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As an entrepreneur, having a website for your business is one of the best ways to serve your ideal clients, help them get to know you, and showcase your services. However, launching a website is not a simple task you can execute on a whim. First off, there are many different styles of websites to choose from. Then, once you’ve decided on your website style, there are several steps involved in the website strategy and many key pieces to consider before hitting “publish.” In this blog post, you’ll learn the six things you should consider before launching your website and leave with a clear plan of what your next steps are.

 

1. Analyze your current website and/or social media. 

After you decide that you are ready to go all-in and launch your website, you should first analyze your current website and/or social media. If you currently have a website, whether it’s up-to-date or not, ask yourself if it could be revamped to become the website you’re dreaming of. If it functions well, but the design and copy are off, those elements can easily be fixed without starting from scratch. A site audit is a great way to look at what you currently have and make a plan for what needs to be redone, what can be reused, and establish a strong starting point for your website to fit your brand and functions optimally.

If you don’t have a website, analyze your social media pages. You can also get an instagram follower service. If you have a business Facebook or Instagram page or are present on LinkedIn, chances are, you have a great start when it comes to determining the important information that should be included on a website. Analyze what aspects of those pages you like and would want to include somewhere on your website. Look for opportunities to promote your website on your social media as well.

 

2. Determine the goal of your website.

Another thing to consider before starting a website is to determine the actual goal of your website. Consider these questions to help you choose the goal of your website.

• Do you want to share blog or podcast content on your website?
• Do you need e-commerce support so customers can shop on your website?
• Do you want your website to be a way for you to showcase your services and get to know your ideal customers?
• Do you want your website to work for you and serve as a membership platform for members of your online course or membership?

 

 

3. Set your budget.  

After determining what you need your website to do for you and your business, set a budget for yourself. Be realistic as you decide on this number and choose a price range. Remember, the quality of the website will be reflected in the price. That doesn’t mean you need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a website that costs you $100 will be reflected in the quality. Your website is an investment in your business and yourself, and if done right, it will pay for itself in no time and start converting for you on autopilot.

 

4. Decide if you are going to DIY your website or hire a pro.  

Now that you have a budget, you can decide if you’re going to go the DIY route or hire a pro to design and build your website. If you feel confident with technology and have a good idea of the look and feel you want your website to have, you may choose the DIY route. If you don’t have the budget to hire a pro and aren’t super confident in doing it all on your own, a customizable site kit template would be an excellent option for you. Got a decent budget and want to outsource it completely? Hire a pro and watch the magic unfold!

 

5. Choose your tech.

No matter which route you go, whether DIY, site kit template or hiring a website designer, there are a few key tech pieces you’ll need to nail down first. Before you get started, you’ll need to select a domain name from a website such as Namecheap. Next, pick the platform that your website will function on. We are team WordPress.org all the way! Finally, choose your hosting site, as this is where your site will live. We use Kinsta and WPEngine for most of our websites.

 

6. Set a launch date and work backwards.

Now comes the fun part–setting a launch date and working backward to plan your website and content. If you have a realistic, clear date in mind, your website designer will be able to help you break down the website design process to ensure your site is ready to launch by that date. If you customize a site kit template or DIYing your website, having a launch date will help you stay on track as you design and build. Leading up to your website launch, start teasing it on your social media and in your emails. You can even add a “coming soon” page as a placeholder on your website to create excitement around your big launch. Then when the big day comes, celebrate and tell the world!

We hope these six must-dos before launching a website have helped reduce the overwhelm and break down this process for you, so it doesn’t feel so daunting. By considering these things and tackling them step-by-step, you’ll have your dream website up in no time.

To help you work through this process, we’ve created a quick quiz to help you determine what path you should take based on your goals to get your website launched.

 

Take the quiz here!