If you've just launched a new website, you've probably not been able to find it on Google and the phone has yet to start ringing, but website design alone isn’t a fix-all. While a beautiful site will help build up reputation with your customers, we need to get the word out and let them know you're in business.

New site, who dis?

When we first publish the website, we've got to give it some time to breathe. As far as Google is concerned, you're the new kid on the block, it's little robots need to have a look at the site to understand what you do and where your based. Once it has sized you up, it's now got to work out where you belong. Search Engine Optimization, SEO, helps with this by explaining what the site is about, but it takes Google some time to work out where you belong in the listings as it has to compare your website with others to understand which is more relevant and reliable. While on average, this takes about 6 weeks, different industries and the amount of competition could affect how long until Google has a rough idea of where your website belongs. 

Existing customers

Of course, while the site is being indexed by Google, there's nothing stopping you and your visitors from accessing the site by typing the exact domain name or following a link. It could be a good time to reach out to existing customers to let them know about the new website, or posting on social media platforms, linking people to the site to find out more and see how lovely your site is.

If you already had a site, then old pages could be linked to the new one, so any existing email links would still work, simply pointing visitors to the most relevant page of the new website.  

Business services

It may be worth having a think about places where it would be beneficial to add your new website to. This could include social media platforms such as LinkedIn, but also a link to services such as Google My Business would be a good place to help point people to your new site. Any directories or service marketplaces you have a profile on would be good to add a web link to give visitors a route to leave your competitors and view your own personal website. Additionally, a link on your profile on professional bodies such as the Care Quality Commission or Federation of Master Builders, could act as a useful link for customers who are looking up your credentials.

Get to know your website

While things are still quiet, it may be a good idea to spend some time playing with your website. This is going to become a key marketing tool, and it may be useful to know it inside and out. For instance, knowing what pictures are on each page in case you need to talk a customer on to the right page and making sure that the contact forms are asking the right questions and that emails are all working well.

Need some help getting things kicked off and getting your site online? Have a chat with our team about how our process works, how we build SEO into each new website design and power the tools to make sure it runs effectively.