#105 Maximizing Your Personal Brand and Website Performance: Insights and Tools
Welcome to Episode 27 of the Website Mastery Podcast!
Hosted by digital marketing gurus Jonny Ross and Pascal Fintoni, this episode is packed with actionable tips and valuable insights designed to elevate your website's performance and enhance your personal brand. Whether you're tuning in live or catching up later, we're thrilled to have you join us!
Personal Branding: To Change Your Domain or Not?
Jonny and Pascal kick off the episode by tackling a listener-submitted question about the pros and cons of using personal names as domain names. This discussion is crucial for anyone considering how to best use their personal brand for business advantage.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand when to use your personal name for better branding.
- Learn the impact of personal domains on future business scalability.
Cutting the Clutter: What to Remove From Your Website Now
In response to "13 Things To Remove From Your Website Immediately" by Andy Crestodina, Jonny and Pascal share their perspectives on outdated website elements that could be hurting your user experience.
Key Takeaways:
- Discover specific website features that should be eliminated to improve clarity and user engagement.
- Hear expert opinions on common website mistakes and how to avoid them.
Essential Tools for Every Website Manager
Explore indispensable tools that can revolutionize the way you manage and create content for your website. This segment introduces Cloudflare for enhanced security and Emojis Wiki for effective communication through visuals.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn about tools that can protect and accelerate your site.
- Get tips on using emojis correctly to enhance rather than confuse your message.
Action Steps to Immediately Improve Your Website
Jonny advises on implementing schema markup to boost SEO, while Pascal emphasizes the importance of refreshing your FAQs with visual storytelling to make your site more engaging and informative.
Key Takeaways:
- Steps to implement schema markup for better search engine recognition.
- Strategies to update your FAQs to address newer customer inquiries effectively.
Why Tune In?
- Practical advice: From optimizing your personal brand to enhancing website security and performance.
- Expert insights: Benefit from Jonny and Pascal's extensive experience in digital marketing.
- Interactive discussion: Engage with the co-hosts live and get your questions answered.
Join us for this information-packed episode to transform your website into a more effective tool for your business. For more insights and to join our community, visit 90daymarketingmastery.com and follow us for the latest updates and expert advice.
Chapters:
00:00:16 - Introduction - Introduction to the Website Mastery Podcast series, live streaming platforms, and the 90-day website mastery program.
Discussion on the importance of personal branding and domain name choices for businesses, including the pros and cons of using a personal brand name in the domain.
00:09:38 - Website Stories - Review and analysis of a video by Orbit Media on 13 things to remove from a website immediately, including a selection of 3 key points from the video.
Recommendation of CloudFlare for website performance, security, and SEO optimization, highlighting its benefits and ease of use.
00:23:42 - Website Call to Action - Discussion on the importance of schema markup implementation for search engine optimization and the review and refresh of FAQ sections on websites with a focus on visual storytelling.
Recap of the key topics covered in the episode and a call to action for viewers to use the episode as an agenda for their next website meeting.
Transcript
Hello and welcome. It's episode 27 of the
Speaker:Website Mastery Podcast series. We are
Speaker:live on YouTube, we're live on LinkedIn
Speaker:and for the first time we're live on
Speaker:Instagram as well. So if you're there,
Speaker:Let us know. And if you're listening to
Speaker:the repeat on the podcast, thanks for
Speaker:being here. As always, we love our
Speaker:listeners and viewers. This is the
Speaker:companion to the 90-day website mastery
Speaker:program. We wanted to find a way to
Speaker:continue to share more advice and
Speaker:insights about making your website work
Speaker:harder and for you to feel proud about
Speaker:your website again. Pascal Fintoni is
Speaker:with me, my co-host, and each episode we
Speaker:go through 4 segments. We have the You
Speaker:Ask, We Answer where we take a question
Speaker:that's been submitted by the community or
Speaker:that we've seen online. We've got the
Speaker:website stories, which is segment number
Speaker:2. We have the website engine room where
Speaker:we share an app or a piece of kit that's
Speaker:gonna make your life easier as a website
Speaker:manager and content creator to start
Speaker:feeling proud of your website again. And
Speaker:of course, we always finish with the
Speaker:website call to action. What piece of
Speaker:content can't finish with a call to
Speaker:action? That's 1 change or adjustment
Speaker:that you should be making to your website
Speaker:right now. Pascal, episode 27, what have
Speaker:we got in store?
Speaker:Well, you know, what's interesting about
Speaker:listening to the presentation, you do say
Speaker:we're doing this with prepare, we
Speaker:research, we capture this in the show
Speaker:notes for our audience, but we're doing
Speaker:it for ourselves. I mean, you know, what
Speaker:luck to have a profession that is also
Speaker:your passion. I mean, your week, my week
Speaker:is spent talking at events, doing
Speaker:one-to-one coaching. My week has been
Speaker:about branding a lot, lead generation,
Speaker:AI, using AI to make good decisions, to
Speaker:get support with your website decisions.
Speaker:And right now I'm working on 3 website
Speaker:projects for clients from brand new
Speaker:startups to well established companies
Speaker:who just seem to have everything about
Speaker:their user experience.
Speaker:But you make a good point because we are
Speaker:in the creative industry. I'm currently
Speaker:reading a book by Rory Sutherland, who's
Speaker:really got me to stand back and think
Speaker:about, don't just use logic. And that's a
Speaker:very good point. We're in this creative
Speaker:industry where we've got to have the
Speaker:space to be able to think and brainstorm
Speaker:and come up with ideas and more
Speaker:importantly make mistakes. You know we
Speaker:need to test and try and make those
Speaker:mistakes because actually the faster you
Speaker:make mistakes the quicker you can find
Speaker:out what works and be ahead of the game.
Speaker:So this space as you say is just as much
Speaker:for us to be able to be that creative and
Speaker:move away from the logic and, well, I
Speaker:don't mean fully, but in terms of just
Speaker:having that thinking space and yeah. We
Speaker:should move
Speaker:on to our first segment, but before we do
Speaker:so, very, very quickly for our audience,
Speaker:the way in which we structure those
Speaker:episodes, it's almost the agenda of a
Speaker:meeting you should be having with your
Speaker:colleagues. So what you should do is by
Speaker:all means is listen to Johnny and I take
Speaker:away the information, but use what we are
Speaker:sharing for your next get together with a
Speaker:team or with your suppliers and so on,
Speaker:saying I've got a question or I've got
Speaker:those apps I want to experiment with in
Speaker:the same kind of R&D department. So yeah,
Speaker:there are a lot of value to be gained and
Speaker:we do this in a very compact way. Half an
Speaker:hour, It's more so unlike us because we
Speaker:are long form content creators. But the
Speaker:value you get from just the learning but
Speaker:also the structure for your next team
Speaker:meeting I think is very important.
Speaker:Let's start with you ask, we answer.
Speaker:Now this is a question from a coaching
Speaker:session that I had about a week ago and
Speaker:we were really wrestling with the client.
Speaker:So here it is. It is obvious to me that
Speaker:my customers are using my name when
Speaker:searching for my business online.
Speaker:Therefore, should I change the website
Speaker:address and domain name to my first name
Speaker:plus family name and add .co.uk.com or
Speaker:shall I leave it as it is? This is
Speaker:interesting, isn't it, Jonny?
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, well, I personally have a
Speaker:marketing agency, Fleek Marketing and the
Speaker:website, the domain for that is
Speaker:fleek.marketing. I also have my personal
Speaker:brand, which is JonnyRoss.com. I think
Speaker:some of it comes down to what people know
Speaker:you as, what people know the business as,
Speaker:and also where you see the future. So Do
Speaker:you see the saleability of the business?
Speaker:Do you see the wanting to perceive as a
Speaker:big business? Or is this about personal
Speaker:branding? I think there's huge benefits
Speaker:to changing a domain name or using a
Speaker:domain name that's got your name in it,
Speaker:but there are downsides as well. So
Speaker:you've got to sort of take everything
Speaker:into account. And I guess what I was
Speaker:insinuating is that I've cheated by
Speaker:creating both.
Speaker:But maybe that's what you need to do to
Speaker:give you time actually to really reflect
Speaker:and make the final decision. What I will
Speaker:say, and certainly that's what I did all
Speaker:those years ago, that will prevent you
Speaker:from setting the business if that's part
Speaker:of your strategy. If you have an exit
Speaker:strategy that says, I'm going to build
Speaker:the business, whether it's B2B, B2C or
Speaker:something in between, no one's going to
Speaker:be able to buy or there'd be a lesser
Speaker:value and appeal if it is committed to a
Speaker:personal brand. But if that's not part of
Speaker:your plan whatsoever, and you've looked
Speaker:at the data, you know that that's what's
Speaker:happening, you do a lot of work, I'm
Speaker:thinking, Johnny, about putting your
Speaker:personal brand out there as a speaker, as
Speaker:a guest blogger, maybe you're on
Speaker:podcasts, maybe you're writing columns,
Speaker:intra-publications, who won, then the
Speaker:argument will be that people will
Speaker:remember you and they'll make an
Speaker:association with your services, but they
Speaker:may not remember the product brand or the
Speaker:service brand.
Speaker:Yeah, and what a way to build authority
Speaker:and to build that personal connection as
Speaker:well. So if they do know your name and
Speaker:they associate your business with your
Speaker:name, you can still build that
Speaker:professionalism and even in fact, even
Speaker:more trust by having that personal
Speaker:connection and the memorability of it. So
Speaker:there's huge advantages, but yes, as
Speaker:you've said rightly, a big disadvantage
Speaker:is the exit strategy, but also perhaps
Speaker:your name is, what's the word I'm looking
Speaker:for? Common is, I guess is the word I was
Speaker:looking for, that John Smith, for
Speaker:example, perhaps you're not gonna stand
Speaker:out by using your name and you also need
Speaker:to do a bit of research to see what
Speaker:appears in Google already for your brand
Speaker:name, because you might have some stiff
Speaker:competition in terms of actually getting
Speaker:high in the ranks. So there's pros and
Speaker:cons.
Speaker:Sure, you reminded me, I'm gonna go back
Speaker:10, 15 years ago, but that was a similar
Speaker:exercise with a client. So we did just
Speaker:punch in first name, surname in Google.
Speaker:And what came back was a murderer in
Speaker:Australia. Now in other way you get
Speaker:based, but that story of the murder with
Speaker:that name was over dominating the search
Speaker:results. We could try it again today,
Speaker:maybe things have changed. So I think,
Speaker:yeah, do the research, do the prep. I'm
Speaker:kind of tempted to go back to my clients.
Speaker:You know, I'd rather think about it. I've
Speaker:spoken to a guy called Johnny Ross, and
Speaker:let's cheat and do both. Because what I
Speaker:like about doing both, that means that
Speaker:your personal brand website can then
Speaker:become a signposting website to different
Speaker:programs and campaigns and different
Speaker:facets of what you do. And then you can
Speaker:retain the product-based or the
Speaker:service-based website at the same time
Speaker:and give you just more months and years
Speaker:to reflect before making that final
Speaker:decision.
Speaker:And I think 1 of the big points you've
Speaker:just made there, which is do the research
Speaker:because forget about personal brand,
Speaker:forget about name. I've got 2 clients
Speaker:that I can think of within the last 3
Speaker:months where they've gone through a
Speaker:branding exercise prior to engaging me
Speaker:and at no point has anyone thought let's
Speaker:Google this new brand name and it just
Speaker:it's like it beggars belief it's like
Speaker:you're you are senior leaders you've got
Speaker:you I can see that you've got lots of
Speaker:strategy and all sorts of stuff, But no 1
Speaker:has thought of Googling it. And these 2
Speaker:significant companies. And I was just,
Speaker:and in both cases, we've found big
Speaker:problems. But anyway, there we go.
Speaker:Let's move on then because we can make
Speaker:this but into that almost a mini rant
Speaker:about the lack of research. But I get it,
Speaker:it's so much more fun to get into action
Speaker:mode than it is into reflection and
Speaker:research mode, but you've got to do it.
Speaker:That's part of your duties as leaders and
Speaker:marketers, whether that's your full-time
Speaker:or part-time occupation. Let's move on,
Speaker:if you don't mind, with our next segment,
Speaker:website stories. So for episode 27, we've
Speaker:chosen a video that came from a great
Speaker:company that I'm very fond of called
Speaker:Orbit Media. Orbit Media, if you don't
Speaker:know them, they do some incredible
Speaker:research and data crunching on website
Speaker:user experience. They also sometimes
Speaker:partner up with other specialists. And I
Speaker:have to tell you, Johnny, I've been a
Speaker:student of their research papers because
Speaker:it kind of helps you reflect and keeps
Speaker:you right on the way in which a website
Speaker:experience should be crafted. And they
Speaker:have years, if not decades of... This
Speaker:video was recorded or hosted, should I
Speaker:say, by Andy Creston-Dinna, who is the
Speaker:co-founder and chief marketing officer of
Speaker:Orbit Media. And the title is that
Speaker:follows, 13 things to remove from your
Speaker:website immediately. So sounds very, very
Speaker:dramatic. I'm very aware of that. And
Speaker:what I was able to do then is watch the
Speaker:video, I know you've done it as well.
Speaker:I've got a list of 13 to go through and I
Speaker:picked 3, because time is against us, and
Speaker:1 where I'm not totally in agreement with
Speaker:Andy, and 2 where I'm like, exactly, and
Speaker:you're not actually share this advice. So
Speaker:very, very quickly for viewers and
Speaker:listeners, I'm gonna go through all 13.
Speaker:So remove immediately vague homepage
Speaker:headlines. And actually similarly,
Speaker:generic navigation labels. Meaningless
Speaker:subheadings is number 3. Number 4, long
Speaker:homepage sliders. I mean, everybody's
Speaker:trying to shove in their information. I
Speaker:get it, the poor marketing team is being
Speaker:bullied into having 8 to 10 sliders for
Speaker:all the different departments, but a
Speaker:visitor would not go beyond the first 2
Speaker:or 3. Annul D, but still happens, avoid
Speaker:stock photos of people, or should I say
Speaker:nowadays AI photos of people. Number 456
Speaker:now, social media icons, remove them from
Speaker:the homepage. Remove the dates on blog
Speaker:posts, interesting 1. Remove long
Speaker:paragraphs, think about mobile phone
Speaker:viewers. Press releases, stop copying and
Speaker:pasting press releases as is, You've got
Speaker:to rework them and add more media
Speaker:content. Question mark on PDF files. Do
Speaker:they help really the traffic, the
Speaker:experience that you want? We move on to
Speaker:testimonial pages. Long list of people
Speaker:saying wonderful things about you but
Speaker:unsupported by evidence. Email links,
Speaker:contact forms are better, or are they?
Speaker:And finally, the dead end thank you page
Speaker:or the dead end call to action page where
Speaker:you do something and then suddenly it
Speaker:goes blank or there's like a tiny message
Speaker:on the top left corner saying done or
Speaker:submitted and you have no idea what's
Speaker:happened. So please everyone watch the
Speaker:video, it's great. Here Andy's
Speaker:essentially a case that he makes for all
Speaker:those 13 things to remove immediately.
Speaker:But I wanna go back for the 3. I've got
Speaker:social media icons, press releases, and
Speaker:testing on all pages. I can't be sure
Speaker:that I agree with what is being claimed
Speaker:that social media icons on the homepage
Speaker:are a distraction and you can lose
Speaker:visitors. My position, they are there to
Speaker:be glanced at, a form of reassurance, but
Speaker:nobody that I can think of is gonna click
Speaker:on the social media icons if the intent
Speaker:is to visit the website and know about
Speaker:the business. Press releases, I agree,
Speaker:they are ugly as hell on website. People
Speaker:are lazy. They copy and paste the press
Speaker:release as it is written. It's written
Speaker:for the press. The title is enigmatic.
Speaker:The first paragraph is usually weird. And
Speaker:it's just flat on the webpage. This is
Speaker:not how we write on the web. So stop
Speaker:doing it. And yes, I mean, my biggest
Speaker:kind of pay-peave when testing with all
Speaker:pages, it's like a long, long list of
Speaker:quotes from people, but without any
Speaker:reasons, or they're not grouped around
Speaker:the product, or they're not grouped
Speaker:around the product or they're not grouped
Speaker:around the service and so on and and
Speaker:often it just leaves you thinking where
Speaker:are they real are they not real and so on
Speaker:but yeah great great video great 13
Speaker:things that you can use your next team
Speaker:meeting or website meeting and these were
Speaker:my top 3. But did you have any that maybe
Speaker:you were not sure about or that you are
Speaker:clearly in agreement with as well?
Speaker:A great video with lots of really good
Speaker:advice and some obvious things that over
Speaker:the years these things do need removing
Speaker:from your website. I like your point
Speaker:about the testimonial pages. We love
Speaker:testimonials. They're keyword rich,
Speaker:user-generated content, build trust, give
Speaker:you that professionalism, but let's
Speaker:integrate them into the content instead
Speaker:of having just a testimonials page. Yeah,
Speaker:press releases, you read them and they're
Speaker:like, yeah, what's this? Write the story
Speaker:yourself. So whatever story you're hoping
Speaker:that was going to be produced from the
Speaker:press release, write it yourself, put it
Speaker:on the website instead of just copying
Speaker:and pasting the, the, the, press release
Speaker:social media icons. I do agree with you,
Speaker:Pascal. I guess the halfway house is
Speaker:removing them from the header of the
Speaker:website and just having them in the
Speaker:footer of the website is a halfway house
Speaker:because the danger is that you've got
Speaker:them there, they click through, and of
Speaker:course, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Speaker:LinkedIn, they're all designed to keep
Speaker:you there. They're all designed to get
Speaker:you looking at those adverts. So the
Speaker:danger, I guess, is that you do click
Speaker:through and you start looking at the
Speaker:stories of cats and dogs and you totally
Speaker:forget the business that you were looking
Speaker:at a minute ago. So I guess having them
Speaker:in the footer of the website is a halfway
Speaker:house to build that trust. It certainly
Speaker:do not remove them completely. But in
Speaker:short, great video, worth watching, and
Speaker:more importantly, a brilliant step in
Speaker:starting to feel proud of your website by
Speaker:removing stuff that just does not work.
Speaker:That does not work. It doesn't actually
Speaker:help people understand what you do
Speaker:sufficiently and particularly when we
Speaker:talk about the vague homepage headlines
Speaker:or the meaningless subheadings. Quick
Speaker:question before we move on to our next
Speaker:segment, this business or the homepage
Speaker:sliders. So in a way I kind of align them
Speaker:as a feature on the website, but Andy's
Speaker:point about, well, don't put too many,
Speaker:because someone's gonna spend the time
Speaker:watching it, and don't put the most
Speaker:important message at the end of your
Speaker:slider. Start with that. But I've seen
Speaker:good execution on the sliders. I've liked
Speaker:the 1 where actually it's just a text
Speaker:that is changing as opposed to the image,
Speaker:but where do you stand with the home page
Speaker:sliders?
Speaker:I think the data and the analytics show
Speaker:that the drop off is very quick. And so
Speaker:the chance of people getting to slide 3
Speaker:or 4 is, you know, you've lost I think
Speaker:80% by slide 3. So whilst as a website
Speaker:owner and staff within the business want
Speaker:to spend time and have a look at the
Speaker:website and they spend time looking, a
Speaker:user spends less than a second and then
Speaker:scrolls down. So I think slides is full
Speaker:stop. There's got to be a real reason and
Speaker:an obvious indication to the user that
Speaker:you can slide through to look at certain
Speaker:things. But if it's just there because
Speaker:you want to get across your 10 messages
Speaker:on the homepage, then it's the wrong
Speaker:reason, I think.
Speaker:And therefore, you are almost telling us
Speaker:that they may have a role maybe on a
Speaker:product specific page, maybe on the
Speaker:contact. Think it through. And I think
Speaker:sometime in web design, and that's what
Speaker:happens, isn't it? People just settle on
Speaker:the first execution. So, many, many years
Speaker:ago, came up with a home page slider, and
Speaker:they really copied as opposed to actually
Speaker:put the slider where people will take
Speaker:time. And maybe it's the FAQ section of
Speaker:your website. Maybe it's the resource
Speaker:section of the website, but somewhere
Speaker:where they tend to give you a bit more
Speaker:time than the home page, which is 0.
Speaker:Something seconds, you know?
Speaker:Yeah, Yeah. Let's move on to our third
Speaker:segment, which is the website engine
Speaker:room.
Speaker:Now in each episode, Jonny and I select
Speaker:an app, a software piece of kit that can
Speaker:make life easier as a website manager.
Speaker:And I just remind you that we have also
Speaker:recently released the ebook, the 50
Speaker:essential kits that you will need for
Speaker:your website. And Johnny, remind us
Speaker:before we wrap up this episode where
Speaker:people can get their copy of this amazing
Speaker:ebook. Now what is your selection for
Speaker:this episode in particular?
Speaker:Yeah in terms of the ebook I have just
Speaker:put that onto the screen if people are
Speaker:watching. For people that are listening,
Speaker:it's 90daymarketingmastery.com forward
Speaker:slash e hyphen book. Certainly it will be
Speaker:in the show notes as well, but that's our
Speaker:ultimate toolkit, 50 tools that we've
Speaker:mentioned in the first 25 episodes. But
Speaker:today's tool from me in episode 27, I'm
Speaker:going to highlight CloudFlare. So
Speaker:CloudFlare is designed to make everything
Speaker:you connect to the internet secure,
Speaker:private, fast and reliable. It's a great
Speaker:way to be able to manage the performance
Speaker:and security of your website to improve
Speaker:the performance, to improve the security,
Speaker:but also to what I'm seeing in the SEO
Speaker:industry is some clever techniques on how
Speaker:you can inject certain elements onto web
Speaker:pages very quickly and easily, so
Speaker:deploying SEO strategies and techniques
Speaker:without having to edit the code, without
Speaker:having to edit the website, and without
Speaker:even having to speak to web developers
Speaker:because as an SEO agency, we can control
Speaker:some of those elements within a tool like
Speaker:CloudFlare. So whilst it's producing
Speaker:websites that are faster, more reliable,
Speaker:more secure, it's also opened a door in
Speaker:terms of actually there's quite a few
Speaker:benefits in terms of being able to
Speaker:optimize and change things very easily
Speaker:without having to go through development
Speaker:teams, et cetera. So Cloudflare is my
Speaker:suggested app for this episode.
Speaker:Listen, everyone, you may be thinking,
Speaker:well, I'm not technical, that's not
Speaker:really my area of expertise, therefore
Speaker:I'll pass. But I think back to my
Speaker:statement earlier, This is what you need
Speaker:to take to the next meeting with your
Speaker:developers or with your colleagues who
Speaker:understand this element. You should at
Speaker:least do the research that's part of
Speaker:being that decision maker and being
Speaker:control the website want to be proud of.
Speaker:So My selection actually came out with
Speaker:something that I needed. Now emojis are
Speaker:not part of the written form of content.
Speaker:They will appear on occasion on video as
Speaker:well. And I will confess, Jonny, I've
Speaker:always been a little reluctant. I'm a
Speaker:late user of emojis because actually I
Speaker:was thinking, could there be
Speaker:misunderstood? Could you try and express
Speaker:something by adding a visual icon but
Speaker:actually it doesn't match the intent,
Speaker:doesn't match the tone, or you're worried
Speaker:that maybe it could be misunderstood by
Speaker:different individuals, different cultures
Speaker:and so on. So very recently, I needed to
Speaker:write an article, I needed some very
Speaker:specific emojis. And I have mentioned in
Speaker:the past this platform called Yatex,
Speaker:Y-A-Y-Tex, Yatex. That allows you to do a
Speaker:number of things including emojis, but
Speaker:the library is limited. And that's the
Speaker:point I want to make as well, Johnny.
Speaker:People are using AI, that's all fine.
Speaker:Please make sure you edit. But within
Speaker:that AI, there's also a very limited
Speaker:library of emojis because it's always the
Speaker:rocket ship and it's always the explosion
Speaker:or it's always the flames so please be
Speaker:careful. But this platform is called
Speaker:Emojis Wiki, emojis.wiki And not only can
Speaker:you find a much richer selection of
Speaker:emojis, the 1 was looking for was based
Speaker:actually on a film, but also they give
Speaker:you the meanings behind those emojis. So
Speaker:it gives you a moment of reflection to
Speaker:go, I don't want to use that, but
Speaker:actually could it be misunderstood or
Speaker:could you simply distract and people say
Speaker:well there's this disconnect between the
Speaker:words and the emojis. So emojis.wiki
Speaker:gives you a richer library to stand out
Speaker:from the crowd and avoid repeating the
Speaker:same kind of icons and emojis as
Speaker:everybody else, but also you get a moment
Speaker:of reflection because it will tell you
Speaker:about the likely meanings and
Speaker:understanding from your audience.
Speaker:I, emojis, whilst you were talking then,
Speaker:it reminded me that I do use emojis a
Speaker:lot. I like using emojis. They stand out.
Speaker:But that certainly can be an overuse. And
Speaker:1 of the things that I realized was I was
Speaker:doing a LinkedIn ad the other day and it
Speaker:got, I can't think the right word,
Speaker:refused is the wrong word but you
Speaker:understand what I'm saying, but the text
Speaker:that came back from LinkedIn wasn't clear
Speaker:at all and it was just saying that there
Speaker:was an issue with the content, it wasn't
Speaker:very clear. And I ended up on a LinkedIn
Speaker:chat with 1 of their support. And it
Speaker:turns out that their algorithm only lets
Speaker:a maximum of 4 emojis in a LinkedIn
Speaker:advert. So irrelevant of anything else,
Speaker:if there's more than 4, it will
Speaker:automatically get disallowed or whatever
Speaker:the word might be. So yeah, you can end
Speaker:up overusing them, but I do love an
Speaker:emoji. And I think the biggest point
Speaker:there is make sure you know what an emoji
Speaker:means when you're using 1 to make sure
Speaker:that it does fit the context. So that's
Speaker:this week's or this episode's website
Speaker:engine room. Pascal was talking about
Speaker:emojis.wiki and I was mentioning
Speaker:cloudflare.com. Let's move on to our next
Speaker:segment, which is the website call to
Speaker:action.
Speaker:Now, as our regular viewers and listeners
Speaker:will know, this is the 1 change, the 1
Speaker:adjustment that can really make a
Speaker:difference to your website for you, your
Speaker:audience, and make you feel proud of that
Speaker:online experience. Johnny, what is your
Speaker:call to action?
Speaker:I'm talking about structured data, schema
Speaker:markup implementation. So this is about
Speaker:understanding that Google, Bing, all the
Speaker:search engines out there are robots,
Speaker:they're computers and they, you are
Speaker:relying on a computer or a robot to
Speaker:understand the data about your business,
Speaker:about your organization, about the
Speaker:content on your website. If you imagine
Speaker:that Google is just actually just a
Speaker:massive Excel sheet with rows and
Speaker:columns, you've got the ability to be
Speaker:able to put your data into the correct
Speaker:row and the correct column to ensure that
Speaker:Google uses it at the most opportune time
Speaker:and the most optimized position. So if
Speaker:you want Google to feature you more on
Speaker:search results pages, it's about making
Speaker:sure your data goes into the correct
Speaker:column, the correct row within the
Speaker:massive Excel sheets. That's the best way
Speaker:to view it. And you can do this by
Speaker:implementing something called schema,
Speaker:which allows you to mark the data up to
Speaker:say, by the way, Google, this is the
Speaker:official service name, the official
Speaker:product name, the official company
Speaker:address, the official name of 1 of our
Speaker:members of staff, this particular piece
Speaker:of content is about this particular
Speaker:subject, this is the sale price, so many
Speaker:different things. There's thousands of
Speaker:different schemas. Just as an example, if
Speaker:you're a dentist, if you're an estate
Speaker:agent, there's particular schemas just
Speaker:for you to be able to expand on your
Speaker:services and to say to Google, by the
Speaker:way, this is a particular service in our
Speaker:dentistry. This is the opening times.
Speaker:There's a schema for every business and
Speaker:it's about using that schema to put your
Speaker:data into the correct row or column so
Speaker:that Google and Bing start highlighting
Speaker:you way more than you're possibly being
Speaker:highlighted right now. So this week's
Speaker:call to action for me is schema markup
Speaker:implementation. What's yours, Pascal?
Speaker:So mine is actually linked to yours in
Speaker:some ways, and AI is the bridge and the
Speaker:glue because your recommendation is very
Speaker:important. We've spoken about it over the
Speaker:years, but people can't delay because the
Speaker:way in which search results are changing
Speaker:and where you have different windows and
Speaker:different ways of things and all that,
Speaker:but also using AI, you have someone like
Speaker:Google and Bing would suggest the next
Speaker:question or the next set of results that
Speaker:you should be investigating. They will
Speaker:need the schema marker. But 1 thing that
Speaker:is obvious to me is that the search
Speaker:engine want to display your FAQs a lot
Speaker:more than they have done in the past. So
Speaker:my call to action is actually to review
Speaker:and refresh your FAQ section. I would go
Speaker:as far as saying plan to have different
Speaker:sections, a different part of the
Speaker:website. So instead of having 1 almighty
Speaker:FAQ section, almost like in all the
Speaker:testimonials, kind of grumble that we had
Speaker:a moment to go, think about dividing all
Speaker:those FAQs into different parts of the
Speaker:website. And then the question is, have
Speaker:you and your colleagues answered new
Speaker:questions recently? Because this is
Speaker:really important and it has to kind of be
Speaker:carried over to your FAQ session. And
Speaker:then is it time maybe to introduce more
Speaker:visual storytelling? You know, typically
Speaker:when you start with an FAQ to begin with
Speaker:is very short, so you need to expand on
Speaker:that or put a link to a longer
Speaker:explanation of what that might be. But
Speaker:also, the stats are very clear that
Speaker:people who can stop for a moment and
Speaker:watch a very simple kind of almost
Speaker:cartoon type things with different
Speaker:scenes, different stages and different
Speaker:steps, as well as the words. It's going
Speaker:to be very, very important. So for me,
Speaker:that's my culture actually. Review and
Speaker:refresh your FAQs. Make sure that the
Speaker:newer questions have been added. Expand
Speaker:on your kind of answers if need to link
Speaker:into others, but think about visual
Speaker:storytelling and all this will help with
Speaker:your search results as well.
Speaker:And of course, mark your FAQs up using
Speaker:schema. Make it very clear to Google that
Speaker:this is a particular question, this is
Speaker:the answer and it's related to this
Speaker:particular piece of content.
Speaker:Smashing.
Speaker:So what have we talked about in episode
Speaker:27? Well, it's been about maximizing your
Speaker:personal brand and website performance. I
Speaker:think We've absolutely touched on user
Speaker:experience as well. Thinking about,
Speaker:should you have your name in your domain
Speaker:name in your URL of your website? Could
Speaker:it be the way to really maximize the
Speaker:personal brand to create that trust, to
Speaker:create the personal connection? But also
Speaker:let's get rid of stuff that we've learned
Speaker:doesn't work on websites that distract,
Speaker:that doesn't give the right messaging,
Speaker:that doesn't help users instantly
Speaker:understand and be able to engage. So
Speaker:we've definitely covered usability. And
Speaker:then of course we've covered lots about
Speaker:performance, whether that be optimizing
Speaker:content, whether it be optimizing speed,
Speaker:security, using tools like Cloudflare, or
Speaker:even just how to use emojis and making
Speaker:sure you refresh and review your FAQs and
Speaker:marking them up with schema. So it's been
Speaker:an episode all about personal branding,
Speaker:website performance, and for me,
Speaker:usability as well.
Speaker:I like it. And everyone just do what we
Speaker:mentioned when we started, use to this
Speaker:episode as the agenda for your next
Speaker:meeting. And literally, there's 13 things
Speaker:to remove, you know, according to Andy
Speaker:from Obit Media. That's the checklist for
Speaker:your next meeting. And then ask the
Speaker:question, do we need to talk to our, you
Speaker:know, contacts about the Cloudflare? Do
Speaker:we need to talk about schema market? The
Speaker:answer is yes, and get that meeting in
Speaker:the diary.
Speaker:This has been episode 27 of our new
Speaker:podcast series, and I'm afraid that is
Speaker:all we've got for today. It's the audio
Speaker:companion to the new 90-day website
Speaker:mastery program. For more information,
Speaker:please visit 90daymarketingmastery.com.
Speaker:You'll be able to book your discovery
Speaker:call with either myself or Pascal. We'll
Speaker:be back with another episode, but for now
Speaker:I'll leave you with a fun video and audio
Speaker:montage whilst you go through your notes
Speaker:and actions. And as Pascal says, this is
Speaker:the agenda for your next meeting. Let's
Speaker:start feeling proud of your website. We
Speaker:look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks
Speaker:so much for watching or listening. Take
Speaker:care. Thanks for watching!
