Note: This blog post is a continuation of our website design blog series for spray foam and petroleum contractors and assumes you have followed along with the previous posts in the series.
If you haven’t read our other posts on this topic, we recommend starting with the first post and working your way back here. Cheers!
All stories eventually come to a close.
That’s what makes them so sweet.
The journey ends; a new chapter begins.
And you, friend? You are ready to launch your website – be it a spray foam business website, an oil and gas contractor website, or some other business website – you’ve done it!
You’ve reached the launch pad.
Prepare the countdown sequence – we are primed and ready to go! Only a few checks left to run and you’ll be set for liftoff!
(New here? Check out the first post of our website design series!)
In this post, we will run through a test of your website’s contact forms, launch your site (YEAH!), and sign up for Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Bonus: You’ve earned the right to live your website design life in the fast lane! If you stick around to the end, we will also show you how to log into the back end of your site without logging into your hosting provider first.
Okay, let’s jump in!
Testing the Contact Forms on your Petroleum or Spray Foam Business Website
If you have any contact forms on your WordPress website, we recommend testing them before you release your beautiful website masterpiece into the (wild) world wide web.
After making sure you receive the emails from your contact form, you know you will receive messages from site visitors who use your contact forms.
Testing forms will also give you the chance to see the confirmation message your visitors will see when they use the form. You can customize the confirmation message in your contact form settings, if necessary.
To test your contact forms, open your site’s front end, fill out your contact forms, click “Submit,” and see where the messages end up!
The default email address for plugins like Contact Form 7 and WPForms (both great, free options, btw) is the administrator email address for your website, so that’s where you should find their messages.
If your submitted test message shows up where it should, you’re good to go!
However, if the contact form message is lost to the ether, check out this Contact Form 7 troubleshooting guide or this WPForms troubleshooting guide – or contact your hosting provider. They should be able to help you work through the issues you’re experience with your forms.
Forms are a-go? All right! Time to launch your site! (AHHHH!)
Let the countdown to liftoff commence!
10…9…8…7…6…5…4……
Launching Your Spray Foam Business Website or Oil and Gas Contractor Website
It’s time to press the Launch button!! (YESSS!!)
Every hosting service is slightly different, but launching your site using Bluehost is as simple as going to the Bluehost portion of your dashboard (in the back end of your site), and clicking “Launch with confidence,” and then the “Launch your site” button.
……3…2…1…BLASTOFF!!!
(WHHOOOOOOSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!)
Your website is up and running!
Gosh, this day is exciting, isn’t it!?
You’ve worked SO HARD to get to this moment!
What?
You’re not finished futzing around with your design? You haven’t pushed “Launch” yet because you’re being a perfectionist?
PUSH THE BUTTON!
Don’t let the desire for your website to be perfect hold you back. Nothing is EVER perfect.
So let ‘er rip!
You can always futz with the site design a little more once it’s live! It will help to see your site on different devices, anyway, so you really know what needs changing.
Launch the sucker!
(Dramatic pause for you to click that dang button.)
…There ya go! Great work!
Now, give it a few hours.
It can take a while for your site to appear live after you press the button, so don’t worry if it doesn’t show up immediately.
Rest in the knowledge that YOU DID IT!!
Congrats, Bud.
You’ve done well. Very well, indeed.
What’s next? We recommend you sign up for Google Analytics and Google Search Console after launching your site (and before all the futzing with design begins. That can take a lifetime, ya know…).
Let’s do it!
Signing Up for Google Analytics
Google Analytics will allow you to track your site’s progress online over time. Additionally, Google Analytics will tell you certain things about your site visitors – like where they are from, what they looked at while visiting your site, and how they found your site.
Pretty neat stuff, huh?
To get signed up, head over to https://google.com/analytics and follow the prompts!
Note: At this time (July, 2022), there are two versions of Google Analytics: Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 (or GA4).
Universal Analytics is currently being phased out, so we recommend starting with a GA4 account, to keep things as simple as possible during that transition.
Setting up this service can seem daunting, but don’t fret!
Here’s a great video to help you with the GA4 setup process, and here’s a link to Google’s training course for GA4.
With those instructions, you should be up and running in no time.
Okay! Time for setting up Google Search Console.
Signing Up for Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a separate service from Google Analytics.
We HIGHLY recommend signing up for Google Search Console in addition to Google Analytics – it will help Google find your website more quickly!
With all the websites floating around the internet, it can take Google’s robots a LONG time – sometimes months – to find your site if you don’t tell them it is there.
If Google doesn’t know your site exists, your site’s content won’t show up in Google searches….and that’s a bummer.
Enter: Google Search Console!
Signing up for Google Search Console is similar to the Google Analytics setup process, and it will help Google find your site and index your content more quickly. (Yes, please!)
It will also help you see how well your site is doing in Google search results (i.e., number of clicks to your website from Google searches, etc.).
This information can help you plan your future SEO, marketing campaigns, etc.
Not bad to have, right?
Okay.
Head over to Google Search Console to get started.
Here’s a video course to help you get things set up – and to help you use Search Console after you’ve signed up.
And with that, you’ve finished our blog series on how to design your own petroleum or spray foam business website!
Congratulations!!
Now, for that bonus content we promised…
Bonus Content: How to Sign into the Back End of Your WordPress Website Directly
Sometimes, you don’t have the time to sign into your hosting provider so you can finally get logged into your website’s back end.
So let’s talk about how to sign into the back end of your site directly!
The easiest way to get logged into the back end of your WordPress website is to type your domain name into your browser, and then add “/wp-login.php” to the end – like this: “yourdomainhere.com/wp-login.php”.
When you visit your domain url with “/wp-login.php” added to the end, a login page will come up for your site.
Keep in mind, your password for Bluehost (or your hosting provider) will NOT be the same as your password for WordPress.
To find your WordPress username and set a strong password that you can remember, head over to the “Users” area of your website’s back end.
Note: Make sure – especially if you’re using WordFence security plugin – that you set your WordPress password to something that WordPress considers “Strong,” or you won’t be able to sign in this way!
Once you save your changes, you will be able to use the “/wp-admin.php” trick to log in to the back end of your site!
WOOHOO!!
Conclusion
You’re now the proud owner of a fully functional, beautiful, responsive website that you can send customers to – and which website searchers can find you on!
Isn’t that exciting!?
Tell your mom, your Uncle Larry, and your best buds – everyone can go and look at your masterpiece now!
You’ve got a lot to be proud of, man. This is what success is made of!
And we are honored to have guided you through the website design process.
Give Freedom Consulting a call if you have any questions, you need spray foam insulation for your business, or you need some help with your petroleum project management.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Until next time, enjoy that stellar website you just launched!! (Couldn’t resist!)
