Module 5: After Launch
Launch day is the starting line, not the finish. This module covers the first 72 hours of monitoring, the 30/60/90 tune-up that turns a launch into a result, and the quarterly review habit that keeps the site improving forever.
The first 72 hours
The new site is live. For the next three days, you watch it like a hawk. Day one: check search console for crawl errors — every error is a page search engines can't reach, and each one needs a fix or a redirect today, not next week. Click through your Keep List pages and confirm they load, rank, and convert. Submit a test lead through every form and confirm it arrives. Day two: compare traffic to the same day last week — small dips are normal (search engines re-crawling), but a cliff means something broke. Check mobile speed again on a real phone.
Day three: review the redirect map against reality — spot-check 20 old URLs and confirm each lands correctly. Check that analytics is recording every page (a missing tracking code on the new templates means blind decisions later). Read every new form submission for quality — sometimes a redesign changes who converts, and you want to know early if the new site attracts the wrong visitors.
Keep a launch log: date, what you checked, what you found, what you fixed. If rankings wobble in week two, the log tells you whether it's normal settling or a real problem. The first 72 hours decide whether small issues stay small. Watch closely, fix fast, write it down.
Watch it like a hawk
The first 72 hours, in numbers
Build brief
Write your 72-hour monitoring plan: who checks what, on which day? List the specific checks (crawl errors, Keep List pages, forms, redirects, analytics) with an owner for each.
Saved
The 30/60/90 tune-up
Ninety days after launch, you run the numbers against your baseline from Module 0. Day 30: compare the key number — conversion rate, leads, sales — to baseline. Check Keep List rankings: did they hold? Review the top exit pages on the new site — where are visitors leaving now? Fix the obvious: broken links, slow pages, confusing new navigation paths. Day 60: look deeper. Which new pages outperform their old versions? Which underperform? A page that lost half its conversions needs its old headline back or a rewrite — the data tells you which.
Day 90: the verdict. Did the redesign hit the number from your Three Questions? If yes, document what worked — that's your playbook for next time. If no, diagnose honestly: was the strategy wrong (wrong audience, wrong offer) or the execution (slow pages, confusing flow)? Strategy problems need rethinking; execution problems need fixing. Either way, you now decide with data instead of opinions.
The tune-up rule: change one thing at a time, then measure. New headline this week, new CTA next week. If you change five things at once, you'll never know which one worked. The redesign doesn't end at launch — it ends at day 90, when the numbers prove it worked.
Change one thing at a time
The 30/60/90 tune-up
Example for illustration — not real results.
Build brief
Write your 30/60/90 plan: what will you compare at each checkpoint, and what counts as success? Tie it back to the number from your Three Questions.
Saved
Never "done"
Here's the mindset shift that separates businesses with great websites from businesses with expensive ones: the site is never finished. The redesign was a big step — but the winners keep stepping. Every quarter, run a light version of the Module 1 audit: top pages, conversion rate, the 5-second test on any new page, one visitor's-eye session. Ninety minutes, four times a year, and your site never goes stale again.
Keep a running improvement list: every idea, complaint, and observation about the site goes on it — "pricing page bounce is up," "customers keep asking about X," "competitor added a calculator." Each quarter, pick the top three by expected impact and do them. Small, steady improvements compound: a site improved quarterly for two years will outperform a site redesigned once and ignored. This is also dramatically cheaper than redesigning every three years because the site "got old."
And schedule the next real audit for one year out. Not a redesign — an audit. The audit will tell you whether you need one. Websites don't decay because the internet changes. They decay because nobody looks at them. Look quarterly, and yours never will.
Never finished
The quarterly rhythm, in numbers
Build brief
Start your improvement list: write 5 observations about your current site (complaints, ideas, competitor notes). Which 3 would you do first, and why?
Saved
Ninety days after launch, Jordan's conversion rate is flat — same as the old site. The design is beautiful and the team loves it. What's the honest diagnosis?
Your turn: Write your full post-launch plan on one page: 72-hour checks (what/who/when), 30/60/90 checkpoints, and your first quarterly review date.
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Put your first quarterly site review on the calendar — 90 days from today. Start the improvement list with 5 items. The habit starts before the redesign ends.
Steal this template
30/60/90 TUNE-UP
Baseline number: ___ (from Module 0)
Day 30: conversion rate vs baseline ___ | Keep List rankings held? ___ | Top exit pages: ___ | Fixes: ___
Day 60: pages outperforming ___ | pages underperforming ___ | One change to test: ___
Day 90: verdict vs Three Questions ___ | Strategy or execution problem? ___ | Next: ___
Module 5 cheat sheet
- 72 hours: crawl errors, Keep List pages, forms, redirects, analytics — fix fast, log everything.
- Day 30: number vs baseline, rankings held, fix the obvious.
- Day 60: page-by-page comparison. Day 90: verdict against the Three Questions.
- One change at a time during the tune-up, always measured.
- Quarterly 90-minute review, forever. Improvement list, top 3 each quarter.
- Sites decay from neglect, not from the internet changing. Look quarterly.