The 4 Things to Know Before Launching Your Website

Whether you want to launch a website for your business, e-commerce store, personal branding and portfolio, or a blog to share your passion online, it’s important that you understand some of the fundamentals of starting and running a site.

There are a few things you need to make sure you do beforehand, as well as a few things you need to understand in order for your website to run successfully and help you achieve your goals. Here are just a few of the most important considerations before you get started.

Define Your Purpose and Goals

Your website is never going to work for you if you’re not clear on what it’s purpose is. As we mentioned above, there are loads of reasons to have a website – for sharing information about your business, selling your products, displaying a portfolio of your work, or sharing your passion with a like-minded community.

Simply knowing what your website is for is an important first step, from which you can set goals. Try to set goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-Sensitive). This will help you know exactly what steps to take to achieve what it is you’ve set out to achieve.

SEO and Social Media

If you have a website, you probably want people to be visiting it, right? In that case, you need to have a strategy to drive people to your page.

One of the best ways you can do that is through good SEO and promoting your stuff on social media platforms. If you’re looking for a good agency to assist you with SEO Manchester has some top-notch local companies that will be able to help you ensure you get results. When it comes to social media, make sure you’re staying on brand, posting consistently, providing quality content, and engaging with your audience.

Know Your Target Audience

If you really want to reach your audience, you need to know who they are. Researching your target market is essential, no matter what your goals might be.

You need to think about your audience demographics, interests, hobbies, values, problems, and desires. When you have a clear grip on this kind of information, you can tailor all the content on your website (and the promotional content surrounding it) to fit an ideal user persona. There are countless tools you can use for researching your audience, and the insights will be invaluable.

Choose the Right Platform and Hosting

Believe it or not, the platform you choose to host your website will play a huge role in whether or not you’re ultimately successful in your endeavour. Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and the like, are all different and suited to different needs. Choosing the wrong platform could make running your website a lot more difficult than necessary.

Consider your budget, goals, and the functionality you want for your website, and do thorough research into all of your options. Remember, there are countless other platforms aside from the big names we’ve just mentioned, and it might be worth your while to place your bets on a smaller brand.