What steps do you think should be taken before a site is every released? Should the site already be full of content? What if it is a blog, is it ok to release it after one post? two, three.. ? What SEO should be done? Submit site maps? Should paid advertising start as soon as the site is "ready?" What do you guys think?
Yes. Seeing a site that is 'under construction' can be off putting. I always try and leave at least one category open to build up more content over time. I cant see a problem with doing it after all most serious bloggers would expect to see it from a newbie blog. You could always make 2 post per day for approx a week just to beef up some content. I try to complete all or most known SEO on-page factors before going live such as proper page titles, site structure and good use of anchor text. Paid advertising such as Google Adwords is a good idea to start with but make sure your site is 100% complete in design and content. Paid advertising is good for kick starting a site that might take months to rank well in the Search Engines.
Thanks. Anyone else have any tips? Have any of you released a website and regretted that you didn't do something prior to launching it?
Some of my personal sites have sections like Blogs, Link Directory, Forums etc. I launched the site first and added these later on. However, since I was in a hurry to launch them, I added them with the default designs, like for PHPLD and WP Blogs. The free templates available with them can be used any time, but i think it would have been better if I had customized their designs to meet the site design. Now I dont have any time to work and correct them so they are online now with the default designs which is not good for users.