Your Website is Live… Now What?

So your beautiful, clean new website is live. You or your design firm submitted your URL to search engines. You have your Google Analytics account set up. You worked on your SEO. You even made an announcement when it launched.

It’s been over a month, and you haven’t even broken 100 unique visitors yet. What gives? Shouldn’t launching your new website open the floodgates and overwhelm you with new clients and projects and sales? Definitely not.

Read on for tips on making sure that your new website thrives and draws the traffic you want.

Network!

The first way to make sure your website receives the kind of traffic you want is what you do constantly as a business owner: network!

Discuss your new site launch with people from your a business networking group, your local chamber of commerce, friends, family, colleagues… and anyone else you can think of. Make connections with people. Ask about their business, because their business should matter to you (on multiple levels). Really get to know people. Discuss what you do and give them details on why you launched your new site.

The important thing to remember here is that you want to make connections with others. Build a level of trust with them. Strong business relationships matter for your business. They are your lifeline. Treat them like gold because that’s exactly what they are.

Use Social Media

You’ve had a Twitter account and a Facebook page for a while now, and that’s great (if you don’t have a Twitter and a Facebook fan page set up, you should). You have some followers. You post maybe once or twice a month.

But realistically, this isn’t using the outlets of social media to their fullest potential. Part of the key in marketing is making sure you are in front of people in the right place at the right time. Another key is making sure that you saturate your target demographics so that when they do decide they are looking for your type of services, they remember you.

Update your Twitter account and Facebook page frequently. At least once a day, maybe more if you have the time. As a business owner, your schedule is busy. But making time to ensure you put yourself in front of your target demographics is extremely important and really should be a priority. You never know when someone could be in the market for your products and/or services, so it’s important to be as visible to them as possible.

Write Blog Articles

You are an expert in your field. Now go out there and prove it.

Blogs are an excellent way to educate and assist your site’s visitors. Content is truly king, and you should have lots of it.

Write articles that matter. Put them in terms your audience can relate with. Don’t get too detailed, because your visitors’ lives are busy and fast-paced, just like yours is. Instead, keep articles concise and to the point. Make the information useful and organize your articles into easy to read sections.

Use Promotions

People love free stuff. More importantly, they like free stuff without a catch.

People, in turn, like the people who give out the free stuff. This is where you come in. Figure out what sort of things your target demographic might like to receive and run a contest or a give-away.

Make the contest fun or simple, whichever you choose. Do some brainstorming on how you can determine the winner of the contest or give-away and then set it in motion. Make sure you clearly identify when it will end and how the winner will be chosen. Then, promote it through social media and your network of contacts.

Send Out Email Blasts

There are some nice tools available to send out email blasts, such as Mail Chimp. This is another way to make sure you are communicating with people constantly. Not every one of your contacts has a Twitter account or has become a fan of your Facebook page, so utilizing email blasts still lets you reach a myriad of people you might otherwise miss.

However, make sure you aren’t spamming them. Everyone hates spam, and for good reason. Provide them with an opt-out option, so they can be removed from future emails if they so desire and make sure you don’t send email blasts out too often.

Join an Online Group or Community

Another effective way of driving traffic to your site is by joining an online group related to your industry or where your target demographics might reside. This is an effective way of demonstrating expertise in your field and offering advice when it’s needed. Hop onto your favorite search engine and do a quick search of online forums or communities where you feel your knowledge of your industry might be best served.

Putting It Into Action

So, dust off that Twitter account, Facebook page, contact list, blog page, and put in the effort. You’ll be glad you did and your site traffic will improve as a result of your hard work.

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