Ensuring a successful website launch.
Launch day has arrived. You’ve spent your budget, put in countless hours to ensure your content is positioning your brand perfectly – and at last, your new website goes live. You sigh with relief and quickly get back to your busy schedule.Days, weeks, even months pass, without a single lead – at this rate there's slim chance you will ever see that return on investment.Many businesses wrongly believe that a new website is like the field of dreams – ‘build it, and they will come’. This may have been true in the early days of the web but it's definitely no longer the case. Unless you've already built an avid fan-base of potential customers watching your every move, you will need to put in some effort in order to build momentum.
Launching the right way
Before you launch
In the months leading up to pressing the go live button, you should make as much positive noise as possible about the impending launch to start generating online traction.
1. Decide on a launch date
To plan the marketing of your website, it makes sense to agree on a specific launch date. If you have an important product launch on the horizon or are about to start some business development, you could think about coordinating the new website launch around that. Certain days of the week are also better to launch than others – for example, no matter how pressing your new site is, do you really need to launch on a Friday?
2. Let people know
Once the go live date has been set, start putting the word out there. Depending on your reach, you may find people visit your site straight away. Make sure you provide a means for those early arrivals to leave their details so you can keep them in the loop. Try directing visitors from your social media posts about the launch directly to a landing page or blog post about the new site to help whet their appetite.
3. Build an email list
A pre-launch landing page with an email subscription form is a great opportunity to increase your list of potential leads. Give people a good reason to sign up and there's even greater chance you will reach that destination in the sky.
4. Update your email signature
Think how many people you interact with via email every day – your email signature is a prime place to promote your forthcoming web launch to your existing customers.
5. Utilise social media
Social platforms come and go, but social media is here to stay. It's never too late to grow your online network and further increase awareness of your brand. Using your website launch as a talking point is a great way to get started.
6. Build excitement with sneak peeks
Post teaser content through email marketing and social media that offers a taste of what’s to come. Post regularly enough to hold your audiences attention, but not so frequently that you lose it.
7. Start the countdown
This could be presented in the form of a countdown timer on your website, or included in your news posts.
Post-launch
When you've built momentum leading up to launch, you won't want to let it all go to waste when you're entering orbit.
1. Continue sharing
If you had positive results on social media during the pre-launch phase, then keep spreading the message there over the following months.
2. Update your email signature
...and anything else that might still be showing a pre-launch message. Make sure you change it to let people know that your new website is live, to encourage your customers to visit.
3. Monitor what’s working
Sophisticated analytics tools provide the ability to easily monitor how visitors interact with your site. Some of which also provide simple ways to gather real feedback from your visitors, which proves invaluable when reviewing how your site is really performing.
4. Set up Google Alerts
Once your new site is live people may start mentioning it online. By setting up Google Alerts around your brand name, you'll be notified whenever you're spoken about on the web. Good or bad, you want to be ready to respond to ensure your brand's reputation is always managed.
5. Keep creating
Don’t stop producing good quality content relevant to your audience. Set yourself a realistic content publishing schedule and do your best to stick to it. This is one of the main ways to continually grow your following, long after launch.
Round up
After successfully planning your website, your next move is to plan for launch. Generate interest around your new website as early as possible using the tips above and don’t stop producing content that is useful to your audience.If you're thinking about a website revamp and are aiming for the moon, we'd love to help pilot you there. Get in touch
