Launch · Mexico
A website
to launch
your brand
You only launch once. After that it is something else.
A launch is not a normal site with a date on it: it is a piece with a single job, a real deadline and a window of attention that does not come round again. Here is what it actually needs, what can wait, and how the time gets organised.
The difference
Why a launch is not a normal site
An established site lives off people who already look for you. A launch lives off people who did not know you existed thirty seconds ago, who arrived from an ad or someone's message, and who have no reason at all to stay.
That changes the whole approach. There is no history to lend credibility, no reviews, no brand traffic. All you have is the first screen and the order everything else appears in.
Which is why the worst decision in a launch is copying a corporate site structure: a six-item menu, «about us», «services», «contact». That is built for people who already know you.
The essentials
What it does need
One message, not five
If the page tries to say three things, none of them is remembered. A launch has one sentence that must stick, and everything else serves that sentence.
One action, not a menu
Buy, book, sign up, write. One. If two actions compete, each takes half the decision and neither closes.
Something that can be imagined
At a launch there is rarely a product to photograph. It has to be seen before it exists, and that is where movement and order do the work a photo cannot.
Something that survives the spike
Launch day brings all the traffic you will get in months, at once. A heavy page that coped with twenty visits a day falls over at two thousand — and the spike does not repeat.
Knowing where each person came from
If you send the link through five channels, you need to know which one brought the buyers. You do not need an analytics dashboard: it is enough that the information travels inside the message that reaches you.
The optional
What can wait
- The blog. Nobody arrives at a launch to read articles.
- The long «about us». One line is enough on day one.
- The editing panel. At a launch the content does not change; it changes afterwards.
- The ten team photos. Unless the team is the product.
- The full catalogue. You launch one thing, not the inventory.
All of it gets added later, and it is cheaper to add once you know what people actually asked. Putting it in first is guessing with a budget.
The calendar
How the time gets organised
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 8 to 6 | What gets told and in what order. No design yet |
| Weeks 6 to 3 | Scene design and first navigable version |
| Weeks 3 to 1 | Revisions, final copy, testing on real phones |
| Final week | Frozen. Only errors get fixed, no new ideas |
| Launch day | Watch that it holds and where people arrive from |
| Following weeks | Add whatever people asked about |
The frozen final week is not rigidity: it is what stops a last-minute change from breaking something nobody has time to check.
When not to
When this is not for you
If you are still testing what to sell, do not launch with a custom piece: use something cheap, learn, and rebuild. If the launch is internal or to a list that already knows you, a well-written email does more. And if the date is three weeks away, let us talk about scope before budget — compressing the process only produces a worse version on time.
When it does apply, this is what gets built: a scene travelled from start to finish →.
The studio
Who does the work
Johonatan Cordero, web designer. Cauce is a one-person studio, so I take few launches at a time and commit to the date from the start. You talk directly to whoever designs and writes the code. The numbers are in writing on the pricing page →.
Questions
Frequently asked
How far ahead of the launch should we start?
Six to eight weeks for a properly built scene, counting the rounds of revision. If the date is closer, the scope can be narrowed — one scene, less movement — but the process cannot be compressed: what gets cut is the work, not the calendar.
Do I need the brand finished first?
You need to know what you sell and to whom. The logo and the palette can run in parallel; in fact the site sometimes forces brand decisions that had been open for months, because a page does not tolerate ambiguity. What cannot be missing is the message.
Is one page enough to launch?
Almost always, and it is usually better. A launch has one message and one action: a scene travelled from start to finish holds attention better than five sections where people scatter. Extra pages get added later, once you know what people ask.
What happens to the page after the launch?
It stays and becomes your site. Usually the launch scene turns into the home page and the ordinary pages get built around it. If the launch was seasonal, it gets archived and replaced: that is valid too.
Does it work for a product that does not exist yet?
That is exactly where it pays off most. When there is no product to photograph, all you have is the ability to make it imaginable — and that is precisely what a purpose-built scene does. Real estate pre-sales work on that logic.
Contact
Tell me what you are launching, and when.
With the what and the date I can tell you whether there is enough time and what scope makes sense. If there is not enough time, I will say so before charging you.
or by email johonatan@encauzar.com
