After months of planning, glitches, edits and testing, your new site is finally live. Huzzah!
The heavy lifting is done — or so you thought. Before you can sit back and watch site visits jump and conversions skyrocket, there’s more work ahead. Sending an announcement email and issuing a press release are only the beginning.
Are you ready for the updates and constant monitoring that keep your site fresh and visible? Check these post-launch tasks off your list:
Back it up. Do you have a disaster plan in place if your site suddenly crashes? All files, images, content and more should be backed up to ensure your hard work (and the hours and resources you’ve poured in) can be fully restored fast. BackUpBuddy and JetPack for WordPress sites are a couple of backup plugin options to consider, saving you a massive headache in a worst-case scenario.
Eyeball your analytics. Who’s visiting your site? Where are they landing? How quickly are they bouncing? From traffic to visitor behavior, website analytics offer a wealth of valuable knowledge that can help you determine if your site goals are being met. Don’t have goals? That’s another conversation.
Test, test and test again. Make sure everything works and delivers top functionality on different operating systems and devices. For example, is your site FULLY optimized for mobile? You’d be surprised how many still aren’t. Click on all links, redirects, forms and PDFs throughout the website. While you’re at it, scan for grammatical errors you might have missed.
Keep things running at top speed. Let’s face it, we all hate waiting. If your website speed is lagging, visitors will leave and click elsewhere. Plus, when it comes to website rankings, speed (or lack of) is a critical factor. Check out tools like Page Speed Insights or GTmetrix to see how your website performs.
Don’t let it go stale. Make sure your content is timely and regularly updated. That gives your visitors a reason to keep coming back. Use a content calendar to map out your approach, and provide a steady stream of blogs, news releases and page content updates to generate steady inbound traffic. Schedule a content audit to take inventory of what you have, what you need and what can be scrapped.
Make sure your social media pages follow suit. Your site embodies your updated brand image, but what about your social presence? Update your “about” section, images and more. Your overall web presence should align with the new site’s look and feel.
Present a unified front. Speaking of alignment, the same goes for marketing materials across the board. Have you updated email signatures with the site’s new color palette (if it changed), or business cards with revised fonts and colors? (Yes, business cards are still a thing.) It’s all about building a cohesive brand presence.
Revel in a job well done. Then get ready to do it all again in a year or two, since that’s how the world works. New trends, themes and technology advances mean you can’t rest on your laurels too long without getting left behind.