Three Crowns Mixtape: February 25, 2022

Johnny Sandquist

Founder & CEO, Three Crowns Copywriting & Marketing

Feb 25, 2022

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Important financial industry news + marketing insights + good music.

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Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine this morning as the Russian invasion continues.

It may feel like there isn’t much we can do to help, but if you do want to take action and do what you can, this webpage contains a list where you can donate to relief organizations.

Must-Read Financial Industry & Marketing Articles

Lost in Translation

Twitter (and really, any social network) can be a fickle place for nuanced conversation – everyone’s invited to participate, but a lot can get lost in translation when you don’t have those verbal cues or additional context. And offering unsolicited advice or feedback publicly is almost always going to go in a negative direction – especially if you don’t hit pause before sending out those responses en masse.

So when Sonya Dreizler’s Twitter thread about her experiences as an entrepreneur facing gender bias caught the attention of preeminent industry commentator Michael Kitces, the conversation got off to a rocky start. The topic quickly shifted focus from Sonya’s experiences with discrimination to Michael’s own experiences as a white male in the industry. As expected, many community members stepped in to reply directly to Michael, calling out his responses as “tone-deaf.”

The takeaway? When someone shares their intimate experience online, especially when it’s a negative experience, it’s best to acknowledge it and offer support. If you want to tackle it in more depth, try approaching the conversation with questions – first to understand their point of view, and then to ask if they even want your feedback in the first place so you can be sure you’re entering into a dialogue and not a one-sided conversation.

There are a few positive outcomes to all of this, though. Michael reflected on his statements and offered a well-articulated apology to all involved. Plus, Attorney Max Schatzow picked up on the thread and offered his pro-bono services to Sonya’s new Choir project, which is attempting to bring more equal representation to financial services conferences.

Twitter Takeaways

Google Adds “Rewriting Your Page Titles” to Their List of Services, Whether You Like it or Not

Put this one in your mental file marked “Things that probably won’t affect me but are good to know about just in case.”

Last year, people started noticing their pages had strange titles on them in search results. Turns out Google’s algorithm will grab info from your headers and other text to create new titles for pages. It’s not clear exactly why this happens, and it doesn’t appear to happen all that often.

On the off chance that you see a different title in your search results, there’s no need to panic. As far as anyone can tell, it’s not affecting SEO in any way. Again, this is more “huh, that’s weird” news than “WTF?!”

A Rose By Any Other Name…

20 Ways to Reduce Your Site’s Bounce Rate

If the bounce rate on your website is over 55%, then spend a few minutes just scanning this article. (To be clear, we’re talking about the bounce rates for pages on your website, not blogs. Blogs typically have a much higher bounce rate and that’s not such a huge deal.)

One of the biggest takeaways that we see a lot of advisors get wrong is making it easy to search your website. Too many advisor sites don’t have a search function at all, or it’s just too hard to find that little magnifying glass icon. Making search easier can go a long way in helping people find their way around your website.

Make Your Site Less Bouncy