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Hat tip to our very own Robyn Flach, Dashboard’s social media expert, for coining the term “Happy Change Your Password Again” Day.

Robyn sent us the following article, and by the next day, it was top of the headlines: a massive data breach exposed 16 billion login credentials. No, that’s not a typo.

If you wonder if your information was exposed, chances are good it was.

Here is a list of the companies whose login credentials were exposed. This list may grow as more information is reported:

• Apple
• Facebook
• Google
• Netflix
• Government database
• Many others

Change Passwords Immediately

It’s imperative that you change your passwords immediately. Choose strong passwords that include random letters, numbers, and symbols. Do not use words commonly found in the dictionary due to the risk of what is called a ‘dictionary attack’.

Set up two-factor authentication, including stronger authentication protocols such as authenticator apps. New technology that includes biometrics can also help secure accounts.

Secure Your Customer Data

Businesses that handle customer data, including but not limited to user names, passwords, names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and credit card information, must take extra precautions. Speak with your managed services provider or IT support on the steps you need to take to store such data safely.

Zendesk offers 10 tips to keep customer data safe. These tips include limiting data access and maintaining a record of employees who have access to sensitive data. Another tip is to use encryption methods. Encryption is a security method that allows only authorized users to read the data – it is illegible to unauthorized users.

Another tip that we think is invaluable is keeping your software (and your website) updated. This means updating software, including operating systems and web browsers, when prompted to do so. It also means updating plugins and themes on WordPress websites and performing similar updates on sites hosted on other platforms.

Companies routinely issue security patches via updates to compensate for vulnerabilities exposed after the initial software launch. Even though it may seem like a lot of updates to do, if you keep up to date with them, not only will it be less work, but it will also better protect your systems.

Lastly, train your staff on how to recognize phishing attacks and similar cybercriminal activities. Criminals have become more clever, using psychological techniques as well as old-fashioned tricks to get your employees to divulge usernames and passwords.

Many criminals create fake emails called spoofs that look nearly identical to emails you receive from your bank, big retailers, utility companies, or other trusted vendors.
Never click on links sent via email or text from even companies that you know if you aren’t expecting an email from them; prompts to reset your password or log in because of a problem with an order should be treated with suspicion. Close the email, open a new browser, and log in to check on the situation if you feel it’s necessary.

We hope that these tips are helpful. We aren’t cybersecurity experts. We are business owners just like you. But we know that sharing even a simple tip may help someone, and we care about your business success!

Google recently announced an update to its search engine quality guidelines. These guidelines aren’t hard and fast rules about how to create your website and other online content to win Google’s heart. Instead, it’s more of a general guideline reflecting what Google’s search engine looks for in order to rank a site well. 

The search engine giant uses the acronym E-E-A-T to sum up this approach. E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. While it is not considered a ranking factor, improving your website’s E-E-A-T can help it gain in search rank over time and this is even more important in today’s AI search world. 

Here’s what that looks like for a website, and how you can approach E-E-A-T holistically to win Google’s heart—and a better search engine results position.

Experience, Newly Added to the Formula

Google recently added experience to the formula. It means firsthand involvement in the topic. Real experiences in the age of AI now carry more weight with the search engines. These demonstrate actual firsthand knowledge and insight that visitors won’t get from generic search engine results or AI-created responses. The more you can demonstrate your experience on your website through case studies, firsthand stories, and similar content, the better.

Expertise Means Deep Knowledge

Another important factor in the quality score is expertise, which means deep knowledge and skill in a particular subject. Again, the purpose here is to distinguish between general content and expert content, with emphasis given to experts who consistently demonstrate that they have deep subject matter expertise in a topic. Signs of deep expertise can be found in biographies and bylines—a veterinarian writing about dog and cat health, for example, will probably be scored higher than someone without veterinary credentials writing about the same topic. Demonstrate your expertise by adding credentials to your bio and an author box whenever you publish content. 

Authoritativeness or Credibility

The “A” in the formula stands for authoritativeness, otherwise known as credibility. How widely respected is your company or the author of the piece published on your website? Establishing credibility and authoritativeness takes time and effort, and often requires publishing on reputable websites outside of one’s own company, developing a strong backlink profile, and generally demonstrating a high degree of involvement in an industry, trade, or skill related to the website. 

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness means just what you think it means: you are transparent, accurate, and credible. You cite good sources if you link to external content, such as published research reports, university studies, and similar reputable third-party sites. Include “trust indicators” on your website, such as badges from professional affiliations, customer logos, and awards won by your company. Your website includes disclaimers, privacy policies, and terms and conditions. Although Google does not state that it considers its reviews online and other review sites (such as the Better Business Bureau, TrustPilot, and other third-party review websites), published customer reviews add to the overall trustworthiness of your company.

The Bottom Line: Establish Your Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Credentials Through a Sound Website Strategy

The bottom line is that shifting Google’s perception of your company to gain a favorable E-E-A-T score is not something you can do overnight. It takes time to develop all aspects of the formula. However, it is time well spent.

Over the years, Google has adjusted its criteria, but it has never deviated from the basics of this formula. If you focus on honest, transparent dealings, gaining a good reputation in your industry, and sharing signals on your website to both customers and search engines that you are a great company to do business with, you are positioning yourself for success. Combine good technical SEO, an appealing customer-focused website, great content, and social media, and you’ve got the makings of a site that can rank well in search engine results.

Digital marketing is constantly changing. Whether it’s search engines like Google adjusting their algorithms or introducing AI into online search, there’s always something new entering the online marketing landscape. 

As a business owner, you’re wearing many hats. Maybe you have an internal marketing resource or a small marketing team; even then it’s tough to find and have the budget to pay for the expertise for the various specialty areas that comprise today’s digital marketing landscape. 

Outsourcing is definitely an option, but even if you do outsource all of your online promotions, you should still understand the current state of digital marketing, online search advertising, and social media. An informed business owner is in a much better position to make wise choices with their marketing and to work with the key marketing resources to refine campaigns for optimal lead generation. 

AI-Powered Search

AI-powered search is the latest change to search engine optimization (SEO). Due to the rise of AI, some businesses are seeing dramatic shifts in their search engine traffic. 

Platforms such as Microsoft Copilot cite sources, so when it returns answers to a user’s questions, it includes a link to the source document. If the source document is on your website, this link may send traffic your way. This turns AI platforms into secondary search engines and a potential traffic source. 

As AI-powered search evolves, one thing remains clear—companies must focus on the basics. This includes branding. No AI tool can adequately capture your brand. When customers search for you by name, your company should be at the top of the search engine results. Adding a well-written about page, search-engine-optimized frequently asked questions, biographies of the founders or leaders of your company, and similar content to your website can help you remain at the top of the search engines in this new age of AI-powered search. 

Social Media Changes

This past year has seen a whirlwind of changes in social media. Depending on the platform you frequent, you may have noticed these changes or merely heard about them in the news, like the threatened TikTok ban. 

Social media platforms should be thought of similarly to search engines. They rely upon algorithms to find and serve specific content such as videos, pages, or friend feeds. And that algorithm is constantly changing, too. Just as Google or Bing tweaks its algorithm regularly, so too does Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (to name just a few). 

What works on one platform doesn’t necessarily work on another, and you must be willing to either invest the time to learn what works on your audience’s favorite platforms or work with a knowledgeable social media manager to ensure that your social media advertising is working to generate leads.

WordPress and Other Content Management Systems (Websites)

We use WordPress and similar content management systems to build websites. Like the previously mentioned digital marketing tools, these systems also change frequently. Whether it’s the overall aesthetics of a website or how it serves its content to the visitors, the parameters of what makes an effective website change over time, too. 

Digital Advertising

Lastly, the world of digital advertising is also evolving. Now, more people than ever search the web from their mobile devices. Ads must display quickly and clearly on mobile phones and tablets. Companies such as Google, Bing, and social media platforms that earn revenue by displaying ads are also constantly updating their policies, changing their algorithms, and looking for new ways to get consumers to respond to ads. They’re developing new products and tools all the time, too. 

Feeling Overwhelmed? Leave It To Us

If all of this sounds and feels overwhelming, we understand. That’s why companies like Dashboard have specialists on the team. Each of us specializes in a specific aspect of digital marketing, such as search engine optimization, Google ads, social media, content marketing, videos, and so on. This allows us to keep up to date on what’s new in our industry, share it with the team, and then make recommendations to our clients. 

Sites such as MarketingProfs, Social Media Today, The Tilt, and many others are also good places to learn more about the evolving marketing landscape. The best way to stay informed, however, is to stay close to your team at Dashboard Internet Marketing. Read our blog and newsletter, meet with us, and let’s dive into this brave new world together!

Search engine optimization has changed significantly in the age of AI. Those ubiquitous results boxes generated by artificial intelligence at the top of the search results page can answer commons questions quickly and succinctly. How can you top machine learning that scours the web in seconds and delivers a packaged response?

You can do it through innovative branded search content. Branding is the future of content marketing, especially regarding local search engine optimization.

But what is branding, and what is branded content?

The Definition of Branding

Many small-business owners think ‘branding’ means having a logo and perhaps a few dedicated colors for their business. Branding is much more than a logo.

In marketing, branding refers to creating and managing a distinct identity for a company, product, or service. This includes developing a name, logo, design, voice, and overall image that distinguishes it from competitors and leaves a lasting impression on customers. Branding encompasses people’s emotional, visual, and cultural associations with a brand, aiming to build recognition, loyalty, and trust over time.

It’s not just about appearances—it’s about the story and values you convey to your audience.

Stories and Values Add Personalization and Build A Memorable Impression

Branding builds a memorable impression in your customers’ minds when initiated from a place of authenticity. The stories and values at the heart of the brand, even more so than the colors and logo, are what truly matters.

This is where good content marketing and local search work hand-in-hand to build memorable online brands that beat AI search to the punch.

Here are a few stats about the interaction between brands and search marketing that will make you think:

• Brand Trust and Loyalty: Around 81% of consumers state that they need to trust a brand before purchasing from it, and 86% believe authenticity is crucial when deciding which brands to support.
• Increased Visibility: Strong brand knowledge ensures your brand is more likely to appear in AI-driven search results and zero-click discovery scenarios.
• Consumer Behavior: Over 60% of customers are willing to pay more for products from brands they are loyal to, and 36% of U.S. shoppers feel loyal to brands they frequently buy from.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Branding plays a critical role in SEO, as well-known brands are prioritized in search engine algorithms, making them more discoverable.

These statistics highlight how a strong brand can significantly influence consumer trust, loyalty, and online visibility.

Creating Content That Builds Online Brands

According to AI and search marketing expert Ann Smarty, the wave of the future will be fueld by online content that builds strong brands. She recommends that companies have a good strategy to create, promote, and maximize branded content.

Branded content at its most basic should include:

• A robust About page that provides the company’s background, history, mission, vision, and other important stories that set it apart from local competitors
• Other pages that support the brand story include but are not limited to: awards, news (press releases), bios, and activities essential to the company, such as charitable events
• Frequently Asked Questions

These pages can be added easily to your website to build the brand story. Dashboard Interactive Marketing can find effective ways to create, share, and boost your brand to improve search visibility.

In addition to adding brand story pages to your company website, consider how your story can unfold across other platforms and channels. Social media, especially short form videos, are a great way to tell and retell your brand story. Press releases create a more ‘official’ online story since they are shared on multiple news platforms simultaneously. Guest articles add credibility to a brand as well as raise awareness for the brand among potential new customers.

Many small-business owners are concerned that AI-enabled search will take away valuable traffic. Building a strong online brand is one of many things you can do to ensure that customers who want and need your services can find you quickly!

Dashboard Interactive Marketing provides local search consulting and services, content marketing and writing, social media marketing, and more. Call us at 763-242-2454 and let’s discuss how to build a memorable online brand.

This week we’ve seen a flurry of business news related to marketing. TikTok remains in flux with no clear path forward in sight. The WordPress eruption continues to escalate with no resolution. What’s a business owner to do?

First, please be assured that the Dashboard Interactive Marketing team is keeping up to date on these issues (and others) that can impact your business’ marketing activities. We help you navigate the ever-changing sea of information related to SEO, social media, digital advertising, and more.

Next, we’ve put together three time-tested recommendations that all small business owners should do to protect the valuable marketing assets they have built over the years.

With these tips and our expert guidance, you should be in a good position to continue your promotional and lead generation activities this year.

Three Tips to Protect Your Marketing Assets

1. Back up social media assets.

Many small business owners leverage social media to share images and videos with their audiences. However, as we have seen from the recent back and forth regarding the availability of TikTok in the United States, keeping these valuable assets on any external platform (a website or place that you do not own) is dangerous. Any social media or third-party website host can shut down at a moment’s notice, whether due to business changes, regulation, or technical issues, taking all your assets with it in one big gulp. Be sure to back up and save valuable assets such as videos, reels, and images, on your own computers, secure external hard drives, or secure cloud files. In the event that one platform disappears, you can reuse the assets on another one without having to go through the time, trouble, and expense of recreating them.

2. Develop your email list.

Depending on your business’ social media platforms, reaching new customers is tricky. Organic reach has declined in recent years:

• Facebook: The average engagement rate of an organic Facebook post ranged from 2.58% down to just 1.52% in 2023. This decline continued into 2024, with organic reach becoming increasingly challenging due to the platform’s pay-to-play model.
• Instagram: Organic reach on Instagram saw an 18% year-over-year decrease in 2024. This decline is attributed to changes in the algorithm and the increasing voluem of content being posted.

That doesn’t mean you should stop leveraging organic social media posts. What it means is that you should recognize that just using organic posts isn’t going to make as big of an impact as it once did. 

And, added to the declining reach is the constant risk of being deplatformed, meaning having your account shut down. Whether by accident or on purpose, this has happened to people and businesses over the years, and social media companies can and do limit exposure to your content or take accounts offline without warning. If that happens, your organic reach could evaporate instantly.

To avoid losing the momentum you have so carefully built up over the years, encourage your followers to join your email list. Offer an incentive for them to sig up, such as content they cannot get elsewhere, like a special video, a unique report, checklist, or another value item. This list then becomes your own proprietary list, which you can use to reach your followers at any time. (Of course, we want you to follow email marketing laws and best practices, too!) We can help you encourage social media followers to join your email list. Please speak with an expert at Dashboard if you’d like asssitance with this idea.

3. Have a backup plan.

It is heartbreaking to read posts today online from TikTok consultants or contractors who specialize in creating short TikTok videos and marketing plans. These people are genuinely afraid that in the space of a few days their entire business model could grind to a halt. Many small business owners who relied upon TikTok as a marketing channel are also upset at losing what they perceive as a valuable lead generation tool.

Every business owner should have a backup plan, not just for business continuity, but for marketing continuity, too. If one thing doesn’t work, we must be able to quickly shift to another. If short videos can no longer be displayed on TikTok because the app shuts down, we must look at other platforms and decide where, how, and why we want to leverage them. Consider your marketing channels and discuss with your internal staff and the Dashboard team what potential continuity plans should be in place for your marketing.

Plan Ahead, Do Your Best, and Keep Promoting Your Business

The world is uncertain, and that includes the marketing world, too. As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate. While we cannot control the actions of others that impact our marketing – the social media platforms of this world, the website hosts, the digital advertising services, the algorithm changes – we can prepare for it. We can be smart about it and set up ways to speak directly with our customers that will not be impacted by third party platform changes. We can enact continuity plans. Together with the team at Dashboard to support you, let’s plan ahead, do our best, and keep promoting your business!

If you are new to working with a professional marketing agency, you may also be new to working with a professional web designer or graphic designer. Part of the process of working with a team that handles your marketing is the review cycle. The team receives your inputs and their assignments, then shares designs for your review. The creative team – the people who work on your website, flyers, social media graphics, videos, and so on – will provide you with their best designs based on evaluating your brand, target audience, and their experience.

Clients are sometimes shocked when they see “white space” in the design. “But can’t we have a pretty picture here?” “Can we fit more text in?” “Why is there a big space at the top of the page?” These are all common questions we hear during the review cycle.

Today, we’d like to dispel the myth of white space and talk about why it is an essential component of good design. If you’re new to the graphic design process, read on.

What Is White Space?

White space, properly called ‘negative space,’ is the area without text or images surrounding the words and images on the page.

An example you’re probably very familiar with is the margins on a document. Books would be very difficult to read if the text ran into the center binding or to the very edges of the page. Negative space, or blank space, is used to create margins around the text blocks inside a book to make it easier to read.

Important Uses of Negative or White Space in Marketing Designs

White space, or negative space, is considered one of the foundational elements of good design. It can be used for many purposes in a marketing document. Like the previously mentioned book example, a graphic designer may use negative space in a marketing document to:

• Balance design elements
• Draw attention to important text (such as the headline or sale information)
• Enhance readability
• Prioritize content
• Create a visual hierarchy to enhance understanding

You probably agree with this list of priorities and recognize their importance.

However, often when business owners see new designs for the first time, they are surprised by the amount of white space designers leave around images and text. Their first instinct is to include as much information as possible into the design.

But consider this: if you own a retail store, you don’t pack items into every square foot. You leave open space around the displays so that customers can see the items. While you fill the shelves with products, you may leave space above them for signage – with the negative space around the sign drawing attention to it so customers can see it. Even in your own home, you naturally leave ‘negative space’ around framed photos on the wall so that they stand out, and you center pictures on a wall so that nothing distracts from your favorite artwork. These are yet more examples of how white space or negative space is used in almost every aspect of design – and how you naturally gravitate towards it!

So don’t fear the white space, business owners. When designers send you documents that leave space around the message, recognize it as an integral part of the design process. It’s more important for your customers to see and remember the messages on the page than it is to include as much information as possible, and white space accomplishes this goal.

Dashboard Interactive Marketing

Dashboard Interactive Marketing has almost 20 years of digital marketing experience working with business owners just like you to achieve outstanding results. We provide website development and design services, search engine optimization, local search marketing, digital advertising and marketing, social media management, content marketing, and much more to small and mid-sized businesses. We welcome your call and are happy to discuss your marketing needs. Call us at 763-242-2454.

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important digital marketing tactics available to businesses. It doesn’t matter if you own a dental practice, a car repair shop, a small manufacturing business, or a roofing business; the better your organic search engine optimization, the higher your website will appear in search engine results, and the greater the likelihood you’ll get clicks and visits to your website – resulting in leads or sales.

But how do you keep wooing Google (and other search engines) when they keep changing the algorithm, that mysterious formula used to calculate precisely where your web pages appear in the search engine results?

No Tricks Can Outsmart the Search Engines

People who chase the latest SEO trick are like those who believe in get-rich-quick schemes. Instead of saving a little each week from their paycheck and saving it in a bank account where it can accrue interest, people who want to get rich quickly throw their money into some scheme or another and hope it pays big dividends. It rarely does. Instead, they lose everything.

Business owners who try to trick Google into ranking their sites higher in organic search results often find themselves losing traffic over time instead of gaining it. An example of an SEO “get-rich-quick scheme” is paid link building. There are many small business owners who have paid SEO firms thousands of dollars to “build their site’s link profile,” only to find their sites drop like a stone in the search engine results after the “link building authority” finished their work. Seeing the sudden rise in links into the site from low-quality sites, Google knew they were trying to game the system, and thus it hurt their rankings rather than helped them.

Focus On Long-Term, Proven SEO Tactics

Saving your money in a bank account may seem old-fashioned, but it’s both a safe and proven method of increasing wealth.

The same goes for SEO. There are proven tactics that we know work well over time to improve organic search engine results.

Proven SEO tactics include:

1. Publishing high-quality content: Content is the backbone of all good organic SEO. Content published on your website should be well-written, engaging, and present a unique perspective. 
2. Internal links: We read so much about trying to get links into our websites that we forget to ensure that all of the pages on our site are interlinked. Search engines use on-page links to find new content. Adding links from one page to another on your website is always safe.
3. Encouraging natural links into your site: Search engines love it when third-party websites link to your site, especially third-party sites with high domain authority. However, such links should occur naturally; you should never pay other sites to link to yours. To get natural links to your website content, consider creating free, downloadable assets, like robust case studies, white papers, infographics, and other materials filled with informative content. These so-called “linkable assets” naturally attract other site owners who want their readers to share in them, too.
4. Improve the user experience: Make sure that site visitors can find exactly what they need when they reach your website. Make lead forms and contact information straightforward and easy to see. Ensure that navigation elements like menus are easy to understand. Work with a professional web designer who understands good user experience to ensure that your site appeals to people as well as search engines. The more it appeals to people, the longer they stay on the site, which sends powerful signals to the search engines that the site is worth ranking higher in the results.
5. Good website best practices: These include making sure you don’t have broken links on your site, missing images, or “page not found” errors. Site speed plays a vital role in organic search engine position, with Google and other search engines rewarding websites that load quickly (5 seconds or less). Work with your webmaster or digital marketing agency to improve the technical aspects of your site.

Build a Robust Website From Start to Finish

There are no tricks to ensuring your site ranks well with Google. Like putting money in a bank account, investing in proven SEO tactics builds interest over time – Google goodwill, so to speak.

Always keep in mind that your website plays a vital role in your business’ success. Like good signage by the road to attract traffic, a beautiful, well-designed, fast website ensures that ‘road traffic’ from search engines reaches your site and converts into leads and sales.

But great websites don’t happen by accident. They require time, planning, and attention to detail.

Dashboard Interactive Marketing has built effective, lead-generating websites for small and mid-sized businesses for over a decade. With our experienced team of SEO experts, WordPress experts, graphic designers, content writers, and more, we build effective websites and help you continually maximize your online presence.

Call us at 763-242-2454 for more information about building a new website or updating an existing site so it ranks better in Google.