Congrats! 🎉 Your new website is live. But what happens after the champagne is drunk, the guests are gone, and another Monday is coming your way?
Just hitting “publish” isn’t enough for traffic and clients to swarm onto it. You need to make sure people actually find your site and engage with it.
There are loads of free, simple, and not-so-simple stuff you can do to get the ball rolling.
But in this article, I’ll talk about the 5 most important and non-techy ones that’ll help you get initial traffic to your website.
1. Talk about your website on social media
Unless you’re in a small but very sought after niche, your new website won’t start getting traffic and leads without you doing anything. The easiest way to start getting traffic is to share the link on social media.
Post on all your social media accounts where your ideal clients congregate. Let them know what’s new and how it helps them solve their issues.
Chances are, your social media audience has already warmed up to you (if you built a solid presence and authority), so there’s a bigger chance a prospect will convert on your website (book a call, sign up to your mailing list, etc.).
A week after I launched my website, I wrote an announcement post on LinkedIn and got 45 new visitors 🙂
👉 Pro tip: Don’t just post once after the launch. Each time you update your website with something new—blog posts, pages, case studies, or features—talk about it in a LinkedIn or Instagram post. You can even add a link to it in the CTA section of your sales post.
Until you start gaining traction on Google, linking to your website from social media is a great way to get traffic.
2. Add your website link everywhere
I don’t mean you should spam away every corner of the internet. Add the link to every relevant place you have access to.
Make sure the website is easy to find by adding the link to:
- your social media bio (Instagram) or Featured section (LinkedIn)
- your Google My Business profile (especially if your business is local)
- email signature
- author bylines on articles (if you write business-related articles on other websites)
- online directories relevant to your business
You can also join relevant Facebook groups and post your link in threads dedicated to self-promotion or when replying to other people’s posts when they ask for an expert referral.
Think of these links as little doors to your website. The more ways to get there, the greater the chance the right people will discover it.
3. Set up analytics & Google Search Console
You need to track what’s happening on your site ASAP. Otherwise, how will you know what’s working? Keeping track of your website data will also help you with testing different CTAs (Call to Actions), subheadings and other copy elements that influence user behavior.
Google Analytics shows you who’s visiting, where they’re coming from, what they’re doing on your site and for how long.
It has loads of features: real-time insights, you can integrate it with other Google products; in-depth custom reports, etc.
But if you’re a beginner, the most basic metrics to keep track of are:
✔️ Average Engagement Rate
✔️ Bounce Rate
✔️ Refferals
✔️ Unique Users
You can take a deeper dive into stuff to keep track of in GA4 in this article by Agency Analytics.
If you find Google Analytics 4 overwhelming, or you have a small website, you can use other analytic tools like MonsterInsights or Independent Analytics. I use IA for my own website and I love it so far.
It’s simple, clear, doesn’t collect cookies and has everything I need at this stage in my solo business.
Google Search Console is also a must have if you want to track your website’s performance. Unlike GA4 that gives insight on what happens on your website, GSC shows you what’s happening on Google.
It tracks your ranking position, number of clicks to your website and keywords people use to find it. Also, it’s more user-friendly than GA4 but you should be familiar with SEO terms like “indexing”, “crawl”, “HTTPS”, “sitemaps”,etc.
Try to do weekly or monthly check-ups of your analytics tools.
This will give you insight into what to do next month and what needs to be done better.
4. Start writing and publishing blog posts
You can rank without regularly updating your website, but it’s much easier when you add new content. However, do take into account that whether or not you should update your website’s content for SEO depends on tons of factors, like:
✔️your niche (if your business is AI-related, it’s important to keep up with the trends and developments)
✔️type of content (if your website is based around news, it should be regularly updated)
✔️keywords you (don’t) rank for
The simplest (but not easiest!) way to keep your website fresh and clean is to write blog posts focused on keywords your audience uses when looking for your services.
But forget about generic educational articles that any AI tool, I mean, John Doe can publish. It’s best to write about topics only you can write about – thought leadership articles, case studies, articles where you talk about your working process etc. The internet is chokeful of bland, AI-generated articles
Remember, the content should correspond with what people search for on Google AND your business (no articles about succulents if you are a career coach).
How often should you publish blog posts?
It takes time to write a blog post that people would love to read and Google would love to rank. Especially if daily business tasks and meetings take up a big chunk of your time. That’s why I recommend busy solopreneurs to aim to post at least once or twice a month.
If once a month also sounds too much, you can leave the writing part to me.
Check out my a la carte writing services, including writing SEO optimized blogs.
5. Email your subscribers, clients & leads
Already have a substantial emailing list? Great! Let your subscribers know about your new site.
Just like on social media, you can incorporate your website content in your emails beyond the basic announcement. Use it to drive traffic to your website when you have a new blog post, a service update, or a new landing page.
Just make sure the tone, style, and visual branding are consistent across your marketing channels.
Another simple way to start getting traffic is to send a short and friendly email to:
- Existing clients (they can check out updates or new services)
- Leads who are still on the fence (a fresh website might convince them to book a call or buy)
When clients and leads see your professional and clearly written website, they may be motivated to continue or start working with you.
The ball’s in your court!
Don’t let your website sit there collecting dust. After the launch and technical set-up, do these 5 things to get traffic:
1. Talk about your website on social media
- Add your website’s link everywhere relevant
- Set up analytics tools and Google Search Console
- Start publishing new content (blog posts)
5. Send your website link to your email subscribers, clients and warm leads
Use this checklist to get your newborn website in front of the right people, track its success, and keep it growing.
