What to do After Launching Your Website
(…Tips to help you get more traffic!)
First of all, congratulations! Your website has launched (or you’re getting ready to!). Your digital doors are open and you’re ready to welcome potential clients to your business online. OR, perhaps your digital doors have been open for a while and you’re looking for a boost in website traffic.
Here are the same tips that I share with my clients on how to bring more potential clients to your website and increase it’s online visibility.
01. Set up a Google Business Profile.
Google Business is a FREE tool that Google provides that allows you to manage how your business shows up across Google in places such as Google searches and Google Maps. As you can see in the example images below, there are spaces on your Google Business Profile that allow you to share the following information: AREAS THAT YOU SERVE, HOURS, HOW POTENTIAL CLIENTS CAN REACH YOU, REVIEWS, SOCIAL PROFILES, and ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS.
Here are a few reasons why creating a Google Business Profile is beneficial for both your business and website:
It’s a FREE way to improve your website's SEO! By setting up your profile, you can list your website, allowing it to appear in local search results and on Google Maps, making it easier for potential clients to find and visit your website. More visits = increased engagement = better online ranking!
You can invite your clients to leave you reviews on your Google Business Profile. These reviews can help boost your credibility and speak to future clients about the benefits of working with you!
You can use the "Add Update" section of your Google Business Profile to post your blogs, promos, and other announcements related to your business; which is yet another way to give your SEO a boost! Why? Because this is one more place on the internet where potential clients have the potential to access content that will lead them back to your website.
All of these reasons are very helpful because they can increase traffic to your website. Increased traffic not only improves the chances of attracting your ideal client but also boosts your credibility with Google, which can positively impact your website's ranking in search results (e.g., which page your site appears on).
So if you haven’t set up your Google Business Profile yet, make it happen!
02. Verify your site with Google Search Console.
Doing this will begin the process of making your website searchable within Google faster. Google is like a library and your website is like a book. In order for a book to be searchable in the library, it must go through an indexing process. The same is true for your website. While Google will eventually get around to indexing your website, following the steps outlined here will help to get your website known and searchable on Google faster. These instructions from Squarespace for how to verify your site with Google Search Console will walk you through how to do the following:
Connect your Google Search Console Account.
Request Google to Index Your Site. (I highly recommend this!) This is where Google’s search bots scan your website for content and meaning and index the information from each page (think library/librarian example). Pages that get indexed show up in Google search results. It can take Google up to 3 weeks to index from the time you make your request. Google will eventually do this, but manually making the request speeds up the process.
Sidenote: I recommend waiting at least 3 days after your launch to do this, as Squarespace is prepping the site-map (a map of the pages and content of your site) you'll need to submit to Google.
The internet is like a library. Google is like a librarian. Your new website is like a new book in the library; it needs to get indexed so the librarian (Google search) knows that your book is available to recommend.
03. Link your website URL to any other sites online, such as your LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc…
While we’re on the topic of socials, I’m going to pass along advice that was given to me when I first launched my business: if you plan to use social media as one form of marketing, do these two things:
Pick one social platform and get really good at how to use it.
Being on socials can be time-consuming and can lead to burn-out really fast! Go easy on yourself by getting proficient on a social platform that your ideal clients hang out on.
Make sure that a good majority of what you post on that social platform leads your audience back to your website.
Remember, the more visits to your website = more opportunity for engagement = better online ranking for your website!
Go easy on yourself and pick JUST ONE social media platform to market on and get really good at it. And, make most of your posts lead your audience back to your website.
04. Help bring traffic to your website by blogging.
Yes, I said it. Blogging. Here’s a why blogging can be VERY beneficial for your website:
Think of a question or issue that your ideal client has.
Turn that question into a blog topic and write about it.
When you post that blog to your website, it becomes searchable content on Google. Meaning, when someone does a search on Google looking for the information that you wrote about, Google could lead that potential client to your website.
In short, every time you post a blog to your website (using content that your ideal client would be searching for) you feed Google (the library) more valuable information that they can recommend to those searching for that content.
BONUS to blogging: Not only have you created content on your website that can lead potential clients to your website, you now also have content for the social media platform you market on. You can turn your blog content into snippets for your social media posts (and link back to your original blog post on your website for each one!).
Blogging can be VERY helpful to your website! You’re creating content that can lead potential clients to your website, PLUS give a boost to your website SEO!
As a short recap, here’s what you want to do after you launch your website:
01. Set up a Google Business Profile.
02. Verify your site with Google Search Console.
03. Link your website URL to any other sites online, such as your LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc…
04. Help bring traffic to your website by blogging.
