4 Things Your Business Should Be Doing With Google+

Google Search Plus your World, which launched two weeks ago, isn’t nearly as bad as some of the headlines would have you believe. In fact it will one day be an invaluable tool for every business looking to improve their rankings. Here are some things you should be doing with Google+ to begin reaping the rewards of personalised search results

Become an author

I’ve written and spoken about Google authorship a lot. Google will now start making individuals more prominent than ever for certain searches. If you are a Business Coach in Melbourne, how good would it be if your photo turned up when someone did a search for “Business Coach” when in Melbourne. That is amazing personal branding and authority. The way to achieve that sort of ranking is through regular publishing either on your own blog and/or other publications, and to make sure your Google profile is setup properly. If you employ several consultants nationally you may want to think of a content publishing strategy for each of them so they have the potential of turning up as Authors in relevant searches.

Setup the Google+ brand page.

If your company has multiple brands, set one up for each brand. This will eliminate the problems some brands have with other sites ranking above them for their own brand and has the possibility of decreasing your AdWords spend if you are currently buying that space. Importantly it will give your customers direct and easy access to your brand. Don’t forget a large majority of Google searches are brand searches as people find it quicker to Google a brand than guess their web address.

Use Google+

I know some will say I’m playing into Google’s hands here but Google+ has some great opportunities for businesses to network and expose their message to a targeted audience. For example, if your customers and potential business partners are likely to follow sport in a defined geographical area, you can look for them with a simple Google+ search. Circle them if you find their content interesting and hopefully at some point they will circle you back if they find your content interesting. Gaining a following in your chosen areas is important.

Look for who is creating the ripples with their posts.

This will help you find potential influencers in your market and possibly other people you should be networking with. Google ripples is a relatively new tool that shows you the reach and life of someone’s post in Google+.

Jim

Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.