Welton Hong

Written by Welton Hong, Ring Ring Marketing One spring morning, a funeral director in Ohio logged into her email and found a pleasant surprise. A family had attended her grief support group the night before, and when she asked how they discovered it, the answer was simple: “We saw a question about it on your Google listing.” That question had been posted weeks earlier by someone browsing the funeral home’s Google Business Profile. The funeral director had answered promptly, and her response wasn’t just seen by the original poster — it became a lasting, public message for anyone searching for comfort and guidance. In a profession built on trust, that digital interaction had a ripple effect, opening the door for more families to connect with her services. But starting this fall, that kind of online visibility may look very different. […]

Written By Welton Hong, Ring Ring Marketing On a chilly Monday morning, the phone at Harrison & Cole Funeral Home stayed eerily quiet. The funeral director, Melissa, couldn’t understand it. Just two weeks earlier, families were calling steadily about preplanning and immediate services. Now — nothing. Out of curiosity, she looked at her website. The pages loaded slowly, and the contact form seemed broken. If Melissa had been watching her analytics, she would have seen the red flags: a sharp drop in traffic, fewer phone-click events and visitors abandoning the site within seconds. Instead, she was flying blind. That’s where Google Analytics 4 (GA4) comes in. GA4 is Google’s free tool for tracking how people use your website. It replaced the old Universal Analytics system in July 2023 — and for funeral homes, it’s more than just a tech upgrade. […]

By Welton Hong, founder and CEO of Ring Ring Marketing When a family is grieving, patience is thin, and needs are urgent. If your website hesitates, they won’t: They’ll leave your website and choose the next funeral home in the search results. Multiple studies show the cost of a slow site. For instance: 53% of the time, someone will abandon pages that take longer than three seconds to load, according to Google. The chance a visitor bounces jumps 32% as load time grows from 1 to 3 seconds, and 123% from 1 to 10 seconds on mobile, according to Google. Conversion-focused research conducted by HubSpot finds the best conversion rates happen between 0 to two seconds, with sharp declines as seconds pile on. If your pages routinely exceed a few seconds to load, the implications are clear: People feel that […]

Written by Welton Hong, Ring Ring Marketing As Google phases out third-party cookies by the end of 2025, funeral home owners must prepare for a major shift in how they attract, track and retain potential client families. For years, third-party cookies allowed businesses to follow users across websites, serve personalized ads and gather valuable behavioral data. Now, with that capability vanishing, death-care professionals need to double down on first-party data and relationship-driven marketing. Before we explore how funeral homes can stay competitive, maintain market share and grow in a cookie-less future, why are third-party cookies disappearing in the first place? Google’s decision to remove third-party cookies from Chrome — the most widely used browser — follows growing concerns over online privacy and consumer data protection. Without these cookies, advertisers and businesses lose visibility into user behavior across the web, making […]

Written By Welton Hong If you haven’t looked at your Google Business Profile lately, now’s the time. Google has quietly rolled out several powerful new features that make business profiles more than just digital listings — they have become a real-time marketing tool. For funeral home owners who want to retain market share, attract more calls, and connect with families at the exact moment they’re searching, these updates are too important to ignore. Here’s what’s new — and how to make it work for your funeral business. Product Highlights: Showcase Your Services Like Never Before What’s new: Funeral homes can now list services and packages in the “Products” section of their profile — complete with descriptions, prices (optional), and images. Why it matters: Most families searching for a funeral home are in decision mode. Clear, easy-to-scan information about cremation, traditional […]