A lot of work goes into launching a new website. The site itself could take several weeks to develop, and creating the company behind it might take much longer.

With all that effort, you want your site to start generating traffic and opportunities as fast as possible.

But newly launched websites have no domain authority. So they (usually) don’t attract many organic visitors. This makes you dependent on expensive advertising to attract qualified visitors and capture leads.

But fortunately there’s a free tool to grow your website that you already have - email. Strategic emails can transform your website from an empty online property to a well trafficked resource. In this article we’ll look at 5 ways site owners use email to grow their website traffic and awareness.

Introduce Yourself

The easiest, and most direct way to get qualified visitors to your site is to email them and introduce yourself. If they like what you have to say then they’ll check out your website for more information.

Contacting your ideal client directly has one big advantage over other forms of marketing. You have complete control over who you reach out to. When someone finds your website via an online ad or some other medium, you have no control over who clicks. Even if they’re interested in your solutions, they might not fit your target client profile.

Emailing prospects is an effective way to make yourself known to your target audience. But doing it on a large scale can be very time consuming. For this reason, many companies hire lead generation specialists like Sales Higher to do all the hard work.

Best of all, when you get positive responses the prospect’s full contact information is included in their signature. You can add them to your CRM and nurture a long term relationship.

Share Your Content

When you create an article or other content for your website you build it with a target audience in mind. But getting found by your audience via organic search is tough. What if they don’t see what you wrote?

The easiest way to get your content in front of your intended audience is to share it via email. You can ask if they’d be interested to see what you wrote. If you’ve written something unique and relevant then they’re going to want to see it. Just make sure your content doesn’t just recycle all the other content out there.

This approach is effective for a couple of reasons.

First, you aren’t asking for anything. People are usually happy to receive emails that offer them something of value at no cost. As long as your content is really useful, they’ll be happy to hear from you. It’s a great way to build new relationships in your industry and become a thought leader in the community.

If your content is outstanding then the people you send it to will naturally link to it in their own writing. These backlinks are incredibly powerful for increasing awareness of your website. Google sees a backlink as a ‘vote of confidence’ in your expertise. You want more backlinks from other websites in your niche. So Google will elevate your website in the search rankings.

Contribute Guest Posts

Closely related to content promotion is guest posting. This is by emailing a website owner in your niche and asking if you can contribute an article for their site. Guest posting is a popular way to promote your site because it’s low cost and everyone benefits.

The owner of the website gets unique content from an expert in their field. The guest author may have insights that are unique to their circumstances or perspective. And readers generally like being exposed to writers with a different background. Finally, writing good content is really hard work, so allowing guest posts makes the publication calendar easier.

The guest author also benefits. They are able to share their ideas with new audiences. And they typically receive a backlink to their own work in the content or author bio. The content link may drive visitors to their website. And as mentioned above, links can be very valuable to rank well in Google’s organic listings.

Connect With Partners & Distributors

Email is the perfect medium to connect with potential partners or distributors. Simply find companies that share your audience, but aren’t direct competitors.

For example, an SEO consultant might want to partner with website designers. Every time they create a website, they can introduce the SEO consultant’s services in exchange for a small fee.

Likewise, a commercial property agent might explore partnerships with accounting companies. When a company incorporates, they may require office space to work out of. The accounting company can make a referral in exchange for a fee. If they are confident the property agent is good then they are helping their client.

Partnerships can be the fastest way to build predictable revenue for your company. Just one strong partner can send you a steady stream of business. And all it takes to start meeting new clients is a well written email.

Request Recommendations

An effective way to grow your online presence is to email past or existing clients. Ask them whether they would be ok with sharing a testimonial. Recommendations are a powerful tool to grow your online presence. They simultaneously improve your credibility and search reputation.

When someone is looking for your services they want to know you can get the job done. So having 5 stars on Google My Business is a strong indicator you’ll do a great job. Likewise, a believable testimonial on your website helps visitors convert.

More importantly, Google reviews and site testimonials will help your organic search results. Google’s job is to provide searchers with the best results to their query. If your company consistently gets 5 star Google review widget, then Google will recommend your solutions.

Similarly, testimonials on your website contain a lot of your target keywords. So testimonials are a very natural way to get Google to associate your site with topics related to your core services.

Easily Overlooked

When you launch a new website, it’s tempting to start marketing using paid ads. But consider your other options first. Sending an email is very affordable, and can have an outsized impact on your business. Any of the ideas above will bring qualified visitors to your site in no time.