Launching a new website or showcasing a complete redesign of the old one is an exciting day in every business owner’s life. It culminates in months of effort, hard work, and thousands of investments. Suffice it to say that you don’t want to risk the launch staying under the radar just because you couldn’t be bothered with making a new website announcement.
The website launch announcement is at least as necessary as the development and the design of the site itself. Without a creative website launch announcement, you risk missing out on all the hype that events such as this build. Make sure your new website announcement reaches as many eyes and ears as possible with the following tips.
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Why Hyping Up Your New Website Matters
Playing the long SEO game is all well and good, but there’s a greater opportunity to launch a website. With a new website announcement, you have the opportunity to get a head start on customer acquisition and retention.
Take a scenario where no announcement is made as an example. When launch new website announcement is missing, the entire launch day goes under the radar. No PR articles are written about it, there are no online reviews to manage, and no launch day parties to go to. It’s as if nothing had happened, which is quite sad given how much effort people put into creating new, one-of-a-kind websites.
Hyping up the launch day with a new website announcement puts your latest creation in front of a massive audience of customers, both old and new. While relying on SEO and paid ads to boost traffic to your website is alright, there’s much more to be gained in making a big splash on day one.
Building the Hype Long Before New Website Launch Announcement
A new website announcement can take many shapes and forms and traverse a variety of media channels to reach the target audience. It can also begin long before formal launch announcements are made. It’s what we refer to as “building the hype.”
You can get as creative as you like with your hype-building activities, but the two most common and efficient methods of teasing your target audience include social media posts and a “coming soon” page.
Social media posts are at their best when they’re a well-crafted combination of textual content and visual imagery. In other words, you should alternate the posts that describe the website’s functionality with those that leak new design and style choices.
A “coming soon” page is the perfect place to display a countdown clock to the website launch. That way, you’re already giving a taste of the website-to-be to your audience, as there is at least one page to showcase, not to mention that a page such as this one is among the best places to gather visitor emails.
Building the hype with social media posts and a “coming soon” page lays the foundation for a huge launch day and a memorable new website announcement.
Putting Together a Creative Website Launch Announcement
Which media channel you’ll use to announce the launch of your new website largely depends on who your target audience is and the type of content they prefer.
You’ll have to get creative if you want a jumpstart on new customer acquisition, regardless of who the customer is. It doesn’t matter if you’re sending out batches of emails or reaching the zoomers on TikTok – your approach will have to be unique and set the tone for all your future conversations with your audience.
This is where detailed market research will come in handy. Check what the competition is doing, the kinds of popular designs with target groups, and see if the market is oversaturated with specific design choices. For example, you might find out that people are tired of cookie-cutter social media posts that don’t convey anything important. You could then work on your unique brand voice that will stir the pot and get potential customers excited about your new website announcement.
No one says it’s easy to stand out in the current marketing climate, but you will have to do your best to win the hearts and minds of people with your new website announcement.
How Do You Announce a New Website Launch?
You can announce a new website launch in a multitude of ways, both digital and print:
- Social media posts
- Submitting press releases
- Sending emails
- Reaching out to business partners
- Printing brochures, postcards, business cards, etc.
- Offering discounts and promotions
Here’s what you can do to help spread your new website announcement.
1. Social Media Posts
As we’ve previously mentioned, social media posts are an excellent tool to build hype around the upcoming launch day of your new website. You can provide your audience with invaluable insight into the development process and get their feedback before launching the site.
2. Press Release
Posting on social media is all well and good, but the reach of these Facebook and Instagram announcements is severely limited due to the nature of these social media channels. Moreover, you’re only reaching people who are already following you, so you need to expand your new website announcement's visibility significantly. No new website announcement can do without a public relations strategy.
That’s where press releases come into play. You can write your press release to serve as the announcement of the launch and then send it to reporters and media outlets you deem relevant. Whether they publish it or not is entirely up to them, but you should mail them a copy of the press release.
3. Email Lists
Unlike press releases and social media posts with limited and unpredictable results, your email listing is your closest ally in reaching a select audience. The reason for that is your email list is an aggregate of your efforts and consists of reliable prospects.
With press releases, it’s reporters who get to decide whether they’ll publish it or not. Social media posts get only about 5% views before the feed naturally pushes the post out of the way. None of that is an issue with email listings.
All you need is a strong subject line and a brand design familiar to your audience, and your emails will reach their target designation.
4. Partners and Associates
Think affiliate partnerships and brands that cooperate. If you’re already doing business with another website or business, you can reach out to them and have them act as additional gateways to your new website.
Every announcement you make will have a more extended reach if websites and brands willing to help you spread the word.
5. Offline Marketing
We’re all obsessing over digital marketing formats, but print and other forms of offline marketing still have a role to play in today’s world, albeit a minor one.
Design leaflets, print brochures, and create any other form of physical memorabilia you can deliver to people. If your market research indicates that your target audience will benefit from different forms of offline marketing, make it part of your new website announcement.
6. Promotions
Promotions, giveaways, and other types of offers that favor the customer are in the initial stages of the website’s lifecycle. It’s only natural to announce your new website along with lucrative offers and one-time deals that will further increase interaction with the business.
If you’re wondering how to generate good publicity quickly, promotions are one way to do it. If you decide to include promotions as part of your new website announcement, know that it’s the perfect time to do just that. It’s a strategy that can get too expensive really fast, so use it sparingly.
Besides Making a New Website Announcement...
Don’t forget the technical aspects of launching a new website. Make sure that website functionality is on par with what you’re marketing to the visitors with your new website announcement.
One way to test the functionality of the website and the behavior of different aspects of the site, is to run small-scale tests with limited numbers of users. If there’s something that’s broken or behaving differently from how it was designed, it’s better to catch it before the wider audience arrives.
Other than that, keep optimizing the new website for search engines, and focus on user experience. No matter how outstanding, a new website announcement can’t make up for a faulty website. And remember, there are some fantastic public relations agencies out there that can handle all the nitty-gritty for you as you focus on other, important aspects of your business.
