Beta is the fist stage in which we have internal reviews as we near the end of the execution stage of development. This stage gives our internal team, not directly involved in the sites creation, the opportunity to review the website in order to report issues and provide their opinions.

Once we have a complete list of fixes and changes the website enters the Soft Live stage. This stage is typically where an alternative URL is provided to a select group within the organization and customers. For example, yourdomain.com/newsite might be used. For websites that will reside at a new URL we typically post the website at the root level (yourdomain.com). Soft Live is also the stage where we hold focus groups. The focus groups are often designed to ensure we are on point with our message and to collect feedback that we can implement in the upcoming weeks and months. Content is reviewed in this stage and the final technical touches are put on the website. When a site is in the Soft Live stage we do not actively promote it outside our defined testing teams.

When a site goes live we yell from the top of buildings to let people know. This stage triggers the marketing campaign to promote the site. One of the biggest benefits we have at this stage is analyzing usage statistics. Our calendar of updates has been established and once the site is live we begin the process of executing those updates.