Blog Launch Checklist
Having a Blog Launch Checklist is like having a roadmap, it will help prevent you from taking the wrong path. This will ultimately save you time, money, and effort!
Taking the wrong path, or even doing tasks in a less-than-ideal order can cause hassles, backtracking, and confusion. For example, if you are super excited and register your blog name before doing any research, you may find that none of the social media handles are available. Or perhaps an industry competitor has a similar name. This could cause confusion, or worse still, legal action.
I hope this is the first page you look at because this is the best place to start your blogging or website journey.
Blog Launch Steps
I have broken the process of launching a website or blog into a 6 stage launch checklist. If you take each step as it comes and follow the links to further instructions you should find your website coming together in a cohesive and efficient manner.
Pre-Blog Business Planning Stages
Please don’t skip these steps. Getting this information set in stone and down on paper before you start to build your website will help you answer many questions that will arise throughout the website-building stage.
The work you do on the questions below will help you build the structure for your website. It will also give you words to add to your “about” page and your social media bio.
- Why do you want to start a website or blog (bonus worksheet)?
- What are the most popular blog categories?
- Who are you helping? Describe your perfect reader/shopper
- Decide on your niche
- Name your competition – SWOT Analysis
- Write your website elevator pitch. (2-3 lines only)
- Write titles for your first 10 stories
- Select 3 categories for your site (which stories will go into each category?)
- What makes the best domain name?
Website Building
My pages on website building will take you through all the steps involved in building a website. This stage will get it to the bare bones of a site. Then we move on to content creation
- Registering a Domain name
- Choosing a website host for your domain.
- Do you need to redirect DNS records?
- Which platform should you use?
- Quick WordPress Setup on Bluehost
- Set up your new email address with your domain
- Do you need a Theme for your website? Which ones are best?
- Must have Plugins (most of them are free!)
- Setting up Google Analytics
Content Creation
Creating menus, categories, and critical pages for your website. How to structure a blog post. What should you write about? You should have a head start here from the work we did in stage one. Writing for google and SEO is covered and let’s not forget keywords and links.
Social Media & Traffic Sources
With the social media accounts set up, it’s time to make use of this traffic source. What are the main social media players? How to get the most out of each platform. Scheduling social media posts. Do you need to refine your branding and aim for more consistency with your messaging? Social media is great, but developing your own email list is even better. In this section, we will show you various ways of developing an email list.
Monetising your site
How are you planning to make an income from your website or blog? We looked at this in your “pre-blog business planning stage”, but now it’s time to take it from the planning stage to making bank. Do you need a media kit? We will cover every way known to make money from your website, just choose what resonates with you.
Blog Optimisation
What is the optimum time to post for your audience? What is your posting schedule? Where does your traffic come from? Who are your competitors? What is your Domain authority and why that’s important? How to check your site speed and Core Values. How to do backups. What to do when your blog goes down.
