Launching and promoting a new website is a super exciting time! You have worked hard on design, content, pictures, and overall structure and functionality for months. You have had endless internal discussions and, no doubt, talked to your Project Manager at least a dozen times. You have planned, reviewed the website endlessly, made final touches, and it’s now launch day! You are proud of your new website and you should be! Now, it’s time to make sure that you get full publicity for your work of art!

Here are some top tips that the folks at Blue Atlas suggest to celebrate and announce your new website:

1. Have a “Coming Soon” Banner and Page – Instead of leaving your clients in the dark, try making a “Coming Soon” page, pop-up, and/or banner for your website. A small banner on your old site will let visitors know that a new website is coming. Additionally, a “Coming Soon” page during the launch efforts will remind any visitors that the site is being worked on, but will be live soon.
2. Share via Social Media – Post preview images of the site before the launch on social media, and after the site goes live. Promoting the launch of your new website can be a great way to gain more traffic and links. Remember that visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media, as opposed to its plain text counterparts.
3. Personal Email Signature – You can include a link to your homepage or a specific landing page you want to promote.
4. Email Marketing – You can and should let your clients/prospects know that you are launching a new website. They are your best fans and should be kept up-to-date with your marketing efforts. Be sure to include a link to the new site, preview images, and social share buttons.
5. Take Before and After Screenshots – Don’t forget to take both before and after screenshots of your website. These images are essential when submitting award nominations for your new website.
6. Search Engine Optimization – SEO is vital to helping your website appear near the top of search results for keywords that you want to rank for. When you launch a new website, Blue Atlas ensures that all of your old pages do link to a new page, but SEO helps give your new site a Google boost! Learn more about our SEO practices here.
7. Promote Your Website with Ad Spend – If you are wanting to hyper-target potential website visits, we suggest using social media ads or Pay-Per-Click (PPC). These advertising avenues allow you to choose exactly who sees your new website and can boost visibility and sales immediately.
8. Put Your Web Address on Paper – Your website address should be on every piece of paper you give out. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a receipt, a flyer, a letter, or your business card. Putting your web address in the hands of potential visitors can boost visitors to your site quickly.
9. Create a blog post about what’s changed and why – This is a great way to show your website users why you have chosen to do a redesign and how they will benefit from the new website. This is a time to brag about why you did this and what they can expect on your new site.
10. Boost your PR Efforts – This is a time that you need and deserve to be in the press. Start by letting your closest allies know about your new site. You can start with local Chambers of Commerce, city dignitaries, or local bloggers. Another way to get the word out is to run a press release to local media. Blue Atlas excels at putting together a press release and getting it published in hundreds of publications. Contact us today to learn about our PR packages.

Now you know the top ways to announce your new website to the public. Please know that you may be tired of your new website before it even launches, but your visitors haven’t seen it yet. Your PR efforts should keep up for about a month or two. This allows anyone and everyone that might visit your site the chance to see all of the hard work that you have done!

If you need any help with the above tactics, Blue Atlas has years of experience of building websites, and promoting them. Simply give us a call at 888-266-7153 or email us at info@blueatlasmarketing.com.