Phase 6: Launch

    Overview
    Launching Your Site
    Managing Handoff
Promoting Your Site

Have a solid plan in place for your announcement/launch long before the actual launch date. While a $99 promotion to register your site with all the 'top' search engines might seem easy and efficient, there are far more valuable online and offline marketing opportunities to consider. Site promotion is usually the responsibility of the marketing or PR department of the company, but as a project manager you can still be involved in the brainstorming process. To promote your site, use existing methods already in place including brochures, business cards and printed collateral. Determine what avenues currently exist to reach your current and intended target market. Consider alternate and new methods of promotion and marketing both online and offline.

Redesign Promotion

If your site is a redesign, you will want to consider your existing audience as you launch and promote the new site. Avoid simply changing the site without notice. You will likely alienate and confuse the current audience. Plan on announcing the redesign (even previewing it as a link from your current site) in addition to describing the rationale for the changes and what to expect upon relaunch. During the change from one site to another, put up a temporary page announcing that the site is relaunching. Send an announcement to your current audience inviting them back to see the new and improved site. Welcome feedback.

Preparing an Announcement Plan
An announcement strategy describing how you plan to advertise and promote your site should be planned long in advance of the live date. Many times there is a 'drop dead' date upon which a site needs to be live: for a tradeshow, an annual report or a high-level presentation. Make sure other marketing and promotional events are scheduled. Just as you would send announcements to current clients, colleagues and friends in the event you change the location of your business, an email announcement or postcard should announce your new URL. Sometimes you need to plan far in advance of your launch if printed collateral or marketing materials are required.

Promotional Assistance

There are many online resources available with advice and tips on how to promote your site more effectively. Recommended sites: www.searchenginewatch.com www.selfpromotion.com www.workz.com

Submitting to Search Engines
Getting your site listed in reputable search engines requires a bit more effort than just sitting back and waiting (although that might eventually work if you have adequate keywords). Being visible in search engines is important, but the ability to place and rank your site at the top of the list depends on many variables. Exact name and title searches, popularity of the keywords used, industry dynamics and competition are some of the factors that may affect placement. Remember, most sites which consistently place high on the search results lists are spending quite a bit of time, money and expertise to find and maintain placement. Some companies dedicate time on a weekly or monthly basis to update site submissions. There are a lot of resources on the web to help give advice and also to help submit your site more effectively.

Manual Submission Workz

In a study by workz.com, a survey was sent out to 37 member site owners to identify what methods they used to influence their search engine rankings, how much time they spent per week, and how they measured results. The study showed the most effective method resulted from the manual submission of the site to key search engines, totaling about an hour per week to modify and improve keywords.

Summary
With the successful handoff, launch and promotion of your site, you have reached a milestone. Congratulations - your site is ready for public viewing. This phase of development is complete. If you are an outside development company, you can clean up your desktop folders, archive the project and bill the client for the final balance due. If you are an internal company, the work is about to shift into an entirely new phase - Maintenance.

Evaluate & Maintain >>

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