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The absolute beginner’s guide to SEO for new website owners

Male working from home Dad holding his baby whilst working on this laptop

If you’ve recently built a new website, or you’re still tossing up the idea, there’s one topic you that’s worth brushing-up on – SEO. In a nutshell, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of making certain changes and optimisations to your website so that it ranks higher in search results. This quick beginner’s guide should help you hit the ground running.

1: On-page SEO

The first step in optimising your website for search should always happen on your website itself. This is known as “on-page” SEO and refers to all of the things you can control and tweak in order to boost your site’s visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing. There are many different types of on-page SEO, but here are the big-hitters you should work on first:

  • Page titles: Each of the pages on your website should have a title that reflects your target keywords.
  • On-page content: The words on your website are all-important when it comes to SEO. Not only should they tell your brand’s story and appeal to your visitors, but you should also make sure they’re optimised towards your core keywords.
  • Title tags: The content on your website should be broken down into sections with headings, all of which are strong SEO signals for Google. Again, these should be optimised towards your target keywords

Part 2: Off-page SEO

Once your on-page SEO is done and dusted, you’ll need to consider “off-page” SEO. As the name suggests, this refers to things you can do to enhance your search visibility outside of the website itself. The most common form of off-page SEO is probably ‘backlinks’, which refers to the idea of other websites linking to your content. Google will see these links and thus give your site more authority and bump it up the rankings. Backlinks aren’t easy to build organically, but that’s where the next step comes in…

Part 3: Your long-term SEO roadmap

The golden rule of SEO is that it’s not a one-and-done solution – it’s an ongoing process of tweaking and monitoring. As part of this, you’ll want to build an SEO roadmap or content strategy which will help you stay on track. Google loves fresh content, and will always give a rankings boost to sites which publish regularly, so having new blog posts, landing pages and other forms of website content being added regularly is always a smart idea. You should also plan to monitor what’s working (and what’s not) using a free tool like the Google Search Console.

As you can see, there are a few things to think about when it comes to SEO, but the positive results will all be worth it. Thankfully, if you built your website with Go Sitebuilder, handy SEO features such as site and page-level tagging, will make your life a lot easier. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free trial of Go Sitebuilder today!

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How do you launch a new brand?

Person sat at a desk using a laptop and wearing a mustard coloured jumper

When you’re launching a new brand into the market you will want to make a big splash! Ideally, you’ll be putting out something that is going to make people stop and take notice – ensuring you are the brand or business they remember. Here are our top tips on how to launch your brand with maximum effect.

Give yourself time

You can do things quickly and launch your brand immediately but it is extremely unlikely that that method will have the impact you desire. Give yourself plenty of time. Make sure you are happy with your logo or business name, your website is created and you’re ready to go live across social media. Plan your launch in full, giving yourself a date down the line to aim for, which will allow you the time to get the awareness out there. Ensure that when you join the market, your presence can make an immediate impression.

Make the splash everywhere

Once you have decided on and set up your digital platforms, make sure that all of them have your brandmark on them. Put your logo, business name and message on everything, ready to have the standout impression when you launch. In order for customers to know and remember your brand, it needs to be made recognisable right from the start.

Enhance anticipation

When you have everything good to go and your big launch is planned, you now hold the opportunity to build excitement around your big day. Use social media to tease your followers and potential customers with hints, mystery videos and cryptic clues that get the momentum building, and make your website launch one that cannot be missed.

Don’t forget to enjoy every moment! You’ve just taken an exciting step in growing your very own business and you should be proud to share it with the world.

If you still haven’t created your website, or you’re hoping to set up something new, Go Sitebuilder could be the solution. With hundreds of design possibilities, Go Sitebuilder uses beautifully pre-designed sections and templates so you can build the website you’ve dreamed of, without any technical skills needed. Sign up for a free trial and see just how easy it is!

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4 fool-proof ways to drive traffic to your new website

Launching a website

There’s nothing quite like launching a fresh, new website – especially as a small or new business. After all, your website is part of your public image and your most important digital marketing asset. But, what happens after you’ve hit the publish button?

Your traffic can, and will, grow organically once your site is online but it’s likely to take a long time for you to see the growth you’re really looking for without boosting it yourself. Thankfully, there’s a wealth of easy-to-follow options for driving traffic to your website. We’ve explored some of these options below:

Option #1: Work on your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is the heart of any solid digital strategy. Put simply, it’s a staple of on-page and off-page techniques which can help you bring organic (i.e. not paid) traffic to your website. Quality SEO will bring your website higher in the search results when users look for your target keywords, meaning more traffic for you. It sounds scary and complicated but this easy to follow guide will get you started on the basics. Once you understand the basics, keeping your website up to date with fresh content is the best way to play your SEO-game!

Option #2: Create a content strategy

Another great way to keep people coming back to your website is to frequently publish interesting and engaging content. In fact, a solid content strategy is really the backbone of successful digital marketing. The great thing about content production is that it’s low-cost (or free if you’re willing to put pen to paper) and easy to do if you leverage your industry knowledge. Create a plan of the types of content you think your visitors would find interesting or useful and set up a calendar for when you want to post each article or page.

Option #3: Explore the world of guest blogging

Here’s a method of traffic generation which can bring traffic to your site in two different ways. By doing a little outreach and working with related websites, you can arrange guest blog posts whereby you write some content for them, and they allow you to link back to your website. Not only will this bring relevant traffic to your site, but it’ll also generate backlinks which are an essential ingredient to quality SEO.

Option #4: If you’re in a rush, try some paid ads

While the strategies we’ve shared so far are all proven and effective, they can take a little time to reap the traffic rewards. SEO, for example, can take a few weeks or even months to start showing positive results. If you need traffic faster than this, PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is always an option. With a program like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, you can bid a small amount of money to place your ad higher up in the search results. It can be a great way to give your new business a jumpstart.

If you’re having trouble driving traffic to your website, try out one or more of these ideas and you’ll soon start to see some positive results. And if you’re yet to build the website of your dreams, why not try out Go Sitebuilder today? It’s the easiest way to create a professional website for your business – no technical skills required!

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What are the best new website launch campaigns?

Website launch campaigns

Are you nearing the end of creating your very first website or perhaps a website redesign? Have you thought about how you’re going to share your beautiful new site with the world?

The best way to introduce your stylish new website design is with a website launch campaign. A great launch campaign can help new and existing customers discover your business website and start turning visitors into customers.

Website launch campaign using Go Sitebuilders website builder

What is a website launch campaign?

But what is it? A website launch campaign is simply a communications marketing strategy to introduce a website launch. It generally consists of messaging before the launch as well as after to generate traffic to the new website. Something all successful strategies have in common is that they are responsive to changing website traffic. A great way to ensure you can be flexible in responding to customer needs is to use a website builder that allows you to create and update your website via your smartphone. But this isn’t the only important strategy!

Our experts take a look at some of the most successful strategies for introducing your newly launched website:

Special discounts

A special offers themed launch campaign is highly effective at bringing in new and old customers alike. It is a particularly popular approach with e-commerce sites, where there are ample opportunities to encourage users to complete an action of value. Some customers will actively seek out websites that offer these discounts (like free shipping or 20% off) which make for a highly effective website launch.

Competitions

Everyone loves the opportunity to win something, and this can be used positively in a website launch campaign. A well-run competition can do more than introduce users to your new website, it can also encourage your visitors to check out key pages on your website. For example, you might run a website scavenger hunt. This offers visitors the chance to win a prize or discount, whilst ensuring that they explore pages of your website – driving people to read, click and interact with your new site. 

Showcasing content

It is really important that you think about the content that you want your visitors to see during your website launch. Do you want them to understand more about your business and brand story, or is it more important that they view your products straight away? Whatever your goal, users rarely explore the full website themselves, so make sure you highlight important content and pages.

Two popular ways of doing this are to either:

  1. Create a showcasing video of the important new content
  2. Create a landing page dedicated to the launch of your new website. The landing page could highlight all of the important content you want people to see and drive them to click through to other pages of your website.
Homepage of a website launch using Go Sitebuilders website builder

These are just some of the great campaign tactics you can consider when launching your website. Even if you decide to try other types of campaigns, remember it’s always important to take a step back and give yourself some time between finishing your website and sharing it with the world!

“Lots of my customers have commented on how easy it was to find and use my website – that wouldn’t be possible without Go Sitebuilder and my own domain name.”

Polly Evans – pollyevanshypnotherapy.com

If you still haven’t created your dream site or are thinking of starting something new – try Go Sitebuilder free for 14-days and see just how easy it is to build your own website with no technical skills needed!

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How do I promote my new website launch?

Website Launch Plans

The launch of a new website is an exciting proposition for any business, but in order to ensure it goes off with a bang, you will need to plan and execute the pre-launch process carefully. We’ve put together a list of tried and tested expert tips to follow to help you promote your new website.

Build anticipation

Now is the perfect time to start building buzz around your brand! You’ll want to begin by growing your customer base – especially if you’re a new business. You can choose a traditional route such as printing newspaper ads, or a more current direction by using social media. Just make sure, whatever method you choose, it’s a direct line to your target audience so you’re communicating effectively.

Another great way to build up some hype before your launch is to reach out to an email list. Emails can be beautiful works of art that let you relay your message to a group of people all at once. You can use emails to tease or share more information about your launch, products and services. Using beautiful images or including gifs will ensure your emails captivate your audience.

Utilise social media

Every business should make the most of social media to build brand awareness and increase audience numbers, whether they already have a website or not. However, if you’re launching a new site, using social media is a highly effective strategy to promote this event and stoke up excitement for the launch.
Create pages on social media platforms most frequented by your target audiences and regularly drip-feed information about your new website launch to create relationships with your customers and build up the anticipation. As well as detailing when the site will be launched, include information about what you’ll offer, what the site will contain and what visitors can expect.

Tease audiences with snippets from your new website, such as a sneak preview of some images, videos or blogs. Include offers or promotions for the first number of people who visit or purchase from your site once it’s launched.

As well as promoting your launch on popular sites such as Facebook or Instagram, the power of video cannot be ignored, so consider making short videos on YouTube talking about key aspects of your new website and the launch.

Start blogging

You might not be able to blog on your new site yet, but that doesn’t mean to say you can’t post on another related site. Create a guest blog post about your new website launch to feature on a site that your target audience is likely to follow. Include a link to your website and the dates of the launch so that visitors can click on it on the big day. As well as guest blogging, you might also wish to pay an influencer to promote details of your new website launch or consider creating some press release copy.

Timing is crucial, however. If you release a guest blog post or PR copy about your launch, make sure that it hits audiences close to the launch date. If you post too early, audiences may forget about it, but if you post too late, the momentum may be lost.

Now that you know everything that you need to when it comes to promoting your new site all that’s left to do, is to start (and finish) building it! Try Go Sitebuilder FREE for 14-days – no credit card required!