creativity. They can’t just sit around waiting for inspiration to hit, but the positive pressure could get them going. This works even better if they have publically announced a project that keeps people waiting.

You could use these same ideas when it comes to launching your own website. On one hand, you could make an event out of it. This will have people looking forward to it, and you wouldn’t want to let them down. And on the other hand, you will reward yourself for the work that you have put it. That’s why movies have big premieres. It’s a great way to celebrate the efforts of everyone involved.

Build the Hype

One of the practical tips regarding the launch day of your website is to reach out to people. This could be done more easily if you have an email list. Contact everyone on there and let them know that your website is coming soon. You could also contact notable blogs and people in your industry.

If you set a launch date, this will also help you to avoid trying to be perfect. You can always tweak and edit every little thing, but you should never get stuck doing this. Your goal should be to do a good enough job that will get you going. As long as the basis is done well, don’t worry too much.

Have Content Ready to Go

In relation to the launch date of your website, it would definitely be wise to have some content ready beforehand. When people discover your website, it is your chance to leave a great first impression. Part of that is to make your site appear resourceful and therefore more professional. Keep in mind what your audience would like to see, and offer them quality content on day one.

If people like what they see at first, they would like more of it and sooner. So if you have some more content ready, that’s even better. With eCommerce, you should consider the industry that you’re in. For example, if you’re selling hiking equipment you could write a piece on the top places to hike in your country. Or you could contact some traveling bloggers and have them discuss the subject.

The Importance of Analytics

If you launch a website, one of the things that you would like to have at your disposal is analytics. This will allow you to overview the traffic of your site so that you know how many people are visiting. A great way to achieve this is through Google Analytics. This is an easy-to-install plugin that not only shows the number of visitors but also how they are acting. Excellent for your sales funnel!

Google analytics lets you know the amount of time that the visitors spend on your website. It also shows you from which source they have been directed. In addition, you could take advantage of Content Analytics. This is a more specific tool that gives detailed data regarding your content. It will give your information on things such as how much of your content the visitors are reading.

The Design of Your Website

The overall look of your website should be clean and precise. The visitors should get a clear idea of what your website is about. Therefore, your website should be designed in a way that ties in with your brand. If your brand is represented correctly, you have done a great job. Consider the logo and colors but also the functionality. Make sure you protect your logo and design by using the copyright symbol in the right way.

Things to Check

You will need to check a lot of things when it comes to the launching of your website. Here’s a quick list so that you have a better look at what you need to consider:

• Mobile devices – One of the most important aspects to consider is that many people will visit your website on their mobile devices. Therefore, you have to make sure that your website looks just as great when browsed on a mobile phone.
• Different browsers – Similar to the previous point about mobile phones, you will also need to make sure that your website is running smoothly on several browsers. These include the likes of Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer, etc.
• Meta descriptions – As mentioned earlier, you have to keep SEO in mind because this is what leads to increased traffic. Make sure that the Meta descriptions and title tags are done properly and use adequate keywords.
• Proofread – You should definitely proofread your content and correct any errors in grammar and spelling if necessary. Visitors could find it off-putting if they notice such errors, and because of it could deem your site as unprofessional.
• Hyperlinks – Chances are your content will include plenty of links throughout your website. Make sure that all of these are working because broken links are a bad look.
• Images – The visuals of your website play a big role and enrich your content. Because of that, you should consider the size and quality of the images you include. Make sure they’re optimized.
• Product descriptions – If you run an eCommerce online store, you may find it tempting to use cliché lines when it comes to describing your products. But it’s much better to spend quality time on improving this aspect because it will affect your sales.

Conclusion

Launching a website is a process that could be made simpler if you follow the guidelines included in this article. Sure it requires a lot of hard work, but it could be a lot of fun as well. When you know what you need to do in general, this makes it easier for you to follow the steps and get it done. Get creative with the name and design of your website, take care of the technical aspects, and build the hype around the launch of your new website. When you do so, remember that it’s time to celebrate.

Speaking of the technical aspects and the design of your website, definitely keep in mind that DragDropr is the go-to tool when it comes to all this. DragDropr makes the process of designing a website an easy and intuitive one. It doesn’t require any coding skills on your part, and you can get to work right away. Implement your ideas in an effortless way and ensure that the website you’re launching is an awesome one.