January 19, 2024

This Week's Top Marketing News

7 Formulas for Writing Introductions That Convert Scanners Into Readers

Rock Solid WordPress Security: Keeping Your Business Safe

Website maintenance isn’t sexy - but if your website gets hacked, it will definitely keep you up in the middle of the night.

WordPress, with its user-friendly interface, a plethora of plugins, and themes to choose from, has become a top pick for many developers. According to the article, 10,950,000 websites fall victim to hacking each year, and 4,708,500 are small businesses.

This article from Web Designer Depo dives into the unsexiness of WordPress website security.

They review:

The Dangers of a Hacked Website like a loss in Search Engine Ranking and Website Downtime
Basic WordPress Security Measures like keeping Themes and Plug-ins Updates, Secure Hosting, and Regular Backups.
Advanced WordPress Security Measures like Enabling 2Factor, Security Scans, and SSL/TLS Hardening
Dealing with a WordPress Security Breach like Changing Passwords, Contacting Your Hosting Provider, and Cleaning Your Website

Fish Food: Website hacks suck. It’s not a question of if your website gets hacked; it’s a question of when. A solid website maintenance plan is the best way to protect your online presence and your business. If you are trying to keep your website up to date or if your website has errors and you’ve been putting it off, this is your sign to partner with a website maintenance service team like Neon Goldfish.

Facebook Spam Threatening To Delete Your Page - Receiving spam messages on your Facebook page threatening page deletion from Guest 233? You're not alone!

We've identified a solution on our Facebook page. The issue lies with the Guest Chat Plugin in your Meta Business Manager. Facebook automatically enables "opt-in" Guest Chat for all business pages, allowing users to message without logging in and appearing as "Guest."

Once removed, users must log into Messenger to send you a message, reducing the likelihood of spam.

From Desktop:

Log Into your page and access your inbox
Select Settings (Gear Wheel)
Select the chat plugin from the left-hand side
Scroll down Under "Customize Your Chat Plug-In"
Turn Guest Chat Off
Hit Publish

12 Outstanding Copywriting Examples That Generate Sales - Ready to commit to a content marketing strategy.? You’ve got a sliver of time to craft the posts and pages you plan on enticing your audience with. The following “tried and true” examples of copy that generates sales will help you maximize your time, spend it where it counts, and start seeing results from your writing endeavors. (Or you can just hire us to ghostwrite for you).

eBay Sent Critics a Bloody Pig Mask. Now It’s Paying a $3 Million Fine - eBay executives did not like a newsletter created by a husband and wife team criticizing the company, so they did what ordinary corporate executives would do… go Joe Pesci on their a$$es. Their intimidation tactics included online threats, sending eBay employees to survey their house, and mailing them disturbing items like live spiders, a bloody pig mask, and a book on how to recover from the death of a spouse. The Justice Department thought this might be a little too much, leading to a $3 million fine and jail time for a couple of the key players. This whole story is just wild.

How Customer Ratings Impact Purchase Decisions

How to Use Social Media Marketing to Get Emails

Nurturing and growing your email list is the most important part of your overall marketing strategy, and following a social media marketing strategy is essential to running a business.

Did you know that you can use social media to grow your email list? You can utilize your social media audience to build your email list and create more touchpoints with your audience.

Here’s how you can capitalize on your social media presence to build your email list.

Show Benefits of Being on Your List
Make the Most Out of Clickable Links
Write Strong CTAs in Captions
Share Lead Magnets
Provide Social Media Customer Service
Organize a Contest or Giveaway
Collaborate with Niche Influencers
Host a Twitter Chat
Run Lead Generation Ads

Fish Food: All forms of social media are 3rd party platforms, meaning you don’t control your audience. By building your email list from your social media platform, you are controlling your interactions with your audience and own your marketing.

Everything You Need to Know About Responsive Logo Design - Can unresponsive logos impact a brand's success? In short, yes. Consumers take less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression about a company's website. Keep your logo design simple, scalable, and consistent. Some of the tips include picking your core concept first, using vector-based designs, experimenting with vertical stacking, using negative space to your advantage, and choosing the right typography.

The Best of CES 2024 - Did you miss CES this year? Yeah, we did, too. Luckily, Engadget was there and put together a short list of the best things they found. Besides some new laptop features like a sweet stacked double screen, we found some items interesting.

The EcoFlow Delta Ultra is a whole-home battery and inverter system that stores power from rooftop solar panels and suck up juice from the grid when electric prices are down.

The Samsung Ballie is a robot pet for your home the size of a bowling ball. It comes with a built-in 1080p projector to show you things and speak when you ask it for help. I have 3 of these already, and they call me Dad. I’ll pass on this one.

My favorite was the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker because… smoked meat is delicious, and I don’t have one yet. All jokes aside, this is the best solution for someone who wants an easy-to-use countertop device that can slowly smoke meats to tender perfection.

Apple earns 36% of Google search ad revenue through Safari

How to Respond to Customer Complaints [+Complaint Response Examples]

When a customer has a complaint, 9 times out of 10, they are not a “Karen”, and just want to be heard. The customer isn’t always right, but making adjustments for them and making them feel like they are heard can go a long way to smoothing relations.

Life really would be simpler if we didn’t have to deal with those pesky customers.

HubSpot identifies several ways to respond to customer complaints.

Listen to or read the customer's complaint.
Take a moment to process the criticism.
Determine what action you'll take to address the problem.
Thank the customer for their feedback.
Apologize and reiterate your understanding of the issue.
Clearly outline your plan to remedy the situation.
Thank the customer again and offer follow-up information.
Check to see if the customer is happy with the result.
Incorporate changes from customer feedback.

Fish Food: If a customer has an issue, they may take to social media or other platforms and leave a bad review. However, bad reviews are not the worst. This is an opportunity to reengage with your customer and see if you can turn your negative review - into a positive situation.

Many times if something goes wrong, even if you can’t fix it - the way you handle it and your customer service can bring the person back to you.