THE BLOG

The Key to a Website Launch is Staying Organized

Thinking about launching or relaunching a website? It can seem daunting initially but the key is in the planning. A solid initial plan will guide you through the whole process. There will be the inevitable small changes to timelines, requirements, so staying organized and nimble with a document outlining the plan makes the process much easier to manage.

Websites are always a work in progress. There may be some “nice to haves” that come up in the planning stage that can be moved to a Plan B. There are always rapid changes in software or usability, so for example, a year past launch, you may make changes. It’s never static. The key is to have knowledgeable and reliable people to help you continue making your web properties better.


 

Step 1: Planning
Put together a project plan that outlines:

  • Overall Purpose: business goals, objectives of the site, target audiences
  • Content Strategy: goals of the site, how the site addresses the needs of the audience, challenges/opportunities, stakeholders in the project
  • Scope: resources needed, software needed, functionality requirements, timelines, launch plan, ongoing promotion of site
  • Publishing Strategy: roles and responsibilities of the new site, editorial calendar (if required), content types, publishing expectations
  • Measurement: goals, conversions, tagging strategy, the measurement cycle

Step 2: Design

  • UX
  • Graphic Design

Step 3: Development

Step 4: Execution

  • QC
  • Testing: security, functionality
  • Soft launch
  • Hard launch

Step 5: Maintenance

Once live:

  • Content: updating
  • Troubleshooting
  • Ongoing updates to page functionality, SEO, CMS, etc.
  • Adding new extensions

 

This is a quick reference guide – and not exhaustive. The key to website projects is to stay organized. The project plan will make life easier for all stakeholders, as it acts as an overall brief and will come in handy when new ideas are brought up during the project – it can help litigate change in project scope or scope creep.