First, congrats on the new site! It looks really great. I love the way that the one thing looks on that one page. Yeah, great work. So, now what? What are you going to do to get the word out about this brilliant masterpiece? What’s the next step after taking down that Coming Soon page? You’re in luck, read on.
Check the look
So, first things first. You did check the site in multiple browsers, right? What? No? You have to know what everyone will be seeing and experiencing, so check out the site on as many browsers as you can. On a windows PC, check it out on Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and even Safari. On a Mac, check out Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Look at it using multiple browsers on an iPhone, an iPad, multiple Android phones, and even a Windows phone if you can find one 😏. Yes, there are website like Browsershots.org that show you screenshots from multiple browsers, but I like to see the site and interact with it to make sure that everything is working properly. If you see something off, let your web designer know so that it can updated immediately.
The Title is Vital
Ok, so the site looks great in all browsers including the one on your grandmother’s Compaq computer. You know, the one that takes 4 hours to boot up, at times sounds like it has a nice case of smokers cough, and only displays 16 colors (Come on, don’t complain. She made cookies and thinks that you are the best looking grandchild. Cut grandma a break.) So, now you need to do just a bit of SEO work (well, a lot, but that’s another post). All pages on your website should have a Title and a Description. The title and description are what Google will display when your site shows up in the search results. Properly formed Titles and Descriptions are extremely important. Each title should be no more than 55 characters (including spaces) and a description should be kept below 155. Any longer, and Google will cut your title or description short and display an Elipses ( … ) in place of the rest. If you have a WordPress powered website, your in luck because there are several plugins that help with this process including Yoast’s SEO Plugin and All in One SEO plugin (many, many more exist, but I have used both in the past and can speak highly of both). There are plugins for several other CMS’s (Content Management Software) that can help with the Title and Description, but since we at BuzzTown Marketing specialize in WordPress websites, we can’t really recommend any. A simple Google search can help creating your titles and descriptions.
Over Here Searchy Searchy
If you did nothing from here on out in regards to your site, Google and Bing will likely still find your site eventually and index it. But, why not let them know immediately and make them aware of all of the pages that your site has? To do so, mosey on over to Google’s Search Console, create an account if you don’t already have one, and register your site. Once it is registered, and you have gone through the steps to verify that you really do own the website, you will want to submit a sitemap. A sitemap, in case you are unaware, is a listing of all of the pages of your site along with info like when they were each updated last, how often they get updated, etc. They can be a lot of work to create and maintain manually. But there are ways to create a sitemap automatically. If you have a WordPress powered website, you have a lot of options in the form of plugins (The same plugins that I listed above, Yoast and All in One SEO). If you don’t, there are sites that will crawl your site and make one for you, like XML-Sitemaps and XML Sitemap Generator. Sitemaps should stay as updated as possible when you add more pages or update older pages to your new website.
So, this is the first three things that you can do to help your new website be found and appreciated by users. We will be adding many more articles of steps to follow to attract organic traffic and to discover ways to market your site for the best results. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for updates and new blog posts. If you need help getting your new website up and running, adding content, or getting the word out about it, just drop us a line.
Oh, and by the way, because you will be adding more and more content to your site in the form of blog posts and other forms of content, your website should never really be considered finished, and that’s a great thing!
Langdon Siggelkow (rhymes with Giggle Show) is the Founder and Mayor of BuzzTown. A website designer and developer since 1996, Langdon has no problem typing this in the third person so that it seems like someone else is saying great things about him. He was a working Stand Up Comedian for several years and wants to add humor to discussions on creative inbound marketing strategies. Langdon has spoken at several events about using Social Media, Inbound Marketing, and creative ways to be memorable. Connect with Langdon on LinkedIn
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