You’ve just had your brand-new website created and it looks amazing. It has all the right information showcasing your company and is laid out so well that even someone who doesn’t know anything about your business can find out more about who you are and what you do.
So, your work is done, the website is live on Google and people can find it…. but can they?
This is the mistake that a number of businesses make because with the ever-growing increase in businesses being created and websites appearing on the internet, just having a website these days, unfortunately, means nothing. This is especially an issue if you are located on page 10 of the search results and your competition down the road is in pole position on page 1.
You’ve just spent your hard-earned money on this new website, made the investment and now it’s not even going to appear high on Google!
So, before you break out into a cold sweat, take a breather and let us give you some tips on what you can do to help your new website get out there.
We all use it and we all have our favourite social media platforms that we like to use. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, SnapChat, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest or the much more out there, why not use those channels to promote your business? You’d be surprised how many times someone will scroll past your advert, then a week later needs that service and remember they saw it on their Twitter feed.
Alternatively, they could come across the LinkedIn article you wrote and think, wow this business is brilliant – I need to use them! So, taking the time to maintain an active presence on these social media networks can help to advertise your website and business and drive it forward.
One of the most common methods to make sure your business doesn’t drown in the search results of Google is to maintain a strong SEO or PPC programme that will help keep your website strong. If you’re not sure what either is about, we’ve got more info on our SEO/PPC page here but essentially SEO means ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ and effectively means that unlike PPC it can’t be bought it has to be earned! Carefully planned SEO management can work wonders for your website and bring lots of “organic” (means natural and free) traffic to your website.
PPC meaning ‘Pay Per Click’ are effectively adverts that are placed on the top of search results and in adverts on other websites. These can immediately give you exposure but every time someone clicks, you pay – hence the name Pay Per Click.
A lot of people think that email marketing is a waste of time – or worse – dead. Surprisingly it’s stronger than ever as an effective marketing tool thanks to the rise of mobile phones and tablets. Email marketing now gets you into your client’s pockets at any time or day you choose and will stay there as long as your email campaigns interest them.
Campaigns can be used to promote your new website, a new service or product that you’ve got or can remind your customers of existing products and services that they loved before but haven’t used in a while. There are many tools that you can utilise to narrow down and target your emails so that you reach the customers who are likely to respond to them. For example, you can send special promotions to customers who have not purchased anything from you in six months, or ask customers who have recently purchased from you for feedback. However you use it, email marketing has grown to be one of the strongest forms of marketing today – if you’re not sure, then check your phone and scroll through your inbox.
Those are only a few of options available to you. Some methods are free to get started yourself like setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, while others you might need help with. However, all of them will help keep that new website alive and not slip into the abyss of the world wide web.
If you need any advice, get in touch or leave a comment below if you think of other ways you can help your website to stay strong, relevant and valuable.