So your brand new website is LIVE. Now what?
Surely that means that the word is out, and the clients will come flocking? Well, um, no.
GETTING INDEXED
First up, Google needs to figure that you've just hit 'publish' and your new site is live on the interwebs. And sometimes, this can take some time.
"Although it varies, it seems to take as little as 4 days and up to 6 months for a site to be crawled by Google and attribute authority to the domain. When you publish a new blog post, site page, or website in general, there are many factors that determine how quickly it will be indexed by Google. For example, site popularity, whether the content is crawlable, and your overall site structure." - Impact Plus
Some of the process of being indexed is out of your hands, but you can follow the tips and tricks in this blog post to speed up the process, and get users clicking on your site in no time.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)
"Well, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, which is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website’s position in search results pages. Remember, the higher the website is listed, the more people will see it."- DMI
If you've had a team design and build your website for you, they really should have included SEO as part of their processes (that's what we do on the sites we build!). Be sure to check with them however.
BRING IN YOUR OWN TRAFFIC
Things that can help your organic SEO are sending as much foot traffic to it as possible - through your other social media accounts, and by sending clients links to the site for them to click on.
Once your FB or IG pages are live as well, and you've added your location (if your services/products are specific to a certain location), this will also help Google pinpoint you, and bring you up in the top search results locally.
GET REFERRED
If you've been featured in any articles or podcasts or resources on other websites, it's great to ask them to link back to your own website as well.
Are you brand new? Reach out to contacts you might know in the media world, and ask them to feature you.
Or send out a press release about your big launch, new offerings or reinvented services, to get featured in local/national media. The more people chatting about you, means the more people searching for you on Google, and clicking on your links - and this drives traffic and bumps you up the search results!
GET BLOGGING
Blog traffic is one of the fastest ways to optimise your SEO, as the metatags and hashtags within a post help to teach Google what your site is about. The blog also serves as a great resource for people looking for online info, such as, "Five Ways to Take Better Photos" or "The Best Tips for Family Photo Shoots" etc.
We would also suggest using location specific phrasing and hashtags, such as "Helping South African Photographers Take Better Pics" and #photographytipssouthafrica. This will make your page more likely to show up when potential clients google photography, while they're in SA. (Of course, each of the above ideas will be customised to your own specific biz and field!)
Do remember to not just publish a post and then leave to gather dust on your blog. Spread the word about all those fantastic posts you're writing - pop them up onto LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Encourage comments and engagement, and most of all - feet heading towards your site!
Repost and repurpose wherever you can!
Once they're on your site, make sure the CTAs (call-to-actions) are easily visible on your site, so that your site user knows exactly where to sign up, book an appointment or purchase a course!
E-COMMERCE TIPS
So often we have businesses coming to us in November/December asking for photo shoots and graphics - because they'd like to launch in time to get Xmas orders in. And quite simply - THIS IS TOO LATE.
If you'd truly like to get a big burst of Christmas orders in, and you're starting a brand new business - you ideally need to start 3-6-9 months before Christmas! This gives you enough time to build a brand, get some traction in terms of followers on social media platforms, show those followers that you're a reputable, trust-worthy brand worth purchasing from, AND THEN launch and push your Christmas products/range by Sept/October.
"But whyyyyy?" you ask. And we hear ya! We wish it was as simple as popping something online, and the hoards will flock in and start spending money. But have you heard of the Rule of Seven?
"The Rule of Seven is an old marketing adage. It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you. Now the number seven isn’t cast in stone. The truth of the Rule of Seven is you can’t just engage in a marketing activity and then be done. Marketing must be an on-going process in order for it to be successful." - BabyBoomer Entrepreneur
So, get started. And get started NOW. Stop waiting for it to be perfect, for it all to come together, for the exact right moment. You can always start small (it's recommended to start small, with a smaller product line, smaller website, smaller launch), in order to keep your expenses low and start to test out the market, and build up followers as you go.
Follow the tips in this post, and the plethora of social media management guides available online, and build up your social media presence in order to maximise on those pre-Christmas sales (and ensure you continue to hit those sales targets throughout the year!)
ADVERTISE
Yup, you gotta spend money to make money (we all know that right?)
"Paid search, social media advertising, and display advertising are all excellent ways of attracting visitors, building your brand and getting your site in front of people. Adjust your paid strategies to suit your goals – do you just want more traffic, or are you looking to increase conversions, too? Each paid channel has its pros and cons, so think carefully about your objectives before you reach for your credit card." - WordStream
Here's a sneaky little extra tidbit, for those that want it - and it is one that drives a LOT of traffic to our site, and bookings into our inbox - Pinterest!
"Here’s the thing, people go to Pinterest to be inspired or to help them solve a problem very early on in planning something. What does this mean? Maybe you’re an online fitness coach and sell workout guides. You can bet your audience is searching for workouts to help inspire them on Pinterest. Whatever you’re teaching about, people are searching for solutions to problems in your area on Pinterest. You want to focus on creating content that leads to people imagining (and choosing) hiring you! This is such a huge opportunity to reach people at an early stage so that when they are ready for help, it will be you they turn to." - Jenna Kutcher
Creating engaging, eye-catching Pins is something our in-house marketing team takes care of for our own brand, and we get a lot of traction coming in from those pins. BUT we also simply share photos from our Robyn Davie Photography shoots as well - as these are the images most likely to show up in a google image search for "joburg lifestyle photographers". Win win!
Visit our Pinterest profile here, to see how we do it.
MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL
A website that stands out from the crowd, because it's modern, chic, engaging and fun is likely to capture - and hold - the attention of viewers. (This is where we come in).
Our aim with website design is to create sites that are super user-friendly, easy-to-navigate, and get to the point as quickly as possible. Users are spending less and less time reading long paragraphs of text, and browsing through multiple pages, so let's make sure they know exactly what you offer, and how they can sign up for it, in a few quick clicks.
Email us to chat through the options, and set up a complimentary Zoom session with our design team, to get those creative juices flowing!
hello@robyndavie.com
Robyn Davie Creative Studio is a brand with nearly a decade of experience in lifestyle photography and custom photo book creation. During 2020 they diversified into graphic and digital design, and have been happily creating branding for businesses around the world since then.
In 2021, the team launched Fynn Studio - a natural light studio space in Johannesburg, available for rent by photographers, creatives and clients.
The team has won multiple awards for their photography, and proudly partnered up with the iStore in 2020. Innovation is at the forefront of everything they do.
All photos and designs in this post were created by the Robyn Davie Creative Studio team.
All photos, designs and content are copyrighted to Robyn Davie Creative Studio.
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