The success of your website launch hugely depends on how much buzz you create around it.
Creating and designing your website take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get done in the way that you want. You’ve done everything to optimize it, make sure that all your links are working, and design it in a way that isn’t too boring and isn’t too much either. Now, the only thing you have to do is go live! It’s one of the greatest feelings - like displaying the championship trophy or new car to your peers. But, how are you going to get people to notice your achievement if no one knows about it?
Ever heard of the phrase, “if a tree falls in a forest does it make a noise”? It’s kind of like that for you and your website. Sure, the tree makes a noise on its own, but then if no one is there to hear it, then no one will even know it was there. That’s why you have to make the tree buzz before falling so people will come around a buzzing tree to hear the noise of it falling afterwards. The tree is your website. The falling of the tree is the launch of your website. Before this article goes on a tangent about philosophy and trees, we are here to help you create that buzz for your website.
Creating buzz is very important because it determines whether or not your website get that push towards future success. You should always go above and beyond for your buzz. That same excitement you have for your work is the same feel your viewers should have when they first go to your website.
Here are a couple of ways that feeling could be created.
Start with a Countdown, Share Sneak Peeks, Teasers
Promoting a website should be done long before you actually launch it. Buzz last minute isn’t going to get you anywhere and will seem like you are rushing your material. Buzz should be generated months ahead of time to ensure a larger audience is aware of it, then continuously informed of it the closer it gets. It helps build anticipation overtime to really grasp what you had mentioned to them before.
This is where a countdown is useful. The purpose of a countdown is to give your viewers a timeline of when your idea is officially viewable and presented on a website. A countdown can be used in a variety of ways like through social media or blogs that you could have written before. Some retailers, for example, have a page dedicated to a countdown of when a popular item will be released and when it reaches zero, the consumer will be redirected to purchase the item after.
Previews, sneak peeks, and teasers are all great tools to generate buzz as well. It gives your viewers the curiosity of what they think it’ll look like. It gives them something to think about and even more excitement of what it’ll actually look like when it is released. It also adds credibility to work because it gives them a behind the scenes look of your work and that it is there is actual work being done to complete it. It’s best to keep things minimal and not show off all of your feats at once, and just keep your audience engaged and interested.
The combination of both a countdown and teasers ahead of time will get you that buzz you are looking for. But there is still so much more that you can do.
Create a Pre-Launch Page
Your website doesn’t have to be done yet to use as a promotional tool. It’s a great way to gain an audience before launching and can generate a lot of traffic for you! It doesn’t have to be functional, but at least have something to offer to your viewers. Normally, people will just have random encounters and won’t come back a second time, so have some content that could interest them. Including an email list and having them sign up for updates is a good feature to have on a pre-launch page. As previously stated, using a countdown and some teasers even on a pre-launch page would be helpful when people pass by. These promotions can be displayed on the page, or even through the emails if they sign up for it.
A pre-launch page is just meant to give your visitors a taste of your work, your credibility, and how professional you are in your craft. This small sample is a great way of making them interested in the fully prepared meal.
Create High-Quality Informational Content
Regardless of what your business is and its purpose, you should let your audience know about it too. You wouldn’t want them to be confused if your website is displaying clothing and models, when you’re selling home decor. You need to be very concise to make sure they don’t get the wrong idea when you finally launch. That’s why it’s important to have some brief information on your pre-launch page for example that will go over what you are trying to present in order for them to make an informed decision. It should answer the questions, “What do you do? When and how should it be used? Who is it for?” and some more.
You can give out such information through:
- Tutorials
- Expert Roundups
- FAQs
- Offering practical advice in your niche
- Giving out a list of definitions
Offer Relevant Giveaways to Your Audience
Depending on your website and what you offer, you can also do a giveaway to generate some buzz. Everyone loves getting new things, but having it for free too is something special. Free giveaways that are relevant to your business or industry are great ways to appeal to your audience. It expands your reach especially if you share it often through social media. For example, if you are a small tech company, you can give away some computer accessories that could have your branding on it. You don’t want to be like Oprah and give EVERYONE a free item either. When it comes to doing giveaways, it’s best to start promoting it about two weeks ahead of time and closing the offer a day or two before presenting the winners.
Network with Influencers in Your Field
Influencers affect a large number of people in multiple industries. That’s why large companies, like Apple, take advantage of influencers because they can reach their audience in a way that the company cannot.
Creating buzz on your own can be difficult when you don’t have a following yourself, but having an influencer back you up will definitely help a lot. Regardless if the influencer has a million subscribers or even a couple thousand, they can help promote your work to a larger group of people. Keep in mind that the influencer should be relevant to your website or business.
You can network with influencers to do many things such as have them promote your website on social media. If you have products or a service to offer, you can give them a sample to review. This can be like accessories, clothing, or even a free trial.
Working with influencers is a very common trend that many companies use today, so do not be afraid to work with them as well to reach a larger audience.
Offer Simple Communication Avenues
Whether it’s through an email list or live chats, you should come up with clear and simple communication avenue to help you connect with your audience. This is a great way to engage your audience and show them that you care about them. They’ll also have an incentive to keep in touch with you after the website launch and probably do business with you.
Email lists can help you offer valuable information to your target audience and keep them posted on your website’s activities. Similarly, a live chat can help you answer questions and engage with your audience on a personal level.
Generating buzz can take a lot of time and work, but there are a multitude of ways to do so. Whether you are going to use one method, a couple, or even all of them they will help you generate the excitement and anticipation that you are looking for to gain traffic for the launch of your website.
