We just launched a new site for a client of ours – Business Financial Planner  (http://BusinessFinancialPlanner.com). The product is a great tool for both finance and non-finance people to be able to build professional business financial plans with integrated reports and sophisticated, yet easy to use, analytics. It’s early days but so far so good – visits are up and conversions are too. We thought it would be helpful to share our check list of all the necessary steps needed when doing a site re-design and/or launch:

1. Survey (for existing products) – find out how it is really used and by whom
   • Survey in-house and external customers for main feature use and which functions within the organization actually use the product
   • Review the data from the survey as well as existing site analytics with an eye for target audience and what content works and what doesn’t
2. Content – what it is, what it is not, iterate
   • Based on the survey results (1) plan your messaging and always remember to keep it simple (see our post Less IS more (400% more))
   • Plan the main goals for you users – download, trial, newsletter sign up, buy etc.
3. Design
   • Don’t be stingy here – this is your storefront so work with a designer.
   • The design must adhere to the who (1), what (2) and guide the users towards your planned goals (2)
   • Iterate – make sure the site conforms to engaging your customer and don’t forget to verify the site across browsers.
   • Don’t forget the favicon (wiki).
4. Website Tools
   • This is a really important step to get a good read on the performance of the site on an ongoing basis.
   • Analytics – goals and funnels, Google Analytics or others such as clicktale.
   • Google Alerts – set up alerts on the site branding and other appropriate keywords, this will allow you to monitor and join the conversation about your product.
   • Provide a phone number on the site to reach you, it’s simple with Skype or other providers.
   • Payment mechanism: we’ll write more about the options here in a separate post – in the meantime just make sure you’ve got a way to take your customers money
5. Friendly Review
   • Ask friends and friendly customers to give their feedback about the new site
   • Iterate

You should now be ready to launch. Of course – this is not the end but really only the beginning of the process. Look out for the next checklist which will focus on the post launch activities.