5 things to do to launch your site
Follow along for tools, tips, resources, and best practices that support you every step of the way.
Audit your current content
Who are you now? For a smooth transition to your new website from another platform, start by assessing and evaluating your content.
Reasons to perform a content audit
1. To help you get a better handle on the size of your existing site
2. To learn how much content you will need to review before you begin building your new site
3. To rebuild only the content that is relevant to your organization’s mission, leaving outdated or non-functional aspects of your old site behind
Read Stanford’s blog ‘Why perform a content audit?’
Review your Google Analytics
For the initial transition that finished in Oct 2023, we provided a customized Google Analytics report to help you assess and evaluate your current website in the Drupal 9 Dashboard. If you are moving from a different platform, an analytics reports might not be available.
Map your current site pages to evaluate what to keep
Is your site organization meeting the needs of your users? Make decisions before you start your website rebuild.
• Before you start, evaluate if you need a website
• Sketch the organization of pages on your site. You can use paper or a simple, free site mapping tool like GlooMaps
• Identify what to bring over to your new site and what to toss using this spreadsheet
If you are building a Conference website, learn about Conference Web Support at SLAC
Define your strategy, timeline, and information architecture
Who do you want to be? Define your roadmap, determine what relevant content can look like, and structure your information in engaging and easy ways for your site visitors to get what they need and know who you are.
Website discovery and timeline
Define the top goals, business objectives, key stakeholders, and how to build your web project. Consider using these templates to start your roadmap and website development.
• Develop an Informed Website Strategy
• Use the Migration timeline template to plan the activities for your new site, which includes sample schedules
• Consider hiring a vendor to help with the Drupal 9 migration
Design navigation and menu structure
Research shows that we have less than 20 seconds to grab the attention of users who come to our websites. Users rely on navigation menus to understand the information landscape of a site, find content, complete specific user tasks, and simply browse a website.
• Follow these 5 Steps for Designing Navigation
• You can use post-it notes on the wall or a digital tool, like Google Jamboard
• Take a look at this example with the different steps
Get training and start building your site
Things to know include how to request a website and understand the terms of use agreement, consider training and consultation services offerings, tour the SLAC Drupal User Guide, and explore additional tips and resources.
• Start by requesting a new Drupal site
• Learn how to log in to your site as an editor
• You don't depend on IT to set edit permissions anymore. Learn how a site manager can manage edit access
SLAC Drupal User Guide and training
• See what’s possible to do with content examples and design on your new site
• Learn how to manage site content
• Remember to follow policies and guidelines
• Find out the support options available
Managing images
Images are an important way to add visual interest or information to your website.
• Visit SLAC’s Flickr site for collections of SLAC images and photos that are available to download in high resolution.
• SLAC uploads full-quality image files to the Stanford All-Image Exchange (SALLIE), a searchable database containing thousands of images throughout SLAC and Stanford history. (SUNet ID is required)
• Understand the recommended image sizes
Launch your site
Before you push up lift off, ensure your website is launch-ready and review the pre-launch checklist. Then celebrate!
Plan for evergreen content
Taking the time to do a debrief will provide you with invaluable information to improve your future performance. Put a plan in place to ensure that your content continues to be informative, interesting, and relevant. It is a good idea to revisit your content every 6 months to align it with your business goals.
