Promoting a new website is a complex and ongoing process, but we have put together some tips to help you get started!
Table of contents/Quick read
- Optimize your website for search engines (SEO): Make sure your website is search engine friendly by using relevant keywords, including meta tags and descriptions, optimizing images and videos, and improving page load speed.
- Create quality content: Regularly create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that will attract and retain visitors.
- Use social media: Promote your website on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Share your content and engage with your audience to build a following.
- Utilize email marketing: Use email marketing to keep your audience up-to-date with new content, products, or promotions.
- Collaborate with other websites: Look for opportunities to collaborate with other websites in your industry. This can include guest posting, link exchanges, and collaborations on content.
- Use paid advertising: Consider using paid advertising like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads to drive traffic to your website.
- Participate in online communities: Join online communities and forums in your industry to connect with others and promote your website.
- Join local directories, like The-Link-Builders, Google Business Pages, and Yelp.
Remember that promoting a website is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and experimentation to find what works best for your specific website and audience.
1. Getting started with SEO
The first thing you are going to want to do when getting started with your website’s SEO is Keyword Research. The goal here is to identify the most relevant and valuable keywords that people are using to search for products, services, or information related to your website.
Next up is on-page optimizations: You do this by ensuring your website’s content and structure, including the title tag, meta description, headings, images, and internal links are completely optimized for search. Make sure your website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and loads quickly.
Technical SEO can be complex but by ensuring your website is technically optimized for search engines, including optimizing the website’s URL structure, internal linking, and mobile responsiveness you stand a better chance of competing with other websites in your niche.
Local SEO is often overlooked by websites attempting to cater to a worldwide audience, however, If your website serves a local market, make sure you have a Google Business listing, with a local address and phone number that matches your websites information. Now go and get some reviews from your happy customers.
Off-Page Optimization is extremely important in verifying your site’s authority and trustworthiness. By building high-quality backlinks from reputable and relevant websites you improve your website’s authority and visibility.
Start using an Analytics and Reporting program to track your progress. Using tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and aHrefs to monitor your website’s traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and other metrics allow you to track your progress and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
SEO is an ongoing process, and it takes time and effort to see results. It’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in SEO to maintain your website’s ranking and visibility.
2. Creating quality content
Quality content is always backed up with facts and evidence, and it should be written with the reader in mind.
Quality content is content that is well-written, engaging, and informative. For instance; if you are selling a product be sure to include any relevant product facts or information as well as reviews from customers, and product images. Videos can be especially engaging for certain types of products. The more information you can convey about your product the better.
3. Marketing with Social Media
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for marketing, but it’s important to understand how to use it effectively if you want to get the most out of it. The first step is to identify your target market and create a social media strategy that caters to their needs. Once you know who your audience is, you can create content that speaks to them and build relationships with them. You can also use social media ads to reach out to new potential customers, as well as using influencers and collaborations to increase your reach. As with any endeavor, you should measure the results of your campaigns to determine if your strategy is successful and adjust it accordingly.
4. Email marketing still works!
Email marketing lists still work, but their effectiveness can vary depending on how well you use them. To get the most out of your email marketing list, it’s important to ensure that your emails are relevant and engaging. This means tailoring your emails to the specific interests of your target audience, as well as adding a personal touch to them. It’s also important to make sure that your emails are well-written and attractive, as this can help to increase their open and click-through rates. Finally, make sure to track and analyze the performance of your emails so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly. When used correctly, email marketing lists can be a powerful tool for reaching customers and growing your business.
5. Collaborate with other sites
Collaboration can be highly beneficial for small businesses. Collaborating with other businesses can provide access to additional resources and expertise that may not be available internally. For example, a small business may be able to partner with another business to share marketing or sales expertise or to share manufacturing or production resources.
Aside from expanding market reach, collaborating with other reputable businesses can also enhance a small business’s credibility and reputation. Partnering with established businesses or industry leaders can lend credibility and legitimacy to a small business and help to build trust with customers and partners.
6. Paid advertising is expensive but it works!
Pay-Per-Click or PPC advertising requires ongoing attention and optimization to be truly effective. Continuously testing and refining your campaigns will help you get the most out of your PPC advertising efforts.
- Set your goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your PPC campaign. Do you want to increase sales, generate leads, or increase brand awareness?
- Identify your target audience: Determine who your ideal customer is, what they are interested in, and where they spend their time online.
- Keyword research: Identify the relevant keywords that your target audience uses to search for your products or services. You can use tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, and SEMrush to research relevant keywords.
- Create ad copy: Write compelling ad copy that includes your target keywords and speaks to the needs and interests of your target audience. Your ad copy should be concise, informative, and persuasive.
- Set up your PPC campaign: Sign up for a PPC advertising platform such as Google Ads, Bing Ads, or Facebook Ads. Create your campaign, ad groups, and ads. Make sure to set your budget and bid strategy.
- Launch your campaign: Once you have set up your campaign, launch it and monitor its performance. Make adjustments to your campaign as needed to improve your results.
- Monitor and optimize: Regularly monitor your campaign performance and make adjustments to your targeting, ad copy, and bidding strategy to optimize your results.
7. Participate in online communities
A little different than social media, online communities are usually laser-focused on a specific subject. Your goal is to find one that aligns with your product and then become a relevant and trusted participant in the group.
What’s the difference between an online community and social media? Good question.
Online communities and social media are two distinct concepts, though they may appear to be similar on the surface.
Social media is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These platforms are used primarily for sharing content, such as pictures and messages, with friends and followers.
Online communities, on the other hand, are more focused on specific topics or interests. They are typically smaller in size but have a higher level of engagement, as the users have a common interest and are more likely to interact with each other. Online communities also tend to be less restrictive than social media in terms of content types, allowing for more creative and diverse conversations.
8. Join some local directories
If you are looking to increase your visibility and reach a wider audience you need to consider spending some time joining local directories. Being listed in a local directory can even improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Search engines like Google often use local directories as a source of information when determining the relevance and authority of a website. This can result in improved search engine rankings and visibility meaning potential customers who may not have otherwise known about your business can discover you through the directory.
Website developer, field recordist, instrument builder. My background is largely based in design for the music industry; websites, micro-sites, and apparel. With that experience, I bring a fresh approach to corporate and construction-related web projects looking to stand apart from the competition. My goal is to help clients better understand different aspects of SEO and website development; I write short, easy-to-digest articles on search engine optimization and website performance-related topics.
In my free time, I enjoy field recording, sound design, and building unusual musical instruments.
Michael Winchester is a website developer and search engine consultant in Southern California.
Michael Winchester Design | (562)283-5688