So, you finally realized your website needed some changes and took the time to rebuild. You’re ready for people to check it out—see all the hard work you put in. Well, now you’re faced with the problem of getting people to the site. To be honest, if you really did a good job and followed SEO best practices and created quality content, organic traffic will slowly amass and you’ll have plenty of visitors. But, hey, who doesn’t love a little boost? Here are some tips to up your traffic and let people know about your website:
Email Marketing & Signatures
From now on, if you don’t already do it, your email signature should include a link to your website. Most other contact information should already be there, so add another place people can reach you or your business: your website.
Email marketing is another fantastic way of communicating to prospective and current customers that you have a new face online. Email marketing, regardless of what anybody says, is nowhere near dead; email marketing is thriving. Think about a single person you know right now that doesn’t have at least one email they check regularly. Creating a new website is exciting news for your customers! They will gladly go visit. Thus, generating traffic for your website, and traffic only produces more traffic.
Social Media
Everything you’re on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. let them know your business’s website is brand new and they should go take a look. Make a post about it. Cross-post those posts for maximum social media surface area. Your new website should make an appearance in your profile section. If you’re on Twitter, add the new website and let your followers know that there is a new link in your bio.
Do not forget about your followers and customers on social media. Keep interacting with them. They are free advertising for your new website if they share your profile and posts. Build as much of a connection as possible. Word travels fast. Shares travel faster when promoting your new website.
Blogging
If you have not considered starting a blog. You should definitely consider it. If you have considered starting a blog and decided not to. You should reconsider. Blogging is a fantastic—and I mean fantastic—way of developing interest and traffic to your website. It expands your website’s reach, increases your ranking within Google and other search engines, demonstrates to your customers your industry expertise, and adds another level of communication and transparency to your company. It is not as overwhelming as it may seem, and you only have to take it one post at a time. You can always bring in guest writers to help establish a database of articles, or just keep it casual and do it yourself. Write however you want (keep it semi-professional) and develop a relationship with your readers. Those readers just might turn into customers.
Guest blogging is equally as important. Bring in other industry experts to post on your blog and post on theirs in return. Plug your website at the end of your post and have them do the same. Maybe don’t bring in direct competition, but someone within the industry that might be a companion service or product. Visitors to their website will find yours and vice versa. It’s a symbiotic relationship that will improve your traffic, your SEO, your content, and your brand’s image. Plus, at the very least, you’ll gain a new network connection which cannot be underestimated.
Add Your Website to Online Directories
People don’t really search online directories as much anymore, but certain directories—depending on your industry—are great ways to drive traffic to a new website or business. Claim your business on Google and add hours, location, contact information, your website, etc. People will start finding you on Google Maps and other related Google searches.
Bing Places, BOTW (Best of the Web), Yelp, and Yellow Pages are just some of the online directories that are still valuable and worth submitting your website to. If you have a storefront or a local business, these directories are even more valuable as they even help direct foot traffic as well as web traffic.
Promoting your new website is really just a matter of getting the word out in any way you can. These are some tips and places to direct your attention, but just think intuitively how you would market any new product—these all just happen to be free. Also, never forget about shameless plugs. Post on forums or just tell people there is a new website they should check out. You don’t always need to dance around the real request. Your customers will appreciate the transparency: You have a new website. You’re proud of it. They should go look.
