Launch Your Blog

It’s time to create a plan for launching your blog. Remember, you can choose to “soft launch” your site, but we recommend more of a “grand opening” approach that gets the word out as wide as possible.

Your Launch Week Content

First, let’s talk about the content you plan to launch with. At a minimum, you should have an about page you feel good about, and at least one really great blog post for launch day. This could be one of the posts you’ve already written, or it could be something new you write specifically for your launch post.

Then, you should have a clear idea of what you plan to publish following your launch. Generally, we recommend following up your launch post with another solid article within just a day or two. For example, if you launch on a Tuesday, you should publish another post on Wednesday or Thursday. This is to gain some momentum and to give people more than just one article to read (and judge your blog by) when they discover your site.

If you plan out the first few weeks of content, you’ll have a better shot at establishing a publishing rhythm, and you’ll better be able to plan the flow of your first several posts. Aim to engage your readers directly, and to demonstrate to them why your site and your point of view matters.

If you’re hoping to launch with a bang, you should aim to get creative with your initial content, to create something buzzworthy and highly shareable.

And don’t forget, for each post you publish after your launch date, be sure to execute the individual post promotion strategy you developed in the last lesson.

Plan your launch content:

Make your “about” page great
Create a compelling first post
Plan your first follow-up post
Create an initial post schedule

To guest post or not?

Aside from creating highly shareable and buzzworthy content for your first several posts, you may also consider writing a guest articles for other sites.

We talked about guest posting in Lesson 14: Promoting Your Blog. You may want to review it in the context of your launch because getting the word out to another blog’s audience can be pretty powerful when you’re launching.

But it’s also another chunk of work, it’ll take some time and effort. It’s not an essential thing, but guest posting can be a great way to make a bigger splash with your blog launch.

Decide if you want to guest post for your launch
If yes: make a list of potential blogs, email your guest post proposals, schedule publish dates to coincide with your launch

Get the word out: social media & direct messaging

Now, if you want people to come visit your site you’ve got to reach out to them! So we’re going to create a social media plan AND a direct messaging plan.

Let’s start by simply making a list of everyone you plan to tell about your site launch. Think about friends and colleagues and people you’ve interacted with who you think might be interested in your blog’s topic. These are the folks we want to send a direct message to in whatever format you want: email, facebook message, snapchat, whatever. When we launch our site we’re going to reach out to each person individually and tell them what we’ve launched and why they should read it.

Make a list of all the people you’ll contact about your blog

Next, I want you to list out what you want to do on social media the week of your launch. You can do whatever you want, but I recommend making some great images and finding new ways to promote both your blog in general and your launch content specifically.

Create a list of what you’ll post on social media (and when) during your launch week

Set your date!

Finally, it’s time to set a date for your launch that gives you enough time to carry out your plan.

It’s very exciting and it can feel like a lot of pressure. My advice to you: do enough work on your launch week to feel just a little uncomfortable and more than a little tired. You want to sweat a little, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Because this is just the start, and you want to start well.

Choose a launch day and put it on the calendar

Launch!

On launch day, please let us know on twitter or facebook and let us know about your launch. You should also post in the forums and let the community help you celebrate the launch. We’d all love to know when your site goes live.

Make your site live/public
Publish your first post
Execute your individual post promotion checklist for each post you publish starting in launch week
Announce your launch (execute your social media and communications plan from above)
Let Fizzle know about your launch on Facebook and Twitter
Post about your launch in the Fizzle Forums

OK, Now get out there and launch your blog! I want you to launch it BEFORE moving on to the next lesson! After you’ve launched your site and the dust has settled, please come back and finish the final lesson, where I’ll help you keep everything in perspective so you can stay on track and truly build a blog that matters.