Launching for the Web

Launching on the Web2015 Leading Change Summit, Washington, DC

September 15, 2015#15LCS

BRETT MEYERDIRECTOR OF STRATEGY, THINKSHOUT@brett_meyer

KRISTIN JOHNSONTECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER, RAD CAMPAIGN@KSuzJ

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LAUNCHING ON THE WEB

Launching on the Web

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A SampleLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Launching your site mid-week.

Launching your site on Friday.

CONTENT

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Content PlanningLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Planning your content in advance.

Writing all your content just before launch.

Useful ContentLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Include content that matches what your users want.

Upload 10 years worth of press statements.

Page TitlesLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Rewrite your page titles to be unique and optimized for search.Leave your page titles the same as your short navigation labels.

Image RightsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Make sure you have the rights to the images you use.

Steal the images and leave the original name in the title field.

USABILITY

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SearchLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Incorporate strong site search to help users find what they want.Assume users are going to use your amazing navigation.

Error PagesLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Personalize your search page to include a prominent search box.Use the out-of-the box 404 pages that looks like you’re giving your users a virus.

User TestingLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Include user testing throughout the development process.Assume the choices you’ve made will resonate with your target audiences.

ACCESSIBILITY

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Site AccessibilityLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Make your site accessible for all users.

Think people will be willing to work around the roadblocks.

LinksLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Use natural language link text.

Use the phrase “click here”.

Image LabelsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Ensure you have ALT text assigned to important images.

Leave vision-impaired users guessing what’s on the screen.

WAVELAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Test accessibility with WAVE.

Assume your site is accessible because the developers said so.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

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RedirectsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Have 301 redirects set up for pages with new URLs.

Let old, high-trafficked pages fade into the ether.

SitemapsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Create an HTML or XML sitemap.

Hope Google finds all your new pages because hey, it’s Google.

DATA

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MeasurementLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Have a plan to measure the effectiveness of your site.

Create your measurement plan months after you launch.

AnalyticsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Ensure you have the ability to track user behavior.

Assume you’ve built your site so well, there’s no room for improvement.

AnalyticsLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Maintain a consistent analytics account.

Switch to a new account with each site launch because you love using Excel.

INTEGRATIONS

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CRMLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Ensure your CRM team knows how data will be sent their way.Hope that your CRM team is really, really good.

Test, test, test.LAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Test every integration well before your launch date.

Tell yourself that you’re only responsible for the website.

COLLATERAL

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DesignLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Update email and social media templates to match the site.

Explain to your superiors that variety is the spice of life.

Social ListeningLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Monitor feedback about your new site on social media.

Ehn, it’s social media. Nobody says anything important on Twitter.

Social Media SharingLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Check how your pages look when shared on social media.

Prepare to explain to your CEO how that distorted, cut-off logo on Facebook is a good thing.

LAUNCH

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Launch DatesLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Build some flexibility into your launch date.

Plan your launch around your org’s biggest annual fundraising event.

Testing ReduxLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Test your website on multiple browsers and devices.

Rush to launch as soon as you can, because deadlines.

Promoting the LaunchLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Have a plan to promote your launch.

Tell everybody about your new site minutes after you flip the switch.

Launch ChecklistLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Rely on Bob in engineering to figure it out.

Prepare a launch checklist.

Preparing for DisasterLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Have a fall-back plan.

Just keep plugging away.

Staff SupportLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Celebrate!

Celebrate excessively.

POST-LAUNCH

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Continue to ImproveLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Use your measurement plan.

Never test your website again.

Change ManagementLAUNCHING ON THE WEB

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Work with stakeholders to change their habits.

Hope that everybody just gets it.

QUESTIONS?DISCOVER DISCOVERY

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Kristin Johnson@KSuzJ

Brett Meyer@brett_meyer