Now your new website is built and live, how do you get visitors to it? Learn some practical ways you can promote your website and gain more visitors.
If you used Maumbury Design to build your site the chances are we have already had a conversation about this and put things in place to optimise your website ready for promotion.
Remember it is important that you promote and market the address of your new website at every opportunity. After all, it’s now your own salesperson working 24 hours a day for your business!
Before you start take some time to thing about who your target audience and potential customers are. Try and build a picture / persona of your ideal visitor / client ad give them a name and the characteristics of your potential clients. Sounds a bit odd, but it does work by keeping you focussed on who you are marketing too.
So lets hear it for George Caddy, 39 male, the golf enthusiast, he drives a BMW 3 series, works as a office manager in a large supermarket, is marries with 2 children, favourite brands are Nike and Holister, shops at Waitrose and subscribes to Netflix. and so on.
Analytics – Measuring your visitors
Before we talk about how to promote your website, its worth also looking at measurement. After all if you have no way to measure, how do you know how what is working and what is not?
Without going into detail on setup and configuration, as a basic minimum you want to install some software to measure your visitors. In most cases this software will be Google Analytics, although there are alternatives.
Once installed, Google will be able to report to you , how many visitors you had, what pages they visited, when they visited, where they came from, and much more.
If you go one step further and link to Google Search Console, you will get even more information, plus feedback on any issues Google sees with your website.
Maumbury Design a set-up and configuration service if required. Just contact me for details.
Promote your website by doing Search Engine Optimization – SEO
SEO is important for any website, done well it will continue to promote your website for years to come.
Search engines rank websites based on how well optimized they are for any given search query, also known as a “keyword”. Optimising your site means making sure that everything on your site is search engine-friendly and where appropriate having information that is relevant to the search query users might use to find your website or business.
There are some technical aspects to SEO, such as where to use keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, and page content. This is known as on-page SEO. If you have used Maumbury Design we will have made sure the framework you need is in place for this and software installed that helps you write the content to match keywords.
Off-page optimization includes links pointing back to your site. Having other well respected sites link to your site will raise the reputation of your site and help raise your ranking.
You should use search engine optimization (SEO) to get more visitors to your site. Make sure your website is optimized for search engines and mobile devices.
If you would like help on improving the SEO performance of your own site, please get in contact with me at Maumbury Design and we can offer a audit service that will give you a list of actionable improvements you can make.
Promote your website with Content marketing
Content marketing is simply the creation of content in the form of text, images, video, social media posts, blogs, newsletters and more.
Done right it is a great way to improve your SEO and reputation. Writing content does not come easy to everyone, but you may find some type of content easier than others. A quick Facebook post can be a lot less effort than a long blog post and if you feel happier doing that, you can always outsource blog writing. Every little help when it comes to promoting your website.
Keyword research should always be done before starting any kind of content marketing campaign. Keyword research is important to ensure that your site is optimized for search queries that people actually use when looking for products or services.
Once you know what words people are using to find your product, write about those topics on your blog. Your readers will be more likely to share your content if they think it will help them solve a problem.
Promote your website on Social media
Social media is the best known free method of promoting new website. You can easily connect with other local businesses, and promote your own business through social media.
Before you get started, you should consider what kind of business your brand voice is, who are you targeting, and who you’re trying to reach.
The different social media platforms tend to target slightly different groups of people, so choosing the right one and not wasting time on platforms your clients seldom visit is vital. Here is a quick overview of the most popular sites.
A good all-round social media network, Facebook is used by most businesses.
Twitter is used by many B2C brands.
Instagram is used by both B2C and B2B companies.
Reddit is best for business-to-consumer marketing, but it takes time and effort to get up and running.
Linkedin is best for business-business marketing and advertising.
Facebook ads are the most effective method of promotion.
Tiktok best for younger consumers, but growing fast.
Promote your website using Email marketing
Email marketing is a tried-and-true way to promote products and services directly to your customers. It is very cost effective as you are marketing to those that have already either purchased from you or expressed an interest in your business.
This is a great way to get people excited about your new website. You can send out email newsletters every day or week, but make sure to include links to your new site. Include some sneak peaks or special offers to build the interest.
With emails services such as Mailchimp or SendinBlue you are able to segment your emails so that you can target specific sections of your email lists based on past purchases or other data you have captured.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote your new website because people don’t have to visit your site to sign up for your emails. Email marketing services usually allow you to share a signup link with your followers so they don’t have to visit your website to subscribe to your email list.
Make sure your email signup form is integrated into your website design.
Promote your website by adding a Google Business Profile (was Google My Business)
Adding your business to Google business profile can mean that you will appear in the Google Maps “Map Pack” these are the listings you see when searching Google for a local business. As these appear above standard search results getting shown here is a great way to get noticed.
Google Business Profile also allows visitors to leave reviews and contact you direct from the listing.
I have a separate guide to adding your business listing to GBP.
Local listings – Citations
There are a number of online directories and business directories, the most well known being Yell.com formerly Yellow Pages. Many of these allow you to add your business for free, although with some, Yell, being a good example you will likely get a call trying to upsell “premium listings” these are not necessary but you may decide they are worth trying for your own marketing.
It is vital that your NAP, Name, Address, Phone number are consistent across all these platforms.
To begin with these are the ones to look at:
maps.apple.com – you will need a physical premises open to public.
+many more
Maumbury Design can help build your citations, talk to us about citation building. Just get in contact and we can discuss your needs.
Promote your website using your email signature
If you email from a business address then adding a signature to the bottom of all your emails is a great way to get your website address seen by others.
You could rite this yourself, practically all email services have an option for this, or you can use an online service to write one. You then copy this into your email signature template.
Free services to try are:
https://www.hubspot.com/email-signature-generator
https://www.mail-signatures.com/signature-generator/
Promote your website with Pay Per Click Advertising PPC
Pay-per-click, also known as PPC, advertising, or search engine marketing (SEM), is a form of internet marketing in which advertisers bid for positions on search engines. Adverts can be text or image or even animations. The largest PPC networks are Google Ads and Facebook Ads which also includes Instagram.
This method allows companies to buy advertising space directly within the results page of a particular search term. In Google these are typically seen at the top of the search results, or can be embedded into other websites that signup to Googles Adsense network.
Search engines use different algorithms to display ads based on price per click and location, among other factors. There’s no set price you’ll pay when using Google Adwords. You can always bid higher than others if you want to outbid them. However, Google doesn’t allow you to spend more than your budget.
Once you’ve used up your budget, you’re allowed to use it again after a specified time interval. This gives you some degree of control over how much you spend on each campaign.
For a small business looking to distribute products online, Google AdWords is an excellent way to advertise.
Promote your website by joining Online communities and aggregators
There are dozens of online communities where you can post content, there may be some closely related to your own business. Or you may find larger communities that have sections within them that are relevant to your visitors or clients.
As a starter you could look at Quora.com This is a community based around questions and answers. Although it is not relevant to all businesses finding a voice on here can get you seen around the world.
Promote your website Face to Face
Finally do not forget to update stationary, signwriting and anything else you use with your business details on.
Make sure your staff are spreading the word. Find out what clients want to known and add it to the website. Take time to make sure staff are familiar with the website and know how to direct customers to the right places on it.
Conclusion
Promoting your website is a key part of promoting your business. It can take effort to begin with but it will pay dividends. But, it is not a one time job, keep reviewing and keep improving.