Launching a new website feels like the finish line, but it is really the starting point. A site that nobody hears about will do very little on its own, particularly in the first few months while search engines are still getting to know it. The good news is that you do not need a marketing team or a big budget to get it working. You need a simple plan and an hour or two each week.
This guide breaks the first 90 days into three stages. Each one builds on the last, and most of the tasks can be done by the owner or a partner in small blocks of time.
Before you start, set a simple baseline
Spend twenty minutes writing down where things stand on launch day. Note how many enquiries you received last month, where they came from and how many turned into clients. If you have access to your website analytics and Google Search Console, jot down the number of visitors and the searches people are finding you for.
You are not trying to build a dashboard. You just want something to compare against at the end of the 90 days, so you can see what is working and where to spend more time.
Days 1 to 30: tell the people who already know you
The fastest results in the first month nearly always come from people who already know and trust you. They are the ones most likely to visit, read and pass your details on.
Work through this list in the first few weeks:
- Update every place your business appears online. That includes your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn company page, personal LinkedIn profiles, industry directories and professional association listings. Make sure the website address, services and contact details match.
- Update your email signatures. Every email you and your team send is a small, free reminder of your website.
- Email your existing clients. Keep it short and personal. Let them know the new site is live, point them to one useful page, and mention that you are always happy to help people they know.
- Tell your referral partners. If you regularly receive work from other professionals, such as a mortgage broker or a solicitor, send them a note with a link to the service pages most relevant to the clients they refer.
- Post on LinkedIn. Share the new site with a short explanation of who you help and why you rebuilt it. Personal profiles tend to reach more people than company pages, so post from your own account.
A two-partner accounting firm in Geelong, for example, might send a friendly note to its client list, a separate note to its three main referral partners and one LinkedIn post from each partner, all in the first fortnight.
Days 31 to 60: give Google and prospects something to find
By the second month, your focus shifts to people who do not know you yet. They mostly find service businesses through search and through recommendations, so this stage is about making sure you show up and look credible when they do.
Ask for reviews. Reviews on your Google Business Profile influence both local search results and whether people choose to contact you. Make a list of clients who have been happy with your work recently and send each one a personal request with a direct link. Asking a handful of people every week is more sustainable than one big push.
Write two or three genuinely useful articles. Think about the questions clients ask you most often in first meetings. A physiotherapy clinic might write about what to expect at a first appointment, while a financial adviser might explain what happens in an initial planning meeting. Each article should answer the question properly and link to the relevant service page.
Check that Google can see your site. If you moved from an old website, look in Search Console for pages that are not being indexed and for any old addresses that are returning errors. Your web developer should be able to help you read the report and fix anything that has gone missing.
Keep posting on LinkedIn. One or two posts a week is plenty. Share what you are seeing in your clients’ businesses, answer a common question in a few paragraphs, or link to one of your new articles with a sentence about why you wrote it.
Days 61 to 90: tidy up the path from enquiry to client
By now you should be seeing some new enquiries. The third month is about making sure you convert as many of them as possible, and about learning from what has happened so far.
- Review every enquiry you received. Where did it come from, which page did they contact you from, and did it turn into a client? Patterns will start to appear even with small numbers.
- Look at your response time. Most firms find that the enquiries they answer quickly are the ones that convert. If replies are slipping to the next day, decide who is responsible and when they check.
- Refine your pages based on real questions. If several prospects asked about fees or turnaround times, add that information to the relevant service page.
- Set up a basic referral routine. Once you have happy new clients, build a light process for asking them to recommend you. We cover this in detail in how to build a referral engine.
What to expect by day 90
It is worth being realistic. Search traffic for a new or rebuilt site usually grows gradually over several months, so the enquiries you see in the first quarter will mostly come from your existing network, referrals and your Google Business Profile. That is normal, and it is exactly why the first month focuses on people who already know you.
At the end of the 90 days, compare your numbers with the baseline you wrote down on launch day. Keep doing the activities that brought in enquiries, drop the ones that did not, and set yourself a simple plan for the next quarter.
A website that is ready for the work
All of this is much easier when your website clearly explains who you help and makes it simple to get in touch. That is what we aim for with every site we build, and our monthly Care plan means changes like adding articles or updating service pages are handled for you after launch. You can see how the seven-day process works if you are thinking about a new site.
