It’s done. Your B2B website is finally live. All the hard work you, your developer, your designer, and your marketing team have put into the website is finally ready to share with the digital world.
One of the most common questions we hear after a website launches is: What’s next? How do I promote my new website?
Here, we’ll take a look at 5 things you absolutely must do after your B2B website launches.
1. Notify Your Staff
The first step in promoting your website and creating buzz is notifying your internal staff. A well-informed staff is an integral part of a cohesive B2B brand strategy.
Ideally, your staff and coworkers are already aware a new company website is coming, but don’t count on it. As a San Diego web design agency, we’ve noticed that it’s easy for departments to operate within silos regardless of the size of a company.
Prior to launch, notify everyone in the company (including receptionists, operations teams, sales, customer service, etc.) via email or at a company-wide meeting about the upcoming launch. Provide the launch date and educate them about what is new and exciting about the website. A pre-launch sneak peek is a great way to motivate employees and create a buzz around the website.
If it’s too late for that and your website is live, don’t panic. There is still time to send the announcement via email or to make an announcement at company-wide or individual department meetings. Have a plan, show them the new B2B website, and highlight the main features of the website. Allow time for everyone to ask questions about the website.
2. Submit Your Sitemap to Search Engines
Once the website is live, you want search engines to crawl it and index. Why? Because if search engines don’t know your site exists, then your site won’t show up in search results.
We recommend submitting your sitemap to the major search engines: Google & Bing. Google has easy to follow directions for how to get your content on Google and Bing also makes it easy to submit URLs for indexing.
3. Talk About It On Social Media
Social media is hands-down an awesome way to quickly communicate a message to many people. Sharing news about your new B2B website launch on social media is simple and will help to drive new traffic to your website.
We recommend sharing the news of your new website and a link to your website on all your company pages. You don’t need to include a long description, but it’s a good idea to make sure it sounds exciting and engages followers to go check out the new website. This is a great way to get people talking about your company and your new website online.
4. Email Your Current and Potential Clients
Prior to a website launch, you should build an email list of current clients, potential clients, vendors, and partners. Post-launch, create a dedicated email to announce the launch of your new B2B website. Again, keep it short, sweet, and talk about the new features – especially anything that makes it easier for current or potential clients to do business with you.
We advise our clients to send the email announcement to all existing clients since it helps to maintain a positive relationship with them. Sending to prospects ensures that you are staying top of mind without “selling” too much to them. Including vendors and partners who you have an established relationship with keeps them in loop with what’s happening at your company and is a good way to drive a little extra traffic to your website.
Lastly, we also recommend including family and friends on the list (just this once). Family and friends are your biggest proponents and will give you honest feedback on the website. They typically will also let you know that the new B2B website looks awesome!
5. Publish a Press Release
Website launches are a big deal. Whether you are launching a brand B2B new website or are launching a redesigned website – it’s news. Work with a skilled writer (internally or externally) to craft a compelling press release that details why this website launch is a big deal. A skilled writer helps you walk the fine line between highlighting the website’s new features and straying into “selling” language.
Once the press release is polished and approved, publish it using your go-to wire service (PRNewswire and PRWEb are great options). It’s a good idea to include press contacts that cover your industry and are familiar with your company. Doing so increases the likelihood that they will read your release and create a follow-up piece or reach out to you for an interview.
After your press release is published online, get some extra exposure by sharing the press release on your social media channels. Twitter is a great platform for gaining extra reach and driving more traffic to your website.
There you have it. Five things you absolutely must do right after launching a new B2B website. Think there is anything else that must be done post-launch? Let us know in the comments.
