Things You Need to Do Before You Publish Your Website

Many of us understand the basics that go into building an effective website. But there are some important details that can often get missed. Before your site goes live, it could be worth double-checking that your website ticks these boxes.

A pay monthly website designed and maintained by professionals is likely to already have these details in place. However, if you designed your own website, you may want to do a few last-minute checks yourself.

Make sure it’s secure

A secure website is essential for gaining customer trust and preventing you/your customers from being victims of cybercrime. Most website builders are fairly secure, although you need to make sure that you’re using the newest version, as well as keeping on top of future updates. Any passwords used to access your site need to be strong so that your website doesn’t get hacked. An SSL certificate could also be worth applying for – this encrypts all data passing between your site and visitors, and it tells your visitors that your site is secure.

For ultimate security, it could be worth looking into a pay monthly website. Such websites are constantly updated against the latest threats and you can rely on a professional to handle tasks such as applying for an SSL certificate.

Make sure it’s responsive

Over half of web users are now using mobile devices. As a result, your website needs to be responsive to all devices including computers, smartphones, and tablets. Most sites built in the last decade are mobile-compatible, but this doesn’t always mean that they’re mobile-friendly. Investing in responsive design can ensure that your website displays properly on any device – this could involve making sure that call-to-action buttons are big enough for and fonts are readable.

The best way to ensure that your site is responsive is to get professionally designed. Pay monthly websites are some of the best options as they are constantly updated in order to look good on all the latest devices.

Make sure it’s SEO-friendly

SEO (search engine optimisation) involves a series of strategies used to boost one’s rankings on search engines like Google and Bing. A well-designed website will automatically rank high. Features such as the use of keywords, loading speed and use of hyperlinks can all affect how SEO-friendly a site is.

While you can do your own SEO research, it’s often much more convenient to pay professionals to handle your SEO. There are lots of SEO agencies out there to choose from. Pay monthly websites are also a great option – this could allow you to outsource the design, maintenance, and SEO of your website to one company.

Link it up with social media

Social media has become just as important as a marketing tool as having a website. You can encourage anyone that visits your website to follow you on social media by adding social media buttons. At the same time, you can encourage your social media followers to visit your site by adding a link to your site on your social media pages.

It’s easy to set up social media pages yourself, but if you’re not savvy with social media you can always pay a social media marketing company to do it for you. Some pay monthly website services may even be able to set up social media pages for you.

Proof-read and test it

During the website building process, it is common for small mistakes to be made. Before your website goes live, it’s worth scanning your site for any errors so that they can be amended. For instance, are there any spelling or grammatical mistakes within your content? Does every call-to-action button work? Are any links broken?

Proof-reading and testing can be tedious, but it’s worth it for ensuring that your website functions properly and comes across professional in tone. On top of checking this before you launch your website, it’s worth regularly checking your website to ensure that links of plug-ins haven’t stopped working overtime. When investing in pay monthly websites, you can be sure that your site will be continuously maintained so that everything is working correctly. This is important both for gaining the trust of customers and for keeping your rankings high (any broken links or plug-ins could lower your rankings).