8 Things to Check Before Launching a Website

About to launch your new website? Here are some last second ideas to check on right before you pull the trigger.

1. Check your website in all browsers

This is totally the job of your web developer, but your website is also YOUR responsibility. Also for you do-it-yourself people out there, this is something you'll definitely have to check on. The thing is, a website might look one way in one browser, and another way in a different browser. You want it to look the same, and work for all users.

Here is a list of browsers to check your website in. You should at a minimum check it in:

• FireFox
• Internet Explorer 6.0 (very buggy)
  
• Internet Explorer 7.0 (very buggy)
  
• Internet Explorer 8.0
• Safari (yes, even if you don't have a Mac you can download it)
• Google Chrome

There are certainly more browsers you can check it in, but if you hit these 6 then you're probably OK.

2. Check your website on different monitors

If you have a huge monitor at home and your website looks great on it, that's good. But make sure it looks good on smaller monitors and laptops.

One thing to especially look out for is how wide your website is. If the user is forced to scroll from left to right in order to see the whole website than it's too wide. Shrink everything down some or check with your developer for other options and ideas.

3. Check your website on mobile devices

First thing to realize is that Apple products (iPhone, iPad) do not allow any Flash on their devices. So have a background image behind your Flash as a backup.

Again, keep in mind the width of your website. Same concept as checking your site on different monitors, you're going to want to see how it will show up on mobile devices.

Here's a link to test your site on the iPad - http://ipadpeek.com/.

4. Make sure that your online forms are working

It's easy to overlook contact forms. Make sure that when submitted, you're getting an email back with the results. Also make sure that if a user tries to click submit without filling in any of the required fields that they get a friendly error message of some kind.



5. Logo linked to home page

It's always nice to have a user friendly way to get to the home or welcome page. Most sites have a "Home" button somewhere, but go the extra mile and make your logo at the top a link to the home page. It's pretty standard in websites but it's easy to forget about it when creating a website.

6. Check your title tags

The title tag is what appears in the blue bar at the very top of your browser. Make sure the words you see at the top has at least the:

• Name of organization
• Geographic location, if applicable
• Name of current page being viewed

7. Check your keyword and description tags

The meta tags is the information that users to your website don't see, but the search engines do see. It's easy to forget them when focusing on other parts of the website. Make sure that your keyword tags have a few keywords relating to your industry (examples: web design, hampton roads web development) and your description tag is a easy to read introduction sentence to the current page.

8. Get some help...check for grammar and spelling errors

The last thing to do before launching your website is to recruit some co-workers, friends, family member, etc and have them look over your website for spelling and grammar errors. These always show up even months after a site is launched, so it's best to catch as many as you can prior to launching.

Launching a website is an extremely exciting thing to do, but don't get too carried away and launch it before it's really ready. Take some time, do it right, and you'll appreciate it in the long run.

8 Ways to Make Your Website do the Work

So you know you need a website, but maybe you're looking for ideas on how to USE your website effectively. Why get a website unless it helps you accomplish business goals, right? Here are some ideas on what your website can do for you.

1. Use your website for 24/7 sales opportunities

Whether it’s with PayPal or an online shopping cart, a website gives you the opportunity to sell your products and services at any time of day or night. It’s important to give your customers the option of purchasing something when they want. Make it as convenient as you can and provide options.

Note for non-profits:

Maybe you're not selling products, but you probably have donors, or events where people can purchase tickets, or some kind of service that you can sell online. It's very easy to accept online donations using PayPal. Read our blog about the benefits of using PayPal.

2. Use your website as a marketing tool

It is often said that a picture paints a thousand words. You can talk to your potential customers for hours, trying to convince them that you are a professional, top of the line company that can satisfy their needs…or you can let them see for themselves by looking at your website. If it’s properly crafted, a professional website will add loads of credibility to your business.

Be careful though. A homemade looking website can do just as much damage to your credibility as a fantastic website can add to it. You do not want to give your business an amateur feel. As tempting as it might be to have your 14 year old computer-tech nephew create a website for you on the cheap, it's usually not a good idea. Get a profesionally designed one, even if it's a very basic starter site for $400-$500. Related - 5 Easy Ways to Enhance Your Website

3. Post PDF files of your printable brochures or announcements

Save some money on printing by posting your brochures and other handouts on your website. You can still hand out some physical copies but many people would rather have the digital copy anyway.

4. Use your website is an informational tool

A website can save a lot of time and money by being the centerpiece of your marketing material. Make sure that any information that you would want to be made public is easily found on your website. Here are some ideas for general information you can post:

• Contact information (email, phone, fax, etc)
  
• Physical directions to your offices using Google Maps
  
• Information on products and services
• Prices
  
• Calendar of events
• Press room page with articles, press releases, or news features

5. Get referrals easier

Say one of your loyal customers recommends your services to a friend. If their friend is a little unsure, all he has to do is visit your website. If your website looks great, you have a new client.

6. Get feedback easier with an online form

It's a great idea to have a little online form on your contact page. This will let people contact you directly through the website. It looks professional, is easy to setup and manage, and will make life easier on your customers.

7. The search engines will bring potential customers to you 24/7

Through the search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, your potential for reaching new customers is huge. You don't necessarily have to be an expert in search engine optimization to get traffic through the search engines. If your website is simply coded correctly, with the correct keywords scattered throughout your content, you should get some traffic.

If you REALLY want to get the most you can out of the search engines, invest in an SEO (search engine optimization) expert. SEO experts know all the tricks on how to drive relevant traffic to your website. It can be a costly investment, but the payoff can be huge. Just make sure that you hire someone who you trust.

8. Your website can reach people who you never would reach otherwise

Think about the potential...you can actually sell to people who have never even heard of your company. Geographic location is no longer much of an issue. People who find you through Google or Yahoo would probably never find you any other way. Your potential just goes through the roof when you have a properly created website that draws traffic from multiple sources.

Having an effective website is like having another employee who works for you 24/7. It is a time and expense commitment up front, but once you have it created it becomes a long term investment.

The Importance of Article Writing

A very helpful tip for improving your online presence that we are highlighting this week is article writing. Article writing can be a chore and it's difficult to make the time for it, but it's extremely helpful and we strongly recommend everyone use it as part of their online strategy.

Help Before You Sell

The first reason we recommend that you engage in article writing (some people prefer the term "blogging") is that it gives you credibility. With article writing, you can achieve "expert status" in the eyes of your potential consumers. That may be enough to distinguish you from the competition. Help your potential customers first, and they will be more willing to trust you with their hard earned cash.

Content is King

The second reason articles are so helpful is that search engines LOVE good content, which they will find in your articles. There isn't a better way to help your website rise in the search engine rankings than supplying great content to your website. In many markets, it's very possible to be ranked #1 in Google simply from having a Search Engine friendly website and a steady supply of unique articles.

Goals in Article Writing

As we alluded to in our web content writing guide, there are different goals in writing web content for your website. Primarily your goals in article writing are educational. Like we mentioned, you also want to write for search engines, but it's very likely that your articles will just naturally have good keywords in them without you having to intentionally put them in.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you want to keep promotional writing to a minimum. In other words, don't just talk about how great your business is and why your readers should hire you. That's not the purpose of the article. It's recommended that no more than once per article you inform your users of your services. The way you do it is also important...we suggest saying something like "oh by the way, if you want help in this area we can help you, so click here". Don't make your services the focus - keep the focus on helping your readers by educating them. Your readers are looking for helpful information, not a sales pitch.

What to Write About

Here are some ideas on topics for your articles:

• Do-it-yourself tips
  
• Product reviews
• Industry news
• Helpful tips and ideas for your customers
• Client of the Month feature
• Interview style article of industry expert
• How-to training article
  

How Often to Post

We recommend that at a minimum you're posting new, helpful information at least once every 2 months. Ideally it will be much more often than that, but this is a good starting point for most people. We post two articles every month. Figure out what your goal is, what works for you, and stick to it.

Once you publish your article on your website, it's a good idea to announce it to the world. We recommend at a minimum that you post a link to your new articles on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We also suggest that you post them on article directories such as ezinearticles.com. This will help give you more exposure as well as bring incoming links to your website (good for SEO). It is a little time consuming to ensure that your articles get posted correctly in online directories but it's not difficult if you can put forth the extra effort.

The last thing to remember is have fun with it! No one is critiquing your grammar on the internet and as long as you're providing helpful information without ramming your own services in their face you should be successful. We plan on writing an article in the near future about the dynamics of a good article and what it takes to make each article successful. Stay tuned and happy writing!