Congratulations! You’ve just finished a website design + development project. Your long hours of working with branding, copywriting, design, and/or development specialists has paid off! You’ve clicked every link, tested every widget, and your web developer communicates these words:

“We’re ready to launch!”

gulp.

Now it’s time to implement your launch strategy. And it’s scary. Shit. Just. Got. Real.

You go over every line of content for type-o’s and now every word sounds awkward. That photo shoot that you were so stoked with at the time? It’s now looking SO last year. And you are starting to wonder if the services you’ve created for the new site are tired and old sounding. You think of all the folks online who will see your new baby and you freeze.

These feelings are super valid and guess what? You’re not alone. You’ve just got a wee case of the ol’ website launch paralysis. Now that you know what it is, let’s do something about it.

Here’s 4 simple steps you can follow to move past launch paralysis in a not-so-scary way:

1. Breathe and be gentle with yourself.

It’s OK to start small, to not have a year’s worth of blog posts, to feel like a not-so-expert or even a fraud. we all feel that from time to time. It’s so totally OK to not have the most fancy-schmancy lead magnet. All that really matters is that you’ve shown up. You’re doing the work, and you’re ready to share (or keep sharing) your genius with the world.

Know that websites are a constant work in progress that you’ll always be testing, tweaking, and refining as you get to know your business and your market better. And the most cool thing about WordPress is that you CAN test, tweak, and refine without calling on your web developer all the time!

2. Press go.

You know that tagline “Just Do It”? It’s true!! Sometimes you gotta just do it: press go, remove the “Coming Soon” splash page, migrate your site from your staging server to the live server, and begin your launch strategy. Elicit the support of your web developer if you can’t bring yourself to launch yet.

3. Celebrate.

Crank the tunes, do a happy dance, pop the cork, give your team a virtual high five!! Seriously, the sheer joy that vibrates through your body when you move it will catapult those launch jitters away from you. It’s time to move away from a fearful place and into your truth. You’ve done the work. Now celebrate!

4. Listen, test, tweak, and refine.

Gone are the days of set-it-and-forget-it websites (well, there never really should have been that kinda day, but there was). Running a successful online business is all about bringing your dynamic hustle online. So keep building connections, asking questions, creating valuable content, and refining your online presence to be more specific + helpful.

I hear this all the time and I totally agree: Most overnight successes took ten years to get where they are. It’s super easy to look at other successful online entrepreneurs and compare yourself to them (seriously. I go through a MAJOR unsubscribe twice a year to combat my own comparison gremlin) but that’s not helpful. What is helpful is having grace for yourself, whatever stage of business you are in, and keep moving.

Breath. Press Go. Launch the website. Hug yourself while jumping up and down. Repeat.