Google Consent Mode v2 and learning vs marketing, meeting on 17th April 2024
Posted by Paul Silver
On 17th April 2024, ten freelancers met in the Battle of Trafalgar pub to talk all things self employment and tech.
It was great to see Carl for the first time in years, he was back in town on other business.
Some of the topics we talked about:
- Google Consent Mode v2
- What causes delays in the issue of Let’s Encrypt SSL certs?
- Finding Country music you like – Sturgill Simpson
- Nashville trip
- Searching for work
- Learning Android development
- App ideas
- Costs of everything in New York
- The Eclipse
- Healthcare costs in the USA
- Popes… “well, they’re just replaceable, aren’t they?”
- Secondary schools now vs our childhoods
- Media recommendations: Baby Reindeer on Netflix, The Gentlemen by Guy Ritchie, Documentary: The Vow
- Moving stories
- Uglyography
- Podcasting / vlogging / the joy of being “on”
- Flooding and Shoreham flood defences
- Being engaging in audio
- The many niche podcasts
- New contract!
Highlights
Google Consent Mode v2
If you (or a client) use tracking on your website and online advertising like Google Ads, you’ll be affected by Google Consent Mode v2, with the deadline of it coming in (allegedly) on 1st May 2024. More about it here.
You’ll need to update how Google Analytics is used on your site to make sure you are following the level of consent now required due to new digital privacy laws. I’m going through this with a couple of clients at the moment. Good luck!
Learning something new vs increased marketing
To help yourself find more work, should you learn a new skill to add to your offering, or increase your marketing for your current skills?
In general, this is a decision that is all down to you. I’ve had to learn new skills in order to keep up with the market, but personally, I strongly believe that as long as you market yourself well, you will find work even when there isn’t much around. The problem with learning a new skill to add to your portfolio is time. It takes time to learn something new, and then time to find work doing that new thing. If the new skill is so in demand that you can get work in it immediately, all well and good, but if you’re still going to need to search for work after learning it, then the learning can be a form of procrastination.
Don’t procrastinate, market. By all means, learn something new, but get your marketing done first.