If you’ve never had a business website, it can be a little confusing what to do once the website has been taken live. This article outlines the necessary steps new website owners must take to get the best out of their site’s performance.
In this article we are going to outline the following topic:
- Online directories to list your business and website on.
- The social media accounts you need.
- Free methods of online promotion.
- Basic types of online advertising
Listing on Online Directories
Once your website has been launched it is extremely important you list your business on popular online directories. In addition, you should update any current listing to include a link to your new website. These links to your website help Google and other search engines find your website. Without links from popular online directories it can be very difficult for search engines to find your website. If search engines can’t find your website, then it may not appear in the search results when someone searches your business name.
We have compiled a list of online directories you must list your business on. When creating a listing be sure to keep the format of your business name, address and phone number the same whenever possible. Also, don’t forget to add a link to your website. If you’re already listed on any of these sites, be sure to update your listing to include a link to new website.
- Apple Maps
- Yellow Pages
- White Pages
- True Local
- Yelp
- Hotfrog
- Start Local
- Word of Mouth
- Cylex
- Zipleaf
- Yalwa
- SMESavvy
Social Media Accounts
Now days more than 93% of businesses use social media. Regardless of if you want to use social media to promote your business, you will still need to create business accounts to help search engines find your website.
Google and other search engines try to protect users against scammers. If a business has no social media accounts, it can look very suspicious in Googles eyes.
You need to create social media accounts for your business and include a link to your new website. Do this regardless of whether or not you plan to use them.
- Youtube
- Google +
Free Online Promotion
You don’t need a large email database to promote your new website. The goal is simply to get a bit of traffic to the new website and to help word get out. When your website is launched it is best to send an email to your database informing your audience of the launch of your new website.
Affiliate Partnerships
If is always good to form affiliate partnership with businesses that aren’t direct competitors, but operate in a similar industry as you. For example, a builder might have an affiliate partnership with a tiler.
When you create these partnerships, it is common to have a link to one another website. You’ve probably seen an ‘our partners’ section before, with a logo and link to the partners website. Although people may not click the link to visit the site, having a link will help improve your websites ranking in Google and other search engines.
Social Media Cross Promotion
Social Media Cross Promotion works by being featured in another business’s social media. If you’re growing your businesses online presence from scratch, cross promotion can provide a great head start.
Like affiliate partnerships, you want to reach out to businesses and organisations that have a similar target audience as yours, but are not a direct competitor. For example, a dentist could reach out to local schools and offering to do a video tutorial on dental hygiene for children. This video would then be featured on the schools Facebook page.
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Source Bottle
HARO and Source Bottle are great for online and offline promotion for your business. Essentially, they connect reporters with experts for news stories. If you’re chosen to be interviewed by one of these reporters, they will usually provide a link to your website in the news article. This in turn will improve your websites ranking.
Social Media
Social Media can be a powerful tool depending on the industry you operate in. It usually works best for business that operate business-to-consumer. It can be used to spark an interest in the product or service your business sells and generate traffic to your website. It would be recommended to use all. the social media platforms outlined in the social media section. Commit to posting regularly, if your target market uses social media.
