Launching a new website is very exciting, but it can also be a bit overwhelming if you’re not familiar with the process.
Even for experienced digital marketers, it can be stressful. From concept to launch, the entire process can take anywhere from 10 to 14 weeks.
However, there are a few ways to speed up the process, like using Hocoos – an AI-powered website builder tool.
Apart from this, you can also use many other tips for launching a new website quickly.
Today, we are going to share a step-by-step launching website guide with you. Moreover, we’ll also discuss 7 ways to fasten the entire process.
10 Steps to Create and Launch Your Website
Starting a website is important for business growth. It opens doors to reach your target audience and builds trust by showcasing your unique value. Follow this step-by-step launching website process:
Step 1: Choose the Perfect Domain Name
The first and crucial step in launching a new website is choosing the right domain name that reflects your brand. A poorly chosen name can cost you potential site traffic, so it’s important to get it right.
When people search for your business online, you want to appear at the top of search results. The structure of your website’s URL plays a role in this.
A good domain name should be memorable, short, and easy to pronounce. If it includes relevant keywords, even better. Consider what your audience might search for when looking for businesses like yours.
Step 2: Select the Right Hosting Provider
Once you’ve got your domain sorted, the next step is finding the perfect home for your website – that’s where web hosting comes in. It might sound a bit complicated, but it’s not.
Web hosting companies provide space on these servers, saving you the hassle of managing your own. You can even choose the same company where you got your domain for seamless coordination.
Here are the leading types of hosting services:
- Shared Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- WordPress Hosting
- Dedicated Server Hosting
Choose the right hosting type based on your business needs and customer support, considering affordability, storage, and performance. There are plenty of services out there.
Step 3: SSL Certificates
When choosing a domain hosting company, it’s crucial to check if they provide an SSL certificate. It is like a security guard for your website. It’s installed on the hosting server to create a more secure connection between your website and its users.
You can easily spot websites with SSL certificates because they start with https:// instead of just http:// in the URL. Since July 2018, Google has been flagging non-HTTPS websites as “not secure.”
Step 4: Choose an Easy to Use CMS
Once you take care of the SSL Certificate, it’s time to pick a Content Management System (CMS). Choose something that fits your budget, availability, coding comfort, and business requirements.
In simpler terms, consider how much time and money you’re willing to invest in:
- Learning to code
- Content management
- Hiring a web developer
If you decide to hire a freelance developer to build your business website, remember that you’ll be responsible for maintaining and managing it.
Step 5: Create a Stunning Website Design
Now, let’s focus on how your website will look – design and presentation matter for first impressions.
Your average visitor spends about 7 seconds on a website, so you only have a short window to make a good first impression before they click away.
If you already have a logo, you know the colors you want for your website. Now, think about the styles you’ll use. To maintain a consistent user experience, pick one design style and stick with it.
Step 6: Make Purposeful Content
Content is the heart of your website. It’s what attracts, engages, and converts your audience into loyal customers.
Creating content pages requires a thoughtful strategy aligned with your goals. Ask yourself: What kind of content will quickly grab your target audience’s attention?
Follow these best practices to stay on track:
- Plan each page with a loose outline and bullet points.
- Combine standard blog posts with engaging elements like images, audio, and videos.
- Strike a balance between showcasing your brand’s value and addressing your audience’s needs.
- Focus on serving your audience rather than boasting about achievements.
- Craft well-thought-out calls to action that explicitly guide and motivate visitors.
Step 7: Boost Your Search Engine Visibility
It’s not enough to have great content if your site isn’t showing up on search engine results pages and your audience can’t discover your site online.
To ensure your pages get noticed by search engine algorithms, full optimization for SEO is crucial. SEO-friendly content is the key to climbing higher in SERP listings.
- On-Page SEO
Focus on onsite elements like title tags, targeted keywords, internal links, SEO copywriting, headings, meta descriptions, relevant images with alt text, and other optimizations.
- Technical SEO
Optimize website and server elements for effective crawling and indexing. Check items like loading speeds, robots.txt files, site architecture, canonical tags, schema and structured data, mobile-first indexing, and more.
- Off-Page SEO
Create backlinks, engage in guest posting, promote on social media, PR efforts, optimize Google My Business (GMB), and more.
Step 8: Implement Analytics for Insightful Data
Understanding how visitors interact with your content and assessing your site’s performance is crucial for every brand. This is why monitoring analytics platforms such as Google Analytics and CMS analytics is essential.
Before launching a new website, determine which metrics are crucial for your goals. Having access to data from day one allows you to make immediate data-driven improvements.
Step 9: Check for Bugs
It is also important for developers to identify and fix potential bugs in the code prior to launch. This process typically occurs during the quality assurance (QA) phase.
Any elements that don’t work as intended are labeled as “bugs,” such as a non-functional button. These bugs are documented and sent to developers for resolution.
Step 10: Make Announcement about Your Website Launch
When it comes to announcing your new website, there are several effective strategies tailored to your business and target audience. Here are some channels you can use to make the announcement of launching a new website:
- Social Media Promotion
- Press Release
- Email Marketing
- Promotional Offers
7 Ways to Launch Your New Website Faster
Now that you understand the step-by-step process of launching a website let’s look at a few ways to do it faster.
1) Don’t Focus on Perfection
One common hurdle hindering website launches is the belief that the website must be flawless before going live. It’s essential to overcome this perfectionist mindset. As long as your site is of high quality and allows for easy post-launch updates, minor content tweaks should not impede your progress.
2) Adopt a Less-is-More Approach
When dealing with an outdated site that impedes your objectives, opting for a simplified initial website can expedite the launch. A small, straightforward site can still significantly impact your marketing and communication efforts.
Launch with a basic version, providing essential details, and enhance it with additional forms, pages, or tools after going live. Concentrate on delivering crucial information to your supporters, community, and clients initially. You can later expand the site with additional features and details as time allows.
3) Split Up the Work
As the main project manager, you don’t have to do everything yourself to launch a new website. Ask other people on the team or skilled workers to help with things like testing forms, taking pictures, or making content.
Make a style guide and stick to it to make sure that everyone who contributes to your site looks the same. It will help you be consistent and make the whole process go more quickly.
4) Look for Outsourcing Options
Consider hiring freelancers to do particular duties if your team members are unavailable to participate in the website project or if you need extra help.
In fields like content writing, graphic design, formatting, and any other area where outside help can be helpful, freelancers can contribute their skills.
In addition to saving you time and mental strain, working with freelancers enables you to bring in experts for projects that are outside of your area of expertise.
5) Set Clear Deadlines for Each Stage
Instead of having one end date for launching a new website, break the project up into smaller steps, each with its own due date. This plan helps keep the team’s attention and the project on track.
You might want to set due dates for important tasks like – writing content, laying out pages, testing, and finalizing the website’s structure. These standards will help your team get off the ground and run.
6) Use AI Website Builders
AI-powered website builders could speed up the design and building process. AI solutions can automate many parts of building a website, including writing content, designing the style, and making sure the site is search engine optimized.
Most of the time, these platforms have easy-to-use tools that make it simple for people who aren’t very tech-savvy.
7) Make Use of Project Management Tools
If you want to make setting up a new website go more smoothly, use project management tools. They can help your team work better and make sure that everyone knows their part in the project and when it’s due.
Conclusion
It might take a long time to create and launch a new website as you have to start from scratch. The seven ways we’ve listed in this post, on the other hand, will speed up the whole process. If you use AI Website Builder tools or make a simple website, you can get your site up and running in just a few days.
