The Benefits of a Phased Website Rollout
Investing in your website is like investing in your business — it’s an evolving and highly rewarding strategy.
If you had just launched your business and then left it alone, would you be where you are today? Similarly, a successful website is not a “launch it and leave it.” A website needs to support your business; as your business scales, your website should grow alongside it.
A website rollout strategy can take months. The timeline depends on how many pages your website has, how technical or customized it needs to be, or how much new or refreshed content is required. This process is essential for a high-performing, business-supportive website; however, just as business needs shift quickly, how can your website keep up at the same pace?
A phased website launch allows your new site to hit the market quicker! You can start seeing an ROI from the start and every phase that follows.
What are the key benefits of a phased website rollout strategy?
- Quicker go-to-market: Launch a functional site on a faster timeline rather than waiting months (or even over a year) for the perfect site
- Scalability: Add new or custom features after your website is live and your business needs grow without trying to predict or implement all the features up front
- Data-driven decisions: Learn from your website’s analytics and user feedback to refine and improve your website
- Prioritized development: Prioritize key functionality and design to keep your website development and launch on track
- Budget-friendly: Invest in the essentials first (specific to your business needs), then spread out your budget as you implement subsequent phases
TIP: Are you starting with an existing website? Conducting a professional website audit can help you identify what needs updating and how to prioritize the list based on your short-term and long-term business goals.
How to Launch a Website in Phases
Let’s discuss the key phases for your website rollout strategy that prioritizes your timeline and budget while ensuring your website acts as a salesperson to support and scale your business.
Phase 1: The Foundation
The Goal
Launch a dependable, streamlined website that facilitates your conversion objectives.
The Process
Prioritize your website’s basics while still ensuring a conversion-ready platform. This approach is called a minimum viable product (MVP) website launch. Businesses often use an MVP website to get their site updated and launched while not being distracted by the shiny details.
Features of an MVP website launch:
- Homepage, about page, and core service or product pages
- Lead capturing features like contact forms and call-to-actions (CTAs)
- Search engine optimization (SEO) basics, including on-page keywords and technical aspects like mobile optimization and website metadata
- Data tracking integrations like Google Analytics
Phase 2: Expansion
The Goal
Expand your website to boost visibility to your target audiences and strengthen user experience (UX).
The Process
Time to build off your foundation. After your MVP website launch, the next phase is to scale your content and functionality.
- Blogs and content for SEO growth and a sales/marketing hub
- Additional service pages, product content, and case studies
- Landing pages for lead generation or paid search campaigns
- Basic integrations, including CRM and email marketing
Phase 3: Optimization
The Goal
Elevate your website’s user interface (UI) and UX using real-time data to convert more leads.
The Process
Phase three of your website rollout strategy is fine-tuning your content, pages, and functionality.
- A/B test your CTAs and page designs or layouts
- Performance upgrades, including loading times, UX, and UI
- Interactive elements such as calculators, forms, and chatbots
- SEO refinement and schema markups on the backend
Phase 4: Personalization
The Goal
Advance your website’s integrations and automation to cultivate a scalable and efficient platform.
The Process
The last step of your phased website launch is to prepare for your website’s long-term success and relevance.
- Personalization, including AI chat and dynamic content
- Marketing automation such as user retargeting or email nurturing
- Expanding pages or content based on business shifts
Starting with an MVP website launch, you can strategically build off your foundation, implementing a more time-sensitive, budget-friendly, and needs-driven website from the start!
How do I roll out a website in Stages? The Right Phases for Your Business
Every company’s phased website launch will prioritize different criteria at different steps. Ultimately, it comes down to your business’s needs versus wants.
For example, your B2B company needs pages to promote your five primary service categories and a landing page for your sales reps because these pages are your primary lead-generating initiatives. This needs to be part of your phase one. Yet the backlog of outdated blogs should be sorted through and refreshed to add value, so this should be phase two or three. Each business’s website rollout strategy will be different.
How to plan your website launch phases:
- Identify business goals: What website pages, features, or functionalities are essential now to support your business, and what can wait?
- Rank core functionality: What aspects make the largest impact on lead generation, UX, and SEO for your website?
- Apply user insights: What do my users expect or need the most from my website now, and what is a “nice to have”?
Let’s Plan Your Website Rollout Strategy!
At Evolve Systems, we can work with your business goals to plan a phased website launch that will get you results quicker. Once your MVP website is launched, our full-service development, design, and marketing team can help set your business up for continued success.
Get in touch, and let’s explore the first phase of your new website!
