Editor note: This article has been updated to provide more in-depth information and accuracy as of 2018

The pressure of launching a new website can take its toll on many webmasters. Once the big deadline comes around, our thoughts are occupied with all sorts of excuses to delay the project launch.

Many people experience these thoughts, If you are someone who does, you are not alone. However, understanding that these thoughts may not hold true is crucial when viewing your website for what it really is. An investment.

These fears could also be interpreted as pressure. The pressure you put yourself under to ensure that the website launch is as successful as you imagined.

These thought patterns can dictate what actions you take on the lead up to the launch. You may have passing thoughts like "What if no one likes it?", "Do we have enough content on the website?" or "I'm not sure we're going to get sales".

Examples like the above run through everyone's mind at one point or another. As humans, it's natural for us to consider every logical point. Negative thoughts seem to hold precedence. It's crucial that you don't let these thoughts dictate your actions.

Postponing your website launch because of these fears can have detrimental effects on your ROI.

If you have paid a large sum for your website, you want to be gaining a return on that investment ASAP. This is especially crucial if you run an e-commerce business. Every second you delay the project launch, you are delaying potential sales.

If your current website still serves it's purpose, then delaying your project won't necessarily have the same impact. This being said, your new website will be a significant upgrade.

This upgrade not only increases brand perception but also improves usability. Sure, your website from 2009 might be making sales but imagine the difference when you release your modern 2018 website.

One of the most fears that we encounter is that things may go wrong. The website might not work once launched. What if all the trouble during the project was for nothing?

Nobody wants to invest sums of money into a project just for it to flop the second it launches.

To this, we say: relax.

Whilst we cannot speak for other web developers, we can speak for ourselves. We put measures in place before launch to test the site.

During our testing phase, we check every link on the website, every contact form and ensure that the fields are submitted to the right address, all redirects amongst other server checks to ensure that we mitigate the chances of encountering problems.

Sometimes, problems happen. When these do happen, we jump on them immediately and get them fixed. We recommend never going live on a Friday.

Why do we recommend this?

If your website is to go live on a Friday, we are not on hand to solve any problems that may occur over the weekend. This will certainly be the case for other web designers as well.

This is another common fear that all your hard work will be for nought if your audience doesn't like the site.

No one knows your audience better than you. Working through the project, you will have had to give a clear outline of who you market to, your target audience and ideal customer.

Each of these points help the web designer to tailor the website to meet those needs. We have multiple review meetings during the design stages to ensure what we are creating will resonate with your audience.

More often than not, these fears are diminished by revisiting the design of the website. Look through the finished product and compare it to your current audience and ideal customer.

Will they appreciate the ease of use? The colours and emotion the website conveys? Will they be able to find what they're looking for and make a quick, secure purchase?

Your answers to all of these should be a swift yes.

Content plays a key role in websites. Not only does it inform your visitors about you and your product/service, Google also uses it to determine the quality of the page.

The more relevant, accurate and help your content, the better Google will rank you (amongst other SEO practices). At the same time, if you meet all of these requirements, you are likely going to be more helpful to your visitors.

What if you only have 2 blog posts on your website?

If you are worried about the lack of blog content, event page content or other content that acts as information, then don't worry.

Core navigation pages should be your focus. Ensure that your main searched pages inform and have as much, relevant content on as possible. Your blog pages can (and should) be continuously updated with new information once the website has launched.

If your website is new (i.e. you don't have any blog posts to migrate over to a new site) then you should not worry about this at all when launching.

The reason for this is simple: Google won't rank the pages for a while regardless.

You can have 50 articles on your blog as you launch. That doesn't mean that these articles are going to be bringing in traffic immediately. Instead, worry about having a content plan in place to improve the page in the future... once the site has officially launched.

The easiest way to solve this fear is to look through the website. Have your core pages been given the attention they need and their content fleshed out? If not, go back and revisit them.

If they have, then launch the website. During population, you will have been asked if there was a plan to update the blog before launch. If you have the content ready to populate this, then go ahead and flesh out the blog page.

If you don't, then you just need to make note that you will need to jump on that at the first opportunity once the website is live.

As web designers, we will take extra care to look through the website before launch. Contrary to belief, if we think something is clearly missing/needs altering, we will voice our professional opinion.

If your website has gotten to the stage where it's ready to go live, chances are, we didn't find anything wrong with the content that is already on the website.

You should always trust your designer as well. We always have your best interests at heart.

If you are still worried about your content, Understanding how web design impacts content marketing could be a good base to increase your understanding. To learn more, you can read our recent article:  How Web Design Impacts Content Marketing