Jason Barnard is the author of The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business. He’s a digital marketing consultant who specializes in Brand SERPs and knowledge panels. Jason is the host of With Jason Barnard, a podcast about Entrepreneurship, Business, and Marketing.
Your Brand SERP is what your audience sees when they google your brand or personal name. Using the database in Kalicube Pro SaaS platform, Jason has been tracking and analyzing over 70,000 brands across a dozen countries. Your Brand SERP is your new business card, an honest critique of your content strategy, and a reflection of your brand’s digital ecosystem.
Invite Jason Barnard to guest on your podcast: https://kalicube.com/about/invite-jason/invite-jason-barnard-on-your-podcast/
[00:00:00] Narrator: Hello and welcome to the Messages & Methods: Livecast Life 2.0 livestream podcast, hosted by encore entrepreneurs, Shelley Carney and Toby Younis. We inspire excitement for content creation and marketing your brand in business while answering all your technology and digital marketing questions. We love to help you, our content creator friends, with actionable tips to land more clients, nurture leads, and gain trust as an expert in your industry. Chat with Shelley and Toby live every Thursday on YouTube or Facebook.
Introducing the Podcast Hosts, Shelley Carney and Toby Younis, and the Ways to Interact With the Show
[00:01:15] Shelley Carney: That’s right. Chat with us because we’re here to chat. And I’m Shelley Carney.
[00:01:20] Toby Younis: And I’m Toby Younis. Thanks for joining us today. Before Shelley makes introductions, I’m going to take care a little bit of housekeeping. We’d appreciate it, before you leave the show today, if you’d like our show. YouTube likes it when you like our video. Share with your family, your friends, your neighbours, your business associates, the entirety of your social network so that we can continue to grow the channel. And finally, if you are not already a subscriber, this would be the ideal time for you to click on that subscribe button. When you see the notifications bell, click on that as well. And that way, every time we start a livestream, you’ll be immediately informed and as a result, in the know.
[00:01:49] Toby Younis: And also, we want to let you know that the Super Chat Lite is lit. If you’d like to make a small contribution to our project here at Messages & Methods, just go down to the bottom of the chat window. You’ll see a stylised dollar bill looking thing. Click on that. Then the good folks at YouTube will walk you through the process of making that contribution. If you’re watching the video after the livestream, look down at the bottom of the window and you’ll see a heart with a dollar sign in it. It’s called…
[00:02:16] Shelley Carney: It’s the other way around, dollar with heart, Super Thanks.
[00:02:20] Toby Younis: Super Thanks. It’s a dollar with a heart in it, not a heart with a dollar sign. Yeah. It’s a heart with a dollar sign.
[00:02:27] Shelley Carney: Oh, okay. Nevermind.
[00:02:27] Toby Younis: Just click on it. Click on it no matter what you do.
[00:02:31] Shelley Carney: Click. Click all the things.
[00:02:31] Toby Younis: And here’s the good news. Yeah. YouTube allows you to give us donations up to $500. Can you imagine that?
[00:02:39] Shelley Carney: I would like to imagine that.
[00:02:40] Toby Younis: Yeah, that would be great.
Welcoming the Guest, Jason Barnard (The Brand SERP Guy), an Author, a Digital Marketing Consultant, and a Podcaster
[00:02:41] Shelley Carney: Today we’re going to be speaking to content creators about critiquing your content strategy. And we have a special guest. His name is Jason Barnard. He’s the author of The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business. He is a digital marketing consultant who specialises in Brand SERPs and Knowledge Panels. Jason is the host of With Jason Barnard…, a podcast about entrepreneurship, business, and marketing. So, let’s welcome Jason. Hello.
[00:03:13] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Hi.
[00:03:15] Shelley Carney: Applause.
[00:03:17] Toby Younis: It’s our audience there. Happy to see you, Jason.
[00:03:20] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. I got a cheer and a clap, and I’m very, very happy.
The Life Journey of Jason Barnard (The Brand SERP Guy) as a Musician and a Cartoon Voice Actor
[00:03:25] Shelley Carney: So, welcome, Jason. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? I know you’ve got a great story to tell, so I’m going to let you tell it.
[00:03:33] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right. Yeah. Lovely. Thank you for having me. It’s a bonkers story, in my opinion, is that I grew up in the countryside in Yorkshire in the North of England as a punk surrounded by sheep and cows, who don’t care about punk attitude at all, and moved to Liverpool, went to the same university as John Lennon but 20 years later, and joined a band called Stanley the Counting Horse, played music. I was a singer with this big deep voice, and I could sing. And people would come and see us just because I was incredibly thin and very small, but I had this big voice.
[00:04:18] Toby Younis: And you were punk.
[00:04:19] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And I was punk. Very good point. And it was this, I don’t know, it was a strange combination that people would come and see. And we had a lot of fun. Then I moved to Paris, joined a band. I wanted to be the singer. And they said, we don’t need a singer, you have to play double bass. I didn’t play the double bass, but I bought one and learned to play it just to join the band.
[00:04:47] Toby Younis: Nice.
Turning Out to Be a Good Double Bass Player, Playing With His Punk Folk Band, and Dreaming of Being a Successful Rockstar
[00:04:48] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And became a double bass player. And it turns out I’m actually quite good at the double bass. So, I was lucky. They asked me to play the one instrument that I’m actually good at. That was wonderful. Then I played with the band for 8-9 years, professionally playing punk folk. So, it was folk music played with punk attitude and punk style. We played with people like Bob Dylan. We were on the same festival as Bob Dylan, The Pogues, the Mano Negra, Captain Sensible from The Damned, who was one of my great heroes when I was a punk in the countryside.
[00:05:35] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And that was awesome. That’s absolutely the dream job that you really want. Being a very unsuccessful rockstar but making a living doing it is so cool. We never got famous, which is a pity, but I think part of the reason people play in rock bands is because they believe. Despite all indications for the contrary, they believe they’re going to become famous, and they never do. The number of bands who actually become famous is 0.1%. And we weren’t one of them, but it was awesome.
Making a Cartoon TV Series With His Ex-Wife, Voicing the Different Characters, and Becoming an Online Success
[00:06:18] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And then I gave that up and became a blue dog in a cartoon. I voiced and wrote with my ex-wife a whole TV series. And I was Boowa the blue dog. And that was nuts as well, because I actually ended up becoming. This is really interesting. My wife was a yellow koala, I was a blue dog, and we were best friends in the cartoon. And we were in Mauritius, and we were trying to find people to do the voices for the other characters in the family. And we couldn’t find anybody. So, I ended up doing five voices. So, I was my own father, my own mother. I was my daughter’s brother, my wife’s father, and my wife’s grandfather, all at the same time.
[00:07:06] Toby Younis: Oh, my goodness. As you started to describe that, I was thinking of lineage as opposed to cartoons. So, forgive me, because everything went through my head right there real quick.
[00:07:17] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): No. Yeah. The lineage was I was my wife’s husband and I was my daughter’s father. But in the cartoon, it all got turned around. It was delightful. It was a lot of fun. And that’s where I learned all about Google, because we became phenomenally successful. We were the 10,000th most visited site in the year in 2007 with a hundred million page views and 5 million visits, because we learned to get to the top of Google for children’s entertainment, children’s games, children’s songs, and children’s TV series. And we were competing with Disney.
[00:08:01] Toby Younis: Wow. That’s pretty tough competition there alone.
[00:08:06] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. And we used to win. That was delightful. It was one of those moments in life where you think I’m beating Disney. Isn’t that cool?
The Reason Jason Barnard (The Brand SERP Guy) Came Into the World of SEO
[00:08:13] Toby Younis: And so, that effort and that experience led to what you’re doing now.
[00:08:18] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. When that fell apart for various reasons, I was looking for work. So, I pitched for work as an SEO consultant, digital marketer. And it was actually quite tough, because what would happen is I would go and pitch to clients. And they would say, wonderful, great, you’re amazing, we really want to work with you. And then they would google my name, Jason Barnard, and it would say Jason Barnard is a blue dog. And then they would say, well, we actually don’t want to work with you after all.
[00:08:51] Toby Younis: Because you are after all a blue dog.
[00:08:55] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Well, I am. And that was for me, the light bulb moment is I realised that what Google was showing was what I was previously. And it wasn’t showing what I am today. And so, I thought how do I educate Google? How do I explain to Google what I need it to show for me to be convincing to my audience today? Which is no longer six year old children. It’s bosses of huge companies in France, the US, and the UK who want me to get on board and give them advice. And as I said, a boss of a huge company doesn’t want advice from a cartoon blue dog.
More About Jason Barnard’s Wonderful Musical Instrument, the Double Bass, and His Experiences in Playing It
[00:09:43] Toby Younis: So, before we go on to the business part of our conversation, you used the phrase to describe the instrument, you played a double bass. I have never heard of that instrument before. How does it differ from an electric, a normal rock band, electric bass?
[00:10:02] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, that’s an interesting question. Because for me, double bass is totally obvious, but I think that’s terribly English of me. In America, I think you call it a bull fiddle. I saw Some Like It Hot, Jack Lemmon with Tony Curtis. And Jack Lemmon plays the bull fiddle.
[00:10:19] Toby Younis: Is that the large standup?
[00:10:21] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yup. Standup bass. The guy from the Stray Cats plays it too.
[00:10:25] Toby Younis: Got it. All right.
[00:10:28] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It’s the most wonderful instrument. Because with the electric bass, you’re playing it like this and you tend to be quite subtle.
[00:10:33] Toby Younis: It’s a guitar.
Playing the Double Bass Requires 20% Musical Talent and 80% Physical Domination of the Instrument
[00:10:35] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. And with the double bass, you can be incredibly aggressive. In terms of double bass, it’s 20% musical talent and 80% physical domination of the instrument. And that’s lovely, because it suits my personality and the way that I work perfectly. I wouldn’t say I don’t have talent, but I would say that a lot of the way that I play the double bass is dominating it physically.
[00:11:08] Toby Younis: All right. Well, again, I had never heard that term used to describe it, but now I’m glad that I do. I think that’s slightly different. So, I’m glad I asked.
[00:11:22] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. You’ve got bull fiddle, you’ve got double bass, you’ve got contrabass, you’ve got standup bass, you’ve got dog house bass, apparently as well as another way to say it. There are millions of, not millions. That’s exaggerating. Excuse me. There are dozens of ways to say double bass, standup bass, bull fiddle, dog house bass.
You Can Easily Find a Picture of Jason Barnard Playing the Double Bass on Google Because It Is Part of His Job
[00:11:44] Toby Younis: So, what I’m going to do is I found one so that people can know what we’re talking about. I’m just out of the stream real quick. Is that it?
[00:11:52] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. I didn’t look much like that. I didn’t pay it that much respect, but that’s exactly it.
[00:11:56] Toby Younis: I couldn’t find one with you in it.
[00:11:57] Shelley Carney: That’s the girl who holds it until you get there.
[00:12:00] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): If you search Jason Barnard double bass, I’ll bet you find an image with me standing, probably either I’m playing in a gig or I’m standing on a river in the South of France.
[00:12:13] Toby Younis: Nice.
[00:12:15] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, part of my job is to convince Google to show the images that I want when people search about me or around me. So if you search Jason Barnard double bass, it should show something that’s reasonably representative of who I am and what I did with the double bass.
[00:12:33] Toby Younis: So, tell me if I’m about to show your image. There’s a notation on the face of the bass, and it says bark. Is that you?
[00:12:45] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yes. That’s me.
The Story of How Jason Barnard Bought His Double Bass to Join the Band Called The Barking Dogs
[00:12:47] Toby Younis: All right. This is what Jason looks like. And that looks like the Saint. I don’t know. What is that?
[00:12:53] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): That’s a river in the South of France. And that double bass, we can actually keep this up because it’s a really interesting double bass. Because when the band said to me, do you want to play in our band? And I said, yes. They said, you have to play the double bass. So, I went and bought the first double bass I found, and it was this one. And it turns out it’s a really good double bass. And the reason that bark is written on it is because the group was called The Barking Dogs.
[00:13:18] Toby Younis: Oh, I see.
[00:13:19] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And we used to have this spray paint. I can’t remember. It’s called a pochoir in French is that you would just spray, and it would put the name up there. That was what we were using.
[00:13:33] Toby Younis: A stencil?
[00:13:35] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. Stencil. You’re a genius. Thank you so much.
[00:13:37] Toby Younis: No, I’m not, but I remembered.
Jason Barnard’s Double Bass Was Blown Up, Glued Together Again, And Still Remains the Only Double Bass He Ever Owned
[00:13:39] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And that double bass, you can’t see it here, but it’s in a very bad state, but it always and still sounds really, really good. And it has been literally blown up by the French police. The terrorists squad found our van with my double bass in the back, and they didn’t know exactly that was what it looked like. And they detonated a small charge on the back doors of our van, and my double bass was leaned against it. And that’s what it looked like when it was blown up by the French police.
[00:14:22] Toby Younis: Wow. To get into the van. Why were the French police trying to get into your van?
[00:14:26] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Because it was a closed van during what they called Vigipirate, and they thought it might be a terrorist attempt on a school.
[00:14:35] Toby Younis: Wow.
[00:14:36] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And the double bass remains to this day, the only double bass I’ve ever owned. So, it’s like still being married to your first girlfriend or boyfriend 50 years after you started.
[00:14:50] Toby Younis: Yeah. I haven’t had that kind of good fortune with the women in my life.
[00:14:55] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): No, me neither. But with the double bass, I’ve had immense support.
[00:14:58] Toby Younis: Yeah. Maybe that’s the thing to do. Yeah. Find something that you can.
[00:15:00] Shelley Carney: It still got the same shape, so yeah.
[00:15:03] Toby Younis: All right.
[00:15:03] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, deary me. Let’s not get onto that topic, because it’s going to get very dangerous very quickly.
What Does the Acronym SERP Mean and What Is a Brand SERP?
[00:15:08] Toby Younis: So, thank you very much for that. We love stories. Shelley probably told you already. We love storytelling, but we have to get onto business here. And the first question I have for you, and then I’ll turn it back over to Shelley, is tell our audience what the acronym SERP translates to and then what is it.
[00:15:29] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right. Great question to start with. SERP is search engine results page. And I specialise in a Brand SERP, which is the search engine results page for a brand name or a person’s name or a podcast name. And I focus on Google. 92% of the world use Google. So, a Brand SERP for me is what Google shows your audience when they search your name or your brand name. And I’m specialised in making sure that it represents you accurately, positively, and convincingly to your audience.
[00:16:09] Toby Younis: When someone says that to me, I always think in terms of magic, like that’s magic, that they can make that happen. And we’re going to talk about that later in the program. But for now, I’m going to turn it over to Shelley.
Getting Google to Correctly Represent Your Brand Name or Personal Name Is Very Simple; Just Be Clear and Consistent
[00:16:18] Shelley Carney: Oh, okay. You asked my question, so I have to figure another. So, continue. I see you have more to say about this. So, tell us more about Brand SERP.
[00:16:28] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah, no, I like the idea of magic is that I think a lot of people see Google as this massive machine that we don’t understand, and that getting Google to represent our brand or our name or ourselves in the way that we want is incredibly difficult. And in fact, it isn’t. It’s actually very, very, very simple in the sense that Google is simply reading what it’s finding on the internet and then representing that to its audience or its users, who are searching your brand name or your personal name.
[00:17:05] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And all you need to do is be clear and consistent about who you are, what you do, and who your audience is across every platform. Google will pick it up, and then it will represent you in the way that you expect. And if it isn’t, then it means that your online message, your digital ecosystem is not clear. Google isn’t stupid. Google is smart. If it’s misrepresenting you, then there’s a reason. And you need to find that reason, correct it, and Google will then represent you the way that you would like to be represented to your audience, as long as that representation is honest.
Comparing the Quality of the Search Results of Google Versus Microsoft’s Search Engine, Bing
[00:17:44] Toby Younis: Well, I’ve always teased, not always, but I teased Shelly that I’m looking at her brand page right now. And she’s done an excellent job of getting Google coverage for herself, because she’s all over the first page of Shelley Carney, which is what you want out of life, because it’s a wonderful place to start. Go ahead.
[00:18:06] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Brilliant. No, but that’s really interesting because you’re actually using Microsoft Bing, and Microsoft is actually better than Google. But if you click on that link, See Results For, if you click on that really quickly, on the right hand side.
[00:18:23] Toby Younis: This right there. Tell me where.
[00:18:24] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Down and left on her photos.
[00:18:28] Shelley Carney: Oh, this.
[00:18:28] Toby Younis: This one here?
[00:18:29] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah, that thing. Yeah.
[00:18:30] Toby Younis: So, click there.
Bing Tends to Give a Better Representation of a Person in Their Search Results Than Google
[00:18:31] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yep. There you go. That’s absolutely beautiful. And Microsoft is actually better than Google at that.
[00:18:42] Toby Younis: That’s really interesting because I have Chrome selected. I don’t know why it’s using Bing.
[00:18:49] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I don’t know either, but what I find really interesting is that we use Google a lot. Google is incredibly smart, but actually Microsoft Bing will tend to give a better representation of a person than Google. And here, you can see that’s really useful. If I’m interested in Shelley Caney.
[00:19:11] Shelley Carney: Carney.
[00:19:12] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Carney. Excuse me. Oh, dig. Oh, how very embarrassing.
[00:19:17] Shelley Carney: It’s all right.
[00:19:18] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I wish I had my, oh, I’ve got my glasses. So, no excuse at all.
[00:19:23] Toby Younis: And no need to apologise. We’re not exactly the easiest names to pronounce.
On Bing’s Search Results, You Can Find Recommendations on the Left Hand Side and Facts on the Right Hand Side
[00:19:30] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): That’s a great result. I like that, because you can see not only, on the left hand side, recommendations of where I might wish to engage with Shelley. On the right hand side, I can see the facts about her and people that I might also be interested in. And if you did that same search on Google, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be that good.
[00:19:48] Toby Younis: Yeah.
[00:19:50] Shelley Carney: That’s just my LinkedIn. That keeps returning.
[00:19:53] Toby Younis: So, I don’t know why. I’m doing a Google search.
[00:19:57] Shelley Carney: It’s going to bing.com. You must have clicked on something when you did the Windows update.
When You Search on Google for Shelley Carney, There Is Nothing on the Right Hand Side, Which Means It Hasn’t Understood the Facts About Her
[00:20:04] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): If you type google.com into that top address bar, then you’ll get Google, google.com. There you go. Now, search for Shelley.
[00:20:17] Shelley Carney: Isn’t that funny?
[00:20:21] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It is. I think a lot of people…
[00:20:23] Shelley Carney: There’s Google.
[00:20:24] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): There you go. Now, there’s nothing on the right. And what’s interesting there is what’s on the right is fact. So, Microsoft has understood the fact and Google hasn’t.
[00:20:35] Toby Younis: Oh, that’s interesting. Yeah. I’ve never noticed that distinction for her.
[00:20:41] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, on the left hand side, you have what Google and Bing, depending on which platform you’re using, is recommending as ways to engage with Shelley. And on the right hand side, there’s a summary of the facts and other people, who you might be interested in, who are related to Shelley topically. So, this is a really nice demonstration of how much better Microsoft is than Google.
Bing Shows Results From LinkedIn Since Microsoft Also Owns It and Google Shows More Results From YouTube and Twitter
[00:21:12] Toby Younis: You know what, I’m agreeing. I didn’t realise that. So, I am starting with a Chrome window. It is making some kind of switch over to Bing. And in addition to that, I searched Shelley Carney, Bing added the company, AGK Media Studio. So, these are all the things…
[00:21:29] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It has understood the relationship between the company and person, whereas Google hasn’t.
[00:21:37] Toby Younis: Right.
[00:21:37] Shelley Carney: That’s because Microsoft owns LinkedIn, so they’re calling in anything I put into LinkedIn as fact and showing you that first. Yeah.
[00:21:46] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. That’s a big part of it. Exactly. A hundred percent.
[00:21:51] Toby Younis: And when you search me on…
[00:21:53] Shelley Carney: Whereas if you put it in Google, you’ll probably see more of my YouTube videos, because they’re on YouTube.
[00:21:58] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. And your Twitter. They have a partnership with Twitter, so they show Twitter a great deal and obviously, YouTube too. And for both of you, if I may criticise, you are making a huge mistake.
The Importance of Having a Personal Website, Which Will Serve as Your Entity Home, Google’s Reference for Yourself
[00:22:12] Toby Younis: In what way?
[00:22:13] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): You don’t have a personal website that you own, that represents you.
[00:22:20] Shelley Carney: A personal website.
[00:22:20] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It’s what I call the Entity Home. And so, you are saying, Shelley, oh, it’s showing my LinkedIn. For you, Toby, it was showing something from Amazon, if I remember right.
[00:22:30] Toby Younis: Yeah.
[00:22:30] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And if you want to take control of what Google and Bing show your audience when they google or bing your brand name or your personal name, you need to give them a reference from yourself. Because it sounds a bit strange, but they’re looking for your version of your own story. And then they’ll go and corroborate it around the web, including LinkedIn, including Crunchbase, including IMDb, Music Brainz, whatever it might be.
[00:22:59] Toby Younis: Yeah.
The Entity Home Could Be One Page, But It Needs to Be a Site and Domain Name That You Own for You to Get Control
[00:22:59] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): But they want that version from you about you, and that’s your Entity Home. And that needs to be a site that you own. And it could be one page, but it’s a domain name that you own with one page that explains who you are, what you do, and which audience you serve. That is how you get control.
[00:23:19] Toby Younis: No. I think that’s amazing advice. And I love these kind of programs where you’re advising us technically, but you’re also telling our audience what to do. I want to share something else with you, and you can tell us why the way we’ve approached it is incorrect. All right. So, we do have websites.
[00:23:38] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I feel like I’m being terribly critical.
[00:23:40] Toby Younis: No, that’s what we’re looking for. We want honest critique, what is it?
[00:23:44] Shelley Carney: Feedback.
[00:23:45] Toby Younis: Honest feedback. Yeah. There’s nothing better in business than that.
[00:23:47] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): But it’s a huge mistake that a lot of people make. And if you think about it, a domain name is $15 a year, and posting it is, sorry, go ahead.
The Case of Shelley Carney and Toby Younis’ Websites Where They Own the Domain But Not the Content of the Page
[00:23:57] Toby Younis: I have a domain, tyounis.com.
[00:24:00] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Okay.
[00:24:01] Shelley Carney: And we have shelleycarney.com.
[00:24:02] Toby Younis: And she has shelleycarney.com. But when it goes someplace, it goes to a product, an application called solo.to. Right. So, the domain name is a link. And it goes to solo.to, which has my information, our books the shows that we produce, et cetera, et cetera. And I wonder is the mistake here, not that we have our own domain name, we’ve acquired our own domain names, but that it’s not going to the tyounis website. This is the solo.to/tyounis website.
[00:24:44] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. A hundred percent. Basically, the solo.to is something you don’t own.
[00:24:50] Toby Younis: Right.
[00:24:50] Shelley Carney: Right.
[00:24:51] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): You own the domain, but you don’t own the content on this page.
[00:24:55] Toby Younis: That’s correct. Yeah. It isn’t.
Google and Bing Are Looking for Content on a Domain You Own and With Content That You Control
[00:24:56] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And both Google and Bing are looking for content on a domain you own with content that you control and it knows you control. And here, potentially, this could be absolute rubbish and it could be not from you.
[00:25:11] Toby Younis: Right.
[00:25:12] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): This could be a cheat. So, you would need to have actually not only the domain name, which you have, which is great, but you would then just need to simply have this content display when somebody is visiting that exact domain name.
[00:25:28] Shelley Carney: All right.
[00:25:30] Toby Younis: And the reason, as you saw on the top of my search that I start with Amazon, is that’s our Amazon author page. That’s because we sell our books on Amazon.
[00:25:42] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right. Which is great. It means that Google and Bing have understood you, but you don’t own that page on Amazon.
[00:25:49] Toby Younis: Right. That’s correct.
A Good Example of an Entity Home Is Jason Barnard’s Personal Website, Where It Tells His Life Story Backwards
[00:25:50] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Whereas I own this page, the one we can see now. I own that a 100%. All the content is mine. I can change whatever I want, whenever I want. And Google looks to this for information about me from me. So, obviously, I can say whatever I want, but Google will always look around the web and verify and check that what I’m saying is true. So, it’s looking for a version of my story from me. And right now, for both of you Toby and you Shelley, is it doesn’t understand or it isn’t confident that that version of the story is actually from you. And that’s purely the domain name not corresponding to the one that you’ve actually registered.
[00:26:38] Toby Younis: Yeah. This is a very personal website from table of contents to what you currently do towards to the things that you have potential for, author, speaker, podcast host, guest, et cetera, et cetera. This is really different when it comes, in terms of structure, it’s actually a very straightforward structure, but it’s all about you.
[00:27:02] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Well, yeah. And the domain name is jasonbarnard.com. So, it’s logical that’s all about me. And it’s, in fact, if you look at it, it’s my life story upside down.
[00:27:12] Toby Younis: Right. Yeah.
The Content of Jason Barnard’s Website Starts With What He Currently Does, Moves Toward the Start, and Is Confirmed by Other Sources
[00:27:13] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It starts with what I do now, and it moves down towards what I did at the start, which is being at the same university as John Lennon. So, it’s my life story backwards. And Google looks to this and says, well, what is Jason’s say? What’s important for Jason? And now, I’m going to look around the web and see if what’s important for Jason and what Jason says about himself is actually corroborated and supported by the people. They can see Rand Fishkin, Aleyda Solis, famous people within my industry. Do they agree? Do they support this point of view? Yes or no?
[00:27:52] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And so, my job is to say, this is my story. You can see here and look at all these people who confirm what I’m saying. At that point, you get knowledge, you get understanding. You then get Google to display your brand message as a person or as a company in the way that you want when somebody googles your name or your brand name.
[00:28:14] Toby Younis: Very nicely done.
[00:28:16] Shelley Carney: Okay.
For People, Just Tell Your Story and Be Consistent; For Companies, It’s Good Business, Marketing, and Branding
[00:28:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It’s super simple. It’s stunningly simple, in the sense that I come from the world of SEO. And people think, oh, that’s really geeky, it’s complicated, lots of code. What I’m saying is just tell your story and make sure that that story is consistent across the web. That isn’t complicated.
[00:28:38] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And if you’re a company, it’s have a brand message. Do your marketing. Make sure your marketing appeals to your audience. And that’s purely good business, good marketing, and good branding. SEO is third in the list of the important things that you need to do. You need to market, you need to brand, and then you need to package it for Google. And SEO, search engine optimisation, is simply packaging that content that you’ve created for your audience for Google.
Jason Barnard’s Business Website for Kalicube Represents the Company, Its Products, and Their Offers
[00:29:06] Toby Younis: So, the assumption is I look through this and listen to what you’re saying. The assumption I would have to make is that in the case of Jason Barnard, you are your company. You don’t have a second business website. Is that correct?
[00:29:19] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): No, I do actually. It’s called kalicube.com. And we had a really interesting experience recently, where we hit what I call the tipping point. If you search for Kalicube without the .com, just Kalicube, you will see a representation of the company and its products and the offers and myself that makes sense to our audience.
[00:29:45] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And we now have, more or less, control over what Google shows our audience when they search Kalicube, when they search Kalicube Tuesdays, which is our event. There you go. When they search Kalicube Pro, which is our SaaS platform. Our Twitter account is there. Our YouTube account is there. Our courses are there. So if you search Kalicube, it’s because you are interested in our products, our services.
When You Search for Kalicube on Google, You Can Find Informational Facts on the Right Hand Side
[00:30:12] Toby Younis: Right. So, this is what happens when I go to kalicube.com.
[00:30:18] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah.
[00:30:18] Toby Younis: All right. Very business looking website. If I searched, this is what happens when I search Kalicube by itself, and it’s all you and Kalicube again, including all that information on the left hand side in Google that was missing on both Shelley’s and mine.
[00:30:38] Shelley Carney: That’s the right hand side.
[00:30:39] Toby Younis: Pardon me?
[00:30:40] Shelley Carney: That was the right hand side.
[00:30:41] Toby Younis: I’m sorry. Right hand side information.
As Brands and as People, You Have to Manage Both the Left-Hand Side and Right-Hand Side
[00:30:42] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yep. Right and left. If we look again at the left hand side is suggestions, and the right hand side is fact. What we need to do as brands and as people is manage both the left hand side and the right hand side. Make sure the facts on the right hand side are correct, accurate, and represent who we are, what we do, and who our audience is. And on the left hand side, it gives our audience the opportunity to choose how they interact with us.
[00:31:10] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And if you look at this, it’s saying you can interact with Kalicube through the SaaS platform. Jason Barnard is there. We’re a digital marketing agency. We specialise in Brand SERP optimisation. You can come and see us on Twitter. You can come and see us on LinkedIn. You can visit our YouTube channel, but we dominate. And Google is simply allowing the user, you, my audience, to decide how you want to interact with me.
A Brand SERP Can Tell Where Your Company Is Based, What Products You Offer, and Your Social Media Platforms
[00:31:37] Toby Younis: So, you’re currently living in Aubais, France.
[00:31:42] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yep. And that’s the other delightful thing about the Google Brand SERP is when Google gets it right, you immediately know where I live. You immediately know where my company is based. You know what products we offer. You can interact with me on Twitter. You choose a social media platform.
[00:32:01] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And if you search for my name, Jason Barnard, you would see who my wife is. You would see who my mother is. You would see how old I am, unfortunately. You would see my favourite photos. So, Google is basically saying, here is a representation of this person or this company that makes sense to its audience in the way I’ve understood that its audience is interested in them.
Small Talks About the Tour de France, Interest in Bicycles, and Mont Ventoux
[00:32:31] Toby Younis: So, off topic, does the Tour de France pass anywhere near Aubais?
[00:32:39] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah, it does.
[00:32:39] Toby Younis: Does it?
[00:32:40] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Frequently. But right now I’m in Oxford, so I’m cheating. So, the Tour de France is not only in the summer, so already gone, but I’m not anywhere near there right now.
[00:32:51] Toby Younis: So, every time I watch the Tour de France every year. And every time I watch it, I say I would love to live in one of those towns that they pass through. And one of these times, I’m going to literally just do that.
Jason Barnard’s Experience and Struggle of Riding a Bike Through Mont Ventoux When He Was Young
[00:33:07] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): You really should. Have you seen them go up Mont Ventoux?
[00:33:11] Toby Younis: Yeah, of course. Yeah.
[00:33:13] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I’ve ridden a bike at Mont Ventoux.
[00:33:15] Toby Younis: You have? Wow.
[00:33:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. 30 years ago, when I was young.
[00:33:19] Toby Younis: Oh, I was going to say, yeah.
[00:33:20] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Thank you very much.
[00:33:22] Toby Younis: I’m impressed. I am impressed with that.
[00:33:25] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): But I was a big bike fan. I loved riding my bike, and I was a huge fan like you. And I thought if there’s one thing I have to do in my life, it’s ride up Mont Ventoux. And it’s super difficult. And I did it one day, once. And these people are doing it after 60 days of riding or whatever it is, riding a bike.
[00:33:51] Toby Younis: It’s 21 days, but they always, but when Ventoux is included, it’s always about halfway through. They’ve already ridden 2200 miles by the time they get there. And it looks hard for them with 18-pound carbon fiber bikes and a 9 chain wheel. It’s amazing.
It Takes a Lot of Effort and Time to Ride Up Mont Ventoux, But Riding Down Is Faster, Easier, and Absolutely Delightful
[00:34:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): But I’ll tell you one thing. As you’re riding up, if you just keep thinking how much fun is it going to be when I go down the other side, then you’re fine. And it is absolutely delightful. When you go down the other side and you just got your hands up in the air, and you don’t have to make any effort.
[00:34:31] Toby Younis: Oh, that’s way more courage than I have to not to ride that downhill. Downhills are always amazing to me.
[00:34:38] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It takes 6 hours to ride up, and it takes 5 minutes to ride down.
[00:34:41] Toby Younis: To ride back down. Yeah, exactly.
[00:34:43] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It’s such a waste of time. And you just think all of that effort.
[00:34:48] Toby Younis: I’ll let Shelley get us back on track here.
[00:34:50] Shelley Carney: Oh, all right.
[00:34:50] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I’m sorry.
[00:34:52] Toby Younis: No, no need to apologise.
Jason Barnard and Toby Younis Talking About Their Love for Bicycles
[00:34:52] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): We can talk about bicycles all day long.
[00:34:54] Toby Younis: I can too. There is three of them in my garage right now.
[00:34:57] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, right. I love bikes. When I was a kid, once a month, I used to take my entire bike apart. I had this really nice racer. It was a Raleigh. And I would take it all apart right down to the pedals and the ball bearings.
[00:35:14] Toby Younis: The ball bearings.
[00:35:15] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Regrease it all and put it all back together again. And that was a once a month special treat that I really enjoyed.
[00:35:23] Toby Younis: Well, I have been riding bikes all my life. My favourite bike is one that I have owned since 1990. It’s a specialised hard Rockhopper that I made into more of a, not a dirt bike, but a street bike. And I’ve had it for over 30 years now, and I refuse to give it up.
[00:35:45] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Sounds like my double bass. I bought my double bass in 1989. And I’m sure you’re the same. Every now and then I think, oh, maybe there’s going to be a better double bass or a better bike. And then you keep coming back and saying, well, actually this is the one I love.
A Short Story of When Toby Younis Gave His Favourite Bike to His Son But Ended Up Taking and Buying It From Him
[00:36:00] Toby Younis: Yeah. I actually, I have a short story to tell you. I actually one time, thinking about buying a new one, I gave it to my son, my oldest son, thinking that he would appreciate its value. And one day, we were all, my son, my oldest son and my oldest daughter, who live near where I live, were planning a trip to the flea market. And my beautiful specialised bike was on top of his pile. And I said, what are you doing with that? And he said, oh, I’m taking it to the flea market. I ride my own bike, et cetera, et cetera. I bought it back from him. I had to pay him for the damn bike.
[00:36:36] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, no.
[00:36:37] Toby Younis: And it was a good lesson, because I have never let it go again since.
A Story Where Jason Barnard Almost Bought Another Double Bass to Replace the Old One He Owns
[00:36:43] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I’ve got a similar story, but it wasn’t my son. It was an Italian double bass player. And he had a double bass. And I listened to him play, and I thought that sounds so good. And I talked to him and I said, can I buy your double bass from you? Because I want to replace mine. And he said, why do you want to replace yours? Yours is a brilliant double bass, and mine doesn’t sound very good at all. And I said, yeah, but yours sounds loads better to me than mine does to me.
[00:37:10] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And then he said, right, go and stand on the other side of the street. I will play your double bass, and you will see that when you’re standing next to it, it doesn’t sound anything like it sounds when you’re on the other side of the street. And he was right. And it sounded brilliant, and his sound wasn’t as good as my double bass. And I’m thankful to him for stopping me, as it were, divorcing my wife for a new younger model.
[00:37:40] Toby Younis: A new younger model. Yeah.
Thinking About What Will Happen to His Double Bass When He Passes Away
[00:37:41] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And me and my double bass were now cemented together until the end of time. And that’s the question I ask myself. What happens to my double bass when I die? And I’m going to start thinking about it tomorrow.
[00:37:58] Toby Younis: You know what I’ve decided and what my will says? Everything that I own will be auctioned off and the proceeds distributed to the children. And that way, they don’t have to make the decision about selling my bike to somebody else anyway. So, I’ll have made that decision.
[00:38:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right. Okay. Yeah. For my double bass, if you look at it with the bark written on it and the fact that it was exploded by the French police, and it’s got all these stories for me, I actually really care what happens to it. But then at the same time, once I’ve passed away…
[00:38:35] Toby Younis: It’s not going to make any difference.
[00:38:36] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. It won’t. No.
Jason Barnard on Bringing His Double Bass to a Luthier to Be Repaired
[00:38:37] Toby Younis: So, did you repair the back of bark?
[00:38:41] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. I took it to the luthier.
[00:38:46] Toby Younis: Luthier.
[00:38:48] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. Luthier is the way I would say it in French. And he just said, what on earth has happened here? And I said, yeah, it must be a total, total disaster. This must be irreparable. And he just took it for a few days and sent it, gave it back to me. You could see the breaks, but he glued it all back together again, and it’s still going fine.
The French Luthier Who Repaired Jason Barnard’s Double Bass Contributed a Lot to Its Quality
[00:39:13] Toby Younis: So, I remember about stringed instruments that there’s always this European competition between the French, the Italians, and the Germans about who produces the best strings. Which of them produces the best double bass?
[00:39:26] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right, well, this is actually a Hungarian double bass.
[00:39:28] Toby Younis: Oh, wow.
[00:39:29] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): But because it’s been so abused, destroyed, and blown up by the French police, I think the French luthier who repaired it is actually probably the biggest contributor to its quality, rather than the Hungarian who built it in the first place.
[00:39:46] Toby Younis: All right.
[00:39:47] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I’ve never thought about that before in my entire life. And he’s the most lovely guy in the entire world.
Getting Back on Topic After Talking About Bicycles and Double Basses
[00:39:55] Toby Younis: Sounds like a good choice to do the repairs. I’m sorry. Back to you. Let’s get back on track here, my dear.
[00:40:01] Shelley Carney: Are you sure?
[00:40:02] Toby Younis: Yes. Absolutely.
[00:40:03] Shelley Carney: All right. This is not at all anything to do with bikes or basses.
[00:40:07] Toby Younis: Yeah. Go ahead. That’s why we brought him here.
[00:40:10] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. Maybe we should get back on topic.
[00:40:13] Toby Younis: Yeah. That’s what I’m asking her to do.
What Does Jason Barnard Mean With His Saying, “Google Is Your New Business Card”?
[00:40:15] Shelley Carney: I have a question here. What do you mean Google is your new business card?
[00:40:21] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, right, great question. Especially in the COVID period, what you would do would be talking like this on a call, and I would be googling your name to figure out who you are. At which point, my opinion of you as we’re talking is going to change depending on the result that I see. So, in a world previous to COVID, we would give the business card, but people would put the business card in a drawer and they would still google your name. And today, with post-COVID video meetings are incredibly the thing that we all do, people are googling your name as they’re talking to you. And what they see has a massive effect on how they perceive you.
[00:41:12] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, your Google business card is what appears when somebody googles your brand name or your personal name. And what it shows will have an immense influence of the other person’s perception of you, either in real time on a Zoom meeting or post-meeting when they, and they always do, when they google your name or your brand name.
Why Does Google Dominate More as a Search Engine Compared to Bing?
[00:41:36] Toby Younis: So, what is it about Google as opposed to Bing? I think you said a little bit ago that 80 or 90% of the people use Google. And I’m going to go back to the magical question. What magic does Google own that enables it to dominate this particular segment, the search segment?
[00:42:02] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. No. That’s a really interesting question. I think what you’ve made me realise in the last 30 minutes is that if you search a brand name or a personal name, you will get a better result from Bing than you will from Google. But if you search for where can I buy red shoes, what’s the answer to 55 times 1000, or whatever it might be, Google is going to give me the better answer. So, we default to Google. Because it gives us answers to other questions, we default to Google when we’re searching for a brand. But in fact, if we were searching for a brand, Bing will give us the better result.
[00:42:45] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And a lot of this as well is to do with the historical way that this developed is that Microsoft had such dominance in the mid noughties. There were cases in the US, cases in the EU, which brought them back. They had Internet Explorer, which dominated because it was part of Microsoft Windows. They were told that they couldn’t default to that. Therefore, people would then need to choose. And Google have managed to take over in that sense. In the sense that by default, we now get Google. Whereas 15-20 years ago, by default, we would’ve got Microsoft.
Being Curious Why Bing Results Came Up When Searched Using Chrome and Getting Names Wrong
[00:43:28] Toby Younis: I’m really curious to find out. Of course, we can’t do it now, but I’m really curious to find out that when I used Chrome to search for Shelley’s name, it came back with the Bing results. And when I used my name or your name and used Chrome, it comes back with Google results. I’m really interested why Shelley in this case was able to come back with something from Bing. I also wanted to ask is…
[00:43:56] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Toby, you’ve just made me incredibly happy. I’m not the only person who’s getting other people’s names wrong.
[00:44:01] Toby Younis: You know what? I am embarrassed to say that I do that, call her something different at least once every program, and we’ve been partners for 10 years.
[00:44:12] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, right, okay.
Talking About the British Term, Noughties, as Another Word for the 2000s Decade
[00:44:14] Toby Younis: Or it was even worse when we first met, when I’d write her name. And she used to have to remind me that I’m never using enough E’s in any part of her name, but I’ve got that after 10 years. But I’m curious, is mid noughties in common use on the continent?
[00:44:34] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, I don’t know. I use it. And it seems a bit strange, but I thought it was a really popular young person’s way of saying.
[00:44:43] Toby Younis: I have never heard it, but I’m going to use it every chance I get from now on.
[00:44:48] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Oh, right. Because we had the mid nineties when I was in the punk folk group. Then you can’t have anything other than mid noughties. And now you’ve got the mid tens and now the mid twenties. So, there was this uncomfortable 20 years where it didn’t really make sense. And now we’re into the mid twenties. That makes sense.
Using the Term Mid Noughties Because It Sounds Dangerous and Risky
[00:45:07] Toby Younis: Right. Yeah. I had never heard it used before. I always say the mid thousands or the mid two thousands, something like that. But using the word nought for zero is very British. And so, it works for me. I am going to use all these in the next opportunity I get, whether it’s mid noughties.
[00:45:30] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): The mid noughties sounds a little bit dangerous.
[00:45:33] Toby Younis: No. It does. That’s why I like it. I think I like it about it.
[00:45:36] Shelley Carney: Risky.
[00:45:36] Toby Younis: Yeah. There’s a bit of riskiness to it.
[00:45:39] Shelley Carney: Now you’re just making up new words.
[00:45:40] Toby Younis: Yeah. Let’s go ahead, go back, get me back on track.
What Would Jason Barnard Recommend for People Who Want to Start Their Own Website?
[00:45:43] Shelley Carney: So, what would you recommend for people on a budget who want to start a website? What would be the best place for them to get the best SEO values?
[00:45:57] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I think one huge question, if you don’t have a website, you have to make sure that you are within your comfort zone for managing it over time. And I think there is a tendency for people to say, well, I’ll go and see a digital marketing agency. They’ll build me a website. And they create an incredibly complicated website that nobody can manage. And you lose control. Control is the single most important thing.
[00:46:24] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, you would want to either use something like WordPress, which is terribly, terribly common and everybody knows how to use it, or something like Duda, which I really love because it really is plug and play, or Wix is another alternative. And the disadvantages that these platforms bring in terms of how you appear to search engines like Google is vastly outweighed by the fact that you can actually manage it yourself. So, simplicity, make sure you manage it yourself or you can manage it yourself.
You Have to Be Pragmatic and Careful; Make Sure That You Can Control It and That It Represents You in Terms of Visuals and Text
[00:46:58] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And don’t get tricked by pricing. It isn’t because it costs you a hundred dollars a month that it’s necessarily better than $10 a month. You’ve got to be pragmatic and careful. The really simple rules are I need to control it, I need to make sure that it works on a desktop computer, on a mobile phone, I need to make sure that it represents me in terms of visuals and in terms of text, and that I can update it as and when I need to.
[00:47:31] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And I don’t need to call a techy geek developer to do so, because there is no reason for you to call somebody who is highly qualified for techy, geeky stuff to update an image or a piece of text on your own website. And you need to own it. And you need to make sure you have control of the domain name. You were talking, Toby, earlier on. You control your domain name but not the website itself.
Do You Own the Website That You Built on Wix or Duda, and Where Does It Go From There?
[00:47:58] Toby Younis: Right. That’s correct. So if I were to put something on Wix, I’m still pointing to it. Do I actually own the website that I build on Wix or Duda?
[00:48:07] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yes. Because you can export it and then reimport it into a different platform.
[00:48:14] Toby Younis: And so, that brings up the next question. Let’s say I built something on Wix, because I’ve always been curious about this. I’m glad we have the opportunity to ask you. I built something on Wix. I export it. Where does it go from there? Don’t I have to have some sort of my own server to be able to do that?
[00:48:34] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yes, you do in theory, but you don’t need that. That’s the idea of thinking too big.
[00:48:41] Toby Younis: Okay.
Even if You Are Using Somebody Else’s Server, You Still Have Control Over Your Own Website
[00:48:42] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): If you think about a server, when we had Boowa and Kwala, which was the blue dog and the yellow koala, we had a hundred million page views a month and 5 million visits, and we had one server. If you’ve got 20, 50, 100, even 1000 visits a month, you don’t need a whole server. You need a little bit of somebody else’s server. And the fact that you are using somebody else’s server computer, that’s called a computer, doesn’t mean that they control the domain.
[00:49:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, for example, Kalicube has a server that I manage, and it’s part of the Google Cloud. So, I’m actually sharing the server with Google, with all of the massive infrastructure that Google has. It’s a tiny portion of a small piece of one of their physical machines. And I run 15 websites. And they all run fine, and I can do whatever I want.
You Can Buy Your Domain from Somebody Like GoDaddy and You Don’t Need to Worry About Sharing the Server
[00:49:49] Toby Younis: And for example, GoDaddy, which is one of the IP services that we use, where we buy our domain names and things like that, they offer a cloud server. That’s what you’re talking about. Is that right?
[00:50:02] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah.
[00:50:02] Toby Younis: Okay.
[00:50:03] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Exactly. So, what you can do is buy your domain for somebody like GoDaddy or another big player like that. And you don’t need to worry about the fact that you’re sharing with other people, because everybody shares with other people all the time. So, that’s not a big deal. And another thing that a lot of people don’t know about GoDaddy is that the websites that they offer in certain areas of the world are actually built on Duda.
[00:50:32] Toby Younis: Spell it for our audience.
[00:50:34] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): DUDA.
[00:50:36] Toby Younis: Okay.
Using GoDaddy or Duda Is Easy Because You Don’t Need to Know Anything; You Can Easily Add an Image or Change a Text
[00:50:37] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): It’s a phenomenally good platform. And it’s one of those things that people think, oh, I should build a WordPress site because it’s the most popular, which is great, but then you have to learn WordPress. You have to figure it all out. It’s a lot of work. And you probably do need somebody who knows what they’re talking about, so you would need to pay somebody to help. When you use something like GoDaddy or Duda, you don’t need to know anything. You can add an image. You can change a text.
Control is, I would argue, the single most important thing, and all the rest of it is secondary.
jason barnard (the brand serp guy)
[00:51:04] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And from my perspective, we come right back to where I’m coming from is I’m a person or a company. I need to manage my own Entity Home, where Google sees me online. And the most important thing isn’t having the most beautiful website or even the most technically proficient website. It’s that I control the information that I’m providing to my audience, be it people or the machines, Bing and Google. So, control is, I would argue, the single most important thing, and all the rest of it is secondary.
[00:51:43] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And one thing I see a lot with company bosses, and even people as well, is I want pixel perfect design. And you’re saying, you’re literally the only person who cares. Take a step back, accept a few compromises, but retain control, full stop.
With Duda, GoDaddy, or Wix, You Would Build Your Own Website and They Would Deliver It to People
[00:52:06] Toby Younis: So, when you use Duda to build your website, do they also provide you the independent server platform or the cloud server platform?
[00:52:16] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah.
[00:52:16] Toby Younis: Or do you do the same thing, you export it, et cetera?
[00:52:19] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): No. With something like Duda or even GoDaddy or Wix, for example, you would build your website, and it would be on their server, on their computer. And they would then deliver it to the people you need. So, it’s a one-stop shop, GoDaddy, Duda.
As Long as You Don’t Change Platforms, You Don’t Need to Export Your Website
[00:52:36] Toby Younis: Does that give me the kind of independence, for lack of a better way to describe it, that you’re describing?
[00:52:42] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yes, exactly. And the only reason you would ever export that site and try to take it somewhere else is if you change platform. You decided that you didn’t like the platform. But as long as you don’t need to change platform, you’d never have the need to export it. But they all offer export possibilities. The exception would be Wix is probably the most difficult. Once you’re in there, they really try to lock you in.
[00:53:05] Toby Younis: We had that experience. Yeah.
[00:53:07] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Yeah. So, I would tend to look towards GoDaddy or Duda rather than Wix. Not because Wix isn’t good, but because there is a tendency for them to make it very difficult for you to leave. And that’s also something you should keep an eye on. How difficult will it be for me to leave if I choose to?
You Can Learn and Accomplish Different Things With Jason Barnard’s Personal Website and Company Website
[00:53:27] Toby Younis: All right. Well, before we start wrapping up, I would like to go to both of your websites and ask you to tell us which one, if people want to know more from you, if they want to reach out to you, which is the better of the two websites to do that or do they both accomplish the same thing?
[00:53:46] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): I think you made a really good point earlier on is that no, they don’t accomplish the same thing. If you look at this page, which is my personal website, it is very personal. If you see at the top, the images are actually there to demonstrate or to tell my story. You’ve got the wolf with the double bass, which is my music career. You’ve got the Kalicube logo just below it, which is a falcon. You’ve got Google as a child. You’ve got Google and Bing. You’ve got the blue dog and the yellow koala. You’ve got the red shirt, which is The Brand SERP Guy, which is the shirt I’m wearing. And the cow and the sheep, who is supposed to be punk cow and punk sheep from my youth. So, that tells my personal story.
[00:54:28] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And if you switch to Kalicube, you’ll see that with the Brand SERP optimisation and Knowledge Panel management specialists. And if you scroll down a little bit, we’ve got nine blocks, which show that we have the Brand SERP book. We have the Academy. We have a SaaS platform. We have a FAQ section, which is completely free to learn all about SEO and Brand SERPs and Knowledge Panels. We have knowledge nuggets, which is information that people have shared with me on my show. We’ve got Kalicube Tuesdays. We’ve got the With Jason Barnard… podcast.
[00:55:00] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): So, basically, here it’s the professional aspect of Brand SERPs and Knowledge Panels. What do you need to know? What do you need to do? How can you leverage the power of your brand on Google and on Bing? And on my personal website, it’s do you want to talk about double basses, bicycles, and Mont Ventoux.
Who Is Jason Barnard’s Ideal Client, the Person or Company Who’s Going to Benefit the Most From His Services?
[00:55:18] Toby Younis: And Mont Ventoux. So, our ideal client is what we refer to as the encore entrepreneur, the individual who is looking to start a second life with a new business after retirement. Who is your ideal client? Who is the one that are going to benefit? Who’s the business person or company that’s going to benefit the most from your services?
[00:55:44] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): That’s a great question. The people and companies who benefit the most from what we do are people who have a public persona that they need to present, where people will google or bing their name, and make sure that their audience sees exactly what they want the audience to see, or companies.
[00:56:10] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): If you think about it from a global perspective, I spend a lot of time talking to people like yourselves, talking to people on social media, talking to people face to face with the aim of getting them interested in what I’m talking about. And at the end of the day, once they think Jason Barnard is saying something interesting, something I’m interested in learning more about, what they do, they google my name, Jason Barnard, or my company name, Kalicube, to learn more about it.
[00:56:39] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): And it’s fundamentally important, after all the effort I’ve made to convince them to actually be interested in what I’m talking about, that what they see when they search my name or my company name is exactly what I want them to see, and that they can learn and move forwards in their relationship with me from that moment onwards.
Jason Barnard on Singing One of the Songs From His Cartoon TV Series
[00:57:00] Toby Younis: So, before we leave, I wanted to ask you if you wouldn’t mind singing one of the songs from your TV series.
[00:57:09] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Ooh, ooh, ooh. It’s really difficult to choose. This is a surprise. I’ll sing hooray, another sunny day. Hooray, a sunny day to play. Hooray, another sunny day for you and me and me and you. Hooray.
[00:57:29] Toby Younis: We could use that. We’re having a gray, snowy day outside, so a little music helps.
[00:57:34] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Brilliant.
[00:57:34] Toby Younis: Shelley, anything else?
[00:57:36] Shelley Carney: No, I can’t think of anything else. We have asked all the questions that were on this paper. We’ve come to the end of our show. We have a lot of great advice here.
[00:57:47] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): That was a delightful 57 minutes and it’s gone by in an absolute flash. Thank you so much.
Jason Barnard on Singing Again to End and Say Goodbye to the Podcast Show
[00:57:52] Toby Younis: We’re glad that it went that way for you too. We always feel like we don’t ever have enough time, but what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m going to let Shelley do some closings, but then I’m going to take you off the screen. We’ve got to do our outros. And I’m not going to bore you through that, but I’d appreciate it if you’d stay on, so we can talk a little bit afterwards. All right. Shelley?
[00:58:09] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): Right. I can actually sing a goodbye.
[00:58:12] Shelley Carney: Okay.
[00:58:13] Toby Younis: All right. Do that.
[00:58:14] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): A quick goodbye to end the show. Thank you, Toby and Shelley. It was so lovely.
[00:58:22] Toby Younis: That’s good. I’m going to have to take up that whole singing outro.
[00:58:28] The Brand SERP Guy (Jason Barnard): See you later.
[00:58:31] Toby Younis: Thank you for your time. We do appreciate it.
Summarising the Information and Suggestions From Jason Barnard (The Brand SERP Guy)
[00:58:34] Shelley Carney: All right. Well, that was Jason Barnard with Kalicube. And we appreciate all that great information he has provided for us today. We’re going to take action on it, and we suggest you do the same. And that’s all we have for today. We’ll be back again next week with another presentation from Toby and Shelley. And what’s going on there?
[00:58:55] Toby Younis: Oh, you know what? I moved the table. There we go.
[00:58:58] Shelley Carney: Framing. Okay. That’s all I have. And we’re going to have a fun weekend getting ready for Halloween.
[00:59:06] Toby Younis: Well, if you’re not already aware of what just happened, you had almost an hour’s worth of some really good storytelling and in addition, some really good information that should be useful to you. I certainly found it beneficial for us, and I’m going to go investigate some of the things that Jason recommended to us. So, I felt like it was a very informative show, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. All right.
Look Out for More Shows and Activities by Toby Younis and Shelley Carney
[00:59:31] Toby Younis: In the meantime, we will see you next week at 4:00 with Shelley Carney LiveStream Coach on Wednesday. At 7:00, we’ll see you again with New Mexico Day Trips. We haven’t made a final decision about what we’ll be doing there. But if you haven’t seen this week’s, this last week’s show, please go to New Mexico Day Trips. Take a look at that. I think you’ll enjoy the program, because we did some cooking on our travels this time. Not big stuff, but it was fun. And it was in the wind, which was just amazing to do. And then of course, Shelley is on Thursdays with Jen, and that’s Thursday at 11:00 AM. Now, next week they’re doing a premier because Jen will be traveling.
[01:00:09] Shelley Carney: That’s right.
[01:00:10] Toby Younis: But you’ve already recorded the show for next week.
[01:00:12] Shelley Carney: That’s going to be awesome. It’s about email.
[01:00:14] Toby Younis: It’s about email. Oh, good. And then of course, we’ll see you next Thursday at 1:00. And all of these times are Mountain Daylight Time. When do we change? Is it this weekend?
[01:00:25] Shelley Carney: Soon.
Check Out Toby Younis and Shelley Carney’s Channels With Very Informative Programs
[01:00:25] Toby Younis: Yeah, it’s pretty soon. So, just look for us on all our channels, Shelley Carney LiveStream Coach, New Mexico Day Trips, Women Conquer Business, and Messages & Methods. So, they’re all very informative programs, so we appreciate if you take the time to go search those out and look for them. Other than that, I guess we can say our goodbyes.
[01:00:49] Shelley Carney: That’s right.
[01:00:49] Toby Younis: All right. Here we go. With that, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today.
[01:00:54] Narrator: Thank you for joining Messages & Methods: Livecast Live 2.0, hosted by Shelley Carney and Toby Younis. Please subscribe and leave a comment or question, and we’ll consider your ideas for future shows. Share this podcast with your family and friends, so they can learn about current digital marketing practices too. Check the show notes for links and resources, and please come back again next week.
