Updated September 2025
This article was originally published in December 2018

Congrats, you got a new site! Now what?

Whether you have already launched your site or you are planning to build a website soon, there are some things that you absolutely must do in order to set your website up for success. Some of these items may be covered by the developer/designer you are working with, so you will certainly want to check on that. However, if this is something they do not do, make sure you take the time to do it yourself!

1. Ensure Your Site Is Compliant + Accessible

To ensure your site is legally compliant and accessible to everyone, there are some key items that need to be included on your site:

Accessibility

The internet is for everyone, so your website should also be for everyone. Aside from being inclusive, there is legal precedent outlining how websites should be accessible. You can learn more about these requirements here. Additionally, there are tools that can be helpful in meeting these requirements, but it is important to note that these tools may sometimes overpromise and underdeliver. Manual checks are going to be crucial.

Legal Requirements

Every site should, at a minimum, include a privacy and cookie policy with a consent banner. Some sites will even need additional policies (see below). There are services that can provide these documents for you, or you can reach out to an attorney to create them. Check out our accessibility and compliance post for more detail regarding these policies!

Terms of Service or T&C
Accessibility Statement
Disclaimer
Return/Refund Policy (if applicable)

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google that gives you insight into how many people are visiting your site, how they are getting there, and what they are doing once they are there. Analytics is the gateway for you to understand what visitors are doing on your site and how they find you! This information is invaluable as you consider marketing campaigns and growing your business. Every single website should have Google Analytics set up, and ideally, you should be looking at this on a regular basis.

Once you have set up your Google Analytics account and connected it to your site, we recommend the following, at a minimum:

Connect your Google Search Console account (see below for more detail)
Create custom goals to track the KPIs that are most important to your business

After this, I would recommend checking in monthly to assess how much traffic is coming in, where they are coming from, where they are going, and what is converting. If you are interested in automating this, we have a Google Looker Studio Dashboard you can download, or you can learn more about custom reporting dashboards here.

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is also a free tool that offers you a direct line of communication with Google. From GSC, you are able to submit your sitemap so your website can get indexed sooner. With this feature, it is easy to see if there are any warnings, errors, or penalties from Google about your site. You also gain additional insight into how people are discovering your website, including what queries are driving traffic to your site.

Make sure that you submit your sitemap(s) as soon as you set up this account, and then check in on this at least every month to ensure Google is re-indexing your site and monitoring for any warnings.

3b. Bing Webmaster Tools

Similar to Google Search Console, Bing also offers a webmaster tool that allows you to submit your sitemap and assess your performance. You can utilize your existing Google Search Console account to submit your site to Bing.

4. Implement Your MetaData

Something that is often overlooked by developers/designers is MetaData. Metadata is your page title and meta description. These appear on search results pages and tell search engines, such as Google, and other potential visitors what your site is about.

These settings need to be customized to ensure that you are appropriately positioning each page on your site and also utilizing value-added keywords to help your site get discovered! If you do not customize these settings, your title tag will default to what the page is called in your CMS (i.e. Homepage), and your meta description will pull from the first 150 characters of the page, which may not help visitors understand the content on the page.

Depending on your website platform, the way you edit this information will vary, but here are some best practices to keep in mind:

Keep your page titles between 50-60 characters
Ensure that your page title describes what the page is about (without including needless characters, such as the, in, a, etc.)
Include your company/brand name at the end of your page title to increase brand recognition
Limit your meta description to 50-300 characters
Make sure your meta description is clear enough to help any potential visitors understand what is on the page and ensure that their expectations are met
Include a call-to-action when appropriate

Optional: Start Visually Tracking Visitor Behavior

HotJar is a heatmapping tool that you can implement in order to visually see what people are doing on your site, how far they are scrolling, what they are focusing on, and where they are clicking. Keep in mind - there are free and paid options available.

This tool allows you to see if visitors are exposed to the most valuable information on your site or if they are missing it. It also allows you to see how people are navigating through the site, which will help you make informed and relevant decisions on any design changes that are needed on your site.

If you notice that not all visitors are scrolling to see the most important sections of your site, you may want to rethink the layout of the page to ensure the most valuable sections are getting the attention they deserve.

HotJar also has additional functionalities you can explore to better understand how visitors are interacting with your site and content.

TL;DR

Getting your site designed and launched is only the first step. If you want your investment to work for you, you need to start with the basics outlined above and work on your long-term content strategy so your ideal customers can find you. A good next step is familiarizing yourself with digital marketing reporting so you can measure the results of your efforts and find areas of opportunity.

4 Things You MUST Do After Creating Your Website