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by Phil Aston Phil Aston No Comments

Digital Marketing August Update

Video Transcript
Hi, this is Phil Aston from Genius Loci Media in the far West of Cornwall

Is your Facebook business Page a website?

No, it’s not a website. It’s a page on someone else’s online space, and you are at the mercy of whatever that organisation decides to do now or in the future. (Remember Google Plus?)

Do you remember when Facebook was really keen in wanting people to set up their own business page on the platform? You set up our Facebook Business Page and asked lots of people, contacts etc to like your page and then you posted content and everyone saw it.  Basically you helped build Facebook’s business. Then as soon as it became successful, they then stopped everyone seeing your posts. (it is less than 2% now).  So then they encouraged you to actually advertise to the people that already liked your page. So again, you were building their business.

So what is happening now since the world changed with COVID?

Well, even those Facebook Ads (or any Ads!) do not work the way they used to.

If you are building brand awareness, there’s still some mileage in Facebook Ads, but if you’re trying to sell products or services, people aren’t going to take your word for it anymore.  Users can now say they do not want to see your Ads and can block them on their mobiles. Running Ads is really is kind of a cul-de-sac right now.

So your Facebook Business Page is not your website, and this is not a video to try and make you build a new website. It about is aimed at people, who have a website but have neglected it due to all your focus being on your social platforms.  Your website is perhaps sitting there and had not been updated for a while and the message it is out of sync with you recent Facebook posts. I see a fair few websites where the last blog post merely states they are going to do more blogs posts and even that was a few months ago.

Social media is actually more important now than ever as it is where your customers can share information and read reviews from real people but they are still going to check out your website to ensure the message is the same and read material which will help build trust before they make a decision.  Your website should be where you post your content first. This is where you are in control, it is your domain and online space. Whatever social media channels rise or fall your website will remain as your content mothership representing your brand online.  This is where SEO comes in and having good quality content that answers questions from your customers and fans.

It is from your website that you can then share your content to your Facebook Business Page, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube etc, Your website is your content hub. You’re probably thinking,  that’s a hell of a lot of work to keep on top of this (it is). But what this current Pandemic situation is telling us is that this is when you should be investing in your content strategy. This is when you should also be thinking about connecting with people through video to build trust even more.

I have personally learned a great deal during this period. I am based in Cornwall and have been a fairly regional business, but now through video, I can connect with new clients anywhere in the world.  I’ve got just as much chance of getting a client in New Zealand or Los Angeles as I have in getting them in Truro or Camborne. This also puts emphasis on the role of your website. You may be talking to people via Linked or Facebook but your main brand representation is your website. 

I can talk to people anywhere in the world. I no longer think of clients and having a face to face meeting once a month, I can jump on to a video call via Zoom to have a quick update at any time.  Thinking regional can restrict your business or even your creativity. You can have a zoom call with someone in Los Angeles or mountain time in America and then just carry on with other tasks. You might be thinking you can’t build relationships the same way via video as face to face. I would argue that. Yes, you can.

If you want help on anything I have mentioned in this video from SEO, updating your website or even knowing what microphone or what video camera to use for video calls please get in touch.

Phil Aston
Genius Loci Media
+44(0)1736 719342

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by Phil Aston Phil Aston No Comments

Hackers Don’t Work 9-5 and Neither Should your Hosting Company

If your website gets hacked in the evening or weekend, will your hosting company or your website agency be there for you? Or will you get a message saying they will look at it during regular office hours?

Last night we had a luxury hotel that came under sustained attack, the result being they lost control of their website. They found themselves locked out and that their home page was now the doorway to spam downloads.
The website had a premium WordFence security Plugin already in place, but still, it was compromised. Wordfence, when contacted, said they would look at the issue in the morning for a fee of $125!
The hackers had covered their tracks well, and it looked like they had got in via another user account. They had then added additional scripts and set up a ring of protection for themselves.

With the client getting inundated with worried guests and the concern that Google could quickly blacklist them for Spam they got in touch. It was 11.30 pm.

We had a look at the log files on the server and could see suspicious activity had taken place in the previous 24 hours. We quickly decided to roll the website back seven days, including the Database and all files.
Within 30 mins we back in the website.

With this done, we quickly logged in and changed all the passwords and installed two-factor authentification protocols using separate phone apps. Our IT support team then monitored the website through the night. IP addresses were blacklisted, plugins checked and by 1.30 am; everything was fine with any website changes back in place.

By the time the client came back in this morning, everything was back online and working.

I have mentioned many times that some people are surprised that we also offer website hosting. It was never our intention in the beginning but having worked with so many client websites that were underperforming due to cheap shared hosting or had dire support. We started to offer our own.
Our dedicated servers are hosted in the UK, and our IT support is available 24/7 365 days per year. We run a dedicated high-performance server that can text us if someone even looks at it the wrong way!

Your website is at the centre of your online world, imagine what you would do if you lost it all and had to start again? With Genius Loci Media we are already ahead of you, with daily backups kept for a rolling seven days, together with monthly backups kept offsite on separate servers.

  • As you read this are all your plugins up to date?
  • Are all of your Plugins still valid?
  • Are you running the latest version of WordPress?
  • When was the last time you updated your passwords?

Do you even have time to even think about these issues?

Our solution is you won’t need to as our approach is to let you get back to what you do best, while we do the rest.

Phil Aston

Find out more about our hosting packages or call +44(0)1736 719342

by Phil Aston Phil Aston No Comments

Get Back To What You Do Best – While We help with The Rest

Ideas are easy; it is the execution and implementation that is harder.

It is the same when creating content for your website and social media. You might type your thoughts into a Facebook or Linkedin post, but when it comes to your website, I see many people just put this off.

This approach results in a mixed message where your website seems to be behind your other online activities and can be confusing to your customers

One of our clients said “I have the ideas, but I don’t have the time to think about the SEO elements, source or resize images or worry about layout.”

We take your ideas, publish them on your website (and social media), look after the SEO, layout, and can even suggest subjects for you to write about if you need them!
Our approach is to take away the worry so you can be creative, look after your customers while we look after your online world.

Please give me a call to see how we can help you and your business.

Phil Aston

T : +44(0)1736 719342

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