It’s no secret that launching a website takes a lot of work. There are so many moving parts and details to take care of, it can be easy to overlook something important. That’s why we’ve put together this checklist of things to do before launching your website.
By taking care of these items beforehand, you can avoid any last-minute scrambling and launch your site with confidence.
1. Choose Your Domain Name Carefully
Your domain name is your website’s address on the internet. It’s how people will find you, so it’s important to choose a good one.
When picking a domain name, try to keep it short, memorable, and relevant to your business or brand. And if you can, get a .com domain. They’re the most popular and tend to be the most trusted by users.
2. Get Hosting Set Up
Before your website can go live, you’ll need to set up hosting. This is basically renting space on a server for your website’s files. There are many different hosting providers out there, so do some research to find one that’s right for you. Be sure to consider things like price, features, and customer support when making your decision.
There are three primary types of hosting services: shared, virtual private server (VPS), and dedicated. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages that you’ll need to consider before selecting a hosting plan.
Shared hosting is the most popular type of hosting, and it’s perfect for small to medium-sized websites. With shared hosting, your website shares server resources with other websites. Shared hosting also offers flexibility and scalability, so you can upgrade to a more powerful hosting plan as your website grows.
Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a good option for websites that are too large for shared hosting but not yet ready for dedicated hosting. With VPS hosting, your website is hosted on its own virtual server, which is isolated from other websites on the same physical server. VPS hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, but it’s still a good option for small to medium-sized websites.
Dedicated hosting is the most powerful and expensive type of hosting. With dedicated hosting, your website is hosted on its own physical server. This means that you’ll have complete control over the server resources, and your website will not be affected by traffic spikes from other websites. Dedicated hosting is ideal for large websites that receive a lot of traffic.
3. Create Useful Content
People come to websites for content, so it’s important to have some ready before you launch. Think about what kind of information or resources your target audience would be looking for and create content that meets those needs. If you’re not sure where to start, try writing blog posts, creating infographics, or putting together an e-book or white paper.
4. Optimize Your Site for Search
If you want people to find your website, you need to make sure it’s optimized for search engines like Google.
This means using the right keywords throughout your content and in your site’s metadata. It also involves making sure your site is easy to navigate and loads quickly. For more tips on how to do this, check out our guide to SEO for beginners.
5. Design a User-Friendly Interface
Your website’s interface is how users interact with it. So it’s important to design one that’s easy to use and navigate. That means keeping things simple and organized. Use clear and concise text, and make sure your call-to-actions are prominent and easy to find.
And don’t forget about mobile users! Make sure your site looks good and works well on smaller screens.
6. Set Up Analytics Tracking
If you want to improve your website, you need to track your progress. Google Analytics is a free tool that lets you do just that. It gives you insights into things like how people are finding your site, what they’re doing when they get there, and where they’re coming from.
This information can be extremely valuable in helping you fine-tune your website and marketing efforts.
7. Test It Out
Before you launch your website, it’s important to test everything to make sure it’s working properly.
This includes things like checking all your links to make sure they go to the right place, testing your forms to ensure they’re submitting correctly, and previewing your site on different browsers and devices. Once you’re confident everything is working as it should, you’re ready to launch!
Launching a website can be a lot of work. But by taking care of these items beforehand, you can launch with confidence, knowing that you’ve covered all your bases. So what are you waiting for? Get started on your checklist today!