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LAUNCH A WEBSITE THAT DELIVERS RESULTS

“The key to a successful website is to make the customer fall in love with who you are, what you do and how you do it. No matter what business you’re in, you have to use your site to tell a story that will make your customers CARE and FEEL something positive about you.” CATHERINE CLINCH, Blogger at Huffington Post

“Work out a timeline: Pre-Launch, Soft Launch, Official Launch, Post Launch. Each phase has specific activities that will include marketing, social marketing and, if your budget allows, radio, print and television. You can generate a lot of buzz with marketing during each phase.” LESSIE MITCH, Web Development and Design

“Soft launch first. Go live in Beta and ask friends and family to test. Set specific tasks for them to complete, take the feedback and adjust if necessary.” VALERIE BIAGGI, Managing Director and Co-Founder, SimplyGenie LLC

“Focus your content and your user experience on the viewer—your target client. Focus on their needs and use phrasing that would-be customers would use.” NANCY WOLFF LEARY, President & Founder, Online Amplify

“One of the overlooked but vastly important things for website management is to make sure your links work!” ILENE SLATKO, Entrepreneur, Marketing Maven and Speaker

“Visit lots of websites of other professionals in your field and see what they’re doing. You will probably see one or two that really stand out for you. Then find someone who is qualified to make YOU that kind of website.” PATTY PENNER, Reiki Master Teacher

“As a web designer, the majority of my work comes from people who either tried to do the website themselves or who used a volunteer…and are now dissatisfied with the site. Unless you’re already technology-oriented, consider hiring a professional.” RACHAEL LITES, Owner, Dream Catchers Web Design, LLC

“Make your site eye-catching and easy to navigate. Just like a resume, people will look at your site for a few seconds and either stay or go. Make sure you grab their attention early.” MICHELE ELIAS, Founder, Simple American Style

“Keep it simple, creative and engaging. Less is always more! Also, link to all your social-media tools, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr.” SALEHA WILLIAMS, Creating Exceptional Content @Clarity Creative Limited

“Back links, meta tags and key words are the keys to success. Choose the top five key words that best describe your business and reiterate those words in the text on your pages.” TAM MOODY, Artistic Graphic Designer, Website Design

“Have power networkers in attendance to create more buzz around your event. They’ll likely bring in more attendees to your launch and be advocates for you moving forward. Get in touch with your local bloggers and tweeters, as well as the national folks. Local brings national.” NAVAH FUCHS, Innovation Strategist and Founder at Angel Ed, Inc.

“Very few get it perfect right out of the gate. Be prepared to do some smoothing of rough edges that you just won’t notice until they hit their first snag.” BARBARA BOZEMAN, Owner/Photographer at Sights & Sounds Photography

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