Your brand identity ready? Check. Marketing strategy in place? Check Ready to start selling products? Check. Well, sort of. Your website isn’t ready. You still have another 3-4 weeks before your scheduled completion date, but you have started mentioning your company or product (or heck, your project) to other people.
What should you do? You should have a landing page! One that lets people know that you are getting ready, and if you know a tentative launch date. You have probably purchased your domain name well in advance of your site, and having some information on the site will probably be handy if it comes up in a search.And with a launch page in place, you don’t need to be afraid of passing out your card with your yet to be unveiled site on it.
Things that you should include on your page:
- A way to contact you (e-mail, phone, etc. for those looking for your services or information quickly)
- An e-mail sign-up list. E-mail marketing is critical, and a MailChimp account is free for up to 500 subscribers there is a pre-built subscribe form that you can style to your heart’s content.
- Information about who you are and what you do. This is kind of basic, but a paragraph or two will do.
- Social media links. Your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. profiles (if you have them) should all be hooked up here. It is time to find yourself some fans.
- A look and feel that is similar to what you are going for on the final site. It doesn’t have to be exact, but it shouldn’t go from web 2.0 to grunge.
There are a couple of free WordPress themes out there that do this (such as LaunchPad and Changing Room) to get you started.
To all you designers, this should be something you consider adding to your standard offering. Up your price by a couple hundred dollars, but add this to your package and explain the SEO benefits and marketing benefits to your clients, and they will appreciate your knowledge! And the extra hour it will take will pay off!
(header image credit : Dennis Wong)
