The day you publish your content to the Internet for the very first time is called a website launch.Some launches begin without anyone but the webmaster aware of the change and others are anticipated for months in advance.Want a site that
sells and gets noticed? Here are five things you must do before launching your website to guaranty success.
1. Find a great web host
Don't just find a good web host, find a great one.Ideally, you want a
host that will grow with you.The amount of traffic you get in your earliest days
online may be small, but your site or business will grow, and if your web host can't
keep up with an increase in visitors or sales, they'll hold you back.
When looking for web hosting, always do these things:
- Read hosting
reviews. Reviews from current and former clients of web hosting companies
are the single best way to gauge just how reliable a web host really is.
- Contact web hosts. Write or call web hosts you're interested in and make
sure they have a scalable business model that will allow you to add space or bandwidth
to your plan at any time.
- Read the Terms of Service. All web hosting companies have their Terms of
Service (TOS) listed on their websites.The Terms of Service will tell you what is
and isn't allowed with each host. While one host may disallow IRC chat, another
will welcome it.If you're planning to connect with customers by IRC, you'll
need a host who will support you and not shut you down before you make your very
first sale.
2. Write content ahead of time.
The day your site goes live, you must have something online for your viewers to
get excited about.If you're starting a blog, write one month's worth of
posts ahead of time so that on launch day, there are 30 different ways to interest
readers. If you're opening an online store, list all available products and
write eye catching descriptions ahead of time.
3. Get social media accounts.
Don't wait until the last minute to try and snatch up a Twitter or Facebook
username that matches your domain name. Whenever possible, before buying a domain name, you'll want to
see if the most important social media outlets have a username available that matches
your domain.If you run a used car business called Trusty Used Cars and have
the domain name to match, you don't want to find out later that another Twitter
user already owns Trusty Used Cars and is tweeting daily about how shady
the used car business is. Don't take the chance that your reputation will be
ruined by a total stranger!
4. Proofread
Go over your website content with a spellchecker and then, do it again.Have others
close to you proofread your content, too.They may catch a spelling, grammatical
or design errors that you didn't notice.
5. Announce your launch date.
Get some excitement building before you even open your doors. Since you already
have social media accounts, start talking in advance about the launch date. Tell
people the exact date and time you'll open for business and have friends and
family do the same.
You hold the keys to your own success online. The more work you do before your website
launch date, the less you'll have to contend with once your site goes live.
How successful do you want to be?