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Joining the Conversation: How To Make Your Small Business Internet Famous

07/19/2012 by

Social media provides small business owners with a novel and effective way to market their business directly to a customer or client base. The advent of the Internet and widespread social media has eliminated the obstacles that once stood between a brand and the consumer. Without a middleman, brands can directly interface with their consumers through all the usual social media haunts. Social media is important enough to the business cycle that marketing companies have cropped up to aid brands in their endeavors to capture the hearts and the minds of their consumers directly. You need to learn how to take advantage of social networking to get the word out about your small business, and to interact with customers for great virtual word of mouth recommendations. However, you also need to accomplish this without coming off as being pushy, sales orientated or a complete tool.

How to Play the Social Media Field

The first thing you’ll need to do is to get a feel for the specific social network you’re targeting. Each social media site has its own focus, flavor and specific features that you need to be aware of so you come off as savvy. Look at your competitors’ profiles on the same site to see how they approach things, and how their customers respond to them.

Keep things professional, but don’t be too uptight. Most social networks provide you with an informal and personal platform to connect with your target demographic. If you approach them with the personalities behind your small business, they’re going to be able to relate to you far more than a faceless big box company. Don’t be afraid to be real and honest with them throughout the conversations. Just always be aware that you do still represent your company. Always be aware of the impression that you’re putting out.

Provide incentives to get your customers to share your profile. Maybe you can run a contest or giveaway that depends on sharing a post or picture. You can also provide discount coupons or access to exclusive sales by favoriting or friending a social media profile.

Let them look behind the curtain. People are always curious as to how the product creation process is conducted, how ideas are generated and other information about things you might consider mundane since they’re part of your day-to-day business. Show your customers what’s going on behind the scenes and let them feel like they have a better understanding of exactly how your business works.

Go beyond your own profiles. Not everyone that’s talking about you is doing it on your social media profiles. If the network provides tools to find out where you are mentioned, use them to your advantage. Try and respond outside of your own profile in order to show your customers that you’re involved and care about the impression that your company makes. Even if you find bad experiences, do what you can to help the person out. You just might end up with a great deal of word of mouth recommendations or even viral traffic for your troubles.

Everyone is playing the social media game and you can’t expect to stand out right off the bat, especially if you’re getting started now (good luck!). As long as you are honest and professional with your presence, you can always cultivate your user base and build new fans out of skeptics. Don’t give up!

 

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Creating More Engagement

06/28/2012 by

Social media offers businesses unrivaled opportunities for direct customer connection. A new poll from the Allstate Corporation found that, while Americans are skeptic about the information found on social media, they believe that interacting via social media makes them more informed as consumers. They also feel it gives then the edge of influence compared with consumers that do not use social media. This engagement carries over in a variety of ways: The Allstate Corporation poll found that social media users are more likely to perform some type of volunteer work and are more likely to seek out opinions before making larger purchases. Sixty-four percent of consumers expressed a desire to see companies using social media for customer service purposes, and 59 percent revealed that they found a company more accessible if it had a social presence.

Each social media outlet has its own strengths. For spreading the word about sales, giveaways and sweepstakes, Facebook works very well since it supports image hosting so well. For connecting with individual users and seeming responsive to customer concerns, Twitter allows for a quick but meaningful interaction. And for leveraging business connections, LinkedIn is best. Additional benefits of growing social media use may include reaching more consumers with less money than you might spend on a traditional ad campaign, benefiting from being seen as accessible and modern by consumers, and leveraging social media presence to other parts of the workforce, such as human resources.

As customers go mobile, social media outlets place increasing importance on mobile connection. Recently LinkedIn developed an iPad app that runs via mobile web. And Facebook keeps taking about developing a mobile phone and recently bought the popular web and mobile photo sharing Instagram. They’ve even developed an app for feature phones, showing that all mobile platforms are primed for social experiences.

By mobilizing your web presence, you increase the chance of converting mobile users to social fans. There are many ways to develop a mobile website; creating a stylesheet that controls screen size and strips your web content of large images can help users navigate your website on the go and doesn’t require an expensive developer. If you want to invest time and money, you can customize an app interface. Having a mobile website also helps users who click on a link in Facebook or Twitter and get directed to your website. If it’s not mobile, chances are high that they won’t stay to read the content.

To keep mobile sites lean–and therefore faster to load–place video, image and other media on the social networks and link to them from the website. Dual promoting keeps your website quick to access, something vital to mobile users, and archives your material.

Of course, to make the most of this social presence, you’ll need to have someone monitoring your social presence on a regular basis, to connect with customers and identify problems, such as unhappy customers, before they get out of hand. As users increase the frequency and the ways of social communication, this social point person must keep up with the volume so you maintain the appearance of approachability.

Given the changing context of social media, which is increasingly going mobile due to high smartphone and tablet use, businesses need to constantly adapt to stay on top of the game. Look out for new platforms that arise, such as Pinterest, and become an early adopter to maintain social prominence with existing customers and attract new fans.

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Success Tagged With: , , , , ,

Balancing SEO and Visitor Engagement part 2

06/13/2012 by

Part 2 of SEO and Visitor Engagement..(Read Part 1)

Safe Ways to Increase Your Search Presence

The recent Panda and Penguin updates at Google have wreaked havoc among webmasters. Nobody knows for sure what works and what doesn’t work. Some SERPs are dominated by low quality websites while thousands of high quality websites have been banished. This has all created a climate in which webmasters are afraid to make big moves.

The good news is that not all hope is lost. It is still entirely possible to build backlinks and rank well for keywords. The key is to do it the old-fashioned natural way. Buying links in bulk does not work like it used to. In fact, bulk link buying is more likely to hurt your website than it is to help.

You might already know the basics of natural SEO, but let’s mention them again:

  • Produce fresh, original content and add new posts frequently
  • Make your website worth linking to
  • Contribute guest posts to other quality websites
  • Issue press releases that actually contain news
  • Fresh Content

Fresh content is always a good thing. Google likes websites that are updated frequently and your websites has more pages that can rank for long tail keywords. The more pages your website has, the more traffic it gets.

Big Caveat: Do not add new content for the sake of adding new content. Every piece of content you add should serve a real purpose. A million pages on your website will do absolutely nothing if you get pegged as a content farm. Take your time to write every page with a purpose and to engage your visitors.

Make Your Website Worth Linking To

The whole first half of this page basically addressed this point. You make your website worth linking to by engaging the visitor. Useful websites receive links. There is no better SEO strategy than to build a website that people think is awesome.

This is the most important part of building a successful website. A truly useful resource will sustain itself for years. Cheap websites that rely on SEO and new visitors do not last. They do not retain readers and they die as soon as the algorithm boots them off the first page. Make a website that people remember and want to link to.

Press Releases

Webmasters have been abusing press releases for years now and Google knows it. As a result, the typical press release doesn’t do a whole lot of good. But, that doesn’t mean press releases are dead.

Find newsworthy content and issue press releases that are actually worthy of their own stories. For example, don’t waste your time with press releases that talk about the awesome new website you just opened. Take a survey, collect data and issue a press release that provides a unique look at an interesting subject.

Don’t look at press releases as a “gimme links now” SEO tactic. Your press releases need to give more than they take. Mention your own website in there somewhere, but don’t focus everything on your website. Give the journalists out there real news that they can use in their own stories. This gives your press release the maximum potential to get picked up by major news outlets.

This type of press release is a perfect example of balancing SEO and visitor engagement. You are giving people something they want, while also getting something you want. The old days of just taking, taking, taking are gone. You have to produce stuff that people really want to see.

Guest Posting

The same thing also goes for guest posting. Guest posting is still a great way to build links to your site and make connections with other people. Look for high quality websites that produce real content and approach those webmasters with ideas of your own. Do not write for websites that obviously sell links or websites in which almost every new post is a guest post.
Make sure to make your guest posts as valuable as possible. The better your guest post is for that other person, the better it is to you. Make your guest posts so great that they get their own links. This will not only give you more link juice, but it will give you greater recognition as an author. You would be surprised at what kind of a name you can make for yourself with the help of guest posting.

About the Author: Wes Burns is a full time freelance writer and student of SEO. He values old fashioned, high-quality content over the latest link building gimmicks. His latest project is an online storage website located at OnlineFileStorage.com.

Filed Under: Contributors, Featured, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Sense and the Twenty Times Rule

06/07/2012 by

In order for mobile device users to remember a product, they must be exposed to the marketing repeatedly, regularly and at least 20 times before they remember it. Though it’s more of a challenge than the consumer would think, it can also be easier than a marketer may perceive it to be, especially using mobile marketing.

Integration is the method used to expose mobile device users to a product enough times for them to remember the product. If a marketing tool is only placed in a single location, odds are not high that potential consumers will have enough exposure to remember the product.

A mobile device user typically uses more than 10 programs. These include operating systems apps, add-ons, social networking and games, and the Internet. Integration is the process of placing a marketing tool in a variety of locations so potential consumers come across it over and over.

With over 4.8 billion mobile device users, (only 4.2 billion people worldwide own a toothbrush) mobile device marketing is booming and showing no signs of slowing down. An important fact to remember is that most mobile devices users are within arms reach of their device 24 hours a day.

So, the driving question is, “how does a company expose their product to the maximum number of potential consumers at least 20 times?”

First, a company must know the mobile device marketing options. Then, the company must know what these fast-moving potential consumers spend the majority of their time doing on their device. For example, advertising on a genealogy site to a market niche that is 50 or older makes sense. Advertising for teenagers (typically more interested in music and movies) on the same site does not. Mobile marketing companies have found that combining marketing channels is a more valuable product for consumers because an integrated strategy is the only way to run a successful mobile campaign.

Rather than put the cart before the horse however, a company first needs to know its options.

Mobile Marketing Options

SMS, MMS, IM, and MoBlog

  • Text messaging, multimedia message service, instant messaging and mobile and blogging services are some of the fastest and most cost effective means of communicating on a mobile device and have potential for mobile device marketing.

Mobile Operating Systems and Applications

  • The OS of each mobile device and the applications associated with it can be used to promote a product if used correctly in a mobile device marketing strategy.

Social Network and Gaming

  • Social networking and gaming provide a large conduit through with a company can reach potential clients. From overt ads to discrete, unobtrusive marketing strategies that do not interfere with the user’s objective, social networking and gaming marketing is almost limitless.

Internet and Search Engines

  • Marketing directly through a website or using search engine keywords, AdWords and analytics to expose potential clients to a product may be the best promising mobile marketing strategy to date.

Integration

The notion that the more diverse your marketing strategy and the more marketing avenues you utilize, the greater the odds that the target audience meets the company is the key to mobile device marketing. Just like individuals, a company shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket. Integrate.

 

Filed Under: Blogging, Blogging Icons, Contributors, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Balancing SEO and Visitor Engagement part 1

06/06/2012 by

The traditional view of SEO is that webmasters must walk a fine line between visitor engagement and writing optimized content. This view says that webmasters must build content that targets specific keywords and find ways to keep that content interesting for readers. It’s a delicate balance between writing for visitors and writing for search engines.

I personally disagree with that point of view. The traditional view of SEO makes it out to be a battle between writing for search engines and writing for real people. The truth is that visitor engagement comes first. Search engine optimization should always come second to visitor engagement.

Bear with me. This is not another “content is king” piece. I still plan to explain how you can rank for keywords and build a profitable website. I’m just going to take a different point of view than what you see at most SEO forums.

Writing for the Readers vs. Writing for Search Engines

Let’s start with writing for the readers. If you don’t write for your readers, your website is doomed in the long run. What I mean by “writing for the readers” is writing content that other people actually find useful, entertaining or controversial. This is how you create a long-lasting website.

The other way you can go is to write specifically for search engines. This means you do lots of keyword research, you base new content ideas on keywords that you want to hit and you try to stick your keyword in the content as often as possible without getting dinged by an over optimization penalty.

The problem with writing for search engines is that it places your website at the mercy of search engines. The next time Google changes its algorithm, your website might be knocked off the map forever. And since you never wrote for the visitors, it’s unlikely you will get much return traffic or type-in traffic. As soon as your website disappears from page one, it is forgotten by everyone.

When you write for your readers, you build a search engine-proof website. You can handle the minor ups and downs because you get traffic from a variety of sources. Your visitors have you bookmarked, people recommend your site in forums and people come back to comment on old articles. This is also known as building an authority website.

A Healthy Balance

Write every article with the visitors in mind first. Even on your high converting pages, make the content useful. Give people your honest opinion and explain their options. If your conversion pages come across as salesy, it will turn people off and search engines will rank it poorly.

And speaking of which, not every piece of new content has to be designed to get more sales. Don’t be afraid to write content that serves no purpose other than to serve the reader. That alone is a good purpose. You will build good will among your visitors, Google will see that not every page is riddled with ads and other people will be more willing to link to you.

For example, I run an online storage website (here) whose goal is to earn money by referring visitors to online storage services.  If you visit that site, you’ll see that not every page tries to sell storage space. I have written long how-to guides about encrypting files, downloading music and increasing computer security. The purpose of these articles is to give visitors useful information, not to sell storage space.

Read more in Part 2

About the Author: Wes Burns is a full time freelance writer and student of SEO. He values old fashioned, high-quality content over the latest link building gimmicks. His latest project is an online storage website located at OnlineFileStorage.com.

Filed Under: Contributors, Featured, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Success of Indie Developers

05/03/2012 by

The arcade and console gaming industry was established and spurred on by creativity and true genius in its early years. The late 70s and early 80s saw an explosion of games based on the abilities of individual developers or small talented teams skilled in graphics optimization and backed by conscientious investors. Everyone remembers and loves the likes of Brick Breaker, Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Unfortunately, the industry is in the grip of a decades-long cycle of repeats in concepts and name upgrades. Year after year the “top” gaming prospects are determined by the companies that win by having loudest voices and the brightest colors.

The beginning of the 21st century, however, has seen a rise in more of the buck-the-system styles of independent–or indie–developers. As a result variety is seeping back into the market and there seems to be more of a place for those looking to express creativity.

But why now, when everyone is being driven toward big money? A few possibilities beg for our acknowledgement. Mass platforms like Facebook have become convenient outlets for gamers. No more jostling for a quick demo in an elusive limelight. Developers can now play all the cards. This is the story of smaller squads run by guys like Jonathan Blow, creator of the Braid game. Another reason for the growth of indie game development is the influx of developers from the mainstream sector. This exodus, while not exactly pilfering the mainstream markets of its talent, gives indie game developers a tint of viability.

So, you’re an aspiring developer; and you have enough business sense to understand that skill with coding and stand-out creativity will not be enough to keep you afloat. We have a few tips that may be helpful to you.

Find a Niche

Knowing where you are and what you have offer will give you sure footing in the development game. The strength of indie game production is in niches. The best and brightest produce a game that helps them stand out. Most game devs who go indie are attracted to it because of unique concepts that aren’t available except in the developer’s chosen outlet.

Don’t Go for it Alone

Build a solid team around yourself. Although it could be rewarding to hock out an award winner all on your own, it’s not likely. The best indie games are produced by teams built of passionate experts in their field, and use already-established graphics optimization companies. You may not be the best at what you do and you may not be able to get the best sound developer or designer, but you can put together a solid and dedicated team.

Capital, Capital, and more Capital

Yes “capital” is a dirty word in the world of indie gaming, but you must come up with creative ways to fund your projects. You and your team have to eat. Keep your day job. Try and raise capital investors from interests groups that line up with your concept interests or avid gamers that you know.

Consider Seeking Out and Joining an Already Established Team or Start-Up

If you are confident in your skill level, you may be able to go the route of some of the professionals who got their start in the mainstream. Although you won’t have as much of an appeal there are probably more than a few budding teams that share you drive and determination but lack that necessary ingredient: a team member like you.

Above All, Stay Positive

As the indie industry grows so will the competition. But staying positive will allow you to continue to develop in your skill area, suffer setbacks and move forward until you see daylight. Don’t be discouraged at this, but you may have to go through a few teams and projects before anything chalks up to a worthy gaming experience on the other end. Keep the faith and go forward.

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Relationship is Everything

04/19/2012 by

Social media did not start with the invention of Facebook and Twitter. In fact, social media was around prior to the invention of the Internet. The terms emotional connection, engagement and relationships are pillars of success, providing brand value. In order to be a major player in the world of social media, you must realize a strong social media campaign management strategy is not only smart business sense; it is a necessity to maintain your overall Internet relevance. The 5 percent growth of social media spending over the past year seems a very real endorsement.

The trick is to capitalize on your strategies and eventually create your own social media voice—something your customers will hear load and clear. Incorporating a strong social media campaign into your already successful business is not a task to be taken lightly. If you do, you are not true to your brand. So with that said, how do you accomplish an effective social media strategy?

Multiple-channel Integration

Businesses do not just use Facebook and Twitter to embrace social media and interact with your client base. In order to fully enhance a customer experience and promote your brand, companies need to utilize traditional marketing strategies such as mobile technologies and email communication. With multiple-channel integration, you have the ability to track customer trends in one easy format.

Relation-based integration

When you think of relation-based integration, thoughts of growth should cross your mind. Since businesses can’t predict the future of the customer-base, you need to incorporate a strategy that acts as a so-called “roadmap” for success. Learn and manage the communication of your customer. Listen to what they tell you. They’re the ones driving your overall profitability.

Customer-focused Marketing

How do you market your brand? If your business strategy is based upon profitability alone, you are going to undoubtedly fail. The key social media strategy needed is one that solely focuses on your customer. What are your customers likes and dislike? What is the demographic? Moreover, what is your target audience? Knowing and understanding your customer leads, not only to a happy customer, but also to a business that continues to grow.

Automated Services

Social media is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week machine. When you leave for the day, your social media presence should not clock out. As an online brand, you must pay close attention to trends, habits and communication of your customer. Create a strategy that is not only focused on the needs of your customers, but also to the particular lifestyles they keep. An automated service, similar to cloud computing, allows you to leave the office setting and still promote the brand when you are not in the office.

Real-time Metrics

There isn’t a time throughout the day customers don’t have the ability to check on their favorite brands. If you’re the business in question, how do your check on the satisfaction level of your customer base? You have to rely on real-time metrics. This strategy allows companies to track results of customer/business communication to better serve the customer as well as increase brand value.

When the lights are turned off for the day, your business continues to run, similar to a well-oiled machine. An effective social media strategy involves Multiple-channel Integration, Relation-based Integration, Customer-focused Marketing, Automated Services and Real-time Metrics. Utilizing these pillars of success will ensure success. So at the end of the day, where does your success lie?

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Alternatives in the Cloud: Knowledge is Power

04/05/2012 by

All the cool kids at the water cooler seem to have one phrase on the tip of their tongue: the cloud. Everybody is talking about the cloud. However, thanks to various advances in cloud computing, not everyone is referring to the same thing when they reference the cloud.

Essentially, anytime someone mentions the cloud, they are referencing computing that exists as a service rather than as a product. Instead of a bulky disk that downloads a program onto their computer, cloud computing exists outside of their computer. The resources, software, or information that are provided as part of the cloud exist on a grid or network, which in most cases is the Internet. When companies use the cloud, they can expand their capacity and functions without having to add any extra infrastructure, hire any extra staff or purchase any software. For instance, if a company needs to engineer a large-scale project, they no longer have to waste weeks planning to buy new servers or other equipment. Instead, they can simply sign onto a cloud computing service that offers them this functionality without requiring them to spend piles of cash.

When many people think of cloud computing, they immediately think of the cloud services offered by Amazon or other big names in the industry; unfortunately, a relationship with any of these companies can be costly whereas a relationship with a smaller company may be just as effective or even more effective for less money.

Although most people are referencing the same set of advantages and the same general ideas when they refer to the cloud, there are several different forms of this emerging technology.

Six Types of Cloud Computing

  1. Web-based clouds. With the right web based service, business owners can avoid using expensive applications that may require a lot of space on their computers. Instead, they can perform the same functions from a web-based program. For example, they can use an API for something as ubiquitous as Google Maps, or they can use a mash-up of various programs so that they can perform routine tasks like payroll or payment processing easily and efficiently.
  2. SaaS (Software as a Service). This allows multiple users to access the same web based software from their own browsers.
  3. PaaS (Platform as a Service). This layer of cloud computing allows businesses to run a stack of tailored applications on the cloud’s infrastructure without purchasing the software or servers that would have been necessary to run these applications a few years ago.
  4. Utility cloud services. Instead of employing a host of geeks to add memory here and there, businesses can now safely and easily store heaps of data on the cloud using the cloud’s utility services.
  5. Managed services. Businesses have been using this version of cloud computing since years before the phrase was ever used commonly. In this version, the cloud provider rather than the business employees uses the application. Managed services are commonly used for things like anti-spam services that many business owners find useful to outsource.
  6. Service commerce. A combination of SaaS and Managed Services, service commerce cloud computing gives the end-user access to a number of services from a single application. These applications act like personal assistants, and they can do almost anything for a company from helping them to track their expenses to helping them to organize their payroll.

These six iterations of cloud computing are just fractions of what cloud computing is capable of. As the technology continues to emerge, new ideas will come into play, and the types of cloud services that providers can offer will continue to expand and evolve.

With so many cloud-computing options, more and more business owners are looking to the cloud for their particular needs, and they have many different providers that they can opt to work with. There are companies like Amazon that have massive, sprawling cloud servers for enterprise businesses. For companies and individuals looking for an Amazon alternative, there are many smaller cloud service providers that offer the same services for lower rates.

 

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Strategy & Business, Success, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Future is Now, but For How Long?

03/08/2012 by

Years ago I sat in a library computer lab at my university and thought, “Wow, the MySpace era is over, upended and replaced by Facebook, but how long will the victor stay on top? If MySpace could fall, surely Facebook will as well. What will Facebook do in the future to lose users in the same way?” Of course, Facebook has done very well for itself since and successfully defeated social media challengers or integrated them into its sweeping empire. That does not change the fact that technology is cyclical and someday Facebook will give rise to a new brand that will occupy that space.

 

This is especially important to marketers who specialize in social media and technology trends. Facebook built its empire on the sale of information and created a sharing platform irresistible to the masses. That model has changed the DNA of our interaction with the Internet and will likely continue on into the future.

Twitter is growing into a mature platform for short-form discourse and advertising. Pinterest is currently being mined for its marketing potential. Sites with a heavy social leaning are cropping up all over the place and nearly all of them present an avenue for marketing products, but marketers have to ask how long social media will continue to be a trend.

You can register your business on as many social media websites as you see fit, and you may find a way to sell products and generate traffic through one of them that is revolutionary. However, in addition to experiments in cutting edge social media, web marketers must keep in mind the foundations of the business that will always exist with the web. As marketers explore the final frontier of marketing on the web, it’s important that they maintain a foundation of solid tactics that will more than likely continue on into the future.

No matter how easily you are able to join a social media site, they remain inherently complicated as far as meeting business goals. Since they were designed as social networks that eventually incorporated a business aspect, they don’t always lend themselves to infiltration by brands.

Longevity

Social media groups are inherently driven by popularity, yet the most successful products experience the fastest rate of growth when they are still new and undiscovered by the masses. While it’s understandable to want a presence on the new, cool site the unfortunate rules of middle school still apply: by the time everyone has it, it is no longer exclusive and desirable. Social media marketing isn’t going anywhere next year, or the year after that. But someday there will be something new, and when that day comes we will have to fall back on a foundation of strategy that is typified by plain old good content.

All this to say that it is very important to stay abreast of new technologies when developing new ways to create brand identity on the Internet. It is equally important to maintain best practices for the innovations that got us to this point and continue to propel us toward the marketing future. Maintaining a solid newsletter, engaging the customer, and some campaign management software will go a long way when the frills of social networks begin to fall away and its successor rises from the ashes.

So yes, get on the social networks that make sense for your brand, but also remember the basics that got us to this point, because sooner or later we may have to rely on them again.

 

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Google Plus SEO: Engagement

02/27/2012 by

SEO for social networks is not the same as SEO for your website or blog. A large component is the social element and Google Plus is no different. Not only do you need to optimize your profile, link your website and optimize your posts, but you also need to talk to people.

Sharing your Posts

When you write a post, make sure that you are sharing it to the public. You have a choice of what circles and with whom you want to share your content. You can make it as limited or open as you would like. But if you want people you don’t yet know to access your content you need to make sure it is publicly available. You do this by selecting “public” when you select your circles.

By making your posts public, not only will people be able to find you in searches but when they go to your profile they will be able to see what you have posted. Many people like to “browse” profiles before they circle someone. Think of this as your Macy’s window and they are window shopping.

Respond Back!

So many people ignore the people who engage with them. This is bad. If you want to grow your network, your exposure and improve your SEO you need to engage back. If someone pluses your post, add them to your circles. If someone comments on your post, respond back…and add them to your circles.

Tag People

A great way to initiate conversation with someone is to tag them in a post. You do this by typing + and then their name (which will auto-populate when you start typing). This creates a tag, or linked text, in your post. Doing this also gives a notification to that person that they were tagged.

This is a great way to start conversation or let someone know that you are talking about them, or their content.

Comment

Comment on other peoples posts. It really is that simple. Stop only looking at what you are putting out there and start looking at what other people are sharing. If you post thoughtful comments on other peoples posts you might make a new contact, create a conversation or debate. You will all be introducing yourself to all their followers who saw that post, because when they see the post they will now see your comment. If it is good they may circle you or look at your shared posts.

Circle People

Circling people is one of the easiest and fastest ways to grow your network. Go out and find people in your interest area. Find people you might want to talk to. Add them to your circle and start engaging with their content. Many people will circle you back just because you circled them.

Finding Content

Finding people can best be done by finding content. You do this through G+’s real time search. Type in a search term and your results will stream in real time what people are currently posting. You can keep this search list auto-refreshing or pause it for easier reading. This is a great opportunity to comment on people posts and find people to add to your circles.

All of these things will help boost your overall SEO. Google+ will rank you higher in their internal search engine, getting you more exposure, and thus helping your overall SEO.

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