Post on 14-Jul-2015
WEBSITES APPS GAMESLAUNCHING
WEBSITEMarketing
Install Visitor Analytics
Tracking makes improving easier
First-Touch attribution (tracking visitor over multiple visits):http://moz.com/blog/how-to-get-past-last-touch-attribution-with-google-analytics
Alternatives:http://www.webdistortion.com/2009/04/06/5-refreshing-alternatives-to-google-analytics/
WEBSITEMarketing
Set Up Google & Bing Webmaster Tools Accounts
Both Google & Bing have webmaster tools programs that monitor data about your site and message it back to you through online interfaces.
WEBSITEMarketing
Test Your Design with Browser Emulators
Testing in multiple browsers is important to ensure your site is accessible by as many users as possible.
Backwards compatibility with older browsers should also be considered as not all users update their browsers. Some features of your site may not be compatible with previous browsers.
Cross-Browser Compatibility Tools: http://mashable.com/2014/02/26/browser-testing-tools/
WEBSITEMarketing
Conduct an Online Usability/Branding Test
Usability Testing Tools: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2013/08/08/web-usability-tools/
Speed, errors and accessibility should be considered before launching. These can all be tested using particular tools before-hand. Every users experience may be different but ideally you are looking to give them the best experience whenever they visit your website.
WEBSITEMarketing
Build an Email List of Friends & Business Contacts for Launch
A friendly email to just a few dozen of your close contacts can help set the stage for a much more successful launch. Start by building a list of the people who owe you favors, have helped out and who you can always rely on. If you're feeling a bit more aggressive in your marketing, you can go one circle beyond that to casual business partners and acquaintances.
Once you have the list, you'll need to craft an email. Be transparent, requesting feedback and offering to return the favor. You should also use BCC and make yourself the recipient. No one wants to be on a huge, visible email list to folks they may not know (and get the resulting reply-all messages).
WEBSITEMarketing
Create Your Google Alerts
Google Alerts will allow you to know as and when people are talking about your site or when something new has been crawled by Google.
However, be aware that Google Alerts can sometimes report false positive results.
https://www.google.co.uk/alerts
WEBSITEMarketing
Make Email Signup/Subscription Available
Capturing the email addresses of your potential customers/audience can be a huge win for the influence you're able to wield later to promote new content, products or offerings. Before you launch, you'll want to carefully consider how and where you can offer something in exchange for permission to build an email list.
One of the most common ways to build good lists is to offer whitepaper, e-book, video or other exclusive content piece for download/access to those who enter an email address. You can also collect emails from comment registration (which tend to be lower overall quality), through an email newsletter subscription offering (which tend to be very high quality) or via a straight RSS subscription (but you'll need to self-manage if you want to have full access to those emails). Services like MailChimp, ExactTarget, Constant Contact and iContact are all options for this type of list building and management.
WEBSITEMarketing
Create Your Site/Brand's Social Accounts
WEBSITEMarketing
Set Targets for the Next 12 Months
WIthout goals and targets, there's no way to know whether you're meeting, beating or failing against expectations - and every endeavor, from running a marathon to cooking a meal to building a company or just launching a personal blog will fail if there aren't clear expectations set at the start. If you're relatively small and just starting out, I'd set goals for the following metrics:
Average weekly visits (via analytics)Average page views (via analytics)Number of new posts/pages/content pieces produced per monthNumber of target contacts (from item #15) that you've reachedSocial media metrics (depending on your heaviest use platform, e.g. # of Twitter followers if you're a heavy Tweeter)Any of the key items from #8 on this list (your KPI dashboard)And each of these should have 3, 6 and 12 month targets. Don't be too agressive as you'll find yourself discouraged or, worse, not taking your own targets seriously. Likewise, don't cut yourself short by setting goals that you can easily achieve - stretch at least a little.
Every 3-6 months, you should re-evaluate these and create new goals, possibly adding new metrics if you've taken new paths (RSS subscribers, views of your videos, emails collected, etc.)
WEBSITEMarketing
Install Visitor Analytics
Set Up Google & Bing Webmaster Tools Accounts
Run a Crawl Simulation of Your Site
Test Your Design with Browser Emulators
Set Up RSS Feed Analytics
Conduct an Online Usability/Branding Test
Build an Email List of Friends & Business Contacts for Launch
Create Your Google Alerts
Make Email Signup/Subscription Available
Create Your Site/Brand's Social Accounts
Set Targets for the Next 12 Months
Checklist:
Source: http://moz.com/blog/launching-a-new-website-18-steps
WEBSITE
What you want from users on a launch day:
Read your content.
Subscribe to your email list.
Share your content and website with others.
Engage on your website and leave comments.
Get excited about what’s coming next.
Launch Day
APPSPlatforms
Androids Launch Checklist: http://developer.android.com/distribute/tools/launch-checklist.html
Your initial plan should always consider the end result and so your platform may already be decided, however with technology allowing for multiple platform exports and cross-platform compatibility it is important that you consider the positives and negatives of choosing your platform before publishing to a range of devices.
You may also want to take into account your skillset, if your team is better at working in web languages you may want to use Phonegap to export to the various platforms.
Finally your app may be suited to a particular platform due to the audience it attracts, research the audience associated with the platform before jumping the gun.
Skillset: http://mobileapps.its.umich.edu/devtoolkit/choosing-a-platform
Best for your app: http://seventablets.com/tips-for-choosing-the-best-mobile-platform-for-you-enterprise-app/
APPS
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/02/11/four-ways-to-build-a-mobile-app-part3-phonegap/
Adobe’s PhoneGap platform enables a developer to create an app that runs on a variety of mobile devices. The developer accomplishes this largely by writing the user interface portion of their application with Web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. PhoneGap’sdevelopment tools then bundle the HTML, CSS and JavaScript files into platform-specific deployment packages. PhoneGap supports a wide variety of platforms:iOSAndroidWindows 8Windows Phone 7 and 8BlackBerry 5.x+WebOSSymbianTizen
Phonegap
GAMES
Ideally, you should have one site for your company and another for each game you create. This way, gamers will be able to identify you by both your brand name and products.
A Website
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
Whether you incorporate it into your main site or not, having a blog is essential. It allows gamers to track the progress of your game, and lets them see that you are, in fact, real human beings.
A Development Blog
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
Use your team's Facebook page to display media, share development stories and to connect with like-minded developers. When someone searches Google for your team, your Facebook page will be one of the top results, so keep it updated.
Facebook Account
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
Use Twitter as a secondary means of announcing news. You'll find that most gamers would rather glance at their Twitter feed than scour a bunch of websites. Just don't use Twitter to beg game journalists to review your game - that usually won't go over well.
Twitter Account
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
Never a bad idea, and really simple to implement, an RSS feed will provide your fans with yet another way to view news regarding your company.
RSS Feed
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
The single best way to entice gamers to buy your game is through filming a captivating trailer. It doesn't have to be overly flashy or dramatic, but it should leave viewers with a lasting impression of your game. Try to record a new trailer every time you reach a new milestone.
A Trailer
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
You'll need to have one of these to send to journalists, show off at conventions, and to let potential players download from your site.
A Playable Demo
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Must-Haves
GAMES
Relevant Screenshots
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
Screenshots should showcase the very best your game has to offer. Avoid sending stills of your User Interface, Menus, and Game Over screens. Instead, try to capture your game's most magnificent moments, like when you are fighting a colossal boss, or solving a complex puzzle.
GAMES
Video
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
Most press kits include embedded YouTube videos, although some contain links to high-resolution downloads. As with screenshots, your videos should display critical gameplay sequences. Try to showcase the features that make your game special.
GAMES
Press Coverage
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
This one is a bit of a Catch-22. The purpose of a press kit is to gain coverage, so how do you fill out this section if you don't have any? The simple answer is that you don't. Consider this section a work in progress. Every time someone writes a favorable blurb about your game, update your kit.
GAMES
Game Info Sheet
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
This is a one page - and only one page - summary of your team. Keep it concise, factual and casual. Talk a bit about the history of your team, what other games you've developed and your current project. Break it down into short sub-sections like "Description" and "History".
GAMES
Fact Sheet
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
Provide links to your website, dev blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as your email address. List your prior releases (if any) with links to each game's homepage. This information should be presented as a sidebar, or near the beginning of your kit.
GAMES
Logos And Awards
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
If you have a professional logo, there's no reason not to show it off. Just don't waste too much real estate showing off your awesome logo; most journalists won't care how good it is. If your game was recognized for any awards, display them as a simple list near the end of your kit. No need to boast.
GAMES
Use Presskit()
http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/an-indie-game-developers-marketing-checklist-including-portable-formats--gamedev-7560
Press Kit
presskit() is an excellent, free resource for indie game developers who want to assemble a press kit, but don't know where to start. The program was created by indie developers for indie developers.