Guide for launching enterprise websites

Often times, the launch of a website needs better planning. So much goes into the prior stages of design, development, testing, etc. The launch of an enterprise website can often feel like a by-product rather than a signature event. For this reason, many websites have awkward launches with clumsy introductions to the marketplace.

This short-list offers some items worthy of consideration as a launch plan.

Enterprise website launch plan

• Prior to the full website launch, build and make live a pre-launch landing page. Do not create a "coming soon" page. Give this pre-launch landing page a purpose. The page should give a little background on the enterprise, a contact form or email subscription form, list of product or service offering(s), social connections and press contact info. It may also be a good idea to add content to this landing page, as an enterprise gets closer to launching their website. Don't treat the pre-launch landing page as an after-thought. Make it part of your work plan with your development team, so resources are allocated appropriately.
• Collect all your resources and list your dependancies for the website launch. The project manager should have a list of live server access credentials, domain management access credentials, Analytics systems (code), and any team members that will play a role technically or otherwise. Make this list early, as many brands put this off thinking this information should be easy to gather--often it is not.
• "How is content coming?" Perhaps the most common reason for a website to not launch is the lack of content. Many enterprises think content is the easy part, until they begin the process. Content can hold up website launches. Many brand or website managers will "simply" not launch sections of a website that do not have content. This is also a mistake, as it can waste resources creating work-around architectures for those improv decisions. Create a content plan in the beginning of the web design planning process, and set up multiple milestones throughout the process to ensure content production is moving along smoothly.
• Where do leads go? The decision of who handles leads that come in through the website can often be a sticking point. Determine who receives website leads and how they should be handled. Ironpaper often recommends integrating marketing and website operations--often using marketing automation software to make lead nurturing more deliberate.
• Prepare some blog content ahead and schedule it's publication. Many organizations spend huge amounts of time and effort on the website launch, only to neglect the website after it's live. Plan ahead. Create blog content in advance and publish the content on a schedule.
• Get your social media in order. Just like your server access credentials, ensure your social media accounts are set-up and that your team can login. Many enterprises have ex-employees controlling their social accounts--by accident. This can be a real issue for marketing and brand teams.
• Try to anticipate your server demand. Some websites launch and nothing happens--it is quiet and there are no fireworks. Other websites launch only to crash because of demand.  The demand will depend on existing traffic, market anticipation, pre-launch marketing initiatives, ad campaigns, press and other factors. If you anticipate massive demand, then try employing scalable resources to handle the spikes in the demand. Consider using clustered servers, CDNs or distribution engines to help stabilize your web server. Prior to launch, do a quick health check on the server. For websites with no demand, plan ahead... Try to build some demand, and after launch work hard to execute well against your marketing plan.
• Have a marketing plan in place prior to launch. Don't "figure it out" after the launch of the new website. Put into place a plan early, and begin the marketing execution prior to the launch of the website. Get the wheels moving!
• Test and test often. Test the website, including browser computability, mobile adaptiveness, speed tests (mobile and desktop), security tests, manual click-through tests, automated testing, etc. Also don't forget to have primary stakeholders explore the website early.
• Don't wait to begin marketing. Begin marketing at least 30 days prior to the launch--use the pre-launch landing page. Fire up all channels: social, search, paid, email, etc.
• Install all analytics. Double check to make sure all analytics are installed.