7 Things You Must Do After Launching a New Website

One of the most intimidating phases of business development is launching a website. It will appear even more complicated if social media, SEO, PPC, just add to the endless jargon involved with digital marketing for a business.

It’s not just about the website itself. Launching a successful website is how you use your website in conjunction with your internet marketing plan. After all, when planning your internet marketing strategy, the consumer experience should be your top consideration.

In this article, we are going to highlight 7 things you should do after launching a new website for your business.

1. Live User Testing

The first step is live user testing.

With 60.9% of internet searchers using mobile devices, it?s essential to check how your site looks on phones and tablets as well as on a desktop. Ensure that it responds quickly and doesn?t cut off any elements of your design or website copy. You should make sure your site appears correctly across all platforms as more and more people are utilising their phones and tablets to explore the internet.

Here are some steps you can take to ensure your website meets the usability requirements:

• Test landing pages to ensure that they are appealing to customers, who will then know where to navigate to next.
• Test your website?s navigational and informational components, and input controls like checkboxes, buttons, text fields, input fields, and anchor texts.
• Look for chances to increase conversion rates within your sales funnel.

Watch how quickly users may finish a certain task on your website. Doing so helps you understand your website?s user journey weak points so you can reflect on and improve them. 

A great tool for this case is Google Analytics.

2. Make Sure To Check Your Site’s Speed Performance

Nobody likes a slow website.

You can be sure that when a visitor views your website for the first time, they will form an opinion of you, the quality of your website, and your company. We all know that the first impression is the most lasting impression, and that concept applies to websites as well. It is strongly advised that you avoid having a slow website, as this can cause a user to leave quickly and find a solution to their problem elsewhere. Customers may not return if your website is too slow or too challenging to access.

A strong fact to support this matter is that generations are becoming more impatient with internet usability. A study by Google on website first impressions have proven that people make decisions about a website within the first 50 milliseconds.

So, make sure your website loads quickly if you want to provide a good first impression.

3. Make Use of Google Tools

So, you’ve created a fantastic website. You’ve assembled some incredibly useful information about your work or industry, improved the design, and launched it. You finally feel ready to share it with the world at this point.

All of your content will start appearing in Google right away after you post your new website for public viewing, correct? Not necessarily?

There is a little more involved than simply clicking the publish button. Google must “crawl” and “index” your content to list your website in search results. If you are the site owner, you can personally submit your site to Google to speed up this process, which typically takes a few days or even weeks.

The first step to shorten this process is to first verify website ownership using Google Search Console, after that, submit your website for indexation using a sitemap. A sitemap contains addresses for all of the content on your website.

Getting your website listed on Google helps bring organic, most relevant traffic to your website. As we all know, the more traffic you have to your business?s website, the more likely you are to have your target customer find you and purchase from you. Having a well-optimised website helps convert your potential buyer into an actual buyer.

Another great tool to monitor the progress and user journeys on your website is Google Analytics. Using this tool helps you understand how visitors engage with your website, by collecting data, analysing them, and showing insights into all the content on your website that has received views and shares. You can use this data to ensure you follow best practices for user journey optimisation.

4. A Clickable Email Signature

There is more to a clickable email signature than just a link to your website.

Your email signature is the ideal carrier for your website link. Your recipients can easily access your website?s resources by adding a link that goes to your website or blog. That makes signatures more interesting and interactive.

There are many free and paid ways to create an email signature. Based on your experience with these tools, you can choose what suits you the best.

To make it easier for you, we have built a short list of both free and paid tools that can be used to create your brand?s email signature:

• HubSpot’s Free Email Signature Template Generator – Free
• Signature Hound’s Free Email Signature and Template Generator – Free
• WiseStamp – Paid
• Email Signature Rescue – Paid

5. Publish Your Website to Your Social Media Profiles

Using social media for your business has become essential. It’s a crucial strategy for connecting with customers, gathering insightful data, and expanding your brand.

The number of social media users worldwide was estimated at 4.65 billion by the Digital 2022 April Global Statshot Report. That equates to 58.7% of the world’s population, many of whom rely heavily on social media for information. Knowing this fact will make you consider adding and sharing your website to your company?s social media accounts.

Here?s a list of the top 5 most used social media platforms worldwide:

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. TikTok
4. Snapchat
5. LinkedIn
6. Pinterest
7. Reddit
8. Twitter
9. WhatsApp
10. Telegram

The number of social media channels that can be used to promote a business keeps expanding. We have made a specific article to help you choose the best social media platforms for your business.

Crunchy Digital offers a specific package tailored to your social media marketing needs. Book a discovery session today to learn more about how we can help your business be seen.

6. Make Sure That Sensitive Data Is Always Protected

You?ve come a long way. You launched your website, made sure it looks good on all devices, and shared it on your social media accounts, now what?

Whether you manage a small business or an enterprise, users always want and expect a secure online experience.

According to a new survey conducted by the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia?s Cyber Wardens program, small business owners should not assume their young social media-savvy employees have the know-how to defend their businesses from a cyber attack. The survey that was published on the 16th of January also found that four in five Australian small business owners and employees are not confident in their ability to prepare for, fight and recover from a cyber threat.

Here are 5 steps to improve your website’s security and keep your visitors safe at all times:

• Plugins and Themes: Keep your website plugins and themes up to date. Outdated files are always a vulnerability that can be used against you. Hackers are always scanning vulnerable sites that they can attack.
• SSL: Add an SSL Certificate and ensure that data transferred on your server is sent and delivered securely through HTTPS protocol.
• Password: Pick a unique password that is not easy to guess. According to Microsoft, a strong password is:
  1. At least 12 characters long but 14 or more is better.
  2. A combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
  3. Not a word that can be found in a dictionary or the name of a person, character, product, or organisation.
  4. Significantly different from your previous passwords.
  5. Easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Consider using a memorable phrase like ?6MonkeysRLooking?.

• Employee Training: Consider training your employees to use your website?s CMS. Unfortunately, when logging into the CMS, employees do not consider website security. Instead, they are concentrated on the task, and, a serious security concern could arise if they make a mistake or ignore something. Training your employees on how to use your website?s CMS helps avoid these issues.

• Make Regular Website Backups: Having an effective backup solution is one of the greatest ways to keep your website secure. You might need to keep more than one. Each is essential to restoring your website following a serious security incident.

Pro tip: Do not reuse passwords. Credential stuffing attacks, which are regularly exploited by hackers, put you in danger if you use the same password for many accounts.

7. Start Collecting User Feedback

Honest feedback? Always.

Every business wants to give its clients the best goods and services possible as well as first-rate customer service. The only way to discover what users think about what you offer is through user feedback.

We have listed below some of the most effective methods for gathering precise customer feedback on your website.

Surveys

Surveys are a great way to gather customer input, identify what you’re doing well, and identify areas that need improvement. Please take into consideration the time you send out your surveys if you want to get more respondents.

The best times to show them a survey are after a consumer makes a purchase, a few months later, and after they stop using your goods or services.

One of the ideal times to question a customer about their experience is just after they make a purchase when they can still clearly recall their experience. Additionally, they are more inclined to respond and offer feedback. Your survey can be sent as an email or shown as a pop-up on your website. Pop-ups, however, typically draw more attention.

Live Chat

Using live chat is a great approach to getting website visitor feedback. It can also help your company in a variety of other ways. Many businesses today use live chat on their websites to personalise customer service and win over their clients’ trust.

What makes live chat a good option is also the possibility to obtain user feedback in real time. Furthermore, clients prefer direct communication because it is more convenient and results in more accurate feedback from them.

Rewards

FACT: Everyone likes them!

Brands can encourage consumers to become lifelong customers by frequently surprising them with little but meaningful rewards that delight and excite them.

Offering incentives is a great way to boost response rates. The incentive could be anything you can think of, like a coupon, discount, free sample, etc.

Another great way to solicit customer input is by offering rewards on social media platforms. This way your content on social media benefits from increased visibility and more engagement as a result.

Social Media Activity Monitoring

Social media is the most effective and efficient approach to reaching your customers.

Simply put, your consumers are already talking about you on social media, which is one of the key benefits of using these platforms to get client feedback for your company.

It is your responsibility as an online business to make sure you stay across exactly where these conversations are taking place so you can participate and either offer support or recognise your most devoted customers.

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Here at Crunchy Digital, we love helping companies grow their business online.

Contact us today if you?d like to discuss how to utilise some of the latest web design best practices to enhance the visibility of your online business.

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