How Perfect Should My Site Be Before Launching?
I've dealt with several clients in the past who were almost as
big perfectionists as I am. Me being that meticulous is bad
enough, but once you combine it with a client who is as well,
you can have a problem. When do you say enough is enough and put
the site online?
My solution is pretty simple, and has worked in the majority of
cases for me. I simply limit the number of revisions. I prefer
that my clients send me all the write-ups and graphics for the
site in one email, if it's a fairly small site. If it's a little
bigger, I have them send one email per page/section of the site.
I tell them to not send me any revisions to those write-ups
until I'm ready.
Next, I upload a demo of the site to a secret location. Often I
password protect the site so that only they can access it. Then
I tell them to take a look at the site and send me all their
revisions in one email. If they find something else after
sending the email, I tell them to make a note of it, but hold
off on emailing it to me.
Once that first batch of revisions is done, I have them go
through the process again. After that second time, we do it one
last time if necessary. Since the revisions are grouped into
batches, it's much easier to limit the number of revisions.
My personal limit to the number of revisions is three. Maybe a
few more would work for you, maybe a little less. I don't see
how you could do many less, but you also don't really want to go
over five.
Do I ever do additional revisions? Well, sure, but it starts
costing extra. But in getting a site that you own yourself
online, just set the limit, and put it online once you've hit
that limit. You can continue to revise once it's live, but the
site is now out there.