So you've got a new website... what next?

You’ve got a great design. Maybe new photography. The build went (quite) smoothly and the launch was perfect. Clients have already told you how good the new website looks and now… you’re wondering what to do next.

This is the true end point of many website projects when firms sit down to consider them. Not the launch or the feedback but the feeling that, now, something else should be happening. Often this consideration starts with a question…

Why did we want a new website again?!

All new website projects are kicked off because of one or multiple of the following reasons. There are truly only very rare cases of exceptions to this rule:

1. You wanted new clients and felt you needed a new website to achieve this
2. You felt your website and/or your brand was outdated and didn’t reflect you accurately
3. You just wanted to ‘look better’ to clients and prospective clients

The first of these is the easiest one to address when it comes to ‘what’s next’.

What’s next? We want more clients from our website!

A new website, in and of itself, is very rarely a route to getting more clients. The cases where a new website does produce new clients tend to be when:

• The website already had lots of ways for clients to ‘convert’ (e.g; enquire) but the user experience was terrible and the new website has fixed that, or…
• As part of the new website, a lot of SEO work has been carried out and the site now ranks for some new search terms which are sending visitors to the site and driving enquiries.

Assuming that this isn’t the case with your website then something more needs to be done. Our approach is to use a marketing approach called inbound marketing, which you can read about in detail here along with a software called HubSpot. In essence, inbound marketing involves producing content your prospective clients want, making sure prospective clients actually see that content and then obtaining their details and following up with them effectively.

If that sounds complicated, it’s really not, and the results are often amazing. But whether you choose that approach or something different, the key is to remember that your new website, on it’s own, is unlikely to do the job. Engaging with a full SEO project, paying for website leads by using Google Ads or email marketing are all parts of inbound marketing and all sound strategies on their own but, whichever one you choose, remember you’ll need to do something to get those new clients through your new website.

What’s next? Our website was outdated and now it’s not and…

What’s next? We just wanted to ‘look better’ to clients and prospective clients and now we do!

Let’s unpick both of these for a second.

Why did it matter that your website was outdated? Why do you want to look better to client and prospective clients? Again, there are very few possible genuine answers to those questions. Most people will end up in one of the following camps:

• We want to keep clients for as long as possible and our website wasn’t helping us to do that
• We want prospective new clients to like our website and eventually become clients because of it
• We don’t really need new clients but we were embarrassed that current clients had to see our old website

The last bullet point is completely viable for some SMEs. You may have reached capacity, are profitable and have no big desire to expand further. In this scenario, your journey ends here! Your website redesign has hopefully already met all of your original objectives and you can relax in the knowledge that you don’t need to be embarrassed any longer.

If you are one of the first two bullet points then I’m afraid we need to refer you back to the detail under the heading ‘What’s next? We want more clients from our website!’

Whilst it may not have seemed like it at the start, it seems as though you wanted a new website because you wanted to obtain new clients through it or to better keep existing clients. These are the main two purposes of a website and, if your current site wasn’t doing that then a change was inevitable.

Now though, as per that heading, you need something more. Start with a simple marketing plan and work from there:

How are you going to get more people to your site?

• What actions do you want them to take when they get there?
• How can you encourage them to take those options?
• Can you produce content they want? What content do they want?
• How will you get visitors details?
• How and who will follow-up with them?
• What material do you need to ‘close’ new clients effectively (i.e; what can you leave with them at the end of a face-to-face meeting)?

Answering those questions and more will ensure that you not only have a great website, you also have some great next steps for what is to come.