This is the first post in my BLOOM series, walking through the five-point framework every site I build gets checked against. Start with the overview if you missed it. Today: Base, the part of the pre-launch checklist almost nobody thinks to check.
Base is hosting, ownership, security, and speed. I know, it’s boring. Nobody’s ever asked me to make their hosting “pop.” But it’s also the one letter in BLOOM that, if it’s shaky, makes every other letter irrelevant.
A gorgeous site on a bad foundation is still a bad site
You can have the most stunning homepage on the internet. If it takes eight seconds to load, most people never see it.
Google’s own research shows how big the effect can be. Companies that improved core performance metrics saw real jumps in conversion rate and revenue per visitor, sometimes over 30%, just from fixing what was happening underneath the design.
I’ve never met anyone, besides other web designers, who gets excited about a fast loading website. Nobody compliments it, but it decides whether anyone sticks around long enough to see the part they would compliment.
The pre-launch checklist: hosting, ownership, security, and speed
There are four components that make up a good base.
Hosting. Is it fast, reliable, and built for what your site needs? A $3-a-month shared hosting plan is not the same as hosting built for a business that depends on its site to bring in clients. You get what you pay for, and hosting is no exception. Popular doesn’t mean quality either (ahem, G—-y). You want a solid host that has security measures in place.
Ownership. Do you have the keys? Your domain, your hosting login, your admin access. I’ve inherited more than one client site where the answer was no, and the previous “designer” had quietly become the only person who could ever touch it again. Trust me, you do not want to be that person. There are several great domain registrars out there, and while it’s one more login to keep track of, it’s completely worth it to use a registrar separate from your host. It’s your business, so you should own all of the important components.
Security. Updated, monitored, protected, because WordPress sites are a constant target. An unmaintained site isn’t quietly fine. It’s quietly vulnerable. Your logins need protecting too. Treat those passwords like you would your credit card number.
Speed. Fast on a laptop and fast in someone’s hand on their phone in a parking lot with two bars of signal. If it’s not both, it’s not done. Speed is affected by your web host, and your content. That image you uploaded to last week’s blog post? Did you resize it and optimize it? Oversized images are one of the most common causes of a slow site. Learn the process and do it every.single.time.
Why Base is first on the pre-launch checklist
I build in order for a reason. There’s no point picking fonts for a site that’s sitting on hosting that’ll buckle the first time you get real traffic. There’s no point writing perfect copy for a page nobody owns the rights to. Ensuring you have quality hosting and all of your logins is the first step. In the end, it’s your choice, but if I haven’t at least educated you then I’ve failed before I’ve even started.
Base is the least glamorous part of the job, and it’s what I do before you ever see a single design mockup. Everything else in the BLOOM framework depends on getting this part right first.
Next up: Look, and why “does it feel like you” is a harder question than it sounds.
