Having a website for your business is a very important investment. It not only helps you grow your brand awareness but also helps you to draw potential customers to you.

This article is a step-by-step guide on how to launch a new website.

What is a website launch?

Website launch is a term used by bloggers and website owners to describe the announcement or making people know that a website has started its operations which may be article writing, rendering of services etc.

Why should you launch your website?

A website, just like any other business, also needs to be launched. Launching your website will

• Make you and your business visible online.

• It will help you connect with potential customers.

• Helps you build a loyal audience.

How to Launch a new website

1. Website Creatives

Logo: Just like every other business has its logo, you should get a well-designed logo for your website. This logo will in order words be the favicon of your website.

Header Image: This is an image that appears on top of your website and it’s the first thing your visitors see on your blog.

Having a Header image is optional because some prefer to use text as their header than images

2. Pages Setup

Main Pages: Before you launch a new website to the world, you must make sure that you have created the most important pages in your blog which are

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Terms of use (Disclaimer)
• Privacy policy.
• Refund policy

These are the main pages you need and also make sure you add content to those pages. These pages are necessary if you plan of adding Google AdSense to your website

Additional Pages: You can add these pages to your blog to make it look more professional

• Start Here – where you guide your visitors to read the best content in your blog.
• Resources – here you show your audience the tools that you are using to grow your business which may include your Host Company, Your Domain registrar and other tools. This is pretty cool because most bloggers add affiliate links which helps them to make money.

3. Plugin Installation and Configuration

If you are using WordPress, there are important plugins you need to install

Important Plugins

• Yoast Seo
• Broken Link Checker
• Google Analytics by MonsterInsights
• Akismet
• Sucuri Security
• Google site kit
• Elementor
• Jetpack

Plugin configuration

You need to configure some plugins in other to start using them

Yoast SEO: This will help you to optimise your blog posts and pages. You have to take your time and go through the configuration wizard. A successful setup will help rank your website on search engines.

Google Analytics by Monster Insights: This plugin will help you to track your pageviews. You need to register for Google analytics before you start using this plugin.

Duplicator: Have you ever heard stories of how websites were hacked? If you don’t want to be a victim, then you have to set up this plugin. This plugin will help back up your blog so that even if your blog runs into a problem, you can easily restore your content with ease.

4. Theme Customization

Every website will have a theme or layout. A website theme helps to manage the front-end design and establish the overall appearance and functionality.

There are a bunch of free themes available on the internet that can suit your needs whether you are using WordPress or Blogger or a website built with HTML.

However, you must customise your theme and make it look better.

If you are using WordPress, it’s very easy to do.

• Go to Appearance
• Click on themes
• Go to customise.

This will allow you to arrange your blog by adding your newly designed logo, header, and adding navigations to your blog.

However, if you want a static webpage, you can set the homepage to be a static page

5. Content Creation

Creating content means that your website will have a blog to post articles and build loyal audiences.

Welcome Article: Most people make the mistake of launching their website without an introduction post.

There is nothing bad in writing a post titled: Welcome to my website”

Your introduction post should be able to tell the world who you are and what your website is all about. That’s simple.

Write your first 5 articles that drive traffic. Not just any type of article, but a quality article that drives traffic.

The first 5 articles on my blog after my introduction post were more than 1000 words. It will be a good thing if you apply this to your new website.

5. Email Marketing Platform

When launching a new website, you need to set up an Email marketing account. An email marketing platform is used to collect emails from your audience or potential customers to send them newsletters.

Here are the Free Platforms

• Mail Munch
• Mail Chimp
• MailerLite

Paid Platforms

• Get Response
• Aweber
• Convertkit
• Send Lane

6. Social media profiles and automation

Social media is very important in launching a new website. Creating social media profiles will help reach more people and drive traffic. Here are specific tasks to do:

• Create a Facebook Fan Page
• Create a Twitter page
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• YouTube

Create and set up these social media profiles with your business descriptions, address and contact information.

Social Automating account

If you have created social media profiles, it will be very difficult to manage all of them at once. That’s why you need a social automating account like Buffer, Hoot suite, Social Champ etc.

7. Webmaster submission

When launching a new website, index it in the following webmaster’s tools

• Google Webmasters
• Bing Webmasters
• Yandex Webmasters

8. Secure your website

Web security cannot be overemphasised. A lot of people complain about how their blogs are being hacked. I know you wouldn’t like to be a victim of this

It all starts with the username and password.

Do not use “Admin” as your username. Choose a username that is quite ok and has a strong password that nobody in the world can know.

Your Host: You also need to secure your Blog Hosting account. Also, have a strong username and password for it.

Security Plugins: You need to install security plugins like iThemes Security or Sucuri Security.

9. Announce the date and get prepared

Now you are ready to launch your blog. Most blogs are launched online. But you can also choose to launch it offline by organising an event.

BONUS TIPS

BONUS TIP #1: Guest Post to at least 3-5 blogs on your niche

As you already know that launching your website will involve content marketing. It will also be a good thing if you can find other bloggers in your niche and guest post on their blogs.

BONUS TIP #2: Submit to Blog Directories

Submitting your web address can help boost domain authority and SEO. There are thousands of website directories out there. You can submit it manually or hire an agency to do that for you.

BONUS TIP #3: Give something away

Imagine giving something away during your website launch. It might be an eBook or a Cheatsheet. You can use this strategy to get email subscribers.

BONUS TIP #4: Get someone to review your website for free

You can go to a webmaster forum and ask them to review your site. This review will help you put some things in place to make your website outstanding.