So, you’ve spent a ton of your hard earned moolah on a beautiful website. It looks great- you’ve combed over every detail. You’ve told your friends and family that it’s happening. You posted about it on your Facebook and Twitter. The big LAUNCH day is approaching. The day when you will show the WORLD your masterpiece and they will come running… waiting in line to give you their money and use your services. The entire world is watching.
You (or your web designer) clicks that launch button. It’s now live on your brand spankin new domain name.
You thoughtfully write out your Tweet, Instagram post and Facebook caption. Your heart races as you click that terrifying button: “SHARE”. Clicked!
You sit and watch your analytics- refreshing every 2 minutes to see who is looking at this new beautiful site that has graced the interwebs. You wait for the comments, the likes, the inquiries, the affirmations to roll in… AAND…
CRICKETS.
Ummm… hello?
Anyone out there?? Excuse me! Didn’t you see what beautiful work I’ve just so generously graced the internet with?? HELLLOO????
If I was a betting woman, I’d bet that you can relate to this story, or a version of it.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced putting yourself out on the line- working so hard on something and then not getting the feedback or the engagement that we planned for, wished for and wanted so badly.
I’m here today to tell you 1- that you’re not alone, and 2- that thankfully, there ARE ways to increase your engagement and continue to move forward after your cricket website launch. The truth is that it’s SUPER difficult to bring traffic to your website. If it were easy, you wouldn’t be reading this post and the world would have no need for sales, marketing or “SEO optimization”. I’ve written out three practices you can put into place within your brand / business to help you not only gain traffic to your site, but up your engagement and get people to connect with what you’re doing.
You guys- social media clicks and engagements are low. Email conversion rates are WAY higher. When someone gives you their email address- it’s one of the only things that you actually OWN. Social media followers? Those could be taken away any minute. Those 10,000 followers you worked so hard to gain? They may never see your posts if Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or what not decides to change their algorithms or shut down your profile. It happens ladies. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I say, if you focus anywhere, focus on your email list. Offer some sort of value for people to sign up, and (once again) be consistent with how often you email them. Build that trust with your email list. Reply back when they write to you. Look at who is signing up and what kind of people you are attracting. These are the people who will purchase from you when you release a product. Your email list is your most loyal customer, if you treat it right.
People often don’t notice announcements. How many times have you seen information about a sale from a brand you love, far too late? You missed the announcement. You know what people do notice? CONSISTENCY. Building consistency means building trust with your future clients, followers and admirers. You have to continually show up and tell people you are there. Nowadays, attention spans are that of a goldfish. That means it takes time for people to get to know you and your brand. They say getting in front of someone 7-11 times is what it takes for people to remember you. You know what that means? Giving people consistent value. It might be through a blog, social media platform or through events. Whatever your medium for delivering value is, do it often and do it consistently. It’s important for people to know you’re not going to drop off the face of the earth if they work with you!
Where does your audience need help? If you’re a life coach, take little bits of advice that you would offer clients and blog about it. Do it consistently (have I said that enough times?) and they will learn to trust you, and eventually, hire you.
One great way to get people to engage with your brand is to align yourself with leaders within your industry. This doesn’t mean taking from them, it means giving. What kind of value can you offer industry leaders? You’re smart- don’t tell me you can’t think of anything. Are you an event planner? Can you offer to throw them a special event where all they have to do is show up? They get photos, great content for social media and a platform to showcase who they are. They may be so grateful that you did this for them, that they will post about you. Not because you begged them and sent them a 5 page email on why you’re so cool, but because they genuinely love what you did for them.
What ways can you genuinely offer great value to industry leaders? These kind of things often lead to great relationships built, partnerships made, and shoutouts to like-minded audiences globally. Hello new clientele and new friendships! It’s a win win!
Having others post about you and aligning yourself with them will get you much quicker, more quality traffic than any SEO plugin. I promise. Focus your efforts where they will make the most impact.
I hope that you take these bits of advice and RUN with them. Get after them and focus your efforts. Launching your website is just the first step in a long line of to-dos. Don’t get discouraged, and remember, all good things take time. Even in our instant gratification / impatient culture. It takes TIME to build up trust and engagement with those customers.
Trust yourself, have grace on yourself and remember to celebrate the victories! Pour yourself a glass of champagne and toast to a cricket filled website. You’re one step closer to your goal.
GET IT GIRL. YOU’RE RAD.
xoxo,
Joanna Waterfall
Founder of Yellow
