Launching your new website (next steps, SEO and more)
Tips & recommendations on What to do next after launching your new website.
As a website designer, I’ve helped my clients launch over 100+ websites over the past 8 years, and I know the types of common questions that tend to crop up.
I always supply my clients with a Launch Guide pack with tips and suggestions for their next steps so they’re not at a loose end, but I thought I’d create a more in-depth blog post to help others too!
Table of Contents
Before you make your new website live…
There are obviously the typical final checks and tests to be done before launching your new website, and if you’re working with a website designer they will help guide you through this process.
However there are also some things you can do from your side to start building excitement for your ‘go live’ day of your website, making your audience or peers aware that something is coming.
Share sneak peeks on your social media
If you already have your social media accounts set up, you can use this space to share sneak peeks and previews with your audience - for example on Instagram Stories - or take people on the journey of building the website with you!
Not sure which social platforms are best for you? Check out my content marketing masterclass here!
CONSIDER MAKING AN INCENTIVE FOR PEOPLE TO VISIT THE WEBSITE WHEN IT’S LAUNCHED
Offering some kind of sale, discount, or fun ‘bonus’ on your services and products on launch day could be a great incentive to get your audience to go and visit your website when it’s live!
Create a simple sign up LANDING page to start collecting emails
If you’re planning on starting an email list and incorporating email marketing into your marketing strategy, I cannot stress enough how important it is to start collecting emails as soon as you can!
If you’re setting up a ‘coming soon’ page for your website, you could include an email sign up form on this, but even without your website live and launched yet, you can still set up a simple sign up landing page in your email marketing software and start directing people to that.
My email marketing software of choice - Flodesk - makes this really easy!
Take my ‘Email Marketing with Flodesk’ online course to learn how to start, grow and nurture a thriving email list strategically!
What to expect & things to do on ‘launch day’
Once your website has been ‘published’ and it is live at your domain (eg. yourbusinessname.com), it’s time to celebrate! You’ll want to make sure you have some time set aside to start sharing about the new website and updating things around the web…
Update your social media ‘bios’ and profile links
If your website is brand new (ie. you didn’t have one before), OR if you’ve updated your website and changed your domain name at the same time, you’ll want to update all your social media accounts to add in your new domain/website link! Below are some examples of places to update:
Facebook Page
Instagram Bio
TikTok Bio
LinkedIn
Twitter/X Bio
Pinterest Settings / Profile
Update your email signature
Having your contact details AND your website link in your email signature is a great way to ensure you look professional, and allow your contacts to easily find your online home.
Update directories links
If your business has been listed on somewhere like Yell.com or any other directory websites, you’ll want to go and update your website link in these places too.
Share your new website with your audience!
And of course, remember to send an email out to your email list about your new website, and share the new site and link on your social media so that people can easily click through and have a look around.
‘Why isn’t my website on Google yet’?
Showing up when you search your business name or website name in google
If your website is brand new, you’ll notice if you type your website name into Google on launch day that either nothing comes up, or your site name appears but no other details. This is normal!
In order for your website to appear on Google, Google needs to have first discovered your new website (this is known as ‘indexing’). For brand new websites, this can take anywhere between a couple of weeks to several months.
You can ‘prompt’ Google to index your website quicker (see the tips below), but it still can take time, and you won’t immediately be able to see your website when you type in your business name into Google.
Showing up for other search terms & keywords on Google
If you’re working with a website designer, they likely will have asked you or discussed who your target audience is for your website, and what ‘search terms’ they are likely to be searching for on Google when looking for a solution like yours, and therefore what ‘keywords and phrases’ you want your website to be set up to focus on.
But it’s never a guarantee that you will show up on Google for these search terms and keywords, because there are usually MILLIONS of results to compete with for every search term, and where your website appears in the results depends on lots of different factors, such as:
The technical way your website and pages are set up and laid out
The technical side will largely depend on the website platform you’re using (listen to this podcast episode for more information about Squarespace and SEO) and your website designer should set up your pages and settings to help optimise for your keyword focus.The depth and quality of the content you have on your website
Google wants to display the best quality websites with the most relevant information to people first! Therefore you want to make sure you have plenty of content (text and copy) on your website that is relevant to your ideal search terms and keywords, and that is in-depth and good quality.The ‘authority’ of your website
Again, Google wants to show the best quality websites in its top results, so will look at how well established a website is when deciding where to rank it. Websites that have been around for longer, and that have other good quality websites linking to it and referencing it, will typically rank higher than new websites without a lot of authority.The other marketing activities you’re doing as a business
In order to gain authority for your website, it’s important that you’re doing other marketing activities that help direct people to your website, such as content marketing and PR.How specific the search term / keywords are that you’re trying to rank for
If I tried to get my website to rank top for the search term ‘website designer’, for example, it would be nearly impossible! Because there are 100,000s of other website designers trying to do the same thing. Instead, you have a better chance of getting listed near the top of Google if you focus on more specific, niche keywords and search terms (such as ‘Squarespace website designer UK’ or ‘Squarespace website designer Cornwall’). This is often why it’s a good idea to include your location in your content and across your website.
^ This is a really basic overview and it definitely gets more complicated than this!
Getting a website to appear on Google for specific keywords is known as ‘search engine optimisation’ (or SEO), and is a complex art and science that often requires lots of time and sometimes financial investment to help. It is an entire profession in and of its own, separate to website design, so if it’s an important priority for you, I’d always suggest working with an SEO specialist to help!
They can help you to clarify which keywords and search terms you should be focusing on, what content to update and create for those keywords, and any other set up recommendations or marketing recommendations to help too. Feel free to get in touch if you need any recommendations.
SEO tips for brand new & newly launched websites
As mentioned above, your website might take some time to get indexed by Google, and even then, it can be a challenge to show up in results for certain search terms and keywords. So here are some tips to help you!
Prompt Google to index your new website with google search console
If you’re not already set up on Google Search Console, you can set up your account here. This is basically a tool that allows you to ask Google to ‘discover’ (aka index) your website, and it tells you useful information about your website and how people are finding it in search results too.
The first thing you need to do is ‘Add a Property’ (aka add your website), and this is where you need to fill in your domain name (eg. https://www.byrosanna.couk).
Once your website is set up and verified, you can then submit a ‘sitemap’ (aka a map of all the content on your website) for Google read!
Click on ‘Sitemap’ on the left hand side and this is where you can paste in your domain’s sitemap link. This will be different for different website platforms (so feel free to ask your website designer!), but for Squarespace websites, it will always be yourdomain.com + /sitemap.xml.
Eg. https://wwww.byrosanna.co.uk/sitemap.xml
Click submit, and that’s it! You’ve just prompted Google to index your site. It may still take some time, but this will speed up the process.
Set up & update your Google business page
This is really important, and if you don’t already have a Google Business page - you need one! Even if you don’t have a physical or location-based business, it’s really important for helping your discoverability on Google. Set up a Google Business page here if you haven’t already.
Collaborate with high authority websites for features
One of the best ways for your website to gain authority is by having other high authority websites link to yours in a natural way. For example, having a news website feature you as an expert for an article and linking to your website from there, or you writing a guest blog post for a high authority blog in your niche, or you featuring as a guest on someone’s podcast.
Consider starting a blog
Blogs are a great way for you to add in-depth, quality and relevant content to your website, giving your website more opportunities to get listed on Google for certain search terms. Listen to this podcast episode if you’re not sure if blogging is right for you and your business.
Learn how to blog strategically to boost SEO with my online course, Blogging with Purpose!
Make sure you have an ongoing marketing strategy for your website
Blogging might become a part of your marketing strategy, but there are of course lots of other ways you can spread the word of your business and your website. The more people you get viewing your website and spending time on there, the more established Google will see your website as, which will in turn help with your overall SEO.
Ongoing marketing & promoting your website
Now that your website is live, we have to go out and get our target audience to come to it! In the beginning, you can’t rely on people finding your website on Google (due to all the reasons mentioned above!) and you can also help your SEO by doing other marketing activities to bring more traffic to your website too.
Personally, I love content marketing as the most effective, free marketing strategy for any new business. Whether that’s writing blog content, creating TikTok videos, crafting a podcast, or promoting yourself on Instagram.
If you’re not sure where to start, check out my free ‘Design Your Simple Content Funnel’ masterclass!
