When to Launch Your Campaign Website (Hint: Before You Announce)

Launch your campaign website before you announce, not after. The first thing anyone does after hearing a new name at the transfer station or in the town Facebook group is search it, and you want something real to come up. A simple, finished page on day one beats a perfect site three weeks late.

Quick answer: Go live before your announcement. Claim the domain and social handles first, put up a simple page with your name, the office, a photo and a way to sign up, then publish the full site in announcement week. Keep it current through early voting and Election Day, and keep your supporter list afterward.

Why your campaign website should be live before you announce

The moment you tell people you're running, you lose control of the first impression. Someone mentions you at the Little League field. The local paper gets your press release. A neighbor posts "anyone know this person?" in the town group. Every one of those people picks up a phone and types your name.

If nothing comes up, they fill the gap themselves. They find an old business listing, a tagged photo from a cousin's wedding, or a different person with your name two states over. Or they find nothing at all and quietly decide you aren't serious. None of that is fatal. All of it is avoidable.

A live page before the announcement means the search has an answer. It tells people who you are, which seat you want and how to help. That's the whole job in week one.

Incumbents have years of coverage and a record. You don't, so our guide to running for local office for the first time starts with looking finished online from day one.

Before you announce: claim your name and put up one page

Do the boring parts quietly, a few weeks out.

• Register a domain that matches the name on your yard signs. Your name plus the office or the year is usually enough. Skip clever.
• Claim the same handle on the social platforms your town actually uses, even the ones you don't plan to post on yet.
• Set up an email address on that domain, so volunteer schedules don't go out from your personal account.
• Publish one page: your name, the office, a real photo, two or three sentences on why you're running, and a sign-up form.

That single page is your campaign website in its earliest form. It doesn't need an issues section yet. It needs to be real, spelled right and readable on a phone. Put the paid for by line in the footer from the start, and read our plain guide to disclaimers before anything else goes public.

One caution. When you legally become a candidate, and what you must file before raising or spending money, depends on where you live. Even a domain may count as campaign spending. Before you buy anything, look up your state election office and read what it says about registering a committee and reporting expenses.

Announcement week: publish the full site

When the announcement goes out, the full campaign website should be up that same morning. Not "coming soon." Announcement week brings the most curious visitors you'll see until the final stretch, and they give you about a minute.

Full, for a local race, means less than people think:

• A bio that sounds like you, with a photo taken somewhere in the town you want to represent
• What the office actually does, since plenty of voters couldn't tell you what a select board decides
• Three to five issues, a short paragraph each
• Volunteer and yard sign sign-ups
• A contact form that reaches a person who answers

If someone asks a question at your announcement event and the answer isn't on the site, add it that week.

What a minimum viable campaign website looks like on launch day

Minimum viable means the smallest version that does the job without embarrassing you.

Here's a simple test. Hand your phone to someone who has never met you, open the site and give them sixty seconds. Can they tell who you are, what you're running for, when the election is and how to help? If yes, launch. If they're pinching and zooming on a PDF of your platform or waiting for a slideshow to load, you aren't ready.

What it doesn't need on day one: an events calendar with nothing on it, a blog, a store, or a news section with a single post from March. Empty sections read as abandoned. Leave them off until you have something real to put in them. Here's what a complete launch looks like on the sites we build.

If you'd rather spend your evenings at doors than editing pages, that's what our managed site option is for: our team builds it, hosts it and keeps it current. It takes about three minutes to tell us about your race.

Filing day and the long middle of the race

Filing your papers is a natural moment for an update. Say you're officially on the ballot, add the election date, and point people to the official source for their polling place. Filing and nomination deadlines vary by state and sometimes by town, so don't copy dates from a neighboring community's site.

Then comes the long middle, and this is where most local sites quietly die. The candidate is knocking doors four nights a week. The volunteer who built the site went back to school. The events page still lists a coffee from six weeks ago, and nobody has the password.

Keep it alive with small, regular changes:

• Add each endorsement the week it comes in.
• Post a short recap after the candidate forum at the library.
• Answer the questions you keep hearing at doors, like the school budget vote.
• Show the streets and neighborhoods you've covered, so voters can see you've been on their block.

A campaign website that changes every week tells voters the campaign is working. One that hasn't moved since spring tells them something too.

The early and absentee voting window

Lots of voters decide, and vote, well before Election Day. Early voting and mail ballot rules differ from state to state, and in some places the window opens weeks ahead. Whatever applies where you live, treat the opening of that window as a second launch.

Move voting information to the top of your campaign website. Say plainly when the election is, and send people to their official election office for absentee requests, drop box locations and early voting hours. Don't restate rules you aren't sure of.

This is also when sample ballots show up, and voters look up every name they don't recognize, including the ones at the very bottom. A school board or library trustee seat often sits there. Careful voters research that far down.

The final two weeks: keep your campaign website steady

Freeze big changes. This is not the time to redesign anything. Make small, fast updates only: the last events, get-out-the-vote shifts, rides to the polls if you're offering them, and a short closing message.

Check the boring things. Does the form still deliver to someone who reads it? Is the election date right on every page? Does the site load on a phone with one bar of signal in the grocery store parking lot? A broken sign-up form in the last week costs you volunteers you'll never know you lost.

If a mailer or a letter to the editor raises a question about you, answer it on your own site, calmly and briefly. People will search. Give them your answer to find.

After Election Day: thank people and keep the list

Win or lose, post a thank-you within a day. Thank the volunteers, the families who hosted signs and the voters.

Then decide what the campaign website becomes. If you won, it can shift toward your work in office, within whatever your state allows for campaign versus official communication. If you lost, archive it, or keep a simple page up if you might run again. Either way, don't let the domain lapse, because someone else can buy it.

The most valuable thing you built isn't the site. It's the list of people who signed up, offered a yard, gave up a Saturday or asked a good question. Make sure you can export it in a plain file and that it belongs to you, not a platform. Our page on owning your supporter and voter data covers what to ask.

Want to be live before you announce? We build and manage campaign websites for local candidates and keep them current through Election Day, so you can stay on the doors. A real person reads every submission. Start with a few questions about your race.

Frequently Asked Questions

How early should I launch my campaign website?

Before you announce. Claim the domain and social handles a few weeks ahead, put up a simple page with your name, the office, a photo and a sign-up form, and go to the full site in announcement week. Check with your state election office first, since rules about when you become a candidate and what you must file vary by state.

Do I need a finished site before I file my papers?

No. You need a real page that answers who you are, what you're running for and how to help. Filing day is a good time to add the election date and confirm you're on the ballot. Build out issues, endorsements and events as the race moves, and leave off any section you can't fill yet.

I already announced and have nothing online. Is it too late?

It isn't too late, but don't wait for perfect. Put up one clean page this week with your name, the office, a photo, a few sentences on why you're running and a way to sign up. Then add the rest over the next couple of weeks. Something real now beats something polished next month.

What should happen to my campaign website after the election?

Post a thank-you within a day, win or lose. After that, keep the domain registered, archive the site or turn it toward your work in office if your state's rules allow, and export your supporter list in a plain file. That list is what carries into your next race.

Can a social media page replace a website?

It can help, but it can't replace one. You don't control a platform's rules, reach or layout, and voters who search your name want one clear place with your bio, issues and voting information. Use social pages to send people to your site, where the answers stay put and the sign-ups come to you.