10 Marketing Things To Do After You Build Your Website
Written By: Stacy McPhillips, Marketing Strategist & Planner and owner of Pencil Point Marketing
OK, so you just had Yasmine build your website (and your customers will literally drool over their keyboards when they see it.) But how will they know it exists?
Here are ten ways to drive customers to your website!
Oh! But, before we dive right in, let’s take a quick moment to reflect on why you have a website, to begin with. Two reasons, really.
1. Be findable.
If potential or current customers are looking for you, a website allows you to be findable. Whether it’s online or your physical location, once you have a website, your people can find you.
2. Hub for content.
Your website has all the info those potential, or current customers want to know about you and your business. It exists to inform, educate, and engage your audience.
Both are reasons to make sure you consistently share your website in your marketing activations!
Now, here the 10 ways to drive customers to your website:
1. BUSINESS CARDS
Networking with customers, peers, and other businesses is one of the best ways to create awareness of your brand. AND it’s an amazing opportunity to make an initial impression. Be sure to list your site so they can visit to get to know your brand.
2. GOOGLE MY BUSINESS (GMB)
Google allows local businesses to create a profile page that appears when consumers Google your business name. Make sure that you have control over your listing. Here’s a quick guide from Hubspot. Not only does your GMB profile have a link to your website, but it also allows you to respond to (and report) reviews.
3. EMAIL SIGNATURE
With every email you send, you can drive traffic to your website by including a link in your signature. Your email recipient can click to learn more about your brand. Here’s a little email signature design inspiration from Canva.
Also, be sure to set up an email address that uses your web domain. Ex. yasmine@roblesdesigns.com vs. yasmine@hotmail.com. It just says, “Hey, I’m a professional over here – not just anyone with an email address.”
4. PACKAGING
If you have a business that includes some sort of packaging at the time of purchase, be sure to list your website on it, so consumers have a place to go if they want to seek more information. This could be the box your pet toy product is sold in or the bag you use to take your purchase away in or the box that is delivered to your home after you order something online.
Packaging is also a great place to show some brand personality and connect with your customers.
5. SOCIAL MEDIA
One of the best marketing strategies is to be where your customers are. And chances are, your customer is on some social media.
So, whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or whatever – pick the primary platforms that are most relevant to your audience. Create profiles and a strategy for posts that will engage your customers. And – list your website in your profile.
6. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) & SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)
Heads up that this is the most technical and complicated part of digital marketing (IMHO).
When you Google something, the resulting page is called the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
SEO is stuff on your website that helps you be part of that SERP page. Check out this SEO checklist for Squarespace.
SEM is when you pay Google to advertise your business in a key spot on the search results page.
I know… too many acronyms!
Here’s an example:
Let’s pretend that we sell bouncy balls for puppies. Our website has a ton of information around our bouncy balls and how they benefit puppies. We’d like to appear in Google searches like “puppy ball toys” or “ball toys for dogs.”
Content around toys for puppies and dogs should be on our website and structured in a way that is easy for Google to read. There are a variety of other factors here, too.
But if we want to make sure that our site is showing up for these searches, we pay Google to show us when someone searches for those terms. Here’s another handy Hubspot resource on paid Google search.
But the MAIN POINT HERE is that all these Google searches link back to your website.
7. EMAIL NEWSLETTERS/PROMOTIONS
Guys, email is still really relevant. It’s a great way to communicate directly with your customers. Whether you decide you can swing sending a weekly newsletter or just a monthly promotional update, email is a great way to send traffic to your site. Here’s a guide to get started by Mailchimp.
(Note – always be sure to have permission to send emails. Having a sign-up form available on your site or social media is the best way to allow customers to opt-in. Our inboxes are like the home of our business. You need to be invited. Don’t just barge in.)
8. PARTNERSHIPS
Who are your peers that have businesses that are complementary to yours? Ask those people to partner with you. If we are still selling bouncy balls for puppies, maybe we ask our friend that is a dog walker to try out the bounciness. Then, that friend posts on Facebook with a picture of her dogs playing with our bouncy ball with a link to our website.
To stay transparent, be sure your dog walker friend discloses that we gave her the bouncy balls on her post, so her followers feel informed.
Yasmine asked me to guest write this article for her blog. She will link to my website. This also helps add validity to my website. Google sees her site as credible, and now it’s linking to my site. So, Google knows that both sites are adding good things to the internet. When you have external links to your website, this is called a “backlink,” and they help you rank higher in Google searches (along with a bunch of other things.)
10. PUBLIC RELATIONS
When you get some earned media coverage, like a news article in Columbus Business First or an event posted on Columbus Navigator, make sure to request that it contains a link to your website. Usually, this will just happen, but sometimes it’s overlooked. This allows consumers a place to get more info as a result of the mention and gives you one of those great backlinks we just spoke about.
11. DIRECTORIES
Are you a member of a networking group? Chamber of commerce? The Coalition of Bouncy Balls for Puppies? Be sure to list your website in their directory. Not only can fellow members find you there, but… backlinks.
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Think you’re finished?
Sorry, you aren’t. There are a few extra things to consider now that you have a shiny new website.
EVALUATE
If you haven’t already, set up Google Analytics so that you can start regularly reviewing traffic to your site. It will show you things like the number of visitors, where traffic is coming from (social, direct, etc..), and your top pages.
UPDATE
Lots of small business owners think, “Whew. Glad that’s done,” after their website is finished. But the truth is that those suckers need to be updated all the time as the content management systems (like Squarespace) updates. Also, any plug-ins you use will have updates, too. Check on your site at least once a week to see if anything needs to be updated and that it’s working as expected.
ADD CONTENT
Think about how you can grow your website. As you get recurring questions from customers – should you add an FAQ page? Could your customers benefit from more educational or fun stuff from you that you could post on a blog? Could you add a freebie worksheet to increase email newsletter sign-ups? Evolve your site as you evolve your brand.
KEEP IT “ON BRAND”
When you developed your site, you likely established some fonts, colors, and maybe some other branding elements like photography style, icons, or patterns. A large part of building a brand that resonates with customers is staying visually consistent. Your business cards should look like they match your site. Your emails should feel like an extension of your site’s look and tone.
OK – Go forth and promote that website!
Stacy McPhillips, Marketing Strategist & Planner
Pencil Point Marketing
Hey, I’m Stacy. I’m a marketing generalist (which means I know all the marketing stuff.) I help small businesses figure out what kinds of marketing will grow their brand.
I’ve spent my career gathering marketing experience in a variety of companies and industries here in Columbus, including Max & Erma’s, JPMorgan Chase, ScottsMiracle-Gro, SBC Advertising, and Sbarro pizza.
I believe that marketing plans should be customized to your business and that every connection with a customer is an opportunity to build a relationship with your brand.
If you’d like to chat about your marketing, I offer free 45 minute consultations so we can get to know each other and figure out if I can help. You can contact me here!
