How to Launch a Brand New Website (With a Bang!): The Ultimate Guide (3)
If it's something you truly believe in, even if it doesn't 100% apply to those people, it's something they will be proud to share for you. And remember...
The launch of your website should be treated like an event, so build anticipation for it and keep people who have given you words of support up-to-date on your plans. Then, when the date comes around and you turn off that teaser page, celebrate what you've just accomplished—but realize that you still have a lot of work to do. After You Launch
The moment you flick off that teaser page there are a number of things you should do:
Email the list you've built. You already have an email list—awesome! Now it's time to email your subscribers and let them know you're live. Also, give them an easy way to share your new site by including a link to that convenient share page that you created on your website. These are your ambassadors and you're definitely allowed to ask them to share for you. Source your 200-outreach program. Beyond tapping into your existing list, send a quick, personalized email out to each website and blog on your 200-outreach program spreadsheet. You could even draft each of these emails beforehand so you aren't spending time on launch day writing them. A quick mention that you're live and a link to your ultimate resource can go a long way, and even if you get a 2-5% response rate, that's more than you'd get if you didn't send any emails at all. Don't force anything or be aggressive in your emails, and remember what's in it for them too. Thank those who have helped you. If anyone has helped you get to this point, email them to thank them. It can go a very long way. If you're thanking those in a round-up post, include a quick, easy-to-copy-and-paste link that they can share on their social media platforms. If you find people are retweeting your stuff or mentioning your new website on Twitter, reach out and thank them too.
Reply to every comment. On launch day, if you do it right and you have traffic coming to your website, chances are you'll get a number of comments on each of the posts that you've already written. Respond to each one of them. You want to be as present on Day One as possible because if new visitors see you're actually replying to comments and active on the site, they'll be more likely to stick around and share. You won't always be able to reply to every comment down the road, but it's one of the most important things to do within the first few months of a website's start. Reach out to local news. Local news stations are always looking for new stories, content (and events!) to share. There's no harm in reaching out to all of the local news networks and pitching them your new website and seeing if they'd be willing to cover the story. What's the worst that could happen? They'll say no… and that's not a big deal. Keep producing more content. If things are going well, you'll want to ride that “New & Noteworthy” wave as long as possible, and the best way to do that is to continue to provide more content frequently right from the start. Beyond those things, keep asking people (and providing easy ways) to share and subscribe to your list. Within the first week or two you'll be several months ahead of where you would be if you just started dripping content to an audience of zero. Keep your eyes and ears open around the web about you and your brand, and over time make pivots to better serve your audience in the way that they want to be served.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It came out much longer than I anticipated but I couldn't shave off any of it because I want you to learn from my mistakes and have the best chance to make the most noise right from the start. If you enjoyed this post and feel it's worth sharing, please click here. Cheers, and I wish you all the best!
