How to Fully Utilize Google Plus for More Traffic and Income
GUEST BLOG
I wrote a post on my blog about things a blogger must be, and my first point is that a blogger must be an ‘imperfect info conduit’. That is, a blogger is not required to know everything about his niche. He’s only expected to be able to make in-depth research and deliver quality information to his/her audience.
Google plus is one social networking site I really had problems with. I had been on Google plus just as any normal person would. Not until I learned that a business person has to always tweak his/her G+ profile until it is perfectly ‘marketing-optimized’.
I challenged myself and decided I was going to study Google+ hard, and thus become an expert!
I’ve therefore decided to share my experience with others like my former self, who are not really utilizing the networking and marketing potentials of Google plus to the fullest, and also to G+ pros who might still learn one or two things.
Everything about Google plus/+1 cannot be fully exhausted in just one post – I can write a 30-page eBook on it. So I’ve decided to pick on the aspects of Google+ that are salient, and vital to a business person’s marketing and networking success.
Profile
Your Google Plus profile page is the one place you can easily and conveniently manage your entire internet networking and marketing. It’s a big time-saver; give it your best shot.
In your profile page, you’ll be able to include detailed information about yourself.
We have sub-categories under the ‘Profile’ tab such as ‘Posts’, ‘About’, ‘Photos’, ‘Videos’ and ‘+1’.
I believe the ‘About’ page should be concentrated on mostly.
Here you can add everything you want to be known about yourself, but when it comes to business, details should be kept professional and not too personal.
- Tagline: include your tagline. A headline that describes who you exactly are and what your page is all about.
My G+ tagline reads; “I produce fresh content; hire me for any kind of writing. Stick around to learn more.”
- Introduction: this is where you put a little about yourself so people know they’ve found the correct you.
You can also add links here. I put two links here; one linking to my home page, and another to my ‘about me’ page.
- Occupation: this is where you include what you do in your profile. Visitors should easily and readily know what you do.
- Education: include your formal education. It’s also very important even for a business person.
- Employment: just as it sounds, fill in your employment details.
- Bragging rights: may include feats achieved; awards won, certificates earned, etc. You should include things that portray you as a professional.
- Links: include your links here. Add more than one link – probably your home page and any other page you would like to showcase.
You should also add other ways people can recognize and find you and your business online; links to your twitter acct, your Facebook page, LinkedIn ID, etc. This can be done in the ‘Other Profiles’ tab.
- Add other personal information as you deem fit, and as much as is allowed on G+. Stuffs like marital status and phone number.
In the ‘Photos’ tab, you should upload photos of yourself and your business – your products and services. As many as you can.
Few adjustments can be made here to suit your needs. For example, you can allow your circles to tag you in a picture.
Tip: Upload very detailed photos about your business; your business team and other behind the scene photos. It gives your customers a sense of familiarity with your business, and in turn, earns you their trusts.
Plus only few people have the patience to read a whole post, but everyone can see a photo – needs just a single view by the way. No wonder Pinterest grows at such rapid rate.
You should also employ a professional cover photo for your G+ profile; one that is so detailed and explanatory of your business.
The ‘Videos’ section allows you to upload as many videos as you can. You should include information videos about your products and services; saves non-readers much trouble.
Tip: uploading photos and videos keeps people engaged and will result in more time on your profile and more visitors on your website. Make sure the tab is visible on your profile.
The ‘+1’s’ tab shows posts that have been +1’d (or recommended) by you.
You can allow this tab to be visible on your profile too.
The +1 button is the most important internet marketing tool on the G+ profile page. Proper usage will drive traffic to your website.
Google +1 Button
This is one button you must have and utilize very well on your website. It’s a no brainer!
I won’t be going into the details of how to configure the +1 button, or how to install it on your website. Let’s leave that to the web designers.
I’ll only be highlighting few uses and benefits;
- It is used for public recommendation and sharing, and it is not confined to G+ alone.
- Users who +1 your content are indirectly recommending them to their followers, who might in turn +1 it, and so on. A great networking potential and more traffic there!
- Can be tracked and managed. Your +1’d posts can always be tracked and managed; edited or even deleted.
- Can be used to monitor how your reputation builds up, as you can use it to get metrics from Google Analytics and Google webmaster tools.
This will also help you understand your audience better; as you’ll be able to see which of your posts are +1’d the most. You’ll also b able to compare the +1’s you get on your page with that of other websites – or other pages on your website.
As you can now see, if you never knew; a site without the ‘+1’ button these days is like a marathon race participant taking a three times longer route than usual – that might even lead to a dead end.
Google Plus Page
Apart from having a Google+ profile, if you have a business you really want to promote online, then you should consider having a G+ page. A page dedicated to your business or your brand, just as on Facebook.
Pages interact in the Google+ world much as regular Google+ profile owners do—they can add people to circles (once those people have added them), edit their profile, share things in Google+, +1 stuffs on the web, and create and join Hangouts.
Your page can be marketing-optimized in the same way as described above for the personal Google+ profile, with only few differences.
The most important aspects here are the ‘tagline’, ‘profile photo’ and ‘links’ – and other tabs you feel are important to you.
The steps to getting a Google+ business page will be described below, and really, it’s very easy to set up.
- Go to http://www.google.com/+/business/ to sign up.
- Click on ‘Create your Google+ page’.
- Login with your personal Google account if you haven’t already.
- Pick out of the four categories in the next page.
- Enter all information asked for.
- Make a tagline and a profile photo, and go ahead with adding all other necessary info.
Google plus has so many advantages for users, especially marketers and other business persons – benefits that surpass that of any other social media and networking sites.
It is naturally SEO-endowed and it easily gets all your online networking and marketing covered.
It also gives a ready-made format for a great online resume, and allows one to be easily found too.
Its recommendation and sharing button can be easily used around the web without necessarily logging in. And +1’d posts are better picked up by search engines.
Kindly share other Google plus optimization tips you know with us in the comments box, or your experience with Google plus so far.
Author Bio:
Yomi-Alliyu Oludami is a freelance writer and a blogger in the writing niche. He is the founder of www.lucrativepen.com. You can hire him for fresh and quality contents via the ‘Hire Me’ page on his blog, or via his email: oludami@lucrativepen.com.
You can also follow him on twitter @oludami_LP.
