Step 3: Site Launch

Before you go live, take a quick look around the site through the eyes of a visitor to make sure that information is accessble. When your members visit the site for the first time they will form an impression of what the site is capable of and how useful it will be to them - make sure it's a good one!

Content Checklist

About Us - information about what / how / why / where your organization is.

Calendar - details of upcoming events - make sure everything going on during the launch week is listed!

Forums - provide plenty of places for people to contribute, with leading questions that encourage responses. Have some publicly accessible forums in case people haven't received their passwords yet.

Web Site Guides - some articles are supplied with your trial site that give an introduction to visitors of the site's functionality.

Start as you mean to go on

To capture the momentum of the launch, choose an upcoming event in the life of the organization to feature on the web site. For example, a special meeting, weekend away or new training course. By promoting it at launch time, members will get an expectation of what kind of information will be available on the web site - and more importantly will want to use the web site to promote their own projects.

Getting buy-in and support from your leadership is crucial at these early stages. The way in which you communicate change will effect the success of your new web site.

Encouraging Use has some creative ideas that will help create interest in your new site.