by Lawrence | Aug 29, 2024 | Latest News
ChatGPT has just announced its own search engine, SearchGPT, and it’s already causing a buzz in the tech world. Although it’s currently in beta and available only to a select few, it’s a development that marketers simply cannot afford to ignore.
This isn’t just another search engine—it’s a technological leap that promises to change the way we approach marketing entirely. Unlike traditional search engines, SearchGPT leverages advanced AI to provide more personalized, context-aware, and conversational search results. This means that the days of keyword stuffing and rigid SEO tactics might soon be over, replaced by a more intuitive and natural way of connecting with audiences.
For marketers, this shift presents both challenges and opportunities. On one hand, it means adapting to a new search paradigm that prioritizes user intent and quality content over traditional metrics. On the other, it opens up exciting possibilities for creating more engaging and meaningful interactions with potential customers.
The key takeaway? The time to prepare is now. By staying ahead of the curve and understanding how to optimize for AI-driven search engines like SearchGPT, businesses can position themselves for success in the next wave of digital marketing. Whether it’s rethinking content strategies, investing in AI tools, or simply staying informed about the latest developments, those who act now will be the ones to thrive in this new landscape.
by Lawrence | Apr 24, 2024 | Latest News
In today’s interconnected business landscape, success relies not only on networking but on forming genuine human connections. Your personal brand—a blend of skills, experience, values, and personality—is your secret weapon. It’s the key to earning trust, establishing credibility, seizing new opportunities, and emerging as a thought leader in your field.
Whether you’re an independent entrepreneur, a bold startup founder, or a seasoned industry leader, embracing these CEO branding trends for 2024 can help you cultivate meaningful connections with your community and propel your business forward.
- Manage Your Digital Footprint Start by Googling yourself. This simple yet often overlooked step offers valuable insights into your online presence. It’s like holding a mirror to your digital life. Review the results to ensure they accurately reflect your personal brand. Update any outdated information or images. Consider using a business logo instead of a personal photo if it aligns better with your brand. Take control of your narrative.
Utilize PR coverage to ensure your online mentions align with your values. Establish a presence on major social media platforms, keeping profiles current with engaging content. Address culturally relevant topics authentically, enhancing your brand’s resonance with your audience.
By actively managing your digital footprint, you craft a more trustworthy and authentic online presence, enhancing your appeal as a leader worth following.
- Develop Your Digital Hub Your online presence is the heart of your personal brand in the digital era. Use social media and other digital platforms to showcase your brand and engage with your audience.
Consistently share valuable content to build a community around your brand. Identify where your target audience gathers online and tailor your content strategy accordingly. Engagement is key—respond to comments, host live video sessions, and run contests to keep your audience engaged.
A strong online presence not only makes you accessible but also amplifies your brand’s message, helping you build trust and influence as a connector in today’s relationship-focused environment.
- Harness the Power of Storytelling Storytelling is a potent tool in personal branding. Share anecdotes that illustrate your values and personality, fostering a deeper connection with your audience. Craft content that resonates with your target audience, showcasing your unique perspective.
Humanize your brand through storytelling, establishing emotional bonds with your audience. In an era that values authenticity, sharing your narrative sets you apart and strengthens client relationships.
- Embrace Innovation Regularly explore new platforms and opportunities to expand your brand presence. Remember, groundbreaking platforms like Substack have transformed branding strategies. Be a pioneer—venture into uncharted territories to connect with diverse audiences.
Evaluate these ventures regularly to ensure they align with your goals and yield a positive return on investment.
Establishing a compelling personal brand requires continuous effort. Embrace these trends to navigate the evolving landscape of personal branding, crafting an identity that resonates with your audience and cultivates genuine connections that drive success in 2024 and beyond.
by Lawrence | Feb 7, 2024 | Latest News
When I assert that “content is not king,” I’m not dismissing the significance of content altogether.
In 2024, content marketing remains a vital aspect of your strategy; however, the emphasis should be on quality rather than quantity.
Too often, marketers are turning to AI tools to produce an abundance of lackluster content, saturating the web and obscuring the truly valuable material.
To ensure your content captures attention, it must be both engaging and pertinent to your audience. Furthermore, proper optimization is essential to ensure it appears prominently in search results.
by Lawrence | Feb 1, 2024 | Latest News
It’s highly unlikely that AI will kill SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in 2024 or any time soon. Instead, AI is more likely to continue evolving alongside SEO practices, potentially even enhancing them.
AI has already been integrated into many aspects of SEO, such as content creation, keyword analysis, and user experience optimization. AI algorithms help search engines understand content better and deliver more relevant results to users, which aligns with the goals of SEO.
While AI might change certain aspects of SEO, such as how search engines rank content or how users interact with search results, it’s more accurate to see AI as a tool that complements and improves SEO strategies rather than replacing them entirely. As long as search engines exist and people rely on them to find information, SEO will remain relevant, albeit adapting to technological advancements like AI.
by Lawrence | Jan 25, 2024 | Latest News
Site speed matters for just about every important web performance metric. Here are tips to help you rate your website’s speed and diagnose issues.
Internet denizens of a certain age remember the grating, buzzy dial-up internet tone.
For those who don’t remember the 90s, here are the kinds of memories that sound dredges up:
Opening a website with an image and watching it load raster line by raster line.
Admonishing everyone else in the house not to pick up the phone while you grab a snack from the fridge.
Sitting back down and realizing the site still. Hasn’t. Loaded.
Things aren’t that bad anymore, but this not-so-distant past demonstrates why slow page performance is bad for users. And what’s bad for users is bad for your web presence.
In short — a slow website costs your company in visibility, reputation, traffic, leads, and revenue.
Fortunately, there are easy-to-use tools and tips to help you rate your website’s speed, diagnose the issue, and solve whatever is throttling your site.
Let’s take a closer look.
Why site speed matters
Site speed matters for just about every important web performance metric — from page views to bounce rates to conversions.
By tracking 30 million user sessions on 37 websites over the course of a month, Deloitte found that improving site speed by just one-tenth of a second increased page views by 5.2%, raised conversion rates by 8.4%, and for ecommerce sites, grew the average order value by 9.2%. For context, it takes about one-third of a second for a human to blink.
Shoot for a PageSpeed Insights score of 90+
According to Google, a score above 90 is considered good. Anything below that likely needs improvement to avoid the risk of lower rankings in the Google search results.
Google wants to reward websites with a positive user experience. Speed is just one component of that because slow websites are frustrating for users to visit and interact with.
Just as slow websites can rank well on Google if they’re mastering the other areas of search engine optimization (SEO), lightning fast websites can rank poorly if they fail other measures of a positive user experience.
Deliver a positive user experience by making sure your content is helpful, thorough and reputable. Google measures this specifically through metrics like backlinks, internal links, relevant headings, body copy and image tags.
In short — make sure you’re at the top of your SEO game before focusing on site speed. Site speed isn’t the only thing Google looks at for ranking, but it does contribute to the overall user experience on both desktop and mobile.
6 ways site speed is measured
Though there are many ways to measure website load speed, let’s focus on the ones that affect the user experience the most.
- First contentful paint
First contentful paint (FCP) measures how long it takes from when your page starts to load to when visitors can see the first-loaded content — like text, images, or video —- on their screen.
This doesn’t mean all the content is loaded, but it helps your visitors feel like your page has loaded faster, making for a better user experience.
2. Largest contentful paint
Largest contentful paint (LCP) gauges how long it takes before visitors can see the largest content on the page. This is often something like a header image or a video that has a large file size.
Research has shown that the sooner that piece of content loads, the happier users are. According to Google, you should aim for 2.5 seconds or less. For every 100 milliseconds faster that content loads, there is a drop in bounce rate and rise in conversion rates.
3. Speed index
Speed index shows the time it takes for visitors to see everything “above the fold,” or all the content available without having to scroll or interact with the page.
Google encourages website owners to keep this number under 3,000 milliseconds. Like FCP, Google sees this as an important metric because it gives the impression to users that the page is fully loaded. Since the most relevant parts of a page page are likely above the fold, speed index also helps you gauge how quickly users can access the most important information of your site.
4. Time to interactive
Visitors don’t want to just look at your page. They want to do something with it — whether that’s scrolling, pressing play on a video, clicking a link, or entering their information into a data field.
You don’t want visitors to be able to see a video, or other interactive element for example, and not be able to use it.
Time to interactive (TTI) measures how long it takes for your page to be fully interactive. Google considers a fast time to interactive speed to be 3.8 seconds.
5. Total blocking time
Total blocking time (TBT) measures how much “long tasks” are contributing toward your TTI metric.
These long tasks, or things that take your website longer than 50 milliseconds to load, can extend the amount of time where your website looks usable (after the first contentful paint) and when it is usable (TTI). This can lead to frustrated users because they try to interact with your website but get no response.
Your TBT should be 200 milliseconds or less to reduce the amount of time your website isn’t responsive as it loads. An unresponsive web page frustrates your visitors and can lead them to bounce.
6. Cumulative layout shift
That aggravating experience of trying to click the little X to close an ad, only to have the ad move as more content loads on the page, is called cumulative layout shift (CLS).
These shifts undercut the user experience and hurt your score because those shifts cause accidental clicks, which lead to a poor user experience. A case study of Yahoo! Japan’s news page showed this principle in action. For every 0.2 seconds they reduced the time that shift happened, they saw a 15.1% increase in the number of pages a visitor looked at during their session.
Here’s how to improve your site speed score
Just because you have a sub-90 site speed score doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a low page ranking forever. You can make choices in both the design of your website and the content you include on its pages to improve that score.
The first step is to see where your website stands now by performing a website speed test. Put your website URL into the tool and wait while the tool analyzes your website. You’ll end up with a dashboard of metrics like FCP, LCP, and speed index listed for both the desktop and mobile version of your website. People in the US are more likely to access the internet through their mobile device, so if you need to prioritize which version of your site to focus on, it might be wise to start by making sure your site performs well on mobile.
Each of the metrics your site speed tool measured will be highlighted with a color based on your site’s performance in that category. Metrics highlighted in green indicate that your website performed well. If the metric is yellow, you know it needs improvement. The metrics in red denote areas where your site is performing poorly enough to hurt your user experience and your standing on search pages. This dashboard serves as a priority list for improving your website. Start with the metrics that are marked in red before you worry about improving metrics marked in yellow. Your dashboard of results will offer suggestions about how to start improving each metric to help get start improving your speed. In the example below, PageSpeed Insights identified CSS stylesheets that are not being used and plugins that are loading too slowly.
