Since the launch of Smartdog digital last week, I’ve decided to share some simple tips that will help you launch a website more successfully.
10 Tips for a successful launch
- Have a holding page to gather interest – Have a simple landing page which allows users to leave their e-mail address to receive an update when you launch. The benefit of this is you have the chance to collect a decent e-mail list for your launch e-mail, whilst your busy building your website.
- Don’t have a count down timer – I learnt this pretty quickly and the hard way. Sometimes it’s impossible to set a deadline especially when your relying on other parties to complete the deadline. If you keep updating your deadline by moving it back then take it down and remove the count down. It will only serve to annoy you and the people waiting for your launch. Trust me!
- Don’t rush a good launch – Never rush a good thing, if you need to spend that extra day or couple of hours testing the website for bugs or checking grammar then do so. Your never going to find every single mistake, but make sure you’ve checked everything to the best you can. Remember, more eyes are better than one!
- Stick to your official launch day– If you’ve just told the whole of Twitter your launching tomorrow then make sure this is possible. The worse thing you could do is not follow through on your promise.
- Tweet about your launch – Definitely do this, if you’ve been building up interest with your Twitter following, then now’s the time to tell them you’ve launch your website. Make sure you include the link to your site in your Tweet.
- E-mail all your contacts – Don’t send them an e-mail campaign unless you have their permission, make sure you contact your immediate network and let them know about the launch. Tells as many people as you can.
- Post your launch to your Facebook contacts – Another great way to generate traffic to your website for launch, if you’ve got a marketable Facebook fan page even better.
- E-mail key bloggers you know – This maybe difficult for those who haven’t established a network of bloggers. If your promoting a new product launch or web application you need to think about potential bloggers who could potentially help to promote the launch of website.
- Tell your LinkedIn Contacts – Many of us have a number of contacts on LinkedIn, you should post a link both in your status update and message contacts directly.
- Make sure your contact details are right– The amount of times I’ve seen this happen. Check your e-mail address and phone number are correct and can be found easily on your website. Also ensure contact forms are working correctly.
There you have it folks, 10 simple tips for a more effective website launch. I’ll be bringing you more insights into how you promote your website online after it has launched in the next couple of weeks.
If you have any further tips to add, I’d love to hear them in the comments.
