It’s exciting to launch a new website.
The process to getting there can be exhausting. It can take more time and energy than you originally planned. The result is usually something you’re excited about.
Now the site is launched and you’re wondering if you should promote the site and if so, how to promote the site.
Here are a few ideas for making your new website work for your business…
1. Email Subscribers
Most email subscriber lists consist of current and past customers. If you’ve created content in the past like blog posts, podcasts or videos then you probably also have subscribers that have followed you for the content, but that haven’t purchased.
Create an email with a simple update alerting people to the new website. It’s a good reason to reach out to the subscribers and can stand out compared to the usual offers and promotions they receive.
You can also ask for feedback. People generally like to get involved and offer their tips and advice. Be careful with taking action on all advice. What people say they want can be different from what they actually do and use. But you might find some recurring feedback that can be helpful in tweaking the new design.
Overall, just keep it simple. Don’t necessarily ask for sales. The cool thing is that just sending this email can alert some old customers to the fact that they haven’t bought from you in awhile and it can lead to a little boost in sales.
2. Social Media Updates
Take the same approach with email. A simple update alerting your followers on each channel to the new site. Just link to the site. Maybe add a few words about the project. Then ask for some feedback. People will often be more likely to look at the site if they’re asked for help.
Acknowledge the feedback. Reply to comments. You don’t necessarily need to take action on making changes to the site, but you want to make sure that your followers are engaged with when they take the time to leave their advice.
With social, go ahead and promote the new site a few times. Maybe 2-3 times the first day. Then once or twice a day for a week or so.
With social, it’s easy for followers to miss the first update. You can tweak the update a little bit. Maybe linking to different pages on the site. But definitely go ahead and share multiple times.
3. Acknowledge The Design Team
Don’t forget to work with your design team on promoting your site. First, make sure that you have a few people test out the site before promoting. It’s easy to get a little overzealous and share the site before all the bugs are worked out. That can upset the design team and it will also make things stressful for you.
So ask the design team if you can share the site. Then when you do share it make sure you acknowledge their work. Recommend them to anyone that is asking about website design.
Be good to the design team and they’ll likely be good to you as well. They’ll surely share the new site with their social followers and email list.
4. Guesting Opportunities
Once all the bugs are worked out with the new site, think about where you might be able to guest. If you’re a local business and the new site offers something unique, you might be able to get on the local news or radio show to discuss what your site offers the community.
Let’s say you’re a mechanic. Your new site allows people to schedule appointments for their vehicle. That’s a feature that can save people the trouble of making a call. Or perhaps you’re going to have someone available to respond to questions people have about their cars via the new site. That’s another feature that is unique and that offers value to the community.
TV and radio won’t necessarily want to promote your business for the sake of promoting, but if you offer something new and interesting to the community they will often be open to working with you.
There are also a number of podcasts in the world today. Your design team might want to have you on their podcast. Or maybe there is an industry podcast where you can reach out to be a guest. They’ll usually let you promote yourself at the end and you can mention that you have a new site with new features for visitors.
Final Thoughts
These are some of the ways you can start to get people using your new website. Just a reminder that it’s good to watch the analytics of how people are using the new site. You want to pay attention to their actions more than their words in most cases. Also watch for little quirks in how the online sales process is working. Sales might dip and it might result from a small error on the site or perhaps a step was added to the ordering process that wasn’t there before.
These are things that can be worked out in most cases. No new site is ever “done”. They’re usually a work in progress as you gain knowledge about how people are using your site.