Read on the web: Newsletter November 2023

Thank you for taking a moment to read my newsletter. This month has been quite busy with travel to the US (family visit) and keeping up with the changes happening in my own house. I have reduced the number of articles I publish each month and that has given me more time to plan my next steps. If you read last month's newsletter, I wrote about web scrapping and building a list of over 10,000 local businesses. Since then, I have been working on a scoring method to rank them against each other. Google provides its own rank but I wanted one that focuses on how complete a company’s online presence is. That should be ready to talk about more next month.

I wrote 2 articles this month as replies to clients. Well, my reply was not an entire article but I expanded a bit on both. “Being online” obviously means advertising for businesses but what other reasons might there be? I came up with 4. I also spoke with a food truck/bar operator who mentioned they get many reviews and don’t have the time to respond to each one. So, we took a spin with ChatGPT to see how that might help. Hope you enjoy that one.

Finally, I had an article in mind for more than 18 months and I finally wrote it. Along the way, I asked a few friends to add their thoughts to the thesis as well.

Thanks again for being here. I hope the autumn means cooler weather wherever you might be!

/Andrew

NEWSLETTER CONTENT

Online Growth Hacks (how to get the internet to work for you)
Latest podcasts (sorry still none - do I podcast in English or German or both?)
Tom Sawyer Travels (my musing)

ONLINE GROWTH HACKS

4 Reasons Why Service-Based Businesses Need the Internet

https://digital-done-right.com/blog/4-reasons-your-business-must-be-online

In this article, I write about why service-based businesses need to have an online presence. The main reason is to attract new clients by showcasing their work and enhancing credibility. However, having an online presence can help service-based businesses prepare for succession by increasing their discoverability and value. Can you think of the other two? Read on!

Respond Like a Pro: The Art of Responding to Customer Reviews on Google Business Profile (with a little ChatGPT in there)

https://digital-done-right.com/blog/responding-to-customer-reviews-like-a-pro

Customer reviews are an essential part of your online reputation, but how you respond to them can make or break your Google Business Profile. Learn the best practices for crafting effective responses that build trust with your customers and improve your online reputation. From addressing complaints to thanking customers for their feedback, don't miss out on the opportunity to showcase your business's customer service. Plus, I have added a piece on how ChatGPT can help you make this easier. Read on for more information!

Tom Sawyer Travels

My random thoughts. ✌🏻

Design is About Intention

I am a designer of online experiences. That is what I call myself - at least to myself. That doesn’t mean much to anyone else but that’s ok. I am online world, at least up until the arrival of AI, everything you saw or did on the Internet was because someone “designed it”. They made it that way. Someone chose the color, the size of the button, the order in a list, and so on.

I go further than just these points when I talk about designing experiences. I mean across the entire range of interactions one has with a business. This includes all that is found on the company’s website but also includes what that company does on social media and of course on review sites like Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Co.

Is the company logo identical across these places?
Are the opening hours consistent?
Do all the links placed on the web point to consistent places?

When I experience a company online I see them as the sum of all the places they can be found. Not all can be completely controlled by the company, like Google or Yelp reviews. A company can interact with these reviews and appear to others to be truly interested in satisfied customers; even when the last review was poor and perhaps unfair.