🤓 Preparing to Launch 🚀
The Basics: Your Website
5min
Here's a list of things you should be sure are good to go before any launch:
Your Website must-do checklist:
- Check and ensure all website links are working: Broken links are not only bad for SEO, but they also affect the way potential buyers see your team and your product. Attention to detail is imperative for projecting a positive and focused image of your company.
- Add a Mission/Vision Page: Your company's mission and vision should be clear and communicated on your website. This doesn't have to be a full-blow manifesto. It should be simple and to the point. Here are some ideas on what to write about: Mission: What is the problem you're trying to solve? How are you currently solving it? Vision: What are you trying to achieve as a company within the next 5 years? How are you thinking of accomplishing it?
- Add a Contact Us Page: Your "Contact Us" page should have clear instructions on how a customer or prospective customer can reach you and your team. If you offer live chat support, make sure to include a link to open your live chat as well. You should be including your support email and phone number (if you provide phone support). It's important to leave out any place that would lead to a dead-end for a buyer. For example, if you do not offer phone support, do not enter a phone number just to have one on the page.
- Add a Hello Bar: A Hello Bar is a great way to get user's attention and direct them to your offer. It also solidifies your position as a PitchGround partner. When someone comes from PitchGround to take a look at your website and they see the Hello Bar celebrating your LTD, they know they came to the right place. Example:
A proper Hello Bar
- Website Loading Time: You have to make sure your website loads in less than 2 seconds. PitchGround will send you traffic from all over the world, so make sure you're using a top-notch CDN. Luckily, there is one free CDN that gets the job done: CloudFlare If you do not have your own CDN, Cloudflare is a great option. If you already have one and your website loads in under 2 seconds from every corner of the Earth, then you're done! CDNs are not the only way to ensure a fast-loading website, but that is technically beyond this guide. Website optimization is key, and buyers who find themselves with your website immediately loading will trust you are technically savvy enough to purchase from. On the other hand, if your website is slow (or way worse, offline!) then their trust factor will decrease dramatically. Remember you don't have a second chance to make a good first impression.
- Add SSL to all pages, including your app: It's definitely worth mentioning that SSL encryption across all of your public-facing domains is crucial. You should also make sure to add an HTTPS redirection in case someone accidentally tries to go to your website using HTTP only. If you're using CloudFlare, here is a quick guide on how to do it.
- Add a Product Video: This is optional, but it makes a big difference. You can add a video demo recorded by you just showing off the main features of your product, or you can have something more professionally done, like this:
Product Video
If you do not have one of these videos, you can always use the video we will make for you introducing your product. However, it is much more impactful if you make one to give people an insight on yourself and how you position your product.
- Organize and Update your Footer: Your footer should include all important links to navigate your website, that are not directly related to buying or accessing your product (those go in your main menu). You should make sure that your footer includes your Roadmap and your Changelog. Example:
Footer
- Add a Customer Success Page: It's essential to show off reviews and success stories about your product. Since your product is most likely new, you may not yet have reviews so you can hold off on this until you get real reviews at PitchGround and then add them to your page. Example:
Customer Success Stories
- Add a "Feature Request" App: Getting feedback from users can be challenging. We recommend you grab a customer feedback tool and implement it on your website. We've launched a few great ones at PitchGround like Olvy, FeedBear, and others. This is a type of app we're always looking to have in our marketplace, so make sure to check the Pitchground Deals Page and look for something similar on a Lifetime Deal!
- Check all your pages for Typos, Spelling, and Grammatical mistakes: An excellent tool for doing this is Grammarly. Simply turn on Grammarly inside your web editor for your web pages and watch it go to work. If this is not an option, open a Google Doc and enter all your content there, and let Grammarly do the heavy lifting. Having the correct spelling and grammar helps boost your SEO and also buyer's confidence in your company to pay attention to details!
- Add an "About Us" page with your team info: An About Us page is the buyer's gateway to getting to know the people behind the purchase they are about to make. It's important to humanize your company as much as possible, as people will trust you (and therefore, buy from you) more if you are transparent about standing behind your product. We highly recommend you add real pictures of yourself and your team (even if its a 1-2 person team), but if your branding calls for something a little more artificial, you can opt for graphics of yourself, like this:
About Us Page
This should cover the essential basics needed for your website before a launch. If you feel that we missed anything or you have any other feedback on this page, feel free to let us know.
Updated 25 Mar 2024
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