Members of Connect: Professional Women’s Network share tips for launching a successful website.
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2. “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
3. “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
4. “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
5. “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
6. “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
7. “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
8. “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
9. “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
10. “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
11. “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
12. “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.
13. “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