Five tips for preparing your website for public listing

A corporate website is a crucial communication channel for any listed company. So, when preparing your company website for an initial public offering (IPO), it's important to get it right — from content and UX to technical features and CMS. We have listed our five top tips to help you through it.

1. Create a detailed plan

As we know, planning is key for most things. Preparing your website for a public listing is no exception! You need a detailed - and realistic - plan and timeline from start to finish. The plan should include:

• Sitemap, navigation and design
• Content creation
• Development of features and functionalities (you can save a lot of time on this with our platform Website as a Service, which already has a technical foundation set up. More on this below!)
• Content population and testing

Ensure that the details of each step are clear in your plan, such as who performs which task and who has sign-off. Collaboration and a clear governance plan for the project are key!

2. Develop a content structure and UX strategy

With an IPO comes new regulations and audience expectations. Your corporate website will require more content than before, and your audiences will expect to find relevant content quickly and easily. That's why an intuitive content structure and user experience (UX) is key for listed companies.

The most important thing to keep in mind is your audiences. What do they want to know? And what will they understand? Think carefully about the purpose of each page before deciding what information to surface. And remember: avoid internal jargon. Our tip is to stick to conventional labels for navigation that your audiences will recognise.

3. Decide on functions and features

To ensure that your corporate website is optimised for search engines and allows for a seamless user experience, you need to carefully consider what features the site needs. For instance, you'll need to implement features that allow you to surface investor-related data and information, such as financial data, reports and presentations, ESG targets and performance, and governance information. You'll also need to ensure compliance with regulations around data collection.

Remember: with the implementation of the new European Accessibility Act coming closer (28 June 2025), ensuring that your website is accessible is absolutely crucial.

4. Ensure your brand is reflected

Corporate doesn't mean boring. Your website will be one of your most important communications channels, so it's vital that it not only surfaces relevant content but also shows who you are. So, when creating the content and the design of the website, ensure to keep both brand and target audiences in mind by:

• Aligning design, messaging and tone of voice to your brand identity,
• Developing content that resonates with your audience. For instance, the tone of voice in the careers section of the site should differ slightly from the investors section.

Great branding will help you establish trust and credibility whilst helping you to stand out among your competitors.

5. Consider using Website as a Service (WaaS)

Finally, you need to choose a good platform for your corporate website. It needs to be secure, scalable and, ideally, easy to use and update (believe us, you'll be using it a lot). Finding a suitable platform is often easier said than done.

Our subscription-based website service, WaaS, is ideal for companies about to become public. With a setup that's tailored for corporate websites, WaaS has a fast time to market. The platform is flexible, secure, easy to use and continuously developed. Best of all: when subscribing to WaaS you get ongoing support and guidance from our team of experts. Say goodbye to worries about hosting and technical updates, because we take care of it all!

Find out more about Website as a Service