10 ways to market your new website & services
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I've had it up to here with hustle-culture saying to be everywhere, do it all and be perfect at everything. It’s not possible for new businesses or for solopreneurs with no team yet!
Don’t misread this title and think that these are the 10 things you are supposed to do. No. These are 10 different options for you to mull over, and learn about so you can pick just ONE of them to start with.
I’ve built simple websites before 2015, but that was for college projects back in 2006-2008. I also coded a very simple one-page website from scratch back in early 2015 when I decided to try learning HTML and CSS. (Because I thought that’s what you needed to know to be a website designer, forgetting there’s a difference between designers and developers.)
But when I finally “finished” my very first multi-page website (my own) in mid/late-2015, I had no idea what my next step was. It literally felt like, “okay, it’s public now… now what?”
I searched all the land that is Google and found out I could blog for SEO, or market on social media and it seemed like those were the only options.
So I created my social media pages, …and then ran into the same thing. Now what? What do I say? What do I talk about? Who will even see this?
It’s tough to get started. You’re often talking to a literal audience of one for a hot minute (which definitely feels longer than 60 seconds, btw; stop taking things so literally 😉).
It’s because of my early struggles where I had no real guidance on this (and remembering distinctly what that feels like) that I wanted to share a more comprehensive guide for what’s commonly available to choose between these days when it's time to start marketing.
So it’s time to TELL people about that new website you’ve just launched and start building some traffic!
But first, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask:
Are you in the mini-course? If so, log back in to catch Lessons 1-5 before this; if not, you can join now to get all of the full lessons or just get the gist of it in this post below. 👇🏻
6 basic strategies to get more sales and eyes on your website (Part 6)
Marketing myths to ignore
First things first, let me remind you of a few very important things that people often assume are facts but aren’t always necessary:
You DON’T have to do it all and be everywhere all the time.
If you do this, you’ll need a team to handle it all because this takes up a LOT of time.
You DON’T need to run ads.
If you do this, you’ll need a budget for a decent return & you’ll want data to drive a successful marketing campaign, which you may not have yet.
You DON’T have to hire a pro right away [for SEO, copywriting, ads, website design, etc].
There’s a time and a place (and a budget) for this, which you might not be ready for yet & that’s totally fine!
Why? Because there are other options to try first. Those are best for specific seasons in your business, and if you’re reading this you probably aren’t in that season yet.
I won’t say there is no value in any of those things. There’s certainly nothing wrong with those strategies, they just aren’t strategies meant for everyone.
In fact, I would argue it’s not necessarily a good idea to start with those options because I believe you need a more solid understanding of your website, your audience, your business, etc. before you go down those paths.
Yes, hiring a pro can often get you to that solid understanding much faster. Sure! Of course! ––that’s what they/we DO. But if you have the time to try it on your own first, and don’t have the budget yet, it’s perfectly normal.
Okay, let’s move on now, otherwise, this could easily become a tangent! 😂
10 marketing OPTIONS:
Content Creation
Social media
Referrals
Use freelancer sites
Guest posts & podcast interviews
Networking
Cold pitching
Contracting for agencies
Affiliates
Ads
Each of these could be its own little blog post, so I’ll just be covering the basics here for most of these. If you want the full deets, make sure ya get inside my mini-course where I talk about each one!
Content Creation
This is the one I’ve had the most (& best) experience with, so I’ll share more detail here.
In 2015, shortly after I published my own freelancer website, I began researching what I was supposed to be doing next.
I know, it seems weird right? Aren’t I supposed to have known that after majoring in design during college? No. Apparently not. Design is not the same as marketing, as it turns out, and while I knew a lot about the former –I knew absolutely nothing beyond my own theories about the latter.
In my research, I kept running across the suggestion to blog for SEO, …so I grunted in irritation but gave it a fair try.
I’ve always enjoyed writing, but writing for business? Not so much. The idea felt very much like a homework assignment to me at the time, which is regrettably how I treated it that first year.
Seven years later, I’m seriously reaping the benefits of making that decision –AND consistently sticking with it for all those years, even when it felt like I was talking to an audience of five (that included my family –who am I kidding?!) 🤣
But back then no one (at least not where I’d been reading) said that blogging could also be a good marketing tool; I was just doing it to create content that could help me slowly increase my rank on Google searches which worked pretty well!
I had a full-time job at the time, and was resigned that getting “known” on Google would take time, so I figured I might as well plug away at this ladder, one rung at a time. Right?
So even though I initially chose to blog for SEO purposes, it has actually done both things for me: increased my ranking on Google (even though most of the time I had no clue what I was doing) and in turn, it also became my preferred marketing method.
“But,” you ask, “it takes so much time!” Yes. You’re absolutely right! So let’s talk about the pros/cons for this method:
PROS:
content continues to work for YEARS
the content can be multi-purposed
establishes your expertise
builds your email list
great for SEO
can really help your audience
can be free or very low-cost to start
CONS:
it takes A LOT of time
requires consistency like clockwork
can take a long time to see a results
So obviously more Pros than Cons here, but that time issue is a big one, I know. There are some ways around that though, so here are some tips to get started with content creation on your new website.
Tips for creating the content
The goal is to create genuinely helpful content, so think about your industry & ask yourself: what do people want to know? what should people know that they aren’t asking?
If you need help with this, think about FAQs you get from clients, or problems that were addressed in your past experiences. You can pull from topics covered in your classes, bad experiences you had at your 9-5 as an employee, or as a customer yourself. Think outside the box and try to get into the customer’s shoes.
Make a list somewhere that’s accessible from any device, and write down ideas there & only there. Sometimes you’ll get an idea for a great post and have no post-it note available to write it down. If you’re anything like me, you’ll forget it if you don’t store that idea somewhere! I use ClickUp for this now, but in the past, I’ve also used Notion, Trello, and Asana to manage a database of blog ideas (all are project management tools).
Once you have a list, you can start tackling it by batching like-tasks into groups to get through it faster. Don’t do one post at a time, from start to finish (ie: design the graphic, write the post, edit the post, publish it, create the caption to share on social, create a video or audio snippet if there’s a tutorial involved, etc). It takes too much time to switch between contexts/apps/ways of working to do it like that. Instead, when you’re feeling motivated to write, write more than one post at a time. Then maybe on another day, or another time that same day, go back in and edit them both. Later, create all the graphics you want to use for those posts, and later create the social media captions & schedule the posts, etc. Do like-tasks together, and you’ll find it’s a MUCH more efficient way to get things done.
Make each post, on average, around 2,000 words. 😬 I know, that feels like a lot, doesn’t it? But that’s about the threshold where Google decides that the post has value and if you structure the post well, break up the long text into bite-size pieces that are easy to digest, that longer-form content will work wonders for your business and be more helpful for your audience. Plus Google likes it. You can also include visual aids, graphics, videos and tutorials, audio snippets, and other things to make the post more interesting. The more interesting it is, the longer people might stick around and read the whole thing, which Google also likes.
Marketing with the content
Don’t forget to put keywords into your headings and subheadings throughout, so Google can get the gist of the article and serve it to people who are looking for those key phrases. Those keywords also help people skim through your article easier, because they can see what each section is about from only reading the headlines if they want.
Include a call-to-action (or CTA) to work with or buy from you, only in relevant posts. If whatever you’re writing about that week doesn’t really relate to whatever you do/sell/offer, then that’s not the time or place to ask for a “sale” so-to-speak. But if you’re covering a topic that IS directly related, then by all means, remind your audience that’s what you do for a living.
Include an opt-in in every/most of your posts. It doesn’t have to be a brand new one, customized to each article, but wherever it’s relevant, insert one you’ve already made. Or if you haven’t made one yet, it’s time! Create a resource that will help your audience dive into the topic further, and give them a reason to join your email list: value for value.
Share the post on social media, and to Google Search Console. With Squarespace, it’s very easy to submit the post to GSC when you publish it (it’s literally just in your post’s Settings, under Share in the lefthand menu). Basically, help get the word out that a new post has just been published!
Lastly, plan content strategically. Decide on your “pillars” of content (ie: the topics you want to cover that are most relevant to your business & your audience), and stick to them. For each post, make sure it’s not too far off from whatever you do, offer or sell. For example, on my own blog I talk about Squarespace tips, DIY hacks, business tips, etc because my audience is here to learn those things & that’s value I can provide; if they reach a point where they no longer want to do those things themselves, I’ll be here with an outstretched hand, ready to pull them out of whatever gutter they feel like they’ve fallen in. 😉
Social Media
This is another popular method, and one I’ve certainly tried, but also one I don’t love doing myself. And as I have no team to do it for me… it’s not something I stay on top of anymore.
That said, at one time I did put a LOT of time & effort into this, so from my own experience, here are the pros & cons:
PROS
can build relationships over time
can reach your ideal clients
can also use it to build your email list
can post or schedule from multiple devices
low cost to start
the chance at going viral
CONS
requires CONSTANT time, planning, attention, & effort
has a definite feeling of needing to be on all platforms all the time
each platform has its own set of best practices to follow
works best if ya post daily or a few times a week
relationships built aren’t as strong as in-person
you don’t own your list of followers or the platform & don’t have control over what happens to either
increasingly pay-to-play
old content doesn’t continue working for you (“old” being anything beyond a couple days)
requires a neverending list of content, ideas, repeated posts, or repurposing of past content
For this one, the rewards can be great IF you’re okay with the cons. I wasn’t; I hated the constant notifications, the contant changes to each platform & their ever-evolving algorithm.
I felt especially jaded since I’d been on Facebook since 2006 for personal use. Probably dating myself a bit here, but I distinctly remember when the college I was attending at the time was finally added to the platform and I could finally join. That was back before they opened it to the general public when only college students were on it.
By now it’s changed a lot. In fact, my aunt is even on Facebook & she’s in her late 80’s –no joke!
Social media can be a good thing, but because of ads it’s also become a pay-to-pay arena where organic reach only goes so far unless you follow best practices to a tee and have a bit of ‘luck of the viral’ to get ya going faster.
That said, here are some tips that I used when I was posting to multiple platforms a few times a week:
Tips for creating & scheduling posts
Create a place where you can keep track of
your captions,
your images,
your hashtags,
how many times per week you want to post for each platform,
what day to post on which platform &
when to post based on when your followers are most active
use a project management tool to track what ideas have been published already vs drafts, ideas with no content, etc
use a scheduler to plan and post automatically to the platforms wherever possible, so that you aren’t feeling “online” all the time, having to post on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons for Instagram, Sunday evenings on Facebook, Saturday mornings on Pinterest, etc. (ain’t nobody got time for that!)
Schedulers I’ve tried & enjoyed using that all have a free plan to try are (in order of favorite to least favorite, but still liked):
Planoly
Plann
Later
Facebook’s Creator Studio (only for FB & IG)
Buffer
plan content that will be helpful for you, but also bring followers back to your website and hopefully become clients/customers, or at least join your email list
keep the 80/20 or 70/30 rule in mind:
share genuinely helpful content related to what you do & what your clients/customers want help with 70-80% of the time
only sell or ask for a purchase 20-30% of the time, because no one likes to be sold to constantly; plus if you’re always selling, you’re not necessarily always helping.
Ads
I’ll end on this note because I know you’re wondering and I often get asked about the validity of this method.
While I’ve literally never done this myself, besides the one-off boosted post on social media (don’t do that; it’s not really worth the money), I’d argue that paying for ads is a valid strategy when you reach a certain stage or need in your business but beyond that, I’d ignore this idea completely.
Why?
YOU’RE UNFAMILIAR WITH YOUR ORGANIC STATS
buying your engagement, in the beginning, means that you don’t yet know what your engagement is like organically, without ads
not knowing what your organic traffic looks like, makes it harder to stop paying for ads because you don’t know how much your traffic or engagement will dip (& thus, how much money might be lost without it)
ADS ARE VERY EXPENSIVE
you’re paying to get your business out in front of new audiences, which means you’re paying for clicks, impressions or engagement for an audience that likely doesn’t already know/like/trust you; that means they’re less likely than your tried-and-true fans to take the action you want so the conversion may be lower than average:
ie: show the ad to 10,000 people, with an average conversion rate of 1-2%, at best the ad only gets you 100-200 buyers or subscribers - and ads don’t typically have that high of a conversion rate
we usually need to see something about 7x on average, before we are ready to buy – so you’re not only paying to put this ad in front of people 1x, you’re paying to make sure they see it several times, increasing the cost of the ad for 7x the impressions, etc
I’ve heard this from fellow online business owners who DO run ads: they’ve said that when they run ads now (2022) it cost $2–$4k/month to hire the ads expert (depending on the expert) and another $3k–$5k/month for the ad costs (depending on the campaign, of course), totaling $10k PER MONTH (give or take) to run ads at that level. So it only makes sense to do this if you have the budget, you’re pretty sure your return will at least cover your ad costs, OR give you something of equal value in exchange (grow your email list, get clients, etc)
after the release of new privacy features on Apple devices in 2021/2022 and new privacy law changes, ad prices have skyrocketed because it’s now easier than ever for people to ask websites NOT to track their movement/activity, …which means targeting the right type of person with your ad just got a lot more difficult (which in turn increases the cost of the ad campaign because you’re targeting more people, but not necessarily the people who are already looking for your thing = fewer conversions per ad)
running campaigns for business-to-business (B2B) is more expensive than for business-to-consumer (B2C), so I hear (from the same people who are currently running ads in their businesses) – why? they don’t know, but they all agree that it is!
ADS CAN HAVE UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS; there’s no guarantee that if you spend $X you will receive $Y as a result so you could waste a lot of money until you figure out what ad-spend actually works.
David, of Spacebar Agency (a Squarespace SEO-focused service provider), says in this blog post ––and I have to agree, as I do this myself:
“A whopping 70-80% of people completely ignore the paid search results at the top of their results page and head straight to the organic listings. While this is not awesome news for Google advertisers, it's wonderful news for bloggers.”
we see an average of up to 10,000 ads per day now –and most of us have learned to tune them out, skip past them, or forget them entirely, likely because of the sheer number we’re exposed to every day ––and no wonder!
our attention spans are SHORT, so your ad will have to reach more people more times in order to actually convert
AD CAMPAIGNS CAN BE VERY COMPLEX
you really need to hire help to get this going because it’s complex to create, implement, analyze and manage, whether on Facebook or Google, –it doesn’t matter where
it’s especially true for on-page ads on Squarespace as it’s not really built to work with Google ads in that way
That’s all I can cover in one post! If you’ve read this far, you’ll understand why because it got pretty long, right?
If you want the pros/cons & tips for getting started on the other 7 methods listed below, you can watch the video in Lesson 6 of my mini-course linked below.
Referrals
Use freelancer sites
Guest posts & podcast interviews
Networking
Cold pitching
Contracting for agencies
Affiliates
Get the full lesson inside the mini-course!
