It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

In the nearly ten years we’ve been in business, there’s one misconception that continues to crop up that I’d like to dispel. This is that the day you launch your website, it will get tons of traffic and generate you tons of new business.

In truth, you website might not get much traffic on the first day. Or the first week. Or even the first month.

When it comes to your web presence, it can take time to be found. Your website won’t be making you money the instant it’s launched, especially if you’ve never had a website before. If you are selling products, don’t expect to make sales immediately. Don’t expect to get new clients lining up at your door.

Understand that having the website is the first step, but it’s not the only step, and you have to have time and patience to make it work for you.

How to get found faster

There are several things that you can do to make sure your website starts showing up.

• Share it on social media. Are you on Facebook? Twitter? Ello? YouTube? Tell the people you follow or that follow you that you have a new website!
• Create a Google Webmaster Tools account, if you don’t have one, and submit your sitemap for indexing. This gives Google a map to where your pages are and what’s on them. You can do this for Bing too. (If you’ve hired us to make your website, we do this for you.)
• Tell people about it. That’s right, use your words! Put the URL on all your marketing materials, your business cards, your flyers, your car, and billboards. Announce it in your radio and TV ads. People may not realize you have a website until you tell them.
• Incentivize visits. Give people a reason to come to your website, such as a coupon or special.
• Write a blog. There is nothing that will get you found faster online then having quality content and publishing it consistently. I believe so strongly in the power of blogging that in 2015 we published more than 200 blog posts!

But in truth, the main thing you have to is wait. And I know that’s not a popular opinion, but the longer you have a web presence, the more it will bring people to your business.