Launching a website can be exhilarating and utterly satisfying. We recently launched a website on behalf of a construction company.  We’ve now got time to analyse what went well and what we need to look out for on our next website build.  Here’s what we’ve learned:

Communication

Unless you are physically building the website yourself, you will need to hire a web designer.  Make sure that they understand your brief and that you are happy with any decisions they are making.  Red Desk project manage website builds and act as a liaison between the client and web designer thus ensuring that things like the theme picked by the web designer is something that the client is happy with.

Website Layout

Once you are happy with the theme, this will determine the pages that you will need to create.  List what you will need, a starting suggestion would be:

• Home Page
• About Us
• Blog/News
• Contact Us

Then depending on your sector, you may need to add in Services pages or Portfolio.  A tip would be to take a look at competitors’ sites to see what they have included and think if they are necessary or not.

Website Content

Is this an entirely new website or are you upgrading your existing website?

For a new website, refer to the website layout that you have planned.  For an upgrade, identify which pages are essential, where content might need to be spilt and where it might need to be rewritten.

SEO

When writing the content for the website you need to consider your audience – are they a local audience or is your reach global?  This will help you determine which keywords you wish to rank for. Do take a look at our article on considering SEO for local marketing as it will give you some tips.

Checklist for a launched website

Once a website is launched, it is easy to think that the job is done and move onto the next project.  However, do spend some time doing the following:

• Proofread the website – check the grammar and spelling are perfect
• Check the links and pages – make sure that the menu pages are linked correctly and there are no broken links
• If you are using WordPress then use the Yoast plugin to add meta data and improve ranking for keywords
• Make sure you’ve added GDPR, privacy notices and cookies consent notices and pages
• Submit your site map to Google so that it can be crawled and indexed
• Check that the social media links and contact page work
• Set up and link Google Analytics and submit your site map to Google Console
• Check the website is secure – do you need an SSL certificate for example?
• Is your site mobile friendly – Test the site on a mobile device and work with your web designer to fix any problems

Documentation

You might be able to remember who you used to build your site or to host it now but in a few years you may have forgotten.  It is therefore important to document this information as it makes it easier for a handover or when you come to upgrade your site at a later date.  Make sure you record:

• Web designer’s details
• IT company, Graphic Designer and anyone else that helped
• Hosting information (including logins and expiry dates)
• Login details for the website, Google Analytics, email accounts, hosting etc

Website Maintenance

Now that the site is launched, you will need to keep it maintained.

• Write blogs with relevant keywords
• Use social media to send readers to your website
• Update plugins
• Review the speed of the website
• Review your website for broken links
• Audit your website’s content – are all the blogs still relevant, have you changed your focus/services you provide?

Red Desk support a number of businesses with their online presence from the creation of website (project management, content writing etc) right through to website maintenance (website reviews, updating plugins or writing new blogs).  Talk to us today about we can help your company 020 8815 0874.