Launching a new website is always an exciting time. You\u2019ve spent weeks creating an amazing design and probably even longer perfecting your messaging and copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what some business founders<\/a> don\u2019t realise is that simply launching your website into the world isn\u2019t enough to start driving traffic and sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In those early weeks and months, without getting noticed by search engines, you\u2019ll end up frustrated at the lack of hits your site – which you spent so long working on – is getting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, for business owners with deep pockets, you can circumvent this issue by paying for traffic from the likes of Google AdWords or Facebook ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you\u2019re relying on generating \u2018free\u2019 interest from search engines, otherwise known as organic traffic, then you\u2019ve got some work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As noted above, if you don\u2019t have thousands of pounds to throw at marketing your new website, then ranking your new website in search engines like Google and Bing as soon as possible is key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is for a number of reasons. First, if your website isn\u2019t ranking for branded searches, then any world-of-mouth or PR traffic won\u2019t be able to find you. Worse still, they might find competitors instead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ranking for branded searches is key for beginning to build trust signals – online factors that signify to potential customers that your brand is a trustworthy one versus more established market players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ranking a new website for \u2018selling\u2019 keywords – those that your potential customers are looking for – is just as important for driving those very first sales too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\u2019t begin to rank a website without understanding what it is you want it to rank for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from brand-related terms which will more often than not rank on your homepage, you need to get into the mindset of your potential customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using tools like AdWords keyword planner, you can create lists of potential search terms that are relevant to your new website. To begin with, focus on 5-10 important terms that you can target. Don\u2019t forget to take a look at your competitors using tools like SEMrush<\/a> to analyse what search terms are driving them the most traffic too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n With your target keywords ready you can start to optimise your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Start by creating a desired sitemap of your website, and overlay which pages you want to optimise for each target term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trick here is to only be targeting a couple of related terms on each page, otherwise you\u2019ll struggle to rank for any of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When optimising a page itself, you need to write around 500+ words of unique and compelling copy, and make sure your target keywords are included in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve optimised and launched your new SEO-ready pages, head over to Google Search Console and submit them for indexing. This will help to speed up the ranking process!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A well optimised website is the most important step when it comes to ranking a new website. BUT, this alone won\u2019t get your pages onto page one (in most cases) and driving clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final step is to start developing your backlink portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Backlinks to Google are what word-of-mouth is in the real world. If you ask five friends to recommend a car mechanic and three of them recommend A, whilst two friends each recommend B and C, then you\u2019re more likely to book a service at A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Links work in a similar way. If you and nine competitors are trying to rank for the same keyword, then search engines will analyse how many (and the quality of) links to each site. Websites with the most, high-quality backlinks can be seen as the most reputable page and as such is likely to rank highest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The simplest way to start developing your new website\u2019s backlink portfolio is to generate directory submissions, starting with your local area (Google \u2018+business location website directories) as well as directories related to your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, look to run a digital PR campaign and gain links and brand mentions from relevant industry websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And third, use SEMrush again to analyse your competitors\u2019 strong backlinks and look to replicate them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go it alone or work with a specialist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest issue most website owners face when it comes to SEO, even if they know they need to focus on it, is lack of time or knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Why ranking your new website matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Start by knowing your target terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Optimise your website accordingly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>Start developing your backlink portfolio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n