Getting your website right feels like setting up a storefront in the busiest part of town. You want everything to be perfect for the grand opening and to keep the momentum going long after.
Whether you’re crafting a brand-new site or giving an old one a facelift, there’s a checklist that can help ensure you’re putting your best foot forward from day one.
This article offers straightforward, actionable steps to prepare your site before launch and optimise it afterwards, ensuring you attract and retain your audience.
Pre-Launch Website Optimisation Checklist
Here are some of the things to check off your pre-launch website optimisation checklist:
Check redirects
If you’re creating an entirely new website, don’t worry about this step. However, checking redirects before launching is crucial if you're redesigning your site. By creating 301 redirects (permanent redirects), users and search engines who visit old URLs are automatically sent to the new ones. If you forget to set up redirects, users will end up on pages that no longer exist, lowering your traffic and conversion rates.
Have an on-page SEO strategy
It's important to have an on-page SEO strategy for your website to rank on search engines once you’ve launched it. So, what does an on-page SEO strategy involve?
- High-quality content
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Headings (H1 - H6)
- URL structure
- Alt text for images
- Keyword optimisation
- Internal linking
Creating pages with high-quality content and headings that make it easy to read not only satisfies user intent but also makes it clearer for search engines, both of which are incredibly important for SEO.
Review copy and media
Before launching your site, check your copy to ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors and all lorem ipsum has been removed. It’s also important to check that your images and videos appear properly on the website.
Review the branding and design
Ensure that your website’s branding and design are consistent across the entire website to ensure a cohesive user experience. As you go through your website, check to ensure that
- Your logo is visible
- Typography and colour are consistent across all pages
- The layout is clear and organised
No matter which page a user lands on from search engines, the branding and design should be consistent to ensure they know it’s your business.
Check your site across devices
Nowadays, most people browse the internet on their phones, so it’s important to have a website that looks great on both desktop and mobile devices. When your website is still in a staging environment, check to see what it looks like across desktop, tablet and mobile, as it allows you to see any issues that may negatively impact user experience, conversion rates and sales.
Create an XML sitemap and check the robots.txt file
An XML sitemap is a file that includes all of the pages on your website that you want indexed in search results. Creating an XML sitemap is essential for search engines to find your site more efficiently.
Depending on the CMS you use, it will create an XML sitemap automatically, or you can use tools such as XML-Sitemaps.com to do it for you. Once you’ve created it, submit it to Google. It’s also important to check your robots.txt file (it tells crawlers which page they should and shouldn’t access) to ensure search engines can crawl your website and display the content you want in search results.
You can see your robots.txt file by adding “/robots.txt” to the end of your URL.
Ensure your site serves HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) guarantees that data transmitted between a computer and a website remains confidential and secure, a critical component for modern websites.
Essentially, HTTPS ensures that unauthorised individuals, such as hackers, don't access your visitors’ information (IP addresses or credit card information).
HTTPS is so important that Google made it a ranking factor. This means that HTTPS can boost your website’s visibility and make visitors trust your site more. To set up HTTPS, you need to get an SSL certificate, which encrypts the data between your website and its users). SSL certificates are provided as part of most reputable hosting plans, and if it’s not, you should talk to your hosting provider.
Post-Launch Website Optimisation Checklist
Your website has launched, and the hard work has paid off! Well, not quite yet. Post-launch website optimisation ensures that your website runs smoothly, ranks well in search engine results, and provides an excellent user experience. Here are some things to check off once your website has been launched:
Run a site audit
When users land on a webpage, they trust it a lot more when it loads quickly and has no errors. To check that your website is running smoothly, running a site audit is one of the first things to do after launching. A site audit will allow you to see if the website has any broken links or duplicate content you may have missed during the staging process. There are many free website tools on Google.
Improve your site speed
Site speed is another ranking factor that Google considers when placing your website in search results. Therefore, a fast website ranks higher and attracts more traffic. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyse and improve your site’s loading times with the results and suggestions it gives you.
Optimise your conversions
Tweaking minor aspects of your website can significantly enhance your conversion rates.
The best time to optimise your conversions is when your site begins attracting traffic. One effective method for improving conversions is through A/B testing. This involves comparing two variations of a single element to determine which is more effective.
You can apply A/B testing to various website components to boost conversions, such as:
- The wording of your call to action (CTA)
- Page headlines
- Visual elements
- The colours of certain buttons
A/B testing will reveal which variation leads to a higher conversion rate. Tools like SplitSignal make it straightforward to conduct A/B tests on different website elements to help identify the modifications that will most likely enhance clicks and conversions.
Effective Website Optimisation with Anchor
Launching and maintaining a high-ranking website is crucial for success in today’s digital world. If you’re planning to build a new website or redesign your existing one but don’t know where to start with optimisation, look no further than Anchor Digital. Our team is ready to take your website to the next level, using our expertise to improve your online presence and achieve your goals. By choosing us, you’re not just getting a service; you’re gaining a partner dedicated to your success.
Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about how we can make your website stand out and perform well on search engine results pages. We look forward to seeing your business succeed online.
