The new website is live. You've checked it on your phone, sent the link to a few people and probably spotted a sentence you'd like to change.
There's a nice moment where the project stops being a preview and becomes part of the business.
Then you need to use it.
You don't have to begin publishing every day or spend the following week staring at analytics. A few practical habits will do more for you than a burst of activity you can't keep up.
At launch
Start with the bits people rely on
Submit a real enquiry from the live website. Check where it arrives and what the visitor sees afterwards.
If you're selling online, follow the agreed launch checks for orders and payments. If the site takes bookings, make sure the booking reaches the place where someone will actually deal with it.
The build should already have been tested. This is about confirming that the live setup works, including anything that depends on the domain or an external service.
Also read the practical details one more time. An outdated email address can hide in plain sight when you've looked at the same footer for weeks.
While handover is fresh
Make sure you can get back in
Access and renewals
Keep this somewhere the business can find, rather than in a buried message.
- Where the website is hosted, and who controls the domain
- Which services renew, and who receives the reminders
Know where the website is hosted and who controls the domain. Keep the relevant account access somewhere suitable for the business, rather than relying on a message buried in a conversation.
You should understand which services renew and who receives the reminders.
This doesn't mean you need to manage the technical side yourself. It means you can get to the right information when you need it. If someone else is maintaining the website, know what that arrangement includes.
Ask how backups work and who would restore the site if something went wrong. “There are backups” is only half an answer if nobody knows how to use them.
Give yourself one small editing job
Try a real update while the handover is still fresh.
Add a project. Change a sentence. Replace an image.
Choose a normal task while the handover is still fresh, rather than waiting six months and hoping the instructions make sense then.
If something feels confusing, raise it. A clear label or a short demonstration may be all that's needed. It's better to sort that out than decide the website is too delicate to touch.
For an agency handing a site to a client, the same idea applies. Let them try an actual update during the handover instead of only watching you do it.
As you use it
Tell people it's there
A launch announcement is fine, but the useful work often happens in ordinary places.
Update the link in your email signature. Check your business profiles. Send the relevant service page when someone asks what you do, instead of always sending them to the homepage.
The website should become part of how you explain and sell your work. It doesn't need to sit there waiting for strangers to discover it.
Keep it accurate before making it bigger
You may have plans for a large blog or a growing resource section. Good. Just don't let those plans distract you from maintaining the pages that already matter.
An accurate service page and a current portfolio are more useful than a neglected website with one ambitious month of articles.
Pick a review rhythm you can sustain. If your work changes quickly, you may need frequent updates. If it changes slowly, a regular look at the important pages may be enough.
Look for useful signs
Visitor numbers can tell you something, but they aren't the whole outcome.
Are people making relevant enquiries? Do they arrive with a better understanding of what you offer? Are existing customers finding information they previously had to ask for?
If you use analytics, make sure you understand what each event represents. A click on a contact button doesn't prove a message was sent.
Give the website enough time to produce meaningful evidence before deciding it needs another redesign. In the meantime, keep it working and make it part of the business.
