We are often asked about when the optimal time is to make a new website live to the world. There are two schools of thought on this:

Thought 1: Wait until the site is 100% perfect.

The idea here is that visitors to your website should be “wowed” by your brand new website, and that everything needs to be perfect. This means only the best images, text and content, and is very subjective. This can also take months to achieve, while your old site lingers live to visitors.

Many people consider a site to be “static.” That is, it needs to be created and refined to perfection, then left alone for the world to enjoy. If this description fits, you are most likely under the Thought 1 category. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as perfect and this just doesn’t work well in today’s rapidly changing web environment. It is much better to get the site out in the open for visitors as soon as it has been error checked, thoroughly validated and is ready, even if that means going back to make a few content additions down the road.

An essentially completed new site is likely still much better than the site that it is replacing, and your customers will be just as wowed by the site at 90% as they will at 100%. As long as the design is in place, the site has been browser validated and error checked, and your most important content is on the new site, the last few changes are not generally noticeable to most visitors.

Thought 2: Launch when the site is a major improvement over the current, live site.

In this situation, the website may have a few image placeholders, or have a bit of content copied from the old site that you would like to replace as time allows. It’s 90% there, and is vastly superior to the existing website. Here’s why this is the best approach in virtually every situation.

• It takes time for Google to index your new site.
  You just spent the past several months creating a new, vastly superior website. But it will take Google several weeks or even months to fully re-index this new site. That means that the longer you wait, the longer it will take you to realize gains on all of your hard work. Conversely, if you launch your site when it is almost fully complete (and is a vast improvement over your current site), you can make changes to the content over the next several weeks, along side Google’s re-indexing efforts.
  Now, instead of having to wait a month or more for the site to be re-indexed after you consider it 100% ready, Google is already fast on the road to a full index.

• No matter how long you spend on the site, there will always be improvements to be made.
  “Perfect” on the web is just as elusive as it is in any other part of life, and striving for it prior to launch will only delay your site from going live.
  Continually strive for a better site, and do it when the site is live. Google will see that your site is being updated, and will appreciate that far more than just seeing a new site launch that then remains unchanged for a year.

• What are you LOSING by waiting?
  Your new site offers testimonials, social media and a slew of other features that your current site is lacking. What is the cost of bypassing those new features for the additional month or two it will take you to go the last 10%?
  The answer is significantly more than the negative feedback you will receive (you won’t receive any) for having one or two placeholder images on your site.

• Customers won’t be looking at the site the way you do.
  No one will visit your website looking for things to find fault with, except for you. Don’t add placeholder pages like “This page is coming soon!” or you will give visitors a reason to feel displeased with a new site. The reality is, if you don’t have a page quite ready and leave it off, almost no one will realize that it’s missing (as long as you don’t have it in your menu).
  Choose your 10-15 most important pages, and let the rest come as you are ready for them.

• The biggest reason: The Bottom Line.
  Be it through phone calls, e-mails, store visits or purchases, your new site should be helping to increase your bottom line. You spent good money to have a site that’s working hard for you, let it do so as soon as it’s ready.
  The longer it’s offline, the more potential business you are losing due to an outdated or unintuitive site.