Digital Marketing Tips for September 27

It's been a hot second since I did a newsletter, so here's some extra goodies to keep you up to date!

Websites tend to be static: spruce them up with chat bots.? A chat bot is an automated, computer trained program added to a website that people can interact with. Think like any website where you could type in questions and it was like a person responded. That's a chat bot! In fact, chat bots can help increase conversions on your website - but be careful, angry customers often want an actual human, and chatbots can make angry customers angrier. Some platforms you may consider include MobileMonkey, Aivo or Chat Fuel.?

On Facebook, add location markers to posts.? Location markers help increase local discoverability in a number of ways through Search. To use this, simply go to do your post and click "add location" to your post. Your location can be your actual business, the area of your city or the city (generally) where you are.?

What is considered "helpful" content? Google will tell you! In the world of search engine optimization and Google, we'll sometimes get a few details, but not many. But, this resource should be helpful! Google tells us what is considered helpful. You can click here to learn more, but some key pointers you could use:?

• It's "fresh", which means the page has been updated in the last six months. The older it is, the more your ranking declines.?
• News is huge if you can cover it or make some.
• Action words: Google looks at action words and verbs in searches and tries to match that with content from sites. Check your site for verbs and add them where possible?
• Use compound phrases: Google's getting better at learning from people's searches (as they often search many things and refine those searches) and matching that to content. So, let's say you offer personal training in Ottawa. It will be good to have "Personal training Ottawa" in some iteration on your site, but it will also be helpful to have, say, "Personal training for overweight men in Ottawa" as it's compound and will get picked up in refined searches?

Hashtags are declining on Instagram, keywords are rising.? That's it. That's the news. Make sure the keywords you want to get found for are in your Instagram posts and alt text.?I have a blog with more on the topic here .

Threads is declining by every metric measurable, but still adding features.? Number of active monthly users: down. Time on platform: down. Downloads of the app: down. But! Threads is holding on...by a thread! (See what I did there?) The platform is now available on desktop and search is better. All of this to say: it may be declining now, but the platform is trying to stick around. Decide if you're going to stick it out as it may grow!

Copy writing trick: talk about objections more, both on social and your website.? In a world that's still showing recession behaviours and trust is low, more and more people have objections to purchase. A growing trend is to name objections people may have to buying from you, and name it. Do posts about it, include it on your website and get around it. Tip: I find it easiest to put these in the FAQ, where people are curious, but open minded.

This is your invitation to use Google Search Console (and what to do with the information).? Google Search Console connects to your website through Google Analytics (or on its own, like Google Analytics) and then tells you what keywords are getting your website found, and clicked on. If you don't know what words to focus on, it's a solid starting point!? To effectively use it, go to performance, then find the keywords with both the highest impressions and the lowest clicks, and take note of those words. Take those words, go to your website and put them in your meta description. The meta description is what "sells" your page on search, and will attract people as it matches what they're looking for.?

Should we....work together?! I'd love to! A reminder I'm back to consulting, and September/October have lots of openings. Click here to book a meeting.?