Category: Google Plus

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Great Tips on Going Local With Google+

I just read this article at Website Magazine and wanted to share it with you. It has some great tips on going local with Google+ and how you can leverage exposure on Google. With local search results being pushed ahead of most organic results, leveraging your location makes great sense.

Here’s a quick synopsis as well as my own comments and suggestions on going local with Google+.

1. Make sure to focus on your About Page
Make sure your address and categories are listed as well as a descriptive paragraph about your business.

2. Encourage others to review you on Google+
I’ll add my own comments to this one… if you don’t ask you won’t get a review. Consider sending a link out to all your satisfied customers asking them to login to Google+ and leave some comments on your page. These recommendations can be a gold mine for your business so work to see if you can build your number of reviews. Don’t scam Google! I’ve seen some situations where reviews were clearly fake, don’t buy services to make fake reviews for your Google+ Local page. Google is getting too smart to not be watching the IP addresses on reviews at this point.

3. Build a free Google+ Community for your business
My comments again… Community pages are much more interactive that Google+ business pages. They operate more like a forum. You can have closed or open communities and even those by invitation only or moderator approved. For now Communities look stronger to me than Business Pages but Communities do not allow status update scheduling as Business pages do with third party apps.

4. Think about Google Offers
This could be good for local businesses. Here’s more information so you can dig deeper on this one. It appears kind of like Groupon but from Google. Interesting for possibly driving in discount traffic for certain types of businesses but not for everyone.

If you have another tip for going local, just click comments below and leave your own words of wisdom.

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Are Google+ Communities Better Than Google+ Business Pages?

Google+ Communities and what they mean for you.
Google+ Communities and what they mean for you.

Some interesting things just happened in the last few days, Google got very serious about Google+ and has started requiring Google users to enable Google+ integration. Now add to the mix Google’s new addition of Google+ Communities!I would definitely keep an eye on Communities, from my perspective. For some businesses, creating a Google+ Community for their business may allow more interaction with users than the typical Google+ Business page. For now, Google+ Communities look like a great option for merchants or brands with a strong following and not yet for the typical small to medium sized business owner. To see some examples take a look at this very interesting article on Google+ Communities from Website Magazine.

Google+ Communities are not like Facebook Groups, nor are they like a Google+ Business page. They are a hybrid and much more interactive than a Google+ Business page. First, you can invite people to join your +Community versus hoping someone will discover your Business page. Second, you can do video hangouts and others can post to your wall, share +1’s with other community members, post and hold events, and easily share content. Also typically, a Google+ Community page will have a moderator and a higher degree of interaction than would a typical Google+ Business page.

Think of your Google+ Business page like your business card or brochure and your Google+ Community like a free and wide ranging forum. The real power, from my point of view, comes into play with the ability of Communities to share +1 activity in the Google.com personalized search results. For those owning Communities that is a very, very powerful tool and may be the next big thrust for SEO and web visibility to be leveraged in 2013.

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Want a Vanity URL for Google+ Now? Here’s How to Get One

Although Google+ is getting ready to create vanity URLs they don’t have them available for everyone right now. So GPlus.to has created a way for you to use their third party app to create a short easy to share URL for your Google+ profile page.

It’s simple go to GPlus.to and set up an account, enter in your Google+ long URL and create a simple short vanity URL.

Here’s a short video that give you the steps if you want to watch. Just remember that if GPlus.to goes away in the future that your marketing and branding efforts are for naught, but this does make your URL way more sharable.

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Using Google+ Posts for Improved Web Visibility

Get going with Google+ for your business.
Get going with Google+ for your business.

Here are just a few tricks to help with web visibility when it comes to using Google+. First, it is important to know that your posts will appear in the Google.com search index. Your first line will actually appear as the title in the search results, so make sure that you consider what you’ll write first and make it work to your advantage.I’ve found more often than naught that my personal profile posts will be in the search results more frequently than my business page posts. Remember also that there is no limit on the number of links that you can add to a post, but I recommend not going link crazy. You’ll want something readable yet memorable while still being sharable for your update.

I’ve found that the Google+ community is more visual than text oriented and so make sure to use images, links — as Google will auto add the image for you, and videos.

While you are thinking of how you can leverage Google+ to your advantage, don’t forget to optimize your About page. You can embed links into your profile information so make sure to point back to important pages for more information on your website.

Google does not allow automation or scheduling of any kind to personal profiles. They do however allow automation to business pages. This unique difference assures that the voice on your Google+ personal profile is real. This authenticity is one of the reasons that I personally like Google+ but find it problematic for client’s to embrace for their own business’ web visibility. For now we don’t offer Google+ status update writing to personal pages, but do provide services posting to business profiles.