I have a website, now what? 21 things to do after launching a new website.

So your new website is live! Excellent news. You’ve probably put a lot of time and effort — and back and forth messages with your web design company — into getting to this point.

You now have a website that looks great, performs beautifully and is capable of attracting and converting your ideal customers.

Job done? Not quite.

The truth is, your website needs ongoing attention and maintenance to make it the best it can be. So here we explore what you need to do after launching a new website.

We’ll be looking at:

• What to do right after launching a new website
• Promoting a new website
• SEO for a new website
• Ongoing post-launch tasks
• How Radical supports clients post-launch
• Launching a new website: FAQs

Tick these tasks off your list, and you can count on a website that performs in these early days and well into the future, too.

What to do right after launching a new website

So your web design agency has just given the green light to your website. You have a beautiful, on-brand online presence. But now what?

First, it’s good to tick a few practical tasks off the to-do list. Here’s the essential housekeeping you need to get on top of right after launching a new website.

1. Update social media profiles

Every digital profile you have should now link to your shiny new website. That means updating the URL in your bios and writing posts that direct people to your new site.

If you’ve done a rebrand as part of your web design, create branded social media assets that reflect your new visual identity. This creates a joined-up experience for your target audience and helps them trust in your brand.

2. Update your email signature

Another simple but important task. Make sure your email signature directs people to your new website — and fits visually with the new brand identity your team has created.

3. Update your website in online directories

If your website is listed in any online directories or professional associations, head over to your profile pages and switch up the URL.

4. Send an email

One of the most effective ways to announce your new site is via email. Send a new website announcement to your mailing list, including existing customers, partners or suppliers. Tell them what’s new, what’s changed and why they should take a look.

5. Set up or update your Google Business page

If you’re a local business, this is essential. Create or update your Google Business page and include as much info as possible. Beyond your URL, add the following:

• Opening hours
• The services you offer
• Contact details
• A keyword-rich description of your company
• Some photos that reflect what you do (you can probably lift these from your website)

A well-optimised profile helps you appear in Google Maps and local searches.

6. Prompt Google to index your new website

Google will eventually find a new website. But you can speed up the process by submitting your sitemap in Google Search Console. This may be something your web design agency has already done for you (we do this for all Radical clients). But double check and submit your website if necessary.

7. Test your site

Again, this is a website quality assurance task that a good web design company will take care of. But there’s no harm in giving your website the once over yourself.

Go through the website like a real user. Fill out forms, test your checkout, click all links. View the site on different devices and browsers. Test that your automated emails are landing in customer inboxes in a timely fashion.

Anything broken or clunky? Fix it (or get your web team on the case) to avoid losing customers.

Promoting a new website

Once the essentials are sorted, it’s time to start nudging people in the direction of your website. For this, you can promote your new website with the help of your marketing channels.

8. Email marketing

Create a regular campaign of marketing emails. These can highlight new products, new offers, new content — and link back to relevant website pages.

9. Social media marketing

Keep posting. Link to content on your website. Share offers that people can access via your website. Encourage people to click through from your socials to your site.

10. Paid ads

For quick results, paid ads are the most reliable option. You can run paid ad campaigns on Google and social media platforms, targeting the market segments that are most relevant to your brand.

SEO for a new website

If you’ve been working with a good web design and development company, your website’s technical SEO foundations will already be in place. But you can’t stop there. To make the most of your website, you need to get to grips with SEO strategy.

Be warned. It’s a long game. But one that is well worth your patience. That’s because, with paid ads, the traffic stops the second you stop paying. But with SEO, every bit of work compounds over time, building your online presence and driving more traffic to your site.

The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results. But where to begin? Remember that small, consistent efforts are rewarded. And that doing SEO for a new website is a little different to doing SEO for an established site.

Here are a couple of tasks to be getting on with.

11. Create content around long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that people type into search engines. There’s generally less competition around these phrases, which means your content is more likely to appear in the search engine result page (SERP) top spots.

For example, you’d struggle to rank for “men’s shoes” because it’s so competitive. But you may have a chance of ranking for “men’s black suede trainers” because fewer websites have content that targets this keyword phrase.

After launching a new website, look for relevant keywords with a low difficulty score. Then create website content based around these keywords.

It may feel slow-going at first. But when people click on results and spend time on your site, this signals to search engines that your site is useful. You start to rank more highly and you can target higher competition keywords over time.

12. Get backlinks

Backlinks (links from an external site to your site) are a kind of digital recommendation. They show search engines, like Google, that other organisations think your site has something valuable to say.

The best backlinks come from sites with high authority. These are usually sites that have been around for a long time, from brands that have built a strong reputation. You can check the authority of a site using this free online tool.

When you’re doing SEO for a new website, you can earn backlinks in the following ways:

• Guest blogging
• Getting mentioned in the local news
• Speaking on a podcast (the host can link to your site in the episode show notes)
• Adding your business to industry directories
• Creating website content that people want to link to (industry reports and infographics are popular options)
• Broken link building (finding broken links on other websites and suggesting your content as a replacement)

Just be sure to avoid any cheap backlink packages, as these can do more harm than good.

13. Get reviews

Reviews matter more than people realise. They impact customer trust, website conversions and your SEO rankings. For new websites, especially, reviews can be a quick win — they provide social proof and reassure potential customers that you’re a legit organisation.

So ask for reviews from past customers or clients, directing them to your Google reviews page or a site like Trustpilot. Also, respond to reviews where possible, including references to your key products or services for an extra SEO boost.

14. Create high-quality, optimised content

High-quality content is still the backbone of SEO (and now GEO). If your website has useful, relevant, well-structured information, people are more likely to find your site and spend a longer time on there.

Good content shows your expertise, answers real customer questions and guides people through their buying journey. It also reflects your brand voice, which helps you build a stronger connection with potential customers.

So, after launching your new website, create new content. Get to know SEO best practices and weave in keywords, while focusing on creating readable, interesting and informative content for your target audience.

15. Keep your content fresh

Another important thing to remember when doing SEO for a new website? You’re more likely to feature prominently in SERPS if you’re regularly adding new website content and keeping old content up-to-date.

Depending on your business, that might mean creating new blog posts, updating service pages, adding new case studies or refreshing product descriptions. Aim to upload new content at least once a month to show that your site is fresh and relevant.

Ongoing tasks after launching a new website

OK, so we’ve covered basic housekeeping, signposting people to your site and SEO for a new website. What next? Here are the essential web maintenance tasks that will keep your website in top working order.

16. Update software

Website software updates keep your site secure and help everything run smoothly. They do this by patching security vulnerabilities, ensuring compatibility with the latest tools and browsers, and improving website performance.

You should update any website plugins monthly and implement bigger software updates at least once a year. And if you don’t have technical expertise, this one is best left to the web dev professionals.

17. Monitor analytics

Once your website is live, get set up with Google Analytics to keep tabs on how your site is performing. Using analytics, you can:

• Identify popular content, so you can create more of it
• Learn about your audience — their location, demographics and the devices they use
• Find and fix website weak points — the points of friction that lead to a low conversion rate

18. Gather user feedback

When you’ve been staring at your website for months, you sometimes stop seeing its issues. But real-life users are great at spotting things you’ve missed. So gather user feedback, either formally or informally, to find points at which your site is confusing or clunky.

19. Identify and track KPIs

Perhaps you established KPIs during the design and development process. If not, now’s the time to do so. Because a great website should help you achieve business goals.

Work out what success looks like for your website. More leads? More sales? More newsletter sign-ups? More traffic? Focus on the metrics that move your business forward.

Then, use analytics to benchmark and measure your progress — and to see which of your post-launch activities is having the biggest impact on business and website results.

20. Crawl your website to find errors

As you add new pages or delete old ones, SEO issues can start to emerge. Perhaps you forgot to add an alt tag to an image. Or to set up a redirect.

You can use online tools to crawl your website and flag problems like broken links, missing meta descriptions, duplicate content or slow pages. Work your way through the error list, fixing any issues, and you’ll make your site readable and easy to navigate — for both website users and search engines.

21. Regularly back up your site

A broken website is bad enough. A broken website with no backup? A total disaster!

Backups protect your content, design, databases and functionality. If something goes wrong — a security breach, a hosting issue, a poorly executed update — you can restore your site to a working version quickly.

For most websites, weekly backups are enough. For e-commerce sites that process customer data or orders, daily backups are advised.

How Radical supports clients post-launch

Most of our clients don’t have an in-house web design and development team. So they don’t always have the technical knowledge (or time!) to complete all the post-launch tasks on this list.

That’s why they came to us in the first place. And it’s why we continue to support our clients long after their new website has gone live.

We provide affordable website maintenance packages, built around the needs of each client. These packages can include:

• Building backlinks. Helping you grow domain authority naturally, with ethical strategies that actually work.
• Adding new content. We write SEO-optimised content (like blog posts, web copy and case studies) and upload it to your site too.
• Adding new functionality. Need a form? A booking tool? A new product page? We can keep your website aligned with design trends and business needs.
• Keeping your website backed up and secure. Secure patches, updates, malware scans. We keep the technical aspects of your site ticking away as they should.
• Running Google Ad campaigns. We create on-brand ads and landing pages, then monitor and manage your paid campaigns.
• Optimising your website. We’ll keep an eye on analytics and website performance, finding ways to improve traffic and conversions.

So you’ve got a new website. Now what?

Chat with your web design company about their maintenance packages. If they’re good eggs, they’ll explain everything in non-techy terms you can understand — and won’t charge you the earth.

They’ll provide you with the technical, design and content support you need to keep your website attracting new users and converting them into customers once they get there.

For Radical post-launch support, take a look at our web maintenance service or give the team a call to chat through what you need.

Launching a new website: FAQs

How long does it take for a new website to get results?

On average, it takes between 30 and 90 days for your website to start performing — sometimes longer if your industry is competitive or your site is brand new.

Do I need to promote my website after launch?

Absolutely. Promoting your website post-launch is a great way to get people to visit your site.

Should I keep adding content to my website?

Yes, fresh content helps with SEO. It can fuel your marketing efforts elsewhere and help build trust with your target market. But there’s a but. Aim for quality over quantity. Filling your site with irrelevant, poorly-optimised content won’t do much for your SEO.

Do I need monthly website maintenance?

A website needs regular technical attention to stay fast, secure and functional. Website maintenance is a task you can hand to your in-house web development team or to your web design agency.