The time has finally arrived! You’ve spent several months mapping out the structure, designing the layout, putting everything into code in HubSpot, and you’re now ready to present your organization to the internet.
Happy website launch day!
Building a website is not always an easy task—it requires time, skill, and a dedicated team to put in the hours, the strategy, and the due diligence to create what will be a fully functional virtual home where online visitors can learn more about your business and turn those leads into prospects, and eventually customers.
As you arrive at the website build finish line, you may feel like your job is complete. However, there are several key items to follow through on, especially on the launch day itself. That’s why it’s important to create a HubSpot website launch day checklist. Keep reading to learn some key items your checklist should include.
HubSpot provides a fully integrated CMS that is stable, secure, and optimized for search, mobile, and conversions. Unlike other CMS platforms, HubSpot allows you to manage all of your content—website pages, landing pages, blogs, emails, forms, and content offers, you name it—in one place, helping you to create a more seamless integration for lead generation. Some other key benefits of using HubSpot CMS include:
Before you push your new or improved HubSpot site live, be sure you have reviewed and checked off the following items:
Most obvious errors concerning content should have been caught during your website’s QA process; however, it’s always best to perform a final site-wide skim to ensure that all content is correct. Make sure:
Review your DNS setup in HubSpot to make sure website visitors can access your new site and that your hosting provider has the ability to point your CNAME record to HubSpot. Learn how to connect and check your domain here.
From launch day on, you should be tracking data about your website’s performance, as well as visitor behavior and acquisition, so make sure you’ve set up your Google Analytics account and installed the tracking code properly. One quick way to check this is by viewing the page source of your homepage in a browser to see that the code has been installed in the <head> section.
Similar to Google Analytics, Google Search Console provides valuable insights into your website’s performance, particularly pertaining to search results and SEO. Double-check that your new or updated sitemap has been submitted to Search Console in order to ensure that Google is crawling and indexing your site correctly.
Without URL redirects, you run the risk of leaving visitors in website limbo when they try to visit a page that no longer exists. Check that redirects have been set up for your new sitemap in order to keep customers on your site. Learn how to create a redirect or import a list of them in HubSpot here.
It’s likely that even if you have submitted your redirects, some non-existent URLs may still be floating around, especially with new site launches. When building your site, you should have created a few system pages for server errors, including 404s, or “page not found” error pages. Check that these pages have been set up on your new site and that they are working correctly when unknown or nonexistent permalinks are used.
Regardless of how prepared you are for your site's launch, unforeseen issues can pop up and put a damper on your launch day. Create a list of worst-case scenarios and corresponding plans to know what action you should take in the event that things go wrong.
Although your website is launch-ready, you should still consider ways to optimize it, especially as performance data begins to roll in. Your website is an ever-changing, agile tool for your business—there is always something you can improve or enhance to engage your visitors and encourage them through the Buyer's Journey. Consider the following opportunities:
Congratulations on your HubSpot website’s launch! If you follow the above items and continue to look for ways to improve your site for better visitor interaction and experience, your site is likely to be a high performer and valuable tool for your business.
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