Angela

February 18, 2021
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What is a Launch Pad Website and How to Start One

All about Websites for small business | 0 comments

The problem? It’s 2021 and websites are still being built the wrong way. It’s time to get with the program!
what is a launch pad style website and how to start one

What is a Launch Pad Website & How to Start One

Angela S.

Owner &  Head Designer

Posted Feb.16 2021

The problem:

It’s 2021 and websites are still being built the wrong way

It’s time to get with the program!

Web designers are still making websites like they did 5 – 10 years ago, the “traditional way”.

What’s wrong with traditional websites?

  • They cost a ton of money to build, as designers create big and lofty websites for a launch
  • They take a super long time to launch, as the site had to be completely ‘finished’ 
    (although they still need to be optimized and edited)
  • They lead to inefficiencies, wasted money and time, due to it taking so long to launch, it leaves people unmotivated to optimize their site.

The solution is a Launch Pad website

 

A SmartySite is a Launch Pad website, just with a different name

What is a Launch Pad site?

  • A quickly built website that costs less to build than a traditional one
  • It looks and performs better than what you currently have
  • It is not your final website; it is a foundation
  • It’s meant to provide data so you can continue to optimize and build the site from data

Where did the name Launch Pad come from?

From the Growth-Driven Design team. We learned about the phrase from HubSpot’s Growth-Driven Design certification program, but a SmartySite has been making Launch Pad websites from it’s conception.

Growth-Driven Website Design

A Launch Pad website has some key benefits, esepcially for solopreneurs and small businesses looking to build a website!

  1. It costs less money upfront (on the building of the website), so you can use your money on growing and marketing your website.
  2. It provides a better user experience, because it’s simple and straightfoward. It’s designed in alignment to your customer and their needs.
  3. You can grow the site based on your analytics & real data, not on assumptions.
  4. It’s SEO friendly (specifically a SmartySite, as it follows Google’s guidelines for Page Experience)

 5 easy steps to building a Launch Pad Website (with an infographic!)

Step 1: Start with a simple, straightforward strategy

  • Focus on the essentials of how your website functions. What key functions do you need? Can you pare your site down to just 1 or 2 functions? For example, booking online appointments and featuring your blog. 
  • Create only the essential pages (1-3 pages max). A SmartySite is only 3 pages because that’s all you need to get started. 

Step 2: Make your content

  • Make the text as clear as possible. Get down to the specifics of what your user needs to know.
  • Get lots of feedback from professionals, friends and family. This way, you can get a view from an outsider. 
  • Use custom photography and designs. If you don’t have any, hire someone!

Step 3. Focus on the WOW factor

  • Design it beautifully with your user in mind. What kind of visuals would your user like to see? Balance that with your branding for a perfect mix. 
  • Focus on creating an emotional response. What emotions do you want your user to feel? Excited? Calm? Try to elicit that with your colors and imagery.

Step 4: Test & Launch

  • Share it with your friends and existing customers for feedback. If you can, be in the room when they go on your website so you can physically see how they interact with your site. 
  • Use tools like HotJar to see a how it’s being used. This produces a ‘heat-map’ of where users are clicking, how they move through your site and when they leave your site.
  • Use analytics to start getting data, like Google Analytics or an Analytics plugin. You can even make special reports so you can track when someone is making a specific action on your site.

Step 5: Keep it growing

  • Keep documentation of your branding and templates to keep things consistent, so anyone can make changes/additions confidently.
  • Add content that is super valuable to your customer. This can be blogs, video, ebooks, anything really. The more rich content you have, the better your site will perform. 
  • Optimize regularly. Get a calendar going of when you need to check your site. Don’t let your site sit stale!

Need to keep this infographic for later? 

Bam! You’re one step closer to a great website

But the journey isn’t over!

Working with a professional wesbite designer will propel your website to new heights, but how do you know who to choose?

Read our Ultimate guide to a website (in 2021) 

You’ll learn…

  • The pros & cons of a DIY web builder & a website designer
  • What a website needs & 10 value-adding essentials for any website
  • What you need from your website with a handy checklist to keep with you

And if you still aren’t sure about how or where to start, book a free meeting with me and I will answer all your questions.

 

Meet with me for free

Let’s meet and get you on your way to the website of your dreams

Angela