So you have had your website built and it’s now live. Time to sit back and wait for visitors right?
Think again!
Now it’s YOUR turn to do some critical tasks that will lead to your website’s success!
A lot of people don’t realise that there are some very important tasks you need to perform in order to maximise the success of your website. These are things that web designers usually don’t do, or can’t. These include ways you can market your website further and create more awareness. We request that our clients perform these simple tasks to further promote their website. Some do, and some don’t and, the ones that do generally find that their website performs better than those who don’t.
Think of it this way, you’ve paid a lot of money to get a website built and your main goal is to get people to see it and engage with it. Without any further marketing of your website, it’s kind of like spending tons of money on getting some really nice, fancy fliers printed up and then having them sit in the boot of your car without giving them out to anyone.
So here we are going to give you a guide on exactly what to do after your website has been built, thus getting more bang for your buck!
1. Create a Google Business Profile
If you don’t do anything else, the number one thing you must do is create a Google Business Profile, if you haven’t already. It’s completely FREE and easy to set up, or we can set it up for you!
Why is this so important?
Because your business listing on Google is how you are found on maps, searches and (a very important reason!) this is where customers can leave a review about your business. If you have provided exceptional service to someone, here is where they are most likely to tell other people about it. Who wouldn’t want a medium to show the world how amazing you are?!
Google has now well and truly become the Yellow Pages of the future! A Google Business Profile will give your potential customers all the information they need to move forward with their enquiry. And you know what they see just under your logo? Your website address! So without setting this up, you are missing out on the ability to provide people with a DIRECT link to you.
The “Local Pack” is a great place to sit as well if you have a physical street address. This is the map section that appears on a search results page just under the Ads, that will showcase the top 3-4 businesses in the area, based on a person’s search query. Give us a call if you get stuck with setting one up and we can help guide you through it!
2. Start Slathering it all over your Socials!
Another good way to start is by jumping on your Facebook and Instagram accounts (yes, unfortunately you will probably need one of these for your business!), let your followers know you have a new website and encourage them to visit. If you could request they share it with friends and family as well that will help gain you more exposure. The more people who know about it the better right? You can create a graphic of your new website to go with a Facebook post (a simple screenshot of your homepage will do), but, and this is important:
MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE PHYSICAL WEBSITE LINK IN THE TEXT AREA!
See what happens? Facebook has created a direct, clickable link that will stand out and entices people to click or tap on it to visit your website.
What you are doing here is creating a backlink for your website. This is great for SEO, as it shows Google that your website is worthy of linking back to and builds trust. It also promotes your website, creates relationships, generates interest in your business and shows your clients, existing and potential, that you care about growth and marketing your business. It also increases the potential for visitors to your website!
Now that you have created your initial social media post linking to your website, you are going to want to keep doing this EVERY TIME YOU POST. Preferably no less than once a week. It shows people that your business is active and passionate about communication and, funnily enough, if potential clients/customers visit your Facebook page and see the last time you posted something was over 6 months ago, they could assume you are no longer trading and then go to one of your competitors!
Create some interesting images in your posts, upload pictures of jobs you have completed or advertise a promotion using a picture of your shop. Whatever it is, just make sure you have your website link in the text area.
3. Join Directory Websites!
Gone are the days of picking up the old yellow brick that is the Yellow Pages to find a local plumber or dry cleaner! Nope, people are jumping on their smartphones or laptops to find a local service.
Some people find it easier, especially if they are looking for a few different services in their area at once, to use a local directory service.
A lot of these are annoying and won’t tell you until you have wasted your time filling everything out that you have to fork over a few hundred bucks a year for the privilege. But there are a lot of free, useful directories that you can sign up for and list your business.
A great place to start is local council websites, as they often have a business directory section for their local government area. This is helpful as these websites will often be professionally set up and managed and, for SEO purposes they are seen as an authority website, adding weight to the link back to your website (backlink). Try to jump on as many of these council sites and local “business hub” websites as you can and include your website address.
There are other directories to be found that are free or fairly cheap, and these could include: mum’s groups (great to sign up here if your business is children oriented) and local community pages.
4. Contact Local Blog Websites!
There are loads of reputable, local blog sites with topics ranging from car mechanics to food, travel and gig guides. A lot of the time you can request to submit an article, either for free, or for a nominal charge. These blogs need to come up with fresh, new content all the time, so often it is easier and cheaper for them to have a ready made article for publishing.
You don’t have to have a degree in journalism to submit an article! Research other articles by other businesses and emulate their formula. A few hundred words is usually all it takes and most people find it easy to talk about themselves and their business. After all, you should be proud of all you have achieved in your industry and if you have reached some exciting milestones, received some awards or have gained some new skills or qualifications, talk these up! You should find you will be able to come up with content pretty easily and quickly.
Even if your favourite blog website does not have an area to submit posts/articles, it doesn’t hurt to send them a quick email offering a guest blog post. It helps both of you out!
5. Write Your Own Blog Articles!
Quite often, people who have websites designed with us don’t understand the importance of creating new blog articles on their website. They believe that once we have created the site and gone live they can just “set and forget” it. Not the case!
The great Google machine rewards websites that are constantly updating and refreshing their content. The absolute, most easiest way to do this is maintaining a blog or news section of your website. Own a cleaning business? Call it “Cleaning Tips”. Own a Travel business? Call it “Travel News”. It no longer has to be called simply “blog…”.
You can really include anything in your news/blog, but it’s great to be industry specific as this is your direct communication pipeline to existing and potential customers. What’s also great is if you can create some really unique, quality information that is worthy of other websites linking to your post. Especially if they are reputable businesses/websites themselves. This again shows Google that you are an authority on your subject and, hence, will positively affect your Search Engine Ranking! After all, the main reason Google rewardingly displays a website in a person’s search results is by how successfully a website answers questions asked in your search.
6. Put It Into Practice!
So now you have the tools to be able to really market your website and kick it into high gear! We really aren’t hiding anything and some other businesses might not be happy that we have been so forthcoming with these tips and tricks to take control yourself of your own website, but if you can perform these few tasks yourself then we can be proud of your success and you will save money by not having to pay a digital marketer to do these things for you!
We hope you are able to follow our guidelines to make the most out of your new website. However, if you are finding it hard to manage all this and would like to talk to us about helping you make all this happen, that is something we can help you with as well.
Good luck and make it a magical website!
Kazam.