Going from a consultant on the outside to a developer on the inside, I can’t agree more that there’s a lot more work to do once you launch a site. Since we relaunched our website at work in March, there have been a number of things we’ve had to change based because of how users actually use the site despite the assumptions we made during development.
CMS Post-Launch Lessons for Improving Your Website – The CMS Myth
But avoid going on autopilot. While it’s great to catch your breath, don’t overlook the fact you now have a real, live website to monitor and measure activity and results. Many website projects are an exercise in educated guesses, leavened with research, interviews, insight and best practices. When your CMS-driven site goes live, assumptions and decisions go under the microscope.