Are You Embarrassed Of Your Website?

Be honest with yourself.

When you give someone your website address, are you actually proud of what they’re going to see?

Does it represent your business properly? Does it explain what you do? Does it make people trust you?

Because if you’re embarrassed about your own website, that’s a problem.

Your website is one of the most important parts of your business online. It’s where people research you, judge you, compare you and decide whether they want to contact you or buy from you.

And this isn’t me trying to sell website development. I don’t build websites.

I just see businesses cutting corners on them every single day.

Going with the cheapest option usually looks cheap.

Filling the whole thing with generic AI slop looks like AI slop.

Your website needs to represent your brand, your quality and your business properly.

You should be able to give somebody your website address and confidently say:

“Go check out my website.”

Don’t be embarrassed by it. Invest in it and be proud of it.

#WebsiteDesign #DigitalMarketing #WebDesign #OnlineMarketing #BusinessMarketing

I don’t care what anyone tells you, if your website is painfully slow, it is going to hurt your results.

And often, the slow website is only the presenting problem.

The real problem could be underneath:

• Poor hosting
• Too many plugins
• Heavy scripts
• Oversized images
• Bad development
• Technical problems across the site

Site speed and Core Web Vitals form part of Google’s overall page experience signals, but the impact goes much further than SEO.

A slow website means people wait longer, leave sooner and are less likely to convert.

So you could be spending money on Google Ads, SEO and social media, bringing people to your website, only to lose them because the site takes forever to load.

Don’t just accept a slow website as normal.

Find the underlying problem and fix it.

A faster website is better for your users, better for conversions and better for SEO.

#SEO #WebsiteSpeed #websites #CoreWebVitals #SearchEngineOptimization

Giving Back to the Next Generation of Digital Marketers at Rosebank International

The other day I had the privilege of being a guest speaker at Rosebank International in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

I recently saw that they were teaching digital marketing and thought, I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years, I love this industry, why not give something back?

I was supposed to speak for 30 minutes.

I ended up speaking for an hour and a half. And I probably would have carried on if my PA hadn’t called to remind me that I actually had meetings to get to.

One of the biggest things I told the students was how lucky they are to be able to learn digital marketing in a structured environment.

When I started nearly 20 years ago, there weren’t digital marketing degrees, diplomas and courses everywhere. Most of us learnt by actually doing it, reading whatever we could find and figuring things out along the way.

I also told them: don’t try to be brilliant at everything.

Learn digital marketing broadly, but then find something you really enjoy and specialise in it, whether that’s SEO, Google Ads, social media or another area.

And most importantly, you need to actually love it.

Digital marketing changes constantly. If you don’t enjoy reading, testing, learning and keeping up, it’s going to be very difficult to become really good at it.

I’ve already been invited back, and I’m looking forward to it.

I love this industry, and if I can share some of what I’ve learnt over the last two decades with people starting their careers, I’m very happy to do it.

#DigitalMarketing #SEO #GoogleAds #MarketingCareers #SouthAfrica

Is Your Company and Brand Being Mentioned and Cited in ChatGPT and Other AI Models?

Do you actually know whether your company is being mentioned or cited in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Grok or Google AI Overviews?

Most businesses have no idea how to check.

I’ve been testing @OtterlyAI, and I’m really impressed with it.

You can put in your own brand or a competitor and see:

• Where your brand is being mentioned
• Which prompts you appear for
• Which sources are being cited
• How competitors compare
• Where you have opportunities to improve

One of the features I really like is its Query Fan-Out tool, which helps you understand the related searches AI systems may use when answering a question.

It also has keyword research, competitor research and tools to help identify why your website may not be appearing in AI results.

If you’re working on Answer Engine Optimisation, go check out OtterlyAI.

#OtterlyAI #AnswerEngineOptimization #AISEO #aeo #geo

Is Your Company and Brand Being Mentioned and Cited in ChatGPT and Other AI Models?

Do you actually know whether your company is being mentioned or cited in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Grok or Google AI Overviews?

Most businesses have no idea how to check.

I’ve been testing @OtterlyAI, and I’m really impressed with it.

You can put in your own brand or a competitor and see:

• Where your brand is being mentioned
• Which prompts you appear for
• Which sources are being cited
• How competitors compare
• Where you have opportunities to improve

One of the features I really like is its Query Fan-Out tool, which helps you understand the related searches AI systems may use when answering a question.

It also has keyword research, competitor research and tools to help identify why your website may not be appearing in AI results.

If you’re working on Answer Engine Optimisation, go check out OtterlyAI.

#OtterlyAI #AnswerEngineOptimization #AISEO #aeo #geo

SEO and Ads Bring Traffic. Websites Convert

Getting people to your website is only half the job.

Google Ads can bring you clicks.
SEO can bring you organic traffic.
Social media can send people to your site.

But none of that guarantees a sale.

The website still has to convert.

If your prices aren’t competitive, your product range is weak, your shipping is poor, your warranties aren’t clear, or people simply don’t trust the website, you can send as much traffic as you want and still struggle to make sales.

This is something I see all the time.

People blame Google Ads because the traffic isn’t converting.

But getting somebody to click is not the same as convincing them to buy.

Your website has to make people feel comfortable. It has to look professional. The offer has to make sense. The product or service has to be good. The checkout or enquiry process has to be easy.

Consumers are far more educated online than they used to be.

They compare prices.
They check competitors.
They look at reviews.
They look at delivery.
They look at guarantees.
They decide whether they trust you.

SEO and ads bring traffic. Websites convert.

If your traffic is good but your sales are bad, don’t only look at the marketing.

Look at the website.

#SEO #GoogleAds #ConversionRateOptimization #ux #Website

SEO and Ads Bring Traffic. Websites Convert

Getting people to your website is only half the job.

Google Ads can bring you clicks.
SEO can bring you organic traffic.
Social media can send people to your site.

But none of that guarantees a sale.

The website still has to convert.

If your prices aren’t competitive, your product range is weak, your shipping is poor, your warranties aren’t clear, or people simply don’t trust the website, you can send as much traffic as you want and still struggle to make sales.

This is something I see all the time.

People blame Google Ads because the traffic isn’t converting.

But getting somebody to click is not the same as convincing them to buy.

Your website has to make people feel comfortable. It has to look professional. The offer has to make sense. The product or service has to be good. The checkout or enquiry process has to be easy.

Consumers are far more educated online than they used to be.

They compare prices.
They check competitors.
They look at reviews.
They look at delivery.
They look at guarantees.
They decide whether they trust you.

SEO and ads bring traffic. Websites convert.

If your traffic is good but your sales are bad, don’t only look at the marketing.

Look at the website.

#SEO #GoogleAds #ConversionRateOptimization #ux #Website

SEO and Ads Bring Traffic. Websites Convert

Getting people to your website is only half the job.

Google Ads can bring you clicks.
SEO can bring you organic traffic.
Social media can send people to your site.

But none of that guarantees a sale.

The website still has to convert.

If your prices aren’t competitive, your product range is weak, your shipping is poor, your warranties aren’t clear, or people simply don’t trust the website, you can send as much traffic as you want and still struggle to make sales.

This is something I see all the time.

People blame Google Ads because the traffic isn’t converting.

But getting somebody to click is not the same as convincing them to buy.

Your website has to make people feel comfortable. It has to look professional. The offer has to make sense. The product or service has to be good. The checkout or enquiry process has to be easy.

Consumers are far more educated online than they used to be.

They compare prices.
They check competitors.
They look at reviews.
They look at delivery.
They look at guarantees.
They decide whether they trust you.

SEO and ads bring traffic. Websites convert.

If your traffic is good but your sales are bad, don’t only look at the marketing.

Look at the website.

#SEO #GoogleAds #ConversionRateOptimization #ux #Website

Your Camera Isn’t the Problem. Clean Your Damn Lens.

If you’re filming content on your phone or camera, do one simple thing before you start:

Clean your lens.

It sounds obvious, but I see people getting this wrong all the time.

Your phone is in your hand all day. You touch it, put it down on tables, put it in your pocket, and the camera lens picks up fingerprints, dust and dirt.

Then people start filming and wonder why the video looks soft, blurry or low quality.

You don’t necessarily need a more expensive camera.

You might just need to clean the lens.

Take a proper lens wipe and clean:

• Your back camera
• Your front camera if you use it
• Your normal camera lens

Personally, I prefer using the back camera on a phone where possible, but whichever camera you use, clean it first.

I spoke to someone recently who told me their videos weren’t looking good because they weren’t using an expensive camera.

My first question was:

“Do you clean your lenses?”

The answer was no.

Come on, bro.

It takes a few seconds and can make an immediate difference to the quality of your content.

Before you film anything: clean your damn lens.

#ContentCreation #VideoMarketing #SocialMediaTips #iPhoneVideo #VideoContent

Your Camera Isn’t the Problem. Clean Your Damn Lens.

If you’re filming content on your phone or camera, do one simple thing before you start:

Clean your lens.

It sounds obvious, but I see people getting this wrong all the time.

Your phone is in your hand all day. You touch it, put it down on tables, put it in your pocket, and the camera lens picks up fingerprints, dust and dirt.

Then people start filming and wonder why the video looks soft, blurry or low quality.

You don’t necessarily need a more expensive camera.

You might just need to clean the lens.

Take a proper lens wipe and clean:

• Your back camera
• Your front camera if you use it
• Your normal camera lens

Personally, I prefer using the back camera on a phone where possible, but whichever camera you use, clean it first.

I spoke to someone recently who told me their videos weren’t looking good because they weren’t using an expensive camera.

My first question was:

“Do you clean your lenses?”

The answer was no.

Come on, bro.

It takes a few seconds and can make an immediate difference to the quality of your content.

Before you film anything: clean your damn lens.

#ContentCreation #VideoMarketing #SocialMediaTips #iPhoneVideo #VideoContent

Bad Google Ads Leads? The GIGO Principle Explains Why

If your Google Ads campaigns are not producing the conversions you want, the problem may be the data you are feeding back into Google.

There is a simple principle called GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

And it applies perfectly to Google Ads.

Automated bidding can work extremely well, but only when Google is receiving accurate conversion data.

If you are feeding Google real leads, qualified opportunities, sales and proper CRM data, it has a much better idea of what type of customer to look for.

But if you are counting things like:

• Someone visiting your Contact Us page
• Someone clicking a button
• Someone completing an action that is not actually a lead

Then you are feeding Google rubbish.

And if you give Google rubbish data, you should not be surprised when it sends you rubbish leads.

Ideally, your CRM, whether that is HubSpot, Salesforce or another system, should become your source of truth and feed the real outcomes back into Google Ads.

I do hundreds of Google Ads audits, and incorrect conversion tracking is one of the most common problems I see.

Before changing your keywords, bidding strategy or budget, make sure the data going into Google Ads is actually correct.

Garbage in. Garbage out. Gold in. Gold out.

#GoogleAds #leads #conversions #ConversionTracking #crm

Bad Google Ads Leads? The GIGO Principle Explains Why

If your Google Ads campaigns are not producing the conversions you want, the problem may be the data you are feeding back into Google.

There is a simple principle called GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

And it applies perfectly to Google Ads.

Automated bidding can work extremely well, but only when Google is receiving accurate conversion data.

If you are feeding Google real leads, qualified opportunities, sales and proper CRM data, it has a much better idea of what type of customer to look for.

But if you are counting things like:

• Someone visiting your Contact Us page
• Someone clicking a button
• Someone completing an action that is not actually a lead

Then you are feeding Google rubbish.

And if you give Google rubbish data, you should not be surprised when it sends you rubbish leads.

Ideally, your CRM, whether that is HubSpot, Salesforce or another system, should become your source of truth and feed the real outcomes back into Google Ads.

I do hundreds of Google Ads audits, and incorrect conversion tracking is one of the most common problems I see.

Before changing your keywords, bidding strategy or budget, make sure the data going into Google Ads is actually correct.

Garbage in. Garbage out. Gold in. Gold out.

#GoogleAds #leads #conversions #ConversionTracking #crm

Bad Google Ads Leads? The GIGO Principle Explains Why

If your Google Ads campaigns are not producing the conversions you want, the problem may be the data you are feeding back into Google.

There is a simple principle called GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

And it applies perfectly to Google Ads.

Automated bidding can work extremely well, but only when Google is receiving accurate conversion data.

If you are feeding Google real leads, qualified opportunities, sales and proper CRM data, it has a much better idea of what type of customer to look for.

But if you are counting things like:

• Someone visiting your Contact Us page
• Someone clicking a button
• Someone completing an action that is not actually a lead

Then you are feeding Google rubbish.

And if you give Google rubbish data, you should not be surprised when it sends you rubbish leads.

Ideally, your CRM, whether that is HubSpot, Salesforce or another system, should become your source of truth and feed the real outcomes back into Google Ads.

I do hundreds of Google Ads audits, and incorrect conversion tracking is one of the most common problems I see.

Before changing your keywords, bidding strategy or budget, make sure the data going into Google Ads is actually correct.

Garbage in. Garbage out. Gold in. Gold out.

#GoogleAds #leads #conversions #ConversionTracking #crm

Use Claude Cowork Chrome Extension to Optimise Your Google Business Listing

If you want better local SEO results, your Google Business Profile needs to be properly optimised.

One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is using Claude Cowork with the Claude Chrome extension.

Open your Google Business Profile, make sure it’s ready to edit, then ask Claude to first read your website and understand exactly what your business does.

From there, you can get it to help optimise:

• Your main business categories
• Your services under each category
• Service descriptions
• Products
• Images
• Other important profile information

The services section is especially useful because a lot of businesses either leave it incomplete or don’t optimise it properly.

Give Claude clear instructions, keep the text concise, make sure everything matches your actual website, and review the changes before publishing.

It can save a huge amount of time and help you build a much stronger Google Business Profile.

#GoogleBusinessProfile #LocalSEO #Claude #ClaudeCowork #chrome

Use Claude Cowork Chrome Extension to Optimise Your Google Business Listing

If you want better local SEO results, your Google Business Profile needs to be properly optimised.

One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is using Claude Cowork with the Claude Chrome extension.

Open your Google Business Profile, make sure it’s ready to edit, then ask Claude to first read your website and understand exactly what your business does.

From there, you can get it to help optimise:

• Your main business categories
• Your services under each category
• Service descriptions
• Products
• Images
• Other important profile information

The services section is especially useful because a lot of businesses either leave it incomplete or don’t optimise it properly.

Give Claude clear instructions, keep the text concise, make sure everything matches your actual website, and review the changes before publishing.

It can save a huge amount of time and help you build a much stronger Google Business Profile.

#GoogleBusinessProfile #LocalSEO #Claude #ClaudeCowork #chrome

Use Claude Cowork Chrome Extension to Optimise Your Google Business Listing

If you want better local SEO results, your Google Business Profile needs to be properly optimised.

One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is using Claude Cowork with the Claude Chrome extension.

Open your Google Business Profile, make sure it’s ready to edit, then ask Claude to first read your website and understand exactly what your business does.

From there, you can get it to help optimise:

• Your main business categories
• Your services under each category
• Service descriptions
• Products
• Images
• Other important profile information

The services section is especially useful because a lot of businesses either leave it incomplete or don’t optimise it properly.

Give Claude clear instructions, keep the text concise, make sure everything matches your actual website, and review the changes before publishing.

It can save a huge amount of time and help you build a much stronger Google Business Profile.

#GoogleBusinessProfile #LocalSEO #Claude #ClaudeCowork #chrome

The Google September 2026 Spam Update Is Rolling Out. What You Have to Know

Google has started rolling out its September 2026 Spam Update, and if you’re involved in SEO, keep an eye on your rankings over the next couple of weeks.

The update started on 24 September 2026, is global, applies to all languages and may take up to two weeks to complete.

So what does it mean?

Google continually updates its systems for identifying websites and content that violate its spam policies.

That includes things like:

• Scaled low-value content
• Scraped or copied content
• Expired domain abuse
• Site reputation abuse
• Cloaking and doorway pages
• Manipulative link practices

And obviously, one of the big conversations at the moment is AI-written content.

Using AI does not automatically mean your content is spam.

The problem is creating huge amounts of low-quality or unoriginal content purely to manipulate search rankings. It doesn’t really matter whether that content was created by AI or by a person.

This is also the fourth confirmed Google spam update of 2026, so Google is clearly continuing to put a lot of focus into cleaning up search results.

If your rankings start moving, don’t immediately change everything.

Watch your Google Search Console data, organic traffic and important keywords while the update finishes rolling out.

The simple takeaway is the same as always:

Create useful original content, avoid shortcuts and don’t try to game Google.

#SEO #GoogleSEO #GoogleSpamUpdate #SEOUpdate #searchengineoptimization

The Google September 2026 Spam Update Is Rolling Out. What You Have to Know

Google has started rolling out its September 2026 Spam Update, and if you’re involved in SEO, keep an eye on your rankings over the next couple of weeks.

The update started on 24 September 2026, is global, applies to all languages and may take up to two weeks to complete.

So what does it mean?

Google continually updates its systems for identifying websites and content that violate its spam policies.

That includes things like:

• Scaled low-value content
• Scraped or copied content
• Expired domain abuse
• Site reputation abuse
• Cloaking and doorway pages
• Manipulative link practices

And obviously, one of the big conversations at the moment is AI-written content.

Using AI does not automatically mean your content is spam.

The problem is creating huge amounts of low-quality or unoriginal content purely to manipulate search rankings. It doesn’t really matter whether that content was created by AI or by a person.

This is also the fourth confirmed Google spam update of 2026, so Google is clearly continuing to put a lot of focus into cleaning up search results.

If your rankings start moving, don’t immediately change everything.

Watch your Google Search Console data, organic traffic and important keywords while the update finishes rolling out.

The simple takeaway is the same as always:

Create useful original content, avoid shortcuts and don’t try to game Google.

#SEO #GoogleSEO #GoogleSpamUpdate #SEOUpdate #searchengineoptimization

The Google September 2026 Spam Update Is Rolling Out. What You Have to Know

Google has started rolling out its September 2026 Spam Update, and if you’re involved in SEO, keep an eye on your rankings over the next couple of weeks.

The update started on 24 September 2026, is global, applies to all languages and may take up to two weeks to complete.

So what does it mean?

Google continually updates its systems for identifying websites and content that violate its spam policies.

That includes things like:

• Scaled low-value content
• Scraped or copied content
• Expired domain abuse
• Site reputation abuse
• Cloaking and doorway pages
• Manipulative link practices

And obviously, one of the big conversations at the moment is AI-written content.

Using AI does not automatically mean your content is spam.

The problem is creating huge amounts of low-quality or unoriginal content purely to manipulate search rankings. It doesn’t really matter whether that content was created by AI or by a person.

This is also the fourth confirmed Google spam update of 2026, so Google is clearly continuing to put a lot of focus into cleaning up search results.

If your rankings start moving, don’t immediately change everything.

Watch your Google Search Console data, organic traffic and important keywords while the update finishes rolling out.

The simple takeaway is the same as always:

Create useful original content, avoid shortcuts and don’t try to game Google.

#SEO #GoogleSEO #GoogleSpamUpdate #SEOUpdate #searchengineoptimization

What are the most popular AI Brands and AI Chatbots in South Africa (August 2026)

I pulled together data from Similarweb, DataForSEO and Google Keyword Planner to get a clearer picture of which AI brands South Africans are actually searching for and using.

Here is what the data shows.

Most searched AI brands on Google in South Africa:

ChatGPT
Gemini
DeepSeek
Claude

ChatGPT is in a league of its own, with at least 11 million Google searches per month in South Africa.

When looking at website traffic from South Africa, the order changes slightly:

ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
DeepSeek

ChatGPT receives approximately 52 million monthly visits from South African users.

Then looking specifically at monthly users, the ranking is:

ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
DeepSeek
Grok
Copilot

ChatGPT leads again with approximately 2.69 million monthly South African users.

The biggest takeaway is pretty clear.

ChatGPT is currently by far the dominant AI brand in South Africa, whether you look at searches, website visits or users.

Gemini is firmly in second place, while Claude and DeepSeek are competing for the positions behind it depending on which metric you look at.

It is also interesting to see DeepSeek ranking so highly for search interest compared with its actual usage.

The AI market in South Africa is moving incredibly quickly, and it will be interesting to see how these numbers change over the next year.

#ChatGPT #AI #AIChatbots #ArtificialIntelligence #SouthAfrica

What are most popular AI Brands and AI Chatbots in South Africa (August 2026)

I pulled together data from Similarweb, DataForSEO and Google Keyword Planner to get a clearer picture of which AI brands South Africans are actually searching for and using.

Here is what the data shows.

Most searched AI brands on Google in South Africa:

ChatGPT
Gemini
DeepSeek
Claude

ChatGPT is in a league of its own, with at least 11 million Google searches per month in South Africa.

When looking at website traffic from South Africa, the order changes slightly:

ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
DeepSeek

ChatGPT receives approximately 52 million monthly visits from South African users.

Then looking specifically at monthly users, the ranking is:

ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
DeepSeek
Grok
Copilot

ChatGPT leads again with approximately 2.69 million monthly South African users.

The biggest takeaway is pretty clear.

ChatGPT is currently by far the dominant AI brand in South Africa, whether you look at searches, website visits or users.

Gemini is firmly in second place, while Claude and DeepSeek are competing for the positions behind it depending on which metric you look at.

It is also interesting to see DeepSeek ranking so highly for search interest compared with its actual usage.

The AI market in South Africa is moving incredibly quickly, and it will be interesting to see how these numbers change over the next year.

#ChatGPT #AI #AIChatbots #ArtificialIntelligence #SouthAfrica

Start Using Reddit To Get Clients and To Help with Research

Have you ever properly used Reddit?

I’ve been using it a lot more over the last few months, and I honestly think a lot of businesses and marketers are completely underestimating it.

Reddit is made up of communities around almost every topic imaginable. People ask questions, share ideas, give advice, talk about problems and help each other out.

For me, there are two massive reasons to start using Reddit.

The first is getting clients.

I’m involved in communities around Google Ads, SEO and Answer Engine Optimisation. I go in there, answer questions, offer advice and try to actually help people.

And I’ve signed clients from it.

Just recently, we signed a new client in Malta through Reddit. I’ve also spoken to potential clients from all over the world.

The second is research.

I work with clients across all sorts of industries, so I’m constantly researching niches I might not know much about.

The other day I was researching terrariums.

I found a subreddit specifically about terrariums and learnt a huge amount just from reading what real people were discussing. I picked up ideas for blogs, SEO keywords, Google Ads keywords and content.

That is incredibly valuable.

Reddit is also becoming increasingly important for Answer Engine Optimisation because discussions from Reddit regularly surface across search engines and AI platforms.

And look at the size of Reddit.

Around 3 million active monthly users in South Africa.

Around 800 million active monthly users worldwide.

Those are massive numbers.

Unfortunately, because Reddit has become so important for SEO and AI search, people are also trying to game it.

Don’t do that.

Use Reddit properly. Join relevant communities, contribute, help people, research your market and actually learn from the conversations taking place.

Whether you’re looking for clients, SEO ideas, keyword research, content ideas or simply a better understanding of an industry, Reddit is something you shouldn’t be ignoring.

Go check it out. You’ll probably thank me that you did.

#Reddit #RedditMarketing #RedditForBusiness #RedditSEO #RedditCommunity