How to Use Google+ as an Author Platform Do you use Google Plus? Publishing has gone through dramatic changes during the last few years. Never before has it been easier for writers to reach a wide audience and directly connect with their readers. I’m the author of eight books — two self-published and six commercially published — over a twenty year span. I self-published my last book and was able to keep it on Amazon’s top ten list for its category for two years. Since that time, I’ve turned my social media success into an online training business and seen many tools come and go. In this post, I’ll be outlining the top tactics for writers to use Google+ to brand themselves, reach their target audience, and create an author platform. Start by Creating a Google+ Account Everyone begins on Google+ by creating an account that has a personal profile. Link your new Google+ personal profile to your website or blog and any other social media accounts you have, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or YouTube. Already have a blog?
40 Tips & Tricks To Help Improve Your Google+ Experience Despite having rubbed many of the tech press up the wrong way when it first came out, Google+ has developed a passionate fan base. Whatever your views on it, there's a lot to take away from Google's social media effort, developing a reputation for blogging, photography and design. But whether you've been using the site since day one or have just recently jumped into it, there's a lot of little tricks, add-ons and features that you can take advantage of and make your experience richer. General Use Text & Image Shortcuts If you want certain parts of your post to stand out, you can insert symbols for it to stand out. Some quick key shortcuts: Space = Scroll down stream Shift + Space = Scroll up stream Q = Jump to chat J = Scroll down by single post K = Scroll up by single post Return = Start comment Tab + Return = End comment Also, you can add videos, photos and links to your post by simply dragging them directly to the share box. Hashtags and mentions Linking to a Post Editing/Modifying a Post News Feed
Building Traffic Through The Rel=Author Tag Question: If you were searching on Google, and saw these three results, which result would you be most likely to click? It’s highly likely that you chose the middle one. That extra picture draws the eye and unconsciously adds credibility. Hence, it gets the click. So how do you get your picture added to your posts? But the results of using it include all kinds of good things like more traffic, more optins, more time on site, and yes, more sales. So why isn’t everyone using it yet? But, I’ve found an easy way that works as long as you’re the only author on your blog/site (if you’re running a multi-author blog, you’ll need to use a different system like this one.) Here’s a video that shows the steps for this simplified system. Figure out your Google+ URL. Now you’re in Google+. Paste that URL into your text processing program, then remove the u/0/ from the middle of the URL and the /posts from the end. Now, let’s turn to your blog. This is the code that produced the image above. That’s it.
Google+ Tools for Business: This Week in Social Media Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news . To help you stay up-to-date with social media , here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week? Google+ Launches Tools for Business : Google is launching an initial set of Google+ features designed specifically for business . These new tools work through the Google Apps feature. “During this preview period, organizations that have gone Google will be able to use the business features of Google+ for free through the end of 2013.” Google+ tools for business include Restricted Updates, which can only be seen by other users in your organization. Twitter Launches Twitter Certified Products Program : To make it easier for businesses to find the right tools, Twitter is launching the Twitter Certified Products Program with a select group of Twitter developers. Twitter developers can use these three categories of Certified Products. You can now create LinkedIn Ads in other languages. And don’t miss this:
5 Ways to Use Google+ Events for Your Business Google+ Events is yet another way Google+ is competing with Facebook, representing a new opportunity for marketers. Most marketers and businesses have been using Facebook Events to promote everything from webinars to company fundraising events within their Facebook community. Now, Google+ has a competing service with new bells and whistles. Google’s Benefits for Better Business Events Your ever-expanding Google+ community will benefit from these cool new features that make scheduling, sharing and finding your company’s events easier than ever before. With Google+ Events, you can make your invitations stand out, snap photos and more. Getting Started: Which Event Option Should You Use? So after hearing a few of the benefits of Google+ Events, you may be as eager as I was to get started. However, after spending several hours exploring the types of Google+ Events available, I was still a bit confused about how to set up an online event vs. a face-to-face event. C. #3: Public Event on Location
Has your G+ account been suspended? Don't seek shelter from Google August 02, 2012, 12:39 PM — I first noticed the problems about a month ago. I tried to promote a TY4NS blog post on Google Plus but nothing happened when I clicked the G+1 button. I figured it was probably a glitch in the plug-in code. I have an attention span of about 4.2 seconds for this sort of thing, so I just moved on. A few days later I got an Gmail message and decided to add the sender to one of my G+ circles. But when these things kept happening to me, I overcame my ADD, bypassed the icons and went directly to my account page. I felt bereft, lost in the wilderness, a creature void of form. What exactly had I done to deserve this? The Names thing was a nonstarter. So was it something I said? I scored a big fat goose egg on all of those. My sarcasm site had already been booted out of the Google Adsense program because we had the temerity to post R-rated photos of scantily clad lasses, though not unlike anything you’d find in Maxim or Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
How to Host a Google+ Hangout on Air While some critics have called Google+ a social networking fail, one of its features has emerged as a clear winner: Hangouts. The video chats not only connect small groups, but have also become an important broadcast platform with Hangouts on Air. Household names from Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama to Tyra Banks and the Muppets have connected with fans via Hangouts on Air. SEE ALSO: 9 Google+ Power Users Still Going Strong Now, even users who haven't logged years of on-camera experience are getting ready for Google+ prime time. We talked with seasoned Hangout broadcasters about their experiences with the platform. Prep Your Setup The way you look and sound can impact any presentation. The keys to setting your stage are sound, lighting, image and background: Sound: Built-in computer microphones may not do the trick. Of course, many other tools can help improve your Hangout appearance. Create Compelling Content But Hangouts allow viewers to do more than just follow thought leaders.
How to Optimize Your Google+ Content for Lead Gen, From the Experts at Google Pause for a moment to think. Are you really making the most of your Google+ presence? As in, are you leveraging Google+ for all its lead gen potential? The most organic way to use Google+ to generate leads is by posting compelling content updates that include links back to your website. And in order for this to work, you need marketing content that will interest your audience and capture their attention. In this article, which is an excerpt from our new, free ebook, 6 Ways to Generate Leads From Google+, featuring insights and best practices from Google+'s team itself, we'll walk you through the steps you should be taking to optimize your content updates and improve your organic lead generation from Google+. Share Compelling Content First and foremost, give your followers a reason to visit your page! If you haven’t created many marketing offers or you don’t have access to such comprehensive landing page analytics, you can also check out the analytics for your blog. Cadbury SEOmoz