Website Launch Checklist: Everything You Need to Successfully Launch Your SoCast Website
This Article Is For:
- SoCast Account Admins, Content Editors, Promotions Staff
- This is applicable to: All Themes
For a video tutorial please see: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/876536569281078796
You've had your kick-off call with your SoCast Onboarding Specialist, and are ready to get started with your brand new website. Below are some suggestions, tips, and other 'must know' items before launching.
Choose A Theme
You’re ready to choose a theme. In your Website > Website Settings > Theme, Select the website theme style for this account. Don’t worry; no matter which theme you choose, you can always select a different one later.
If choosing SoCast Theme 3.0 (Great choice!) make sure to ‘save’ and then launch the theme editor.
Add Essential Pages
Although every website is unique, there are a few common pages across most of them. You can create pages under Website > Pages > All Pages. Visitors generally expect to see these 5 pages:
Homepage
Contact Page
Concerts and/or Events (optional)
Blog/News (optional)
Contesting (optional)
Check Your Branding
In your Website Settings, make sure to include a logo, your website name, description and keywords. This is also great for SEO, in order to help search engines like Google find your website.
In your Social > Account Settings make sure to include your social media links. Having social media links will help encourage visitors to follow you on different platforms so they can stay up-to-date with you.
Check Your Footer
Visitors are used to finding specific information and links in site footers. Don’t disappoint them. You’ll want to include your privacy policy and terms of service. These can be updated under Admin > Admin Settings > Legal > Configure Account Legal.
If you have any other links that are important for visitors to be able to find, such as an about page or an FCC file, you should also add those in the footer. You can add additional items to the footer by going to Website > Pages > All Pages > Navigation (on the right) > Switch The Navigation Menu To ‘Footer’ > Add Menu Items.
Test Responsiveness
Visit your site’s pages on various devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Your site should respond and adjust its layout based on the screen being used. Don’t forget to test on as many different browsers as possible, as well. This includes Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari for Mac users.
Look For Broken Links & Broken Images
Click on all the links on your pages to ensure they don’t lead to a 404 Page Not Found. Correct any bad link URLs you find. Any images with a ‘broken’ icon should be re-uploaded and replaced.
Enable Google Analytics
From the moment you launch your site, you’ll want to know details like:
How many people are visiting my site?
Which pages are they viewing the most?
How did they find the site?
Are they taking the actions I’d like them to take?
SoCast does provide an Omnichannel Report with some data on how many visits your site gets, which posts are the most popular, and more. If you want more detail to enhance the built-in stats, it’s easy to add Google Analytics to your website.
Optimize Page Titles & Meta Descriptions
Search results such as Google usually include a page title and description. The title links to the web page containing the information related to this result, and the description gives a little more information about the page’s content. Both can encourage searchers to choose that particular result to click on.
To learn more about your website’s SEO options, please see: https://support.socastdigital.com/portal/en/kb/search-engine-optimization
Organize Your Blog / News Categories
If your site has a blog, double-check your categories. It’s best to plan your category structure in advance, use a consistent naming structure, and organize your content into the categories appropriate for your audience’s needs. Organizing your content into categories helps users discover similar posts, navigate more easily, and narrow their searches.
Collect Your Domain & DNS Information
If you or your IT team plan on launching your new website, you’ll need the login to your domain provider (eg. GoDaddy) and you’ll need to understand how to edit records, and point a domain to SoCast’s IP Address.
SoCast does offer a white glove service for those requiring assistance. Please speak with your onboarding specialist.
We suggest launching your website during SoCast’s business hours, to ensure there is support in the event you need it.
Ready to Launch!
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: you’re ready to launch your new SoCast site. Please let your SoCast onboarding specialist know that you’re ready, so we can be ready to support!
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