The Pubcast with Jon Loomer

Now that the Meta Verified subscription package test is rolling out, what do I think about it? Yeah, I have some thoughts...

The test for the Meta Verified subscription package has begun in Australia and New Zealand. Here's what we know...

If you're a brand and business owner who relies heavily on organic search referrals, the future of search may be scary to you. What can you do to prepare?

Luke and I meet at the Pub to discuss the latest news related to search and AI. In this episode of The Pubcast, we talk about the following...

2:30 Bard and Bing Search announcements and what they mean 13:00 The future of Search referrals 21:23 Searching businesses: "What Does Jon Think?" 28:00 The future of content indexing 35:18 How SEO might be impacted 40:35 The ChatGPT timeline 49:17 AI going mainstream

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How would AI-driven search engines (Answer engines) impact website content strategy? This is a question I've been asking myself as I consider the potential impact these search engines may have on organic referral traffic.

If you rely heavily on organic search referrals, you need to start asking this question. Your world may change very soon.

On one hand, we're in the midst of an AI renaissance. Facebook has the reputation of being on the cutting edge of automation, machine learning, and optimization. And yet, they still can't detect and deal with the most basic scams. Why?

Jon and Luke were joined at the Pub by Rachel Woods, founder of The AI Exchange (https://theaiexchange.com/). In addition to being an AI founder, Rachel is a must-follow on TikTok (The.Rachel.Woods), where she creates short videos that make the complex easier to understand.

In this episode, Rachel talks about...

2:06 Her background working for Meta 6:54 How she built her TikTok account quickly starting in November of 2022 11:22 How Rachel decided to work in AI while working in the wine industry 18:22 How AI can be used for automation 24:17 What she tells people who are afraid of their jobs getting replaced 30:17 What hasn't she automated yet that she wants to automate? 34:25 The importance of prompt engineering 42:54 Should we worry about privacy and sharing too much with AI? 48:10 What is the GPT Playground?

The future of AI is both exciting and scary. Some of the scary stuff is based on predictions, and we really don't know what's going to happen.

Seriously, I don't know. It's not my expertise.

But what absolutely is scary is the required change that is coming. We will need to change how we do business. How we consume content. Even how we live.

Everything is going to change super fast. And we don't know exactly what's going to change or how.

That's freaky.

We can prepare the best we can and put ourselves in the best possible situation. But the truth is that we are going to need to be flexible in the coming weeks, months, and years.

That's easier for some of us than others. I don't like change. Hell, I just hopped into video about eight years too late because of my resistance to change.

But the nice thing I can take from this is that it's change that we are all facing together. It won't be easy, but it will be easier as a group.

We can do this, y'all. I know we can.

It's okay to admit that you need a little bit of luck.

I don't mean that we don't deserve our success. But there's an element of being in the exact right place at the exact right time.

As I look back at the 11+ years in my business, I can't help but notice this. But I failed to appreciate it at the time.

I was laid off at the end of 2011. I wrote about Facebook ads -- not because I thought it was a smart topic (although it was), but because that's what I knew. I wrote a LOT because that's what I was good at and I didn't want to create videos. I had a soft-sell approach because I wasn't a marketer at heart.

All of this worked. It was the perfect time for all of this to work. It almost felt like it was set up for me to work. Not because it was some grand strategy of mine (it truly wasn't).

I'm not saying that I didn't work hard or that I SHOULDN'T have had success. I just realize now how the stars aligned for me.

The important lesson is that I took it for granted and maybe assumed that I did have some sort of magic touch, thinking that this approach worked then and would always work. It doesn't.

I had to evolve. I didn't (until recently). I'm now trying to catch back up.

Just remember that there are so many factors that contribute to your success, or lack thereof. Don't assume that what you've accomplished is some sort of blueprint that anyone could follow -- or even that you could follow again.

Along those lines, you might be doing everything right, but you just haven't had that break yet. It's easy to doubt yourself when that break hasn't come, that you're doing something wrong.

I'm getting more philosophical as my perspective grows longer in this journey. And this is something that has truly hit home lately.

What do you think?