Ready for lift-off!
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve spent perfecting your new website, get the launch process wrong and you could drop off the map altogether.
You see, launching a brand new website can be challenge enough, but replacing an old site requires a whole different set of checklists and tick boxes to make sure everything has been covered because, if not, you’re in real danger of losing that valuable online presence and reputation you’ve spent so long creating.
Think of it like moving house. Just think of all the excitement of choosing your new home, new furniture / décor, meeting the new neighbours, checking out local amenities – it’s all great, positive stuff, right? So, it’s easy to get caught up in that and overlook the essentials which will make your move go smoothly – that also applies to moving from your old website to the bright, shiny new one you’re about to launch.
We’re talking about all of the nitty gritty essentials you need to consider when moving home; such as booking the moving van, packing your stuff, redirecting your mail, telling all your friends where to find you, inviting them to the house warming party – the list goes on.
In website terms, these are all things you need to consider too. At the basic level, carefully choosing the date to launch your new site is critical; moving it outside business hours may seem like a good plan, but will your new hosting company or tech support team be available to help you at 4pm on a Sunday if something doesn’t go to plan?
Then there’s all of that great content on your old website, which your previous online visitors may have bookmarked to revisit later – what will happen to those links if they click them after your website has moved? This applies to search engines too, as they won’t instantly update all of their links to pages you have listed in search results, no matter how nicely you ask! It takes time, and a little bit of tech 😉
The secret is in the checklists.
As a process-driven company, we pretty much have a checklist for everything – and we’ve not regretted a single one. You see, checklists give you a blueprint, a really clear map to follow so you don’t get lost or miss any vital steps – so the move is effortless.
I recall one client who’d been with us for a few years but was woo-ed away by a slick salesperson promising champagne results on a beer-bottle budget! The dream they sold looked good, promises were made, and the site was “moved” away to its new online home.
Except it wasn’t a “move” at all – it was the equivalent of burning the house down!
Integrations with third-party suppliers that had worked for years stopped working. Visitor data and statistics were wiped, emails disappeared, content was missing in action and Google couldn’t find them for love nor money.
When the call came, we knew we had to act quickly to recover all the lost data, images and content, and start work straight away to undo the damage done to the all-important search engine listings. We put a plan in place to recover and rebuild, using our own checklist as the “packing list” showing us what needed to be where, then making that happen – much to the client’s relief!
If you’re in the throes of creating or restructuring your existing website, the thing to remember is take the time to plan carefully. Just like those packing boxes; if everything you need to take with you is clearly labelled and carefully stored, the move will go smoothly and you’ll be sitting pretty in your new (online) home in no time. Now, where did I put the kettle…?
Want 5 easy ways to make more money using skills you already have? Grab your FREE copy of my eBook, Leverage Your Expertise Online, today: www.fatpromotions.co.uk/leverage and discover how to create new income streams by unlocking the hidden profit in your business through your website.