What to Do After a Website Launch to Boost Traffic and Lead Generation

Congratulations, you have launched your new website. All the time, hard work and investment have finally come to fruition. Now what are you supposed to do after a website launch? The journey has only begun. Boosting traffic and generating leads should always be top of mind. Whether it is a website redesign or a new launch, gaining traffic is the first step on the path to lead generation and conversion success. There are several crucial steps to take to ensure your website boosts traffic and lead generation. While some steps are short-term and others are long-term, they all contribute to the success. Let’s dive into the six things you need to do after a website launch.

Test Your Website

Testing should happen before the website goes live. Testing after the launch is a great tactic for double-checking in the live environment. Many businesses use a staging environment to plan out new formatting and content without worrying about their production environment changing. If this is your first website launch, you might not have a staging environment, but for those who are completing a redesign, it is common. Whether this is your first website or a redesign, here are a few core things to test after your website launch:

• Links: Check your URLs are properly structured. Any hyperlinks within landing pages should also be checked to ensure they go to the correct pages or locations.
• Formatting: Check that all formatting is correct. 94% of first impressions are based on how a website looks, so ensure the formatting and look of the website makes a positive impact. There is a chance that one website block might be incorrectly sized, or a paragraph break duplicated when it was not supposed to. Over 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices so ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is crucial. Ensure blocks stack on top of each other, images are sized correctly and all text is readable for your mobile visitors.
• Images: Whether it is a header image or an image on a blog, check that these are rendering. You would not want to find a huge image on a blog that is not supposed to be there.

Double-Check Search Engine Optimization

Optimizing your website for search engines is a critical step in generating traffic and leads. Here are a few things to check so your website is optimized for search engines.

• Keywords: Each page of your website should focus on a certain keyword. This tells search engines that a page is about a certain topic and that your company is knowledgeable of that topic. Include your keyword in the H1, H2s and throughout, but be careful not to overoptimize. This can be a negative signal to Google or other search engines that you are trying too hard.
• Meta Description: This tells search engines what your page is about. Keep it succinct; between 55 and 160 characters.
• Title Tag: This should include your keyword and a shortened title of your page. It often includes your company name as well. For example, “B2B Marketing Strategy | Launch Marketing”. This tells search engines what your page is about, in short. It should be no longer than 60 characters, spaces included.
• URL: Your keyword should also be in the URL and it should be no longer than 75 characters. While this is not as important for search engines, it should signal to visitors what your page is about.

Useful tools such as Moz, Ahrefs and SEM Rush can help you track search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. This includes monitoring issues that may arise, identifying keywords and more.

Put Together a Process for Updates and Monitoring

Your website is not a one-and-done. It should be consistently monitored and updated. Websites are often subject to cyberattacks and hacks that can break your website. A staggering 97% of security breaches come via an outdated plugin. One way to mitigate hacks is to update your website. Themes and plugins are the two main components that will need consistent updates. These updates are often done manually so make sure to back up your website to ensure you can revert if anything breaks. Create this backup in your website hosting platform. There is also an automatic way to update your website. If your site is hosted through WordPress Engine, they have an add-on called Smart Plugin Manager that allows you to automate plugin updates. Plus, Smart Plugin Manager backs up your site and rolls it back in the instance of an error or breakage. This gives you the peace of mind to know your website is always up and running.

Promote Your New Website

After double and triple-checking your website, it’s time to promote it. As brand awareness increases, so will leads and customers. Here are a few tactics for promoting your new website:

• Distribute a Press Release. Let people know about your new website via a press release. This gives a boost from an SEO standpoint and increases the content reach at the same time. Ensure your distribution is to your target audience so that you are reaching relevant prospects.
• Highlight on Social Media. Another channel to reach a broad audience is through social media. Use relevant and popular hashtags to reach even more people outside of your audience base.
• Consider Advertising. If there is budget available, consider utilizing advertising. This is a great way to generate more traffic beyond organic and direct to reach more prospects.

Develop a Content Plan to Drive Traffic and Leads

To further support the launch of a website and drive lead generation, it is important to create a content marketing plan. Bringing traffic to a website largely originates from organic searches. What comes up in search results when asking a question or looking for information? Blogs. Articles. eBooks. Content. Strong content supports SEO efforts by boosting keyword ranking and traffic. Plus, 95% of search traffic goes to the search results on the first page. A content marketing plan should include a content strategy supported by a detailed content calendar.

A content strategy should include:

• Goals:Do you want content to increase brand awareness? Drives leads? What about both? Define the purpose of creating content and how it supports business goals.
• Audience: Content with no target audience is like creating a birthday cake but no one has a birthday. Knowing the target audience helps narrow content topics and language to best reach them.
• Types: There are a ton of different content types. Not all businesses should create every type and others are not equipped to. Choose a handful of asset types that are doable to create. Think gated and ungated assets. Gated content, such as eBooks, guides and white papers, drives leads while ungated, such as blogs, articles and videos, drive traffic. 41% of people read 3 to 5 pieces of content before moving to a sales conversation which only solidifies the need for a variety of content.
• Topics: There are many topics out there to write about. Consider what your expertise is and what the pain points of your audience are. That is where your topic focus should be to start.

A content calendar should include:

• Type of content (blog, article, eBook, etc.)
• Topic (industry trend, thought leadership, etc.)
• Team member responsible for drafting and reviewing
• Deadline
• Keywords being utilized and optimized for
• Image used
• Date published
• URL

Measure, Analyze and Adapt

One of the great things about websites is the data. Through tools such as Google Analytics 4, your team can uncover trends and insights. It is difficult to tell based on one month’s data if your website is performing well. Seeing trends change over time can help you uncover what is normal and what is not. Important metrics to focus on include users, new users, events and conversions. If there are big jumps or decreases in traffic, investigate. Did more ads get distributed to make traffic jump? Did something in the backend of the website cause traffic to decrease drastically? Match up marketing efforts or campaigns with traffic ebbs and flows, if possible. Over time, these trends will unfold, giving insights into how your marketing is doing and if it’s meeting your traffic and lead goals. This also sets the baseline for making future changes.

Looking for assistance with marketing, designing, developing or promoting your website? We have all your B2B website design needs here. Request a free marketing consultation or contact us today to get started!