Halloween Doesn’t Scare Us, But 404 Error Pages Do
How We Avoid Problems During a Website Go Live
As a website design agency, there’s one thing we never want to haunt us or our clients: 404 error pages on a website launch day. If you’ve ever been involved in a website go-live, you know that seeing a broken link, a missing image, or a complete site crash is far scarier than any horror movie.
That’s why, at Angry Apple Media, we’ve developed a proven strategy to avoid these go-live nightmares. We take a comprehensive, detail-oriented approach to make sure your website goes live smoothly, without any hitches. Here’s how we ensure a successful website launch, every time.
1. Extensive Pre-Launch Testing
Before we even consider pushing your site live, we conduct rigorous testing. Nothing is left to chance. Here’s how we make sure your website functions perfectly across all platforms and devices:
Cross-browser and device testing: We check that your website works seamlessly on all major browsers—Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge—as well as across mobile and desktop devices. This ensures that your site looks and functions correctly on screens of all sizes.
Link validation: Broken links can lead to 404 error pages, so we use automated tools to ensure every link directs visitors to the right place.
User journey testing: We simulate the paths your visitors will take—whether it’s browsing products, filling out a contact form, or completing a purchase—to ensure everything works smoothly and as intended.
Performance testing: Website speed is crucial. We optimise your site for speed and performance, ensuring it loads quickly even during peak traffic times.
2. Comprehensive Pre-Launch Checklist
We follow a detailed pre-launch checklist to ensure everything is set up for success:
SEO audit: We review your site’s SEO, checking for optimised titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, and URL structures to ensure it’s fully visible to search engines.
Analytics setup: We confirm that your analytics tools, like Google Analytics, are properly configured, so you can track site performance and visitor behaviour from day one.
Backup creation: We create a full backup of your website before launch, so if something does go wrong (though it rarely does), we can quickly restore a stable version.
3. Scalable Hosting Solutions
Nothing’s worse than launching your site only for it to crash due to a traffic surge. We work with leading hosting providers to ensure your site can handle whatever traffic comes its way.
Optimised for traffic spikes: We assess your hosting environment to make sure it can scale as needed, especially if you’re expecting a large amount of traffic at launch.
Speed optimisation: Slow load times can frustrate users and harm SEO. We optimise your website by compressing images, enabling caching, and setting up a content delivery network (CDN) to enhance global performance.
4. Custom 404 Pages
Even with the best planning, it’s possible that a user might encounter a 404 page. We believe in being prepared, so if a visitor does stumble upon one, we ensure it’s a positive experience.
User-friendly 404 pages: We design custom 404 pages that reflect your brand and help visitors find their way back to important parts of your website, such as the homepage, popular content, or a search bar.
Redirect strategy: We implement 301 redirects to guide users from outdated or removed URLs to relevant new content, reducing the likelihood of encountering a 404 error.
5. Strategic Launch Timing
Launching during peak business hours can increase the risk of issues, so we carefully choose a time that’s optimal for your go-live. This ensures minimal traffic during the transition and allows us to monitor everything closely. We recommend not going live with a new website on Fridays or towards the end of the week, and prefer to put a site live on a Monday or Tuesday when there is a whole week ahead to fix any issues that arise.
- Launch support team: Our team is on standby during and after launch to resolve any potential issues immediately, so your visitors experience a fully functional site from the moment it goes live.
6. Post-Launch Monitoring and Support
Once your site is live, we don’t just disappear. We monitor your website’s performance to ensure everything continues to run smoothly.
Performance tracking: We track speed, uptime, and potential errors in real-time, so if anything goes wrong, we can fix it promptly, often before you or your visitors even notice.
SEO monitoring: A new website launch can affect search engine rankings. We monitor your SEO performance and make adjustments as needed to maintain or improve your search visibility.
User feedback: We pay attention to any feedback from real users post-launch. If any usability issues are raised, we address them quickly to maintain a top-quality user experience.
7. Clear Communication is Key
Launching a website can be complex, but we believe clear communication is the key to a successful go-live. We ensure that every stakeholder, from our development team to your marketing department, is aligned and informed throughout the process.
- Collaborative launch plans: We work closely with your team to coordinate launch times, content updates, and marketing activities, so everything comes together seamlessly.
Conclusion
We know the last thing you want is for your big website launch to turn into a Halloween horror story. That’s why we’ve built a robust go-live process that prevents the dreaded 404 errors, broken links, and downtime that can haunt many website launches.
From thorough testing and strategic planning to scalable hosting and post-launch support, we handle every detail so you can focus on celebrating the success of your new site.
Book a FREE website analysis to talk through how you can avoid scary website design.