Joanna Wiebe

Your website gets traffic. People click. They scroll. But conversions? They never come. And most founders assume the culprit is this: 👉 “We just need better A/B testing.” Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Testing button colors or swapping headlines won’t fix a site that isn’t designed to sell. Why? Because most business websites aren’t built around the customer journey. They’re built around what the business wants to say. Which means visitors hit roadblocks like: ❌ Confusing navigation ❌ Pages that speak “features” but not outcomes ❌ Generic copy that feels like everyone else’s So where should your focus actually be? → On a conversion-first foundation: messaging clarity, value positioning, and frictionless design — before you ever test button A vs button B. Once that’s in place, A/B testing becomes fuel, not a band-aid. If you’re wondering why traffic doesn’t equal sales, it’s rarely about the test. It’s about the foundation. #SEO #ConversionOptimization #DigitalMarketing #SearchEngineOptimization #ContentMarketing #TheJohnKratos

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If you’re on Shopify and haven’t migrated to the new Checkout Extensibility then your tracking may break tomorrow. From tomorrow you will not be able to inject scripts into the ‘Thank You’ page via the additional scripts field. Anything outside of the Shopify-native integrations will not work. This affects GA, Google Ads, Facebook/Meta and any other tracking using the (now) deprecated checkout method/checkout.liquid. If you’re in this position you don’t have much time so here is a stop-gap approach to avoid losing tracking tomorrow: Step 1: Check if your store relies on any manual tracking scripts (this includes Google Tag Manager which you also need to check). You can find this in the additional scripts section for Checkout. Anything in here will stop working. Step 2: Where possible switch to Shopify-native tracking / built-in integrations. Step 3: Test, test, test. Test in staging, test in production and review data coming into your various platforms. You want to make sure that things are as stable as they can be before moving on to step 4. Compare numbers in platform to numbers in Shopify. Make sure consent works. Step 4: Start planning a move over to serverside tracking to have better control over all of this and have more resilient tracking over future Shopify changes. It will also give you better control over consent and the data you collect and send to the various platforms you use. There is a lot more that should be done but considering time left, I’d say this is the absolute minimum.

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Recently, someone asked me a simple question that turned into a much bigger conversation. Why would someone choose WordPress or other builders over an AI-generated website? My answer was: it depends. AI is incredible, and the new wave of auto-generated sites can look clean and modern. They’re fast to spin up, great for dynamic content, and perfect when you need something simple without the overhead. They shine when you want speed and automation, or when you’re building something that traditional content management systems don’t easily handle. But there’s a tradeoff. AI sites often miss the deeper brand story. They generate layouts, not identity. If you need a site that reflects who you are, how you communicate, and what makes your business different, AI alone won’t carry the weight. That’s where platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Wix, and SquareSpace come in. They’re built for design-centric brands, flexible layouts, and full control. They handle ecommerce with ease, integrate with extensions, and remain some of the best options for long-term SEO. If you want a site you can refine, expand, and grow over time, these platforms give you the tools to do it. So what about personal brand sites? Both paths work. If your goal is fast and simple, AI will get you there. If you want to dial in your messaging, update content regularly, publish blogs, or evolve your brand as you grow, WordPress or similar platforms make more sense. Both approaches have their place. It all comes down to the outcome you want. If you’re looking to launch a new brand, refresh your online presence, build landing pages, or create a site that actually supports your business goals, I’d be glad to help you choose the right path and build it with you.

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CANADIAN MARKETERS' AI USAGE: 74% of Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) members use generative AI tools for work at least weekly. This is ahead of the 62% average uptake amoung Canadian knowledge workers, which includes academics, physicians, engineers and scientists. We completed the Generative AI Readiness Survey in partnership with CMA member twenty44 and will be sharing more of the findings at our CMAai event today (April 10) and also in our CMA Connect podcast episode with Steve Mast, which is released tomorrow (April 11). You can also learn more in Strategy Online article. #CanadianMarketers #GenAI #marketing #CMAConnect

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Tech Stack Triage: What to keep, kill, or replace during a homegrown to Shopify replatform. A successful replatform isn’t just a data migration or “lift and shift.” It’s an opportunity to clean house, uncover bloat, and improve efficiency. Ask yourself these questions: ❓Which legacy systems are hurting performance? ❓What integrations are business critical? ❓Where can we leverage native Shopify functionality or SaaS? ❓What is the ROI / cost of owning [insert custom solution here]? ❓What efficiencies can be made if we had a more streamlined content deployment process? ❓How is our checkout performing? ❓What is the downstream impact (positive and negative) of replacing this feature/functionality? ❓Will product architecture need to change? ❓How much will it cost us if we don’t switch to a new platform this year? At Avex E-commerce, we help brands triage their current stack to simplify operations, reduce tech bloat, and unlock faster ROI. #shopify #ecommerce #avex

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Your domain isn’t just a URL. It’s a signal. A Canadian tech company we spoke with was struggling to grow in the U.S. The culprit? Their .ca domain. Their brand and messaging were solid. However, Google kept prioritizing them in Canada, not the U.S. Key insight: Search engines treat regional domains like local storefronts. This is great for owning your home market, but it can be a barrier if you’re aiming to scale globally. If international growth is part of your roadmap, your domain strategy can quietly limit you until it’s too late. This is something to solve before you hit the ceiling. #SEO #DigitalStrategy #B2BGrowth

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Adding volume can multiply problems faster than profits. The default solution to profit challenges is almost always "get more clients," but I've seen this approach backfire spectacularly for business owners who weren't prepared for the hidden costs of growth. More clients only improve profitability if your business model can handle increased volume without proportionally increasing expenses, complexity, or time investment. Here's what actually happens when you add clients to a business that isn't optimized for profitable growth: Your cost per client often increases because you need more tools, systems, and support to manage larger volumes effectively. Your profit per client typically decreases because you're spreading your attention across more relationships, reducing the quality of service you can provide to each one. Your operational efficiency often suffers because processes that work for 10 clients break down at 25 clients without proper systems in place. The solution isn't always more clients - sometimes it's better clients, higher prices, or more efficient delivery systems. One client I worked with was serving 47 active clients but taking home less money than when she had 20 clients because the additional volume created operational chaos that consumed her profit margins. Instead of pursuing more clients, we focused on optimizing her business for the volume she already had, which increased her profitability by 40% without adding a single new client. Before seeking more clients, ask yourself: Is my current business model profitable enough that more of the same would actually solve my financial challenges? Please get on my calendar if you'd like help optimizing your business for profitable growth rather than just volume growth. Link in comments. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #richbutbrokenomorewithfran

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Think you don’t need humans? 🤖 Think again. 🤔 If you’re thinking about using ChatGPT to churn out all your website content, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. 🤕 Google updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines (recommendations for humans doing content review) in January. Two salient points: 1. If the main content of a page is auto or AI-generated, it will be rated lowest. ⬇️ “Lowest rating applies if all of the main content on the page is copied, pasted, embedded, auto or AI-generated. Low-value pages with little originality and no added value will be rated lowest, even if the page includes credit for the content to another source.” 2. Cut the fluff 🐩 Filler content used to create pages that appear rich but lack value will also be penalized. Long articles with relevant keywords are great, but they need to contain valuable information. To summarize: High-value SEO is an important part of your SEO strategy but if your SEO just contains repetition of SEO it might not help your SEO as much SEO as you think so if you want SEO to improve your SEO you might need a different SEO strategy. SEO purple SEO pancreas SEO bunny. See what I did there? 😁 Thanks Liam Carnahan for the post inspo.

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After working with agencies across Canada, the US & UK, here’s what I’ve learned: The agencies that scale fastest don’t hire faster. They partner smarter. White-label is the secret weapon behind their margins.

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🆕 Fractional Futures Podcast 🎧🎙️ 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐄𝐎 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐬 In a new mini-series of 3 episodes, I'm joined by Ryan Jones from SEOTesting to chat all things SEO. In this episode we grapple with: 1.   Why SEO Experiments are Essential for Budget Efficiency 2.   Why Low-Risk SEO Experiments are Essential for Early-Stage Businesses 3.   Proving the Business Case for SEO Investment To access the episode, click the link in the comments below. ♻️If you got value from our discussion, feel free to reshare with your network. 👨‍🎓Not come across Fractional Futures before? Its the podcast where we speak with industry leaders about the real marketing challenges SMEs face, and the practical ways to solve them through fractional leadership. Each episode is just under 30 minutes with helpful insights and actionable takeaways. #podcast #SEO #FractionalFutures #VCMO

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Shopify’s 'Returning Customer Rate' is lying to you. And it’s killing your retention strategy. What’s your customer retention? Ask that question, and even seasoned DTC founders fumble. Everyone has their own version. Most are wrong. They check Shopify’s "Returning Customer Rate." Looks impressive. But totally unreliable. It counts customers who came back anytime. Even after 5 years. Even if you had zero new customers this month. Change the date range - watch it swing like crazy. Not a metric you can build on. Then there’s "Retention Rate." Sounds good. Means nothing in ecommerce. That’s for banks, telcos, insurance. Where customers are locked into contracts. In ecommerce? There’s no contract. No commitment. No true "retention." You either made a sale… Or you didn’t. Another favorite? LTV. Sounds smart. Still useless. Most brands bump AOV to make LTV look good. But "Lifetime" gives a false sense of comfort. You need to know if they’ll buy again soon. That’s why the real retention metric is: 90-Day Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR) Not LTV. Not Shopify dashboards. Not vanity charts. Just: How many customers buy again within 90 days You can measure it. Improve it. See results fast. Most customers who don’t reorder in 90 days… never will. Most brands? Struggle to cross 15–20%. And don’t even know it. That’s where we step in. We’ve built a 9-step framework to spike your 90-day RPR using data and customer insights. Not by spamming emails or guessing flows. If you’re a CPG brand doing 7-figures… And tired of guessing your retention... reach out in DM

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“Just toss in some random questions.” That’s how 88% of coaches treat the FAQ section on their landing pages. And it shows. Generic. Repetitive. Useless. It doesn't remove doubt, it adds more. But here’s the truth: Your FAQ isn't just filler, it’s your secret weapon for conversions. It’s where objections go to die. I once ran a heatmap on a client's landing page and noticed something weird: People were hovering over the FAQ… and bouncing. Why? Because the questions were things like: 🅇 “What is this course about?” 🅇 “Is this legit?” 🅇 “Do I need Wi-Fi?” (Yes, really) So we fixed it. How? We didn’t guess. We researched. To write a high-converting FAQ, You need to know what your buyer is really concerned about. Here’s how to find out: ☑ Review your sales calls. What objections come up every single time? That's gold. ☑ Check YouTube comments and competitor reviews. What are people complaining about? What are they confused about? ☑ Talk to old clients. What almost stopped them from buying? What sealed the deal? What would make them not return? ☑ Reframe all these into questions, then answer them in order of importance. Because your FAQ isn’t a Q&A section 🌟 It’s an objection-handling engine. Done right, it can double your conversions. Audit your FAQ right now. Ask yourself: “Does this answer real doubts?” “Does this handle risk, urgency, or uncertainty?” “Does this build trust and remove friction?” If not, rewrite it. Use real insights. Real language. Real objections. And don’t stop there… 🏆 End with a testimonial to reinforce belief. 🏆 Add a final CTA below it to close the loop. Your reader just got clarity , now give them a path to yes. Let’s make your FAQ section do the heavy lifting. Want me to look at yours? Drop a “FAQ” in the comments or shoot me a DM. I’ll pick a few people and give some free feedback. --- PS: The example I used is that of Chris Reilly PRO TIP: arrange your FAQ in the order of most occurring to least

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At 7-figure monthly spend, the difference between profitable and chaotic isn’t just about how good your ads are. It’s how well your system measures what’s working. Here’s the 3-layer tracking system we use across high-spend Shopify accounts to keep performance real and actionable 👇 1️⃣ Platform Layer (Meta / Google / TikTok) Purpose: surface signals. You still need to know what’s driving conversions, but attribution is directional, not truth. → Optimize to in-platform learnings. → Don’t make P&L decisions from Ads Manager. 2️⃣ Source of Truth Layer (Shopify / backend analytics) Purpose: validate revenue and CAC. We match spend to actual customer data, not just pixel fires. → Track new vs returning customer mix. → Align to blended MER and CAC. → Layer in cohort LTV for long-term clarity. 3️⃣ Insight Layer (Automation + AI) Purpose: translate the data into action. We automate a daily Slack digest that shows: • Top and bottom ads by ROAS and CPA • Spend by campaign • Trendline vs last 7 days • Quick AI summary on why performance changed This gives the entire team the same view every morning. No more arguments over attribution or what’s working. The truth: Most 7-figure brands lose efficiency because their data lives in silos. - Creative doesn’t see what finance sees. - Media buyers don’t see what retention sees. When you connect all three layers, your decisions stop being reactive and your scaling becomes predictable.

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Are AI search summaries killing your hard-earned website traffic? A lot of companies (including Mind Meld PR Inc.) have thrown a TON of effort into SEO over the years. 😱Thanks to AI, fewer people are clicking links that lead to your website. 💡 Instead, they're just using the search summaries and taking action from there. So your content may not be having the impact it used to have. Today, AI is focused on 'authoritative' sources. That means getting traditional media coverage (eg. Forbes, Inc., Business Insider, etc.) How do you boost your relevance so you show up in an AI search summary? Let's talk about #PR and how we can get you the media coverage you need. https://lnkd.in/gwxk9KgS

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