Can’t I Just Hide Under my Comfy Rock?

Every Tuesday at noon and Wednesday at 8:30am we have a social media training class for our partner clients (and anyone else who signs up). I’m going to do my best to share snippets from those classes each week going forward!

This week we talked about online reputation management. What that means in English:

• Know what is being said about you online
• Proactively get more positive things said about you online
• How do you respond to what is being said?

We had a good round of laughter when I said-politically incorrectly-that if you are invisible- you suck! People think you don’t exist!

(I forgot there are some people in class in that situation for their companies on social media – didn’t mean to make anyone feel bad- but I think they got my point!)

Over my professional life we have gone through phases of what people expect when they are researching you:

• Business cards had to have fax numbers
• Then email addresses and websites
• Now social media addresses

I frankly don’t bother with business cards-email or text me the info and I’ll look you up online.

The point is: even if you’re not personally on social media, if your target audience is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc, they are definitely looking for you there.

If you aren’t there, or you aren’t communicating, they think you aren’t legitimate or aren’t worth talking to.

Being Afraid of Online Complaints is the WORST Reason to Avoid Social Media

I meet people every day who are still very afraid of what might be said about them online.

These are good companies, but we all run into situations where we can’t make everyone happy all of the time.

Critical concept to understand:

They Will Talk About You Somewhere Online- Whether You Like It or Not

If someone wants to say something about you, they have many, many different avenues available to them online, they will get the word out, whether you have your own Facebook page or not. And if that one negative thing is the only piece of information about you online, it will HURT you.

Ignoring it isn’t an option. It won’t go away.

So what should you do:

1. Be proactive
2. Establish your social media profiles (you can start with one main social media channel, wherever your target market hangs out the most)
3. Optimize it
4. Communicate Regularly (you can sit down once a week and schedule your posts to go out daily with tools like www.hootsuite.com)
5. When there is an ocean of engaging, thoughtful, valuable information that your target audience enjoys, interacts with, finds useful/entertaining – then when one red herring pops onto the scene it doesn’t matter, it flooded out in the ocean of goodness. It actually just makes you look more credible because you are showing the whole picture.
6. When/if you get a bad review – turn it into a customer service opportunity!

That’s a slice of what we covered this week. If you’re interested in social media training for your business, learn more here.

Download our Ultimate Guide to Google+ for Small Business Owners for some step-by-step guidance for getting started on this relatively new social network!

Conversions are the goal of your page, and can include:

•  Sales
•  Submission of contact form
•  Downloads
•  Newsletter sign ups
•  Registration
•  Phone calls (if you’re not using a unique tracking number on your website, you ought to be)

Needless to say, the pages that your traffic is landing on (called landing pages) have a massive impact on whether or not someone converts. You can’t expect that creating a website with the goal of getting traffic will get your visitors to take action.

Before I pick up on this idea, here’s a quick intro for those who aren’t hip to my internet lingo.

There are two main types of landing pages- one that reached through unpaid search engine ranking (AKA organic rankings), or one that is reached through a paid search campaign.

SEO Landing Pages vs. PPC Landing Pages

SEO landing pages- are the regular pages on your site that are found through a user typing a keyword that your site ranks for into Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the rest.

PPC landing pages- can either be a regular page on your site that has been designated for the specific campaign, or a stand-alone page created specifically for & only visible through PPC clicks. A stand alone landing page typically doesn’t have navigation to the rest of the site, and cannot be found by browsing the site.

The Internet Average Conversion Rate is 2%

To put that in perspective- get 200 visits a day, & expect to get 4 leads. Get 2000 visits a day, & expect to get 40 leads.

Since we’re not all Amazons and Ebays, increasing your conversion rate is probably easier than increasing your traffic. As a matter of fact, since search engine rankings consider conversion rates as an indicator of relevance, improving your conversion rate can actually lead to increasing your traffic.

Here’s a quick video clip on how to optimize your landing pages for success. Take a look, and then read on for some more tips & examples.

Here’s a few ways these pages should be working for you:

1. The page needs to be relevant to the keywords that you’ve targeted & ranked for

A person searching for patio furniture clicks an organic result and arrives at a website with several images of indoor furniture. Even if the retailer sells both, the imagery makes the site seem irrelevant, and with 1,000,000,000,000 other search results, it’s easier to click back and select another one that will give you what you want right away without having to work for it.

Similarly, in a paid campaign, do not bid on a keyword that you don’t have an appropriate landing page for. Rarely should you ever direct ppc traffic to your home page- it should go straight to the most specific page for that search term (or you should create a special landing page for it).

2. The page needs to tell the visitor what to do

Consider the keywords that are used to find your page & what stage of the buying cycle the visitors are likely in. Use this info to create the best call to action possible, and make it obvious what action the visitor should be taking.

It goes without saying that if you have one generic call to action across your full site- for example, complete this contact form- and a user has landing on an emergency repair service page.

It might be easier for them to find one of your competitors that has a more prominent and relevant call to action for emergency service- like a 24 hour hotline or to join a real time chat.

3. The page needs to look easy enough to read at a glance that it doesn’t feel burdensome to the visitor

Landing page written like a novel?

No chance that content is going to urge your visitors to take action. Instead, it will send them running.

Making it scannable helps to hold their attention, and makes your brand seem more reputable- after all, if you have something valuable to say, wouldn’t you format it to get read?

Did You Just Have an Aha! Moment about your site?

If so, you might benefit from one of our upcoming free seminars in Hamilton, ON or Milton, ON. Register today (or if you have burning questions that just can’t wait, contact us for a FREE consultation).

photo credit to Nathan Jones under CC2.0

If you answer no, you’re either:

• Involved in the internet marketing industry
• The exception, not the rule
• Confused about what results are paid and what ones are organic

If you have yet to use this tool to generate leads for your business, or aren’t sure if you’re getting it quite right, this brief video outlines the steps of creating a campaign.

Consumers Click on Paid Ads. We Have Proof.

Check out our case study that demonstrates PPC advertising bringing more than 15X the traffic that Yellow Pages and Canada 411 listings do.

For the average B2C company, PPC secures close to the same amount of leads that SEO does. If you’re not doing a paid campaign, or you’re not doing one well, you’re missing out on almost double the leads you’re currently getting.

When a keyword phrase signifies buying intent (as opposed to research) paid listings outperform organic 64.6% to 35.4%.

Many Landscape Contractors Fail to Manage Their Campaigns for the Greatest Success

It is possible to manage a PPC campaign in-house, but you will only succeed if you are targeting the right keywords. Selecting the phrases that your visitors will click through and convert (submit their contact info, purchase, or whatever your goal is for them) is what internet marketing agencies excel at. This is what gives you the best return on your advertising budget.

And the exciting thing about PPC: contrary to tradition print ads, you can determine your return on each advertising dollar with 100% confidence.

Curious to know Which Competitors are Reaping Rewards from Paying for Clicks for Your Keywords?

Investigate For Yourself. Type in the words that you think your consumers would search to find a service like yours.

Once you do this, it’s easy to see the benefits of paid search engine listings in action.

When doing a search for “landscaping Milton”, without scrolling down the page, here’s what I notice:

1. There are 7 organic listings
2. There are 9 paid listings
3. 5 of the organic listings do not display any page description or ad copy
4. All of the paid ads display ad copy (some not well optimized, but the opportunity to persuade the consumer is there)
5. The ad copy can be targeted at the exact search term the user entered, allow it to easily establish relevancy for the searcher, while you have less control over the page description that displays for an organic.

Now is the time that homeowners are searching for landscape contractors to complete their spring projects. Don’t lose out on leads who are ready to buy- sign up with Google Adwords  today, evaluate your existing campaigns, or contact WSI Milton & enjoy an increase in business this spring/summer.

To be able to provide the best internet marketing products and services to our clients, we’re constantly enriching our knowledge by attending industry conferences on SEO and PPC.

We make sure that we know what’s working and what’s not.

This is part of our goal to provide the best products and services to our clients.

Internet Marketing is Constantly Evolving…

Google alone has mentioned that over 500+ search engine algorithm updates are made each year. They’ve also released the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates, which aims to eliminate or at least reduce search engine spam.

If you’re a small business owner, we’d like to share several tips and takeaways from the conference.

But first, Watch this 6 sec video made using Vine which gives you a quick tour of SMX Toronto.

Awesome. RT @ryancruzrn: my first #vine 6 sec vid thnx 2 @kmullett via @ryancruzrn @wsiryan #smx 2013 vine.co/v/bp3EwUrUK53

— Kevin Mullett (@kmullett) March 21, 2013

#pintastic tips. Pinners 1st. Curate collection. Inspire. Be authentic. Share. w/ @socialmicheller at #SMX Toronto — Smartest Guy In CA (@smartestguyinca) March 21, 2013

Don’t use G+ for express purpose of SEO. With no engagement you will fail @samfiorella #SMX — Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 20, 2013

Ultimate guide to #TwitterChats #SMX Toronto docs.google.com/spreadsheet/cc… — Michelle StinsonRoss (@SocialMichelleR) March 21, 2013

Be careful when translating content to target multiple countries. Check with GWMT guidelines for dup issues. #SMX 2013 via @andyatkinskruge — Ryan @WSIMilton (@wsiryan) March 21, 2013

Testing and Keeping Search Engines Happy at the Same Time semrush.com/blog/tips/test… — Sean Malseed (@seanmalseed) March 22, 2013

Rule 101 on Privacy – Never share something on #Facebook that you will regret later on. (@jenerationy #SMX Toronto) – FB Graph — Ryan @WSIMilton (@wsiryan) March 21, 2013

If there’s a tool that’s gonna help, USE it. (via @pjmckeown #SMX Toronto 2013 #socialmedia #Seo) — Ryan @WSIMilton (@wsiryan) March 21, 2013

Engagement on Google+ communities are 10 to 1 better than Facebook groups. @samfiorella #SMX — SEJournal (@sejournal) March 20, 2013

81% of people reach out to family and friends on social sites before purchasing a product #SMX — Leanne Labelle (@LeanneLabelle) March 21, 2013

Social proof is understanding the personalization of influence marketing #SMX via @samfiorella — Gary Henderson (@GaryLHenderson) March 21, 2013

59% of consumers say user generated reviews have significant impact on buying behaviour #smx — Peter Broadley (@pbroadley) March 21, 2013

When guest posting…aim high, make sure the pitch will solve a problem of the editor @stonetemple #SMX — Benj Arriola (@BenjArriola) March 20, 2013

80% of Pinterest users are women 50% have childrenavg age 35-40 – are these your users @socialmicheller #SMX — Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 21, 2013

78% of consumers trust their friends recommendations when making a purchase decision #SMX — Laura Hagerman (@LauraHagerman) March 21, 2013

Our social media strategy is also about building relationships and engaging with people.

(photo credit by Wonderlane under CC 2.0)

And here are just some of the results of social media when done properly. It’s big social proof for you and your customers.

#ItsAboutOthers: Yesterday it was about @ryancruzrn, who put the “social” in #SMX. Sought me out & struck up a conversation. #79 of #365 — Kevin Mullett (@kmullett) March 21, 2013

@wsiryan Yes! “Just Discovered” is available to free users, though number of results is limited (just like inbound links) — Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 21, 2013

@wsiryan Thanks for attending my sessions! Hope they were helpful. Enjoy the rest of the conference! #SMX — Jennifer Wong (@JenerationY) March 21, 2013

@wsiryan Thanks Ryan!

— BuzzStream (@buzzstream) March 21, 2013

 

As part of our growing commitment to provide the best internet marketing products and services to our clients, we’ll definitely attend more events and conferences like these.

If you are not yet on Google+, we are inviting you to join Google’s own social network (because it’s awesome, and it’s Google). Click here to join Google Plus. (Another SEO Tip)

Then visit our Google+ Business page to connect with us.

(photo credit by jimbowen0306 under CC2.0)

The ultimate goal  of the search engines is to provide the most relevant and useful of information for the keywords being searched. And in order to achieve this goal, Google has to “weed” out spammy and irrelevant websites from the top of the search results.

While Google claims to make at least several hundred updates in a year (500+), they have also released several “animal” updates targeting low quality websites.

@gregrysmith yes. 500+ algo launches/year mean 1-2 a day. I know of at least one other algo rolling out over same timeframe for example.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) September 30, 2012

These “animal” updates are popularly known as the Panda and Penguin updates. The Panda update was launched in February 2011 which targeted low quality websites with duplicate content, content farms, and thin pages of content. Currently, there have been 24 Panda updates since it was first launched.

The Penguin algorithm update was launched last April 2012 to target spammy link building techniques like irrelevant links, unrelated blog posts, and link networks.

How to Determine if your Website has been affected by the Panda and Penguin updates?

Open up your Google Analytics and check your traffic and keyword stats. Go to the day view and check your stats to determine when your traffic dropped.

Check with the dates below to find out if you have been affected by the Panda or the Penguin update.

Implementing just 1 or 2 of these strategies will definitely help your business gain more exposure and traction in the search engines(Google+ authorship).

1. Interact with followers Worldwide (or local) via Google+ hangouts on Air

Chocolate lover? Cadbury.co.uk launched a Google+ Hangouts on Air (HOA) to reach with some of their customers eye-to-eye and face-to-face.

Don’t have a worldwide audience? Use Google+ Hangouts on Air as a way to launch new products, make announcements, conduct client calls. And most importantly it let’s you broadcast your hangout and it will then be uploaded to your Youtube account.

Cadbury case study on Google Plus by Natascha Ljubic

2. How to and Demonstration videos

It’s still one of the most powerful ways to boost engagement online.

Teach people how something is done.  Provide people with tremendous value.

As an example,If you’re a landscaper, you can teach them how to select the right soil type, mulch, and landscape materials. Record them with an HD smartphone or any decent camera.

Chef Hangouts like this one provides great value by demonstrating how they prepare wonderful dishes.

Upload them in Youtube or Start a Google+ hangout then promote those videos in your social networks, website and email list.

3. Start a Live Q & A session

There are 2 reasons why you want to hold a live Q & A session with your clients and potential customers.

1. Understand their biggest concerns. While providing answers to their questions, take note of the questions that are being brought up quite often. They can be used as inspiration for your next blog posts.

2. Engagement with your customers tells a lot about how you handle your business and it also gives you authority on what to do next.

4. Giveaways and Freebies

If done correctly, freebies, discounts and giveaways are one of the best ways to generate tons of interest and traffic to your brand.

Remember to give something that has perceived value. Giving away something that is has little to no-value will just hurt your brand.

Just make sure that you’re contest and promotion rules abides with Google’s TOS. Some examples of things that you shouldn’t do would be:

- Requiring to +1 your Page/community or the Google+1 button in order to qualify for the promo.

Here’s an example how this guitar maker got this singer to 1 million followers in just 8 months, just by giving away great products.

5. Give them a Sneak Peek Behind the Scenes

Probably the best example that I can provide here was how the President of the United States, used social media to engage with his audience.

Obama has really tapped into the social networks’ power. They have a Blog, A Google+ page and even a Google+ HOA which you can watch here.

If you’re a small business owner, show case your warehouse, client portfolios, completed jobs or you can even be creative just like what this computer company have in mind for supporting their clients.

Even though you might already be reaching a good number of consumers through Facebook, there are a number of reasons why you should be on plus too. A lively G+business page means that your visibility will increase for those who have you in circles or extended circles, and it will also mean improved Google search engine rankings.

Google+ VS Facebook

Get Started +1ing

Create a new page under your personal profile. If you don’t have a personal profile, here’s how to set one up.

Optimize your page:

Add profile image- This image will show on the top of your page, as well as in G+ search results. Use your brand logo, and ensure that it can fit within the 52 X 52 pixel square without having anything cut off.

Add cover photo- Your cover photo is a banner image 940 X 180 pixels, that is a good representation of the brand. If you are a retailer of products, the ideal image to use is a lifestyle photo of your target demographic using your products. If you provide a service, use your cover photo to highlight a portfolio image.

Add Tagline- Your tagline is important, as it will serve as the description that displays along with your page in search results. Use your keywords, focus on the results/benefits for your target consumers, and try to abide by the suggested 10 word limit so that nothing is cut off by search engines.

Ie: Innovative and time saving tools for the wind energy industry.

Introduction- Include links to your other social profiles in the intro section. In addition, expand on how you change the lives of your consumers for the better with your product/service.

Check settings- Ensure that all of your posts are shared and visible publicly.

Dress up your profile with images/video

Create very specific albums named with your keywords. For example, if you are a home remodeling company, create different albums based on rooms or projects, rather than one large portfolio album.

If you have a company YouTube account, upload your brand’s videos onto your page as well.

10 Tips to Cultivate Engagement

1. Send an email promoting your new page, and post about it on existing social networks, Give current followers a reason to connect with you in this new way. For example, a coupon code that you make only visible to followers.

2. Take advantage of the ability to make long posts (up to 100,000 characters), and make mini blog posts within the platform to answer questions and add value for your audience.

3. Create fill in the blank posts.

4. Show followers that there is a real person behind the page by responding to every comment that is made.

5. Share other users content.

6. Tag posts and make them more searchable by using hashtags before your keywords.

7. Make your posts more eye catching by including an image that demonstrates the topic the post is related to (extra points for overlaying text on your image), and by bolding your headline. You can do this by using an asterisk (*) before and after the title or headline of your post.

8. Tag brand enthusiasts in your posts by using +username.

9. Ask questions/encourage sharing of opinions.

10. Aim for an 80/20 ratio of sharing other people’s content to sharing your own.

Now get to it

It’s about time you started experiencing the SEO results and brand loyalty that come along with having an active Google+ account. Start using this not-so-new social platform today, and tag +wsi Milton and +Laura Hagerman in your first business post!

This minimalistic guide to Handling your Photo and Video for Google+ would like to provide you with the simplest way to manage your multimedia content and share them to the world.

There are many ways to upload, tag and share your videos and images in Google+.

Some people like professional photographers, have complex workflow before they upload the pictures in Google+, but as a small business owner, we’d like to leverage the power of Google+ by bringing more visitors to our websites, without spending a lot of time figuring this new technology.

I’ve tried numerous combinations and I’ve tried to figure out the simplest ways to upload pics and videos in Google+. There may be other ways to do it, but this is what’s working for me.

2 Great methods to share your video and content in Google+

1. Use your Smartphone

2. Use Picasa (Google’s very own image and desktop publishing software)

How to Use your Iphone (or any Smartphone) with Google+

Sorry Android users, I’m using an iOS enabled phone, but the concept is basically the same.

a. Grab the latest Google+ app for your smartphone. (or update them if you haven’t done it yet). Launch the app.

b. Sign-in using your Google Plus account.

c. Usually it will ask you if you want to use Instant Upload.

*Be Careful that you choose only to Upload when you are connected via Wifi connection or else you’ll get a huge bill for data charges.

d. I usually turn Instant Upload ON with only wifi connection enabled. This way, anything that I took via my smartphone will instantly be uploaded to Google+. How cool is that?

If you are worried that they will be automatically be shown publicly, you don’t need to. The images and videos you’ve “Instantly Uploaded” will only be available on your own profile and they will not be shared to other people unless you explicitly enable it.

The default instant upload creates an album just for your own viewing pleasure.

e. Take Snapshots and upload them later or you can immediately upload using your phone.

* You can choose to share them with a specific circle only (your clients, suppliers, etc), publicly or just to yourself.

* You can add locations if you have a GPS enabled phone. Just finished a client renovation? Take a snapshot with location and share it with your customer.

What?? No smartphone?

Then check out Method 2

How to Use Picasa with Google Plus (you need a computer though)

You don’t need expensive software like Photoshop or Lightroom to edit your pictures and add effects like Orton, Lomo, Sepia, B&W, Saturation, and more.

Just download Picasa (which is Free) and sign in with your Google+ account. BTW you can use Picasa without a Google+ account because it’s a standalone desktop program, but there’s a huge benefit of using Picasa with Google+

* You can use Picasa to edit your pictures. You can crop them, remove red eye filters, etc with just a few clicks of the button.

* You can create albums inside Picasa and they can be synced automatically in your Google+ account.

* Picasa can handle videos, and images and you can also share them with specific circles that you’ve created in Google+

* There are many features in Picasa, but since this is a minimalist guide, here’s my basic workflow:

1. Upload pictures to computer (via memory card, dropbox, dvd, camera, d-slr) and save it into your My Pictures folder.

2. If you have set Picasa to monitor My Pictures folder, the pictures will automatically be added to the Picasa database when you open up the program.

3. Edit the pictures to your hearts content. I love to crop my images and add some effects (Sepia, B&W and Orton). This is usually done in less than 5 mins. No need to learn complicated software.

4. Click the Share Button or Upload button. Make sure you’re signed into your Google+ account.

You can then add blurbs and descriptions to your pictures, add a location, and share it to the public or your circles.

Huge Tip: Use the first line as an SEO Title. This line is used as the title snippet that is shown in the search results. Make sure you target a keyword here if you want the full seo benefit of Google+ posts.

There you have it– 2 easy, yet very powerful ways to handle videos and images with Google+

If you like this Minimalist Guide to Google+ Video and Images, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends and family members.

Do you know other “Minimalistic” strategies in using Google+? Share them with us by sending me a message in Google+ or by leaving a comment below. 

This post is part of our Ultimate Guide to Google+ for Small Business Owners (coming soon!)

Photo Credit by JoeHart42 under CC2.0

One of the main reasons a lot of small business owners are unsure about using Google+ is because they are apprehensive about learning a new technology.

Using Google+ is not rocket science, but the purpose of this guide is to make it as easy as possible to learn and navigate the growing social media platform.

1. Settings

The very first thing that you need to do once you’ve signed up and completed your Google+ profile is to simply edit your settings.

I usually set who can interact with me to “ANYONE”. I would like everyone to be able to contact me via Google+. You can choose to be notified via email or phone number. I usually just set it to email.

You can uncheck notifications to several mentions, posts, and interactions within Google+ so that Google+ will not constantly send you email notifications.

The most important notifications for me are:

a. When someone mentions me in a post
b. Starts a conversation with me.
c. Comments on a post I created (important for engagement)
d. Tags me in a Photo

2. Explore

This tab can be found by clicking on the “Explore” button in your left sidebar.

A. What the explore tab looks like

1. The Explore Tab showcases what’s hot and recommended in Google+ – This is a great way to see what’s being liked and shared by a lot of people.

2. The Slider – You can increase the updates or completely pause the updates on this stream. If you are constantly being overwhelmed with updates on this tab, you can “slide” the settings down.

3. Trending in Google – showcases what’s being talked about for that particular day and time. Currently, Super Bowl is in trending because of the raving fans who are talking and sharing content about it.

4. Suggested Communities – You can also join communities that Google thinks you’ll love. You can check them out, and if it aligns with your interests, then you can join that community and contribute.

3. Circles

Google plus Circles is more like categorizing people into your “own” group or Circles. What you’ve shared in your “Circle” will not be visible in other “Circles” or groups. But don’t get too excited and create too many circles, because you’ll have a hard time managing them.

If you’re a small business owner, I would highly recommended these settings:

1. Personal Circle – family, relatives, close friends
2. Work Circle – Employees (if you’re self employed and you only have one or two employees, you may want to skip creating this circle)
3. Suppliers and Vendors – Include their business pages if they have any.
4. Clients – You may want to separate Potential Clients from Actual clients, but you can also merge them as one.
5. Industry based Circle – This is important. Separate circles based on Industry. You can have a Photography Circle, a Small Business Circle, etc.

4. Google Plus Local

Ever since Google replaced Google Places with Google Plus Local, it’s now more important than ever to optimize your Google+ Personal Profile and your Google+ Local Listing.

Click the Local Button on the left tab and search for your business name. Choose the right location first. Setting up a Google Plus Local page is part of our search engine optimization process and by optimizing it properly, your business will be found more often in local search results.

5. Google Communities

Google Plus communities is where you can easily find people who share the same passion. Think of forums and online bulletin boards, but it just got a lot faster and more interactive.

Most of the time you might find that there is no existing community for your niche, you might consider starting one (3). But for most people, joining a community would be the best entry point for using Google+ and interacting with other people.

6. Google Photos and Instant Upload

This is simple and very straightforward, just upload your images and create albums. You can share them publicly, privately (you only) or to specific circles.

If you have a smartphone, download the Google plus app and you can instantly upload (then share) your pics directly from your phone.

Some ideas on how to use Google+ Photos for your business.

1. Take snapshots of your business receipts and expenses for accounting purposes. Share them with your bookkeeper and yourself.

2. Snap a picture of the completed work that you’ve done. And share them with your clients or share them publicly so that your potential clients can see the wonderful job that you can deliver.

3. Be personal and engaging. Snap photos of conferences, events, seminars that you’ve hosted and attended and share them publicly. This increases your credibility and tells people that you’re an actual person and not just a random bot.

7. Google Chat

Still using Skype?

Try Google Plus Chat. You can call and speak to them like skype. You can also conference call up to 15 people by using Google Hangouts.

Skype has a group “video chat” version, but I believe there’s a subscription for it. Google plus chat and hangouts are free services provided by Google.

Want to try and test the new Google+ Chat?

Connect with me via G+, you might just catch me for a quick chat

Conclusion

There are more features in Google+ and additional options will be added later on. But it’s not rocket science- you just have to dive in and start using this social network.

What now?

Start navigating to your Google Plus Profile and start tinkering a bit. If you need help setting up your social media profiles and implementing a successful internet marketing strategy, you can contact us here.

Here’s a screenshot of how our clients have used Google+ to improve their website’s traffic and search engine rankings (by increasing the Click through rate to their websites).

This strategy is a part of our Google plus Authorship Guide.  You can immediately improve your website’s SEO by simply implementing authorship to your websites.

In order to complete Google+ Authorship, you’ll need to complete your Google+ profile first.

Follow these steps to have your Google Plus Profile completed in less than 10 minutes.

1. Sign up for a Google account or use your existing one to login to http://plus.google.com/

2. Follow interesting people and pages. (Optional)

3. Upload a picture and add more details about you (not your business)

This needs to be a real person. Social Media is about connecting and providing great value to other people. If you are not ready to upload your personal image in Google+, then you can’t use Google+ because they require “real” people.

TIP: Be careful what you put in your Google+ profiles publicly.

You don’t want to put personal details like personal address, personal phone numbers. As a rule of thumb, add only details that are related to your business like:

Place of Work
Job Title
Work Phone
Work Address
Social Media Profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (only if you have them)

Now that you’ve joined Google+, it’s time to complete your profile by filing up the details in your About us page and uploading a cover photo in your Profile (a must!)

Here’s a Great Video that will teach you how to create your own cover photo if you have Photoshop.

If you don’t have photoshop, you can use online editing tools like

http://pixlr.com/

http://coverphotoeditor.com/

TIP: Choose images that reflect what you do and what your business is about. Avoid using Stock Photo images unless you don’t have any choice. Stock photo images are great for web designs and business pages. But for your personal profile, it’s best to showcase your past projects than use a stock image.

4. What to include in your about Page

Tagline: Add a famous quote that you like, your personal mantra or even your business tagline. The key is to be able to share something that you want to resonate to others.

Introduction: I’d like to welcome and thank the visitors who’ve landed in my Google+ profile. I would never scare them away by pitching my business or “asking” them to add me in their “Google+ Circle”.

I would just tell a little bit about myself and what I do.  Add credibility by linking and mentioning what your business can do for them. If you’re a licensed contractor and that you do a great job doing house renovations, make sure you link to work portfolios and credentials on your about page.

Also, remember the acronym, WIIFM or what’s in it for me. Your readers would most likely follow and interact with you if they know that there is a benefit for them.

You don’t need to fill up all the details in this about page, but you’ll need to add your website and other social profiles in your about page.

Other Profiles: Add your social media profiles, like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin

Contributor to: Add your blog, website, guest blog posts, and where you’ve written and posted articles (if you have any).

Links: Links to trade shows, memberships, association, sponsorship,etc. that are part of your business.

Here’s my Google+ profile and about page if you need further reference.

Now that you’ve completed setting up your Google+ profile page, it’s time that you       setup Google Authorship for your website.

What’s Next?