How much of the site should be done before publishing?

[sandysewin]

Hey there!

I have my home page and a few other pages completed for my site. I'd love to publish and see how everything works for real, and get some of those great critiques ya'll are famous for. **smile**

Somewhere I had read that you shouldn't put your site out in the internet until it was all set to go. If you're selling a product (ours is still in the R&D phase) then it should be ready to ship, all links should be working, etc.

So, I'm wondering what you all think of how much should be done before a site is published.

Thanks,

Sandy

[Girlonthehill]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Sandy, you must publish what you have done in order to test it and see how it looks and works online. So whenever you are ready - go for it. The advice probably refers to 'advertising' your site and pulling in visitors. At this early stage, as long as you don't tell anyone your URL, then you should be safe for a while. For example, if you used your URL as I do on my signature, then this would attract search engine spider bots who would begin the indexing of your site. You're safe though as long as you keep your URL to yourself.

[Bethers]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

I agree with Amanda - and if you don't give our your URL - people won't find it except where you give it (like here) for a short time. And the se's will have time to find it and start moving you up their rankings. So, I publish as soon as possible - but be prepared to work fast and furious to get it finished after. Or at least able to take orders.

[davidundalicia]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

I tend to agree with Amanda....go for it
but keep your url to yourself until
you feel that you need our opinions or our encouragement.

Have fun......

[sandysewin]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Ah, I see. I'm the one doing the website, my husband is doing the work on the product. Fast and furious is NOT a speed he works well at, lol. So I guess I'll keeping tweaking & expanding what I've got for pages and hold off on publishing just a little bit longer.

Thanks for the advice,

Sandy

[pet121]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

My approach was to put up an introductory page, "coming soon" I optimized the page. This cut down the the time I would have to spend in the google sandbox. Before you publish make sure things are right. Most important make sure all you links are working, no broken links. I added one page at a time, I would update my index page do reflect these changes. Slow and steady, but I agree go ahead and publish but be prepared to work fast once you do.

Can I ask what theme are you going for? pet121

[sandysewin]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Believe it or not, it's NOT sewing. My husband & I designed a product that lampwork beadmakers having been begging for. We really, really need to get rolling on this, before someone else beats us to it. For now, I think that's all I'll say about it.

It's tough though, dh has been working on this in his "free" time. Between trying to support the family, deal with all the ****pola that comes with two teenage boys (16 & 18, many nights of little or no sleep) and church ministries . . . well, that free time is slim. We keep plugging away, however.

The web site design and product design have to go hand-in-hand. So hopefully, by the time the product is ready to go, the site will be ready. And vice-versa.

Thanks for asking. And Many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful suggestions and thoughtful help.

Sandy

[pet121]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

So beat the competition to the SE's by throwing up a introductory page. One page no links just to introduce what is coming. This will lessen your time in getting indexed. It will also reserve your spot on the world wide web. When your ready with the site just overwrite the coming soon page. pet121

[sandysewin]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Hmmmm, I'll definitely give that idea some thought.

Thanks,
Sandy

[Bruce Hewitt]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Is is easy to make changes after publishing

[Girlonthehill]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Is is easy to make changes after publishing

Yes. You just edit your pages and then re-publish.

[Bruce Hewitt]

Re: How much of the site should be done before publishing?

Great. Thanks!