So you've got your brand new website and it's looking spic and span - congratulations!
It marks the start of an exciting new chapter in your business.
At this point, your mind will turn away from the nitty gritty of copywriting, grammar checks, page layout and image placement and towards how to get people to visit your site.
Part of this involves showing up in search rankings, and to do that we want to make friends with Google.
How does Google rank our sites?
Google's main mission is to serve up the right content to the right people.
When someone searches on a specific keyword or term, Google will rank your site (and your competitors sites) according to Relevancy and Authority.
Site Authority - Your website's ability to rank relevant content in organic search results within your niche.
Site Relevancy - How relevant your website is in relation to a particular search term or topic.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the term used to describe the tactics we use on our site and elsewhere on the web to improve how we rank in searches.
For the purposes of this blog post, I'm assuming here that you've got the SEO basics in place on your website itself and that your website is indexable. If you've worked with a website designer such as myself, then you should have these pieces in place (and if you're not sure, you can feel free to contact me)
If your website and domain is brand spanking new, then initially it won't carry much clout in the Authority stakes compared to your competition.
Your Authority will naturally grow over time which is why SEO is more of a marathon rather than a sprint.
But happily there are things we can do to let Google (and other search engines) know that we exist.
The following are all practical things that can help give your website a boost in the early days:
Things to do after you've published your website
1) Add your website to your social media bio's
An obvious one, but once you're happy that you've ironed out any snagging issues, it's time to get your new website listed around the web so that when people visit your social profiles, they can follow the trail back to your site.
Add your website to ALL of your social media accounts.
It doesn't matter if you've never posted on Twitter, it all helps. So head on over to Pinterest, Linked In, Substack, Facebook, Instagram, You Tube etc and update your profiles.
While you're there, make sure that those profiles are complete and present an accurate reflection of your services, using a nice sprinkling of your keywords for good measure.
2) Get set up on Google Business and build out your profile
Make sure your Google Business Profile (Maps) listing is complete. Add your website, plus lots of images and max out all of the descriptive categories that you're allowed.
Ensure all of the text fields are updated to describe your services and scatter your primary keywords through your copy.
3) Build your authority with reviews on your Google Business Profile
Share your Google Business listing with happy clients that you've worked with and request that they leave you a review - listings with reviews are more likely to be ranked higher in searches.
4) Create 'products' on your Google Business Profile for each of your services
Set up 'products' for each of the services / products that you offer to showcase the different ways that people can work with you.
For instance, for my own business I have listings created for: Personal Brand Photography, Wix Website Design, Brand & Logo Design, Human Design Chart Readings & Product Photography
Each of these 'product listings' then links back to the relevant page on my website.
5) Post regular updates to your Google Business profile
With the Business Profile tool, Google has provided us with an incredible way of telling them exactly what we do and what we are up to in our business at any given time.
Creating an update or an offer on our profile is a brilliant way of highlighting a service or sharing a blog post. Again, be sure to use your keywords when you post along with a link back to your site (you can see a theme developing here)
6) Post links back to your website on Instagram Stories
Once restricted only to people who had a 10k+ following, Instagram and Facebook now offer us the ability to add a link to our website directly from Stories.
Use this feature to your advantage by posting backlinks to your site regularly.
7) Add your business to free directories and industry listings
Backlinks (i.e links back to your site from other webpages) are great for SEO but we don't want to be chasing backlinks as a means to an end and it's better to focus on creating quality content for your website that will attract backlinks organically.
However, that being said it's still important to create a profile on any relevant or local business directories or free indexes. Just do a search on 'free business directories' to find these.
Please note that here I am referring to free business listings - you can pay to advertise in many of these, but I wouldn't recommend this unless it is highly relevant to your niche and aligned with your ideal client.
You want to make sure it's a good fit before investing because many of these things are a complete waste of money.
8) Industry specific and partner backlinks
The better the quality of the backlink to our site, the better for us.
Good quality backlinks (i.e links from other reputable sites) are great news for your website, so spend some time brainstorming possibilities.
For example, do you have people that you partner with that would link back to your site?
Could you offer to write guest blog posts for other website in, or related to, your niche?
Are you accredited with any professional bodies or organisations that offer a directory of members in which you could be listed?
Are there specific directories in your niche? (wellbeing / interiors etc). It's worth searching for these as well.
I'd also recommend taking a look to see where your competitors are listing their websites for inspiration.
9) Install the Wix Site booster App
If you're with Wix and your plan includes the Site Booster app as part of your package, then I'd recommend installing this and submitting your site. This simultaenously lists your site with dozens of the othe lesser used search engines. Again, every little helps.
10) Install your Facebook Pixel
If you want to be able to create Facebook ads for your business, then you'll want to install your Facebook Pixel.
"The Facebook pixel is a piece of code for your website that lets you measure, optimize and build audiences for your ad campaigns. You can think of this as an analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website" (Source: Facebook)
Next steps...consider adding a blog to your site.
A blog is something to love for a multitude of reasons. It will position you as an expert in your niche, provide a platform for you to share your perspective, it will also keep your website fresh and engaging and streamline your social media efforts. Plus it's great for discoverability. Find out more about adding a blog to your website here.
My own blog is a vital piece in my conscious marketing experiment, where I am saying no to the things that don't light me up and instead leaning into alignment in my business.
That's it for now, if you need any support in this area please feel free to check out my Wix website services - I help health, wellness and creative businesses make a bigger ripple effect in the world.
About Lucy:
I'm a brand designer, photographer and Wix website designer based in the UK. I help wellness & creative businesses build their brand and online presence through photography and web, brand & human design, so that they can turn their passions into the business they dream of.
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