So You’ve Launched A Website: Now What?

First of all, congratulations! All the hard work has paid off, and now, you have a brand new website.

Once your new site has launched, you may be tempted to leave it on the back burner. After all, you just launched. The website can just do its job now, right? Well, you are right – sort of. Your website will work for you 24/7; that’s the joy of an online presence. People can find your business from anywhere at any time. But, a website will still need some upkeep after you launch. By maintaining your website, you can keep the online traffic coming.

The Ongoing Work of a Website

After you launch, consider other ways to drive people to your site, like search engine optimization (SEO). The higher you rank, the more likely people are to visit your site. As more people visit your site, the more conversions you’re likely to see. The first step is to get them looking at your site. From there, you can measure what pages people view most, and where people choose to exit your site.

After you get more traffic to your site, you can start adjusting your content to help conversions. Content helps convince people to make a decision. Does your content encourage people to purchase your product or service? Or does it dissuade them from working with you? By measuring where people move on the site, you can see which sections of content perform best. Then, you can update the sections that aren’t performing as well. As time goes on, keep adjusting your content. Search engines love fresh content, and there are always ways to make your content better for readers.

Think about the opportunities outside of your website, too. Social media isn’t going anywhere. It changes as time goes on, but it definitely isn’t going anywhere. When you join social media, you get the chance to interact with more potential customers. Many times, they’ll check out your site after interacting with you on social media channels.

Let’s not forget about traditional marketing, either. Your website is just a small piece of the bigger marketing picture. It’s entirely possible to drive people to your website through print materials, too. Those business cards and brochures aren’t completely obsolete just yet!

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Next Steps

Just like the other elements of your business, your website will require updates and occasional changes in strategy. By routinely refreshing your site’s content (including text, images, video, etc.), you keep it performing at its best. As you make those adjustments, keep these things in mind:

  • Measurements are important. Analytics will make the biggest difference as you track your website’s progress. After all, it’s hard to know exactly what to adjust without any data. The numbers from analytics will show you what portion of your site needs your attention.
  • You’ll spend a lot of time testing. Maintaining a strong online presence often requires small, intentional improvements along the way. So, you’ll find most of your time isn’t spent overhauling your website, but making slight adjustments and testing their impact.
  • Not everything will work. Sometimes, you don’t get the customer response you expected. That’s okay. That’s why we analyze the data and make adjustments. It’s an important part of the process.
  • Keep going. A website is an investment, just like every other part of your business. It’s worthwhile to maintain its value through regular updates and upgrades.

Your new website will serve you years into the future. With the right care and maintenance, those years will signal growth for your business. So, enjoy the brand new launch! You’re on your way to an effective online presence.