5 SEO tips when launching a brand new website
Launching a brand new website is an exciting milestone for any business owner. With a newly improved web presence comes fresh opportunities to tell your story, reach new customers, and take your budding enterprise to the next level.
But launching a website is just the beginning. To realise the benefits of a website, you need people to find it. That’s where SEO (search engine optimisation) comes in.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of everything you should consider when launching a new website, here are 5 things that are commonly overlooked when it comes to SEO.
1. Pick a forever domain name.
You’ve come up with an amazing business name only to find out the domain name isn’t available. Oh no.
Should you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, you’ll want to ensure you pick an alternative domain name that you’re confident will stand the test of time, because changing it down the line, while totally possible, can have some major SEO implications if not managed properly.
Another thing to consider is its scalability. While a .co.uk domain extension might be fine now, it won’t be so fine if you plan on targeting new territories in the future. If international expansion is on the cards, a .com domain set up that uses subfolders (/fr, /de etc.) is generally a better option than having multiple websites (.fr, .de etc.)
2. Choose a website builder that works for your business.
There are dozens of website builders that make it super simple to get up and running online; Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Shopify, the list goes on. Choosing which platform to use will depend on multiple factors, including the nature of your business, the size of your website, and the level of customisation required.
If you have plans to grow your business in the future (of course you do), you’ll need a platform that’s scalable. If you’re selling products online, you’ll want a platform with best-in-class eCommerce functionality, stock management tools, top-notch security features, and so on. If you’re a publisher, you’ll need a platform with solid writing and editing features, seamless advertising integration, and the like. You get the idea. Ultimately, choosing a platform that’s going to work for you both now and in the future is important.
3. Don’t neglect site structure.
There are certain situations where a single-page website will suffice, however, for the vast majority of businesses, a multi-page site is going to be the best option. This is where good site structure is critical. In simplest terms, your site structure is the way you organise your website content (or pages). As your website grows, through introducing more pages, there’s a risk it could become cluttered and difficult to navigate, which will have negative implications in terms of user experience and SEO.
As well as providing a positive experience for your website visitors, a solid site structure will help ensure search engines like Google are able to understand your pages and their importance in relation to one another, which will have a bearing on where your pages rank in search results. For a detailed point-by-point guide to site structure, check out this article.
4. Plan your content in advance.
Contrary to belief, the process of publishing blog content will not, in itself, help with SEO. What will help is this; publishing high-quality content that has been created with the intention of appealing directly to your target customers, either by educating, entertaining, or inspiring them.
There are loads of tools available that can help you discover relevant content themes for your business, but few are better (or freer) than Google’s own search results. Exploring ‘People Ask’ boxes, forum threads, and online communities such as Reddit, can reveal tonnes of great content opportunities, regardless of your business's niche. Once you start to identify what your target users are searching for online, you can start to build out content resources to help them, with the ultimate goal of ranking and receiving clicks for said queries.
Coming up with a content plan prior to launching your website means you can schedule the work in advance, which also means you won’t be left wondering what to write about when the time comes.
5. Set up Google Analytics.
Having gone to the trouble and expense of building a new website, you’re going to want to track its performance, ideally from the get-go. While most website builders will have some basic analytics tools included, none will rival Google Analytics when it comes to reporting detail. Plus, if you decide to switch platforms down the line, you run the risk of losing your historical data, which won't happen with Google Analytics as you can retain the same tracking code throughout multiple website evolutions. So, set up Google Analytics from the outset. Even if you don't plan on using it regularly, there’s no harm in harvesting data that could one day be useful.
This post was written by our Inner Circle member, Matt. If you’re in any need of SEO advice or help, do be sure to book a 30-minute discovery call.
