6 Steps You Should Take After Launching Your Website and Social Media Pages

Have you launched your website, Facebook page, or Twitter page, but you’re less than impressed with your stats? As a business owner, you must promote the new website or page, and these handy tips will get you going.

For at least 3 months, you’ll want to make promotion of your newly launched website or social media page a priority in your communications with your contacts and customers.

These steps take commitment, but they’re also super-easy! They will put you on the right path to ensuring that your traffic numbers stay strong and your SEO is effective.

Step 1: List the Features

Make a list of at least 5 BIG features that make your website a better tool for your target market. What makes your website better serve your audience? What can you call out to show that it’s something people must check out? Your web designer should be able to help you define these features. That list will be useful to you as you carry out the next steps.

Step 2: Notify Your Contact

Your business and personal contacts will be your first fans, so be sure to maximize your network! Send out a personal email to your contacts, announcing the new website or social media page. Invite them to offer you feedback. We recommend keeping this list small and using email marketing (see Step 4) to target your entire database.

Step 3: Alert the Press

Send out a press release to market-specific publications and through online syndicate services like PRWeb or PRNewswire.

Step 4: Share It Around

Post to your social media pages that your new website has launched, invite people to check it out, and ask for feedback. If you have a blog, create a new post that announces your new social media pages. Then, send out an email marketing campaign to customer and colleague lists, anyone you didn’t personally contact in Step 1, if possible.

Step 5: Call It Out

Especially if this is your first website or social media page, be sure to add a link to your email signature. This takes just a second but acts as a constant reminder to those you do business with.

Step 6: Update Your Print Materials

Be sure that the most actively visible members of your business or organization have updated business cards and letterhead that strongly feature the website address and/or social media pages. Over time, update all printed materials with this information.

*Remember: ACUP!

If you want to get to the top, you have to Add, Change, Update, and Promote! 

Our website has a lower bounce rate than many other websites that have higher traffic numbers. It’s not just about traffic! We change the content on our website at least once or twice per week. Some of those changes are little tweaks; some are new pages, blog posts, and portfolio items. When it comes to websites, search engines love change – and so do people!

The #1 way to keep your website search engine optimized and high-ranking is to update your content frequently. If you have a blog or news page, create a schedule to add to it. Update photo and project galleries. If you add new content to your website, tell people about it. Use your social media, email marketing, and word-of-mouth to make sure people know that your website is changing so that they know to come back and check it out regularly.

The same goes for social media. We make an effort to post to our pages at least once or twice every other workday. Many people will work hard to attract fans and then rarely engage them. It’s crucial to keep those lines of communication open and active! Use your email marketing and website to cross-promote your social media pages.

Launch Myths Debunked

• You might think…
  As soon as I have launched a search engine optimized website, I should expect to see it on the first page of Google.

• In Fact… This is 100% untrue. Google and other search engines need time to index your site, and your site needs time to mature before it will stand a chance of beating out older active sites.*

• You might think… 
  As soon as the website launches or the social media page goes live, it will start generating leads, traffic, and sales on its own.

• In Fact… While people certainly will come upon your website and social media pages on their own, you have an excellent launch pad in your social media connections, contacts, and existing customers.

• You might think…
  My staff will know how to use the website and social media pages to increase their productivity and to help our customers to find information.

• In Fact… After your new website and social media pages have launched, consult and train key staff members on how to maximize these new tools to help them communicate and work better.

Good luck building your network and attracting more visitors!

Have any strategies that you have used or heard about that helped to get the word out about your new website or social media pages? Share below!