Website Launch Checklist

Whether you're launching a website for the first time or going through a redesign, there's some things you should do for a site launch:

• Setup 301 Redirects - only applies to a website redesign and ensures that the search engines know where the old pages are moving to. The process involved in setting up a 301 redirect is dependent on whether you have a Apache or IIS (Windows) server.
• Setup a Custom 404 Page - When you're going through a site redesign, it's a smart tactic to use a custom 404 page to catch any visitors that your 301 redirects missed. Just like a 301 redirect, you'll either need to setup your custom 404 on your Apache or IIS server. If you're not sure what to put on your custom 404 page, check out Apple.com. They have a great example of a custom 404 page.
• Check for Broken Links - make sure that all the links on your site are working. You can use a link checker to find any broken links.
• Setup an XML Site Map - will provide an easy way for search engines crawl the pages on your website. Google offers a simple XML sitemap generator. Then register at Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo Site Explorer and submit your XML sitemap. After verifying your website, both search engines can use your XML sitemap as a guide to crawl your website.
• Setup Analytics - make sure that you're tracking your visitors from day one. If you're already using analytics on the old website, make sure that during the transition the code gets placed on the new site. If you don't have any analytics, sign up for Google Analytics.

And don't forget, once the website is launched, you're going to want to launch your internet marketing campaign...but that's a checklist for another day.

Moving or Redesigning Your Website for SEO

Many people don’t realize that when they want to move their website to a new domain or do a redesign, it can possibly hurt your site performance in the search engines. There are ways to do this without hurting your rankings.

301 redirects are very helpful, especially if you are moving from an old domain to a new domain. A 301 redirect is a search engine friendly way to redirect your webpages to another website or webpage. The code 301 is interpreted as “moved permanently” and tells the search engines that the old website or webpage has moved to a new domain or new webpage.

If your website is listed in directories or linked to other websites, it is ideal to contact the webmaster of each site that links to yours to update the links. If this isn’t possible, another option is make sure the 301 redirect is in place so when someone clicks on your old link it will redirect to the new one.

Make sure you create a Sitemap of your website. This is helpful in making sure the spiders crawl your entire site. Make sure that the Sitemap is submitted to Google and Yahoo, so their spiders know that it is available to be crawled.

It’s also helpful to create a custom 404 page, which lists a link back to your website’s homepage as well as any other useful links or a search bar. That way, if a user happens to land on a non existent page on your site, they can search for what they’re looking for or just go back to the homepage.