I HAVE A WEBSITE - WHAT'S NEXT?
Jun 22, 2015
So, you have set up a new website…congratulations! if your website is professional, informative, mobile friendly and easy to use, you are now in an excellent position for gaining more customers.
However, there is plenty more you can do at this point to increase traffic to your website and help improve its search engine ranking, not to mention getting those all-important enquiries!
If you are wondering about the next steps to take after your website goes live, we have given you five places to start:
Set Up Google Analytics
Keeping track of your web traffic is an important next step after your website goes live. You can start to build up an idea about who visits your website and when, showing you which parts of your website are popular, and which areas need more work. Google Analytics is completely free, and easy to set up – all you need to install is a tracking code into your website’s pages. If you have a website with us here at The Creation Lab, we have added Google Analytics for you already, but if not, Google makes the process easy for you here.
Be active on Social Media
There are so many benefits of using social media, from meeting new customers to gaining backlinks to your website. With over 72% of internet users currently active on social media, it makes sense to be where your audience is!
If a company is active on social media, it shows that they care about their customers. There is no hiding – people are free to ask questions for everyone to see, giving the business a chance to display their customer service skills.
With 31 million UK users, Facebook still seems to be the leader, so this would be a good place to start. After this, Twitter and Instagram would be the next platforms to get set up on, bearing in mind that Instagram is more effective if you are targeting a younger demographic, whereas Twitter is growing in the 55-64 age bracket.
Write a Blog
If your new website has a blog or latest news, now is the time to start writing, and if you don’t have a blog set up yet, we strongly recommend that you do. A blog offers quality information to your target audience, drawing them to your website. Not only does this increase website traffic, but it also means that your site is regularly updated, something Google encourages in its Quality Guidelines.
Not sure what to write about? Take a look at our article, Inspiring Ideas for Blog Writing.
Consider Google Adwords
Another way to boost your website traffic is by setting up a Google Adwords campaign. This creates a targeted advertisement that appears when people type a certain keyword into Google search, for example, “Website Design Dartford”. This pay-per-click service guarantees that your website will be to be seen on the first page of Google, and can be great value for money if you choose the right keywords.
Create a Video
Videos are powerful both on your website, and around the web. The average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video, and 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with their friends online. This means that a short, engaging video will both increase the credibility of your website, and promote your business online through social shares.
To begin with, you need to think about the type of video that would be beneficial for your business. Who is your target audience, and what would they watch online? Could it be a “how-to” video for one of your products or services? Or would your customers like to see behind the scenes about how a product is made?
Once you have your video, it’s time to promote it wherever you can. Set up an account with YouTube, share it on social media, embed the video on your own website, and share it in your email newsletters. The more you share your video, the more people will view it and find out about your business!
We hope this has given you some direction for promoting your business online, and wish you the best of luck, whether it is setting up AdWords, writing a blog or creating a social media campaign. If you would like any help with any of the things we have mentioned in this article, please feel free to get in touch with us. We would love to help in any way we can!