My website just launched, now what?

39 web tips in 7 categories to get you started on marketing your new website

Ready? Let's get started!

1. TIPS ON HOW TO SET UP WEB STATISTIC SOFTWARE TO TRACK ALL YOUR VISITORS

Most hosting companies provide web stats for your site so you can see how many people visited your site each day, how many pages they looked at, what time they visited etc.  Some of these statistics aren't detailed enough, and you might need to set up additional web statistics software.

Generally this is a bit of html code you add to your web pages [or website templates].  If you don't know how to do this, you might consider contacting your hosting company support center, or having a techie person do the work for you.  It would take less than an hour, and sometimes only minutes to set up.

My favorite is:

http://StatCounter.com - free for up to 100 page loads per day

Once you have set this up, start a new page in a Word document or little book you keep beside your computer. Check your stats at the same time every day. Write the date in the first column, and the unique visitors in the next column.

You will soon see the results grow if you follow the steps outlined below. You can also export the statistics from StatCounter or other web stats companies, to compare over time. I suggest you export on the first day of each month.

2.  TIPS ON HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO VISIT YOUR WEBSITE

Add your domain name to absolutely EVERYTHING:

1. email signatures
2. business cards
3. return address labels
4. invoices, receipts, compliments slips, thank you notes, quotations
5. letterheads
6. envelopes
7. flyers
8. brochures
9. any info you send out to a prospective client, either in hard copy or via email or fax

Join 3 mailing lists / forums online on topics you are knowledgeable in

1. get a Yahoo email account, and go answer questions on http://answers.yahoo.com - put your url in the answer which points to a different page on your site each time - relevant to the question, but don't be pushy - offer great information in reply to questions
2. don't advertise yourself blatantly, simply add your domain name to your signature and offer tips and suggestions to people on the list or forum
3. after about a month, you can add your slogan or a free offer in your signature file
4. as they get to know you, they will pop over to your site to learn more about you
5. create a document or spreadsheet called FORUM TRACKING - keep track of the Forums you have joined  including login name and password, website address, name of Forum
6. one day a week go and visit each forum and answer one question [at least]

Write at least one article per month

If you make an effort to do this, in a couple of years you'll be totally overwhelmed by how many sites link back to yours, and the search engines love this and help you climb up the search engines results. In the Author Bio, put a link back to a DIFFERENT PAGE on your website each time, which is relevant to the article.

Over time you'll have hundreds of quality links coming back to your website from all over the internet.

1. write about an amusing story related to your business, or about a great way to use your artwork, products or services which people might not know about - do not write a blatant plug
2. make the articles interesting, and even funny, as different kinds of articles will appeal to different kinds of readers - do not write a blatant plug
3. create a document or spreadsheet called ARTICLE TRACKING - keep track of the Article Name, Date Posted, where you posted it, login name and password, website address, name of Article website
4. on the first of each month, do a google search on the Article  Name and see if other article websites have started using it too
5. on your Article Tracking document, write down how many websites now use your article - update this on the first of each month, notice which articles are chosen more than others, try to write more articles in the same way with similar themes.

I like http://www.goarticles.com - and http://www.isnare.com (which costs around $10 for 5 articles to be distributed for you) - I am receiving tons of links through the iSnare distribution

3. TIPS ON HOW TO GET YOUR WEBSITE LISTED IN THE SEARCH ENGINES

There are plenty of companies who will offer you a service to get listed on search engines for a nice tidy little sum of money.

Say, "No thanks." Try my techniques instead.

1. add Meta Tags [Title + Keywords + Description = Descriptive paragraph and keywords] to every page of your website
2. make sure your Meta Tags [Title + Keywords + Description = Descriptive paragraph and keywords] are DIFFERENT for every page of your website
3. launch your website
4. go to Google Local - add a description of your website and photos (up to 12 - make sure photos are named with keywords in them) - this is an invaluable way to get LOCAL targetted traffic, put suburb names and postcodes or zip codes in the description http://www.google.com/local/add
5. create a blog about something related to your niche - http://www.blogger.com - add a link to your new website
6. write a quick tip at least once a week on your blog - add photos if possible - and link back to a SPECIFIC page on your website, a different one each time - the serch engines LOVE this!
7. add a link from your website to your new blog - this is called "two-way reciprocal linking" and is very powerful - you can create a new webpage called 'Blog' and put a descriptive paragraph about what visitors can expect to read on your blog - add some photos, and add the LINK to your blog
8. write on each of the 3 forums (related to your niche) you have signed up for, making sure your website name is in your forum signature [see Tip 2 above]
9. find blogs about topics which interest you, written by the gurus on the internet  - if you can post a relevant Comment on their blogs, do so - especially if they have high traffic ratings - make sure to put your website link in your posts
10. if you don't know which blogs to write on, go online to a large newspaper in your country - find articles you can post messages on, where you can place your domain name
11. add your domain name to Google :  http://www.Google.com/addurl/
12. create an account at http://Twitter.com - post a comment every day or so, let your customers / website visitors know you use twitter (like a Follow Me On Twitter icon or link), and build up a relationship with potential clients; ask for questions about your niche on Twitter, answer them in 140 characters or less - add a link back to your site pages every now and then. Put your site url in the BIO on Twitter, so people can find out more from your website.

If you do all of these linking strategies, your website should appear in Google.com within 7 days.

If you'd like more info on one of my Search Engine Optimisation packages, please let me know and we can discuss what's right for your site, and how I can help you.

4. TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE BROKEN WEBSITE LINKS

Sometimes it's possible to make a typo when adding links on your website, and sometimes other websites disappear or change their page names.  You need to keep all your links up-to-date, and the best way to do this is to sign up for free website link checks. Some of these services do charge, but you can sign up for the 30-60-90 day trial and see if you like their service.  Here are a couple:

http://www.InternetSeer.com

http://www.seventwentyfour.com/trial.html

If you are an Amazon Associate, you can use this link and have your report emailed to you:

http://www.alexa.com/site/devcorner/site_report

If you find you have any broken links, fix them a.s.a.p.

5. TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR MESSAGE/SLOGAN IS ON EVERY PAGE OF YOUR SITE

What's your 30 Second Pitch?

What's your slogan?

If I met you and you had to describe in 5-10 words what you do, could you tell me?

I ask these questions because you need to know that only a percentage of your site visitors land on your Home page.  The rest of them come in the back door, landing on any one of your pages.  Bet you hadn't thought about THAT before.

The way to ensure your site visitors KNOW what you DO, is to tell them. On every single page.  If you have a logo or banner at the top of your site which appears on every page, that's fantastic. Does your website name or logo clearly define WHAT YOU DO?  If it's something like, "Judy's Fantastic Services", how will your visitor know if you're a cleaner, a virtual assistant, an accountant, a coach, a consultant or a seamstress?

1. if you don't have a slogan, brainstorm with associates, friends and family until you find 5-10 words which clearly say what people will find on your site - this is your SLOGAN
2. add your slogan to the top of every page so whether your site visitor lands on page 3 or page 72, they can see exactly what the site's about. They will then decide whether to stay or go.
3. If you have a juicy tempting offer [free report, download, competition - a Call to Action] on each page near the top, then you might just entice them to hand over their email details to sign up for your newsletter before they can download or participate.

Best tip you'll ever read!

Every page of your website is a landing page
make sure your visitors can quickly find out what you do
on EVERY single page

If you'd like help on writing your 30 Second Pitch, email us for the free pdf.

6. TIPS ON HOW TO PUT A CALL TO ACTION ON EVERY PAGE OF YOUR SITE

I bet you're asking, "What's a CALL TO ACTION?".

In simplest terms, it is text or images on your site asking your site visitor to DO SOMETHING like sign up for your newsletter, take a quizz, enter a competition, click to download a free report.  A 'call to action' engages the website visitor, and if you offer a freebie of some kind, they will then have something to read again and again. Make sure the freebie has great usable information, and don't forget to put all your contact details on every page of the freebie.

1. add a Sign Up for the "free Newsletter Now!" message or button on every page
2. add a link or image for Download Free Report Now on the appropriate pages

I use Aweber for my newsletters, as do many other people - it's well worth the $19.95 per month to handle all the lists you can manage.

"Enter Our Competition Now and Win Blahblahblah!" is a great call to action [they will click a link, go to a form to enter their details, and can win or download something relevant to your website - it doesn't have to cost much, but any perceived value is good].

Before your site visitors enter the competition, it's a great idea to get them to find the answer to a question, about something on your website, so it becomes interactive.

Pop over to your own website - pretend you've never visited it before - is there a Call To Action on each page? No?  Well, now you know how to fix it. :-)

7. TIPS ON HOW TO SEND PRESS RELEASES TO ANNOUNCE YOUR SITE

Now your website is open for business, you need to announce it by sending off press releases.  If the thought terrifies you, if you think you can't write or don't know what to say, visit a few Press Release websites and see what other people write.

It's always a great idea to write your Press Release as a story about something that happened to someone who used your product or service, rather than a blatant advertorial plug.

Come up with a human interest story, or a funny thing that happened, to keep the readers' interest.  The free Press Release services don't judge what you write, but they do publish the Press Release and it can be seen by thousands or even millions of people.  The potential for people to read it and visit your site is enormous!  Check out some of these free sites - if you find that any of them now charge, please let me know and I'll update this list to reflect that:

http://www.prweb.com

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com

http://www.free-press-release.com

http://www.pressreleasemonkey.com

http://www.presszoom.com

http://www.prleap.com

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com

http://newswire.com

http://www.pressmethod.com

http://www.press-base.com

http://www.click2newsites.com/press.asp

http://www.clickpress.com

http://www.bookcatcher.com

http://www.pressbox.co.uk

To view a Press Release about one of my client stories, please click this link to read "From Reyjkavik to Rozelle - A Website Dream Come True' - http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200612/1167121393.html

When should you send a Press Release?

Once a month or more often if you have more news to share - announce a new staff member, new product, new service, website overhaul, new client story, new interesting page on your site, new knowledge you've gained, something you'd like to share, etc.

SUMMARY

If you make a commitment to yourself that you will follow the simple steps outlined above, you will notice a difference in your website visitor statistics within one month.  If you keep up the effort, and post comments on only 3 forums per month, and write one article per month, you'll see a huge increase in statistics within 6-9 months.

Remember : A website is like an oasis ...

To keep it fresh and lush you need to nurture it, water the exotic plants and trees (add new good relevant content as often as possible), and it will be a gem on the internet.  Leave it to its own devices, never devote any thought or time to your website, and it will be like a barren desert.

I wish you all the very best of luck with your website adventures!

Cheers

Teena!