Are you in the circle yet?
Raise your hand if you think we, online business owners, need another social network to drain our time that we don’t really have as it is.
I don’t see any hands up in the air, do you?
And yet here it is.
Google Plus Social Network.
So now what? Do we ignore it or make it work?
You already know what the answer is as far as I am concerned if you read my opinion on Google Plus social and its place in our businesses.
In short, yes, we’d better pay attention to it.
However, our first priority should be to give Google Plus as much time as it needs and not a second longer – we really do have better things to do, don’t we?
Thus, I read and read and read (I pretty much had no life outside of living and breathing Google Plus for the past few days) and finally came up with the most efficient Google Plus Tutorial I’ve seen anywhere.
Google Plus Tutorial
Google Plus Social Circles
Google Plus Circles allow you to organize your contacts according to their social or business value.
To begin editing your circles, go under Circles tab at the top of your stream.
1. You can add the same person to as many circles as you’d like.
2. Circle names are only visible to you.
3. Drag and drop people’s names to add them to a circle.
4. To name a new circle, click on “Create Circle“.
5. Circles will display the number of people you have in them.
6. You won’t add the same person to the same circle more than once.
7. If the same person is in multiple circles, they’ll see your shares only once.
8. To see which circle a person is in, hover over their profile picture.
9. To rename a circle, click on it, then click Rename next to the circle name.
10. You can also add a description under the circle name.
11. To remove someone from a circle, click on the person’s name and click “Remove” in the top corner of the circle editor.
12. To delete a circle, click on it and choose Delete this circle at the bottom of the pop up box.
13. Google Plus doesn’t require mutual friend acceptance like Facebook does.
14. Your extended circles are your circles’ circles.
15. You can’t have more than 5,000 people in ALL your circles.
16. You can add your Gmail and Yahoo! contacts to your circles.
17. You can export your Facebook friends to Yahoo! email and then import them to Google Plus.
18. If you start the name of a circle with “*”, it’ll sort to the top of the circles list on the left side of the stream.
Circle Ideas
Here are some great unique ideas of how to make the best out of Google Plus circles.
19. Create a circle for the early adopters of Google Plus social network for valuable tips and feedback.
20. Decide on a few people you really want to keep up with and add them to a separate *Inbox circle.
21. Create a circle for bookmarks with no friends in it; add to it the posts you like for your own use or to share later.
How to Gain More Google Plus Followers
22. Email your list and ask them to add you to their circles.
23. Ask to be added at the end of your blog posts.
24. Add GoogleCards widget to your sidebar (like you see in mine – in your WP plugin directory).
25. Import your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter (use Export.ly for that).
Google Plus Social Stream
The stream is where you communicate with the Plussers.
By default, your stream consists of ALL the content from people who’ve shared with you specifically, shared with a circle (or extended circle) you’re in, or shared publicly.
26. Come to grips with the fact that you will never read EVERYTHING on Google+.
27. Filter your stream by clicking on the circle name to the left of the stream.
28. If you created *Inbox circle for people who you actually want to hear from, check that one first.
29. “Incoming” filter will show you the stream of people who are not in your circles, but are trying to share with you.
30. If you like someone from your Incoming stream, mouse over their avatar and choose to add them to a circle.
31. If you don’t want to hear from someone ever again, you can block them.
32. To mention someone in your post, use “+” or “@” signs.
33. When you post publicly, people who’ve added you to one of their circles will see your update in their stream.
34. Content you share publicly may show up in search results.
35. When you share with extended circles, circles of your circles will see it.
36. You can reshare any post you like with your circles by clicking on “Share” at the bottom of the post.
37. Anything you share can be reshared by anyone, unless you specifically “Disable Reshares” by clicking the arrow at the top of your post.
38. To stop receiving updates from a post, click on “Mute Post” through the arrow at the top of the post.
39. You can drag and drop photos, videos, links to the post you want to share.
40. You can edit your Google Plus photos right on the spot.
41. You can upload multiple videos and photos at a time.
42. You can click on the post time stamp to get its permalink.
43. Click “+1″ button to “like” the post; clicking it again will undo the like.
44. You can share anything to Google Plus directly from your Gmail – you’ll see a “share” tab in the top right corner.
Google Plus Profiles
You can control what kind of information people can see about you – such as your bio, contact details, and links to other sites about you or created by you – through your profile.
45. Your profile is public.
46. To see your profile, click on the Profile icon at the top (see image).
47. To edit your profile, click on “Edit Profile”.
48. You can see how any other Plusser sees your profile: just enter their name in “View Profile as” box.
49. The only requirement for your profile is your full name; you can keep everything else to yourself.
50. You can choose if you want your Google Plus social profile to be indexed by the search engines.
51. Changing your profile name will also change your name on other Google products, like Gmail, etc.
52. Deleting your profile name will delete your Google account.
53. You can choose who you want to view the specific profile sections.
54. You can choose to allow people to contact you directly from your profile.
55. All content you share will be saved in your Profile under Posts Tab.
56. By default, people in your circles will appear in your profile, but not the names of the circles.
57. You can choose which people publicly appear in your profile and which ones don’t in Edit Profile mode.
58. Other people can view your profile by clicking on your picture.
59. Link your profile to the websites you own – great time to do some link building as well.
Google Plus Sparks
Sparks is a way to search and track the different interests you might have.
Effectively, it can become your own customized news stream based around what you want to know about.
60. In a way, Sparks are like Google Alerts.
61. You can set up an “alert” on any topic you like, including your name or your website – see who’s talking about you.
62. When you find something interesting in Sparks, click Share to pull your circles into a conversation.
63. You can quickly access your interests by clicking the interest name beneath the Sparks link to the left of your stream.
64. All your Sparks interests are kept private.
65. To delete an interest, mouse over it and click on X.
66. Results in Sparks only show partial story; click on the title to read the rest.
Google Plus Social Hangouts
The best way to describe Google Plus Hangouts, is to imagine someone saying “Hey, I am online, I’ve got nothing better to do; come hang out with me!”
67. First, you’ll need to download a plugin – you’ll be prompted to do that after you click on “Start a Hangout” to the right of your stream.
68. You can start a Hangout at any time from your stream or by going to plus.google.com/hangouts
69. After you click on “hangout”, you’ll be taken to what Google Plus refers to as “green room”.
70. You can invite anyone and everyone you see in your stream to hang out with you.
71. You can check out for current hangouts and join them if you like what you see at http://gphangouts.com/.
72. When you enter a hangout, you’ll see the current participants, broken down according to who is in your circles and who isn’t.
73. No one owns a hangout: anyone in the hangout can invite anyone else.
74. If you invite people to join a hangout, a post will appear in their stream.
75. You can watch YouTube videos in a hangout; just click on “YouTube”.
76. Each hangout has a specific URL. That URL can be shared as a link to invite others.
77. Only Google+ users are able to join.
78. You can’t kick anyone out of a hangout.
79. If you feel uncomfortable in a hangout, you can leave at any time.
Google Plus Social Network Chat
Chat is chat whatever social network you are using.
80. Access chat through Chat button to the left of your stream, right under Sparks.
81. All your Google contacts are automatically transferred to your Google Plus chat.
82. If someone isn’t already a contact, you can invite them to chat right from the Chat search box.
83. Your Chat list will only appear while you’re in the stream.
84. Simply type the person’s email address into the chat search box and click Invite to chat.
85. Before you can chat with someone, they must also add you to their chat list.
86. You can also make a computer-to-computer voice or video call by clicking on the phone icon at the top of the chat window.
87. In the chat window, click the camera icon to make a video call or the phone icon to make a voice call.
88. Your email address can be seen by people via the chat list.
Google Plus Keyboard Shortcuts
I’ve seen people trying to use HTML to make their posts stand out. To no avail though; HTML codes won’t work with Google Plus.
Here’s a list of shortcuts that will though.
89. (*)bold(*) = Bold
90. (_)italics(_) = Italic
91. (-)strike-through(-) = Strikethrough
92. Space or J = scroll down
93. Shift + Space or K = scroll up
94. Q = jump to chat
95. Return = start comment
96. Tab + Return = end your comment
97. Tab + Tab + Return = cancel writing a comment
Increase Traffic with Google Plus Social Network
98. Post a personal “Welcome” to everyone who adds you to their circles.
99. Ask a question even when posting a link.
100. Get back with your commentators to keep the conversation going.
101. Be generous with mentions.
Google Plus Bite-Sized Tutorial Takeaway
Well there you have it – my attempt to do the impossible: make sense of Google Plus in one (very long) post.
How did I do?
If you think it’s thumbs up, do me a huge favor please: link to it in one of your future posts and allow your readers to benefit from this tutorial as well.
And don’t forget to add me to your circles!
This post was brought to you by Ana Hoffman
I am the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and if you liked the post you just read, then you'll love my email updates. Just click on "Get Instant Access" below to join me:
Ana has written 253 great posts for Traffic Generation Cafe.
{ 130 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! You certainly put a lot of thought into this 101 post. Even though I have Twitter, FB and G+ accounts I have to admit giving them very little attention. For me time is too precious and keeping 9 niche sites up-to-date (way behind in some ‘must do’ tasks) together with research for posts doesn’t leave too much free time but by the same token social media is a tool to be used so I must make more effort in 2012.
Indeed, we all have so much time to spend on the business.
I’m not that much into social media, having to choose between reading posts, writing them and commenting and using Twitter, FB or Google plus I always go for the first one. I mean I have a life outside the net and so I must make a decision. I get money from writing so that’s my focus. But I can see your point and the useful features of Google plus. So much that I’ve printed this very good and detailed post. Well, we have to see how Google plus wil go, if it will end up like Google Buzz or if it will really become a competitor for FB and Twitter. I just wonder if those who already pass half day on FB will do the same on Google plus and how many hours of sleep they’ll have.
Social media are useful but they are such a waste of time and it’s so difficult to find useful stuff there, beside thousands of requests to join Farmville, that really I prefer writing.
But again this post is great. And I’ll obviously add you to my circle, not that I’m there more than on FB anyway.
hypnodude invites you to read: Dr. Link Check Review: Free Link Checker for Broken and Bad Links
I do see your point and I, personally, don’t really like social media.
If most of your income comes from writing, you’ll probably be just fine without the social aspect.
For a business like mine, it’s just about impossible.
Yeah, given your business you just can’t go without social media but I’m pretty sure you’ll handle that well.
hypnodude invites you to read: The Law of Attraction and Why it doesn’t Work
Hi Ana,
This is a long list of tips, thanks.. I don’t create G+ yet as my blog has a different Google account (my brother’s account such as adsense, webmaster tool and profile and more). It is because we made a partnership with him a year ago, but it is over now.
Does it matter if I change it to my own Google account and are there any effects on my blog’s performance..?
I don’t know about AdSense, but it should affect your blog in any way.
Also, you can create a G+ account under ANY gmail address.
Ana you are awesome! Funny thing is just this morning I was thinking that I needed to learn to use Google+. It’s like you read my mind and gave me exactly the lesson I needed just as I wanted it!
Thank you so much.
Yes, I’ve been known to do that in the past, lol.
Hey Ana, It still amazes me how much info you come up with so often. This tutorial is definitely something I’ll be ready periodically since there are some real gems in here. The basics of the Google Plus Circles is simple enough, yet I was unaware of it’s usefulness. Great tips on how to get more G+ followers by the way.
Thank you so much for the timing on this post, it couldn’t have been better.
Stephane
You are very welcome, Stephane.
Since everything on G+ is so new and ever-changing we all have a lot to keep up with.
Ana -
Thanks for detailed tutorial … I’m bookmarking to refer later as well. Set up Google Circles!
Best,
Mike
Mike Friesen invites you to read: How to Hire Keepers (2 of 2)
Glad to hear you got to work on this one, Mike!
Great tutorial – easy to follow in bite-size chunks – thanks!
Had it in the back of my mind I needed to pay more attention to G+ and you’ve just given me the push to get into it more.
With so many social media sites to be active in, I find it quite overwhelming trying to manage them.
How do you manage your time with them all?
I’ve got Hootsuite/Tweet Adder but seem to spend way too much time looking for things to share.
Julie Jackson invites you to read: Yahoo Site Explorer – Backlink Checker Alternative.
I know exactly what you are talking about as far as being overwhelmed with social media, Julie.
I am going to make a video of how I keep up with the big 3 in the next couple of weeks.
Ana, you have an excellent idea of having a focused inner circle on social media sites. I also started using the Wibiya tool bar and can be available for people that have questions about products on my site. The Live chat feature is going to help me increase my sales as people would come browse and then not order. I will be able to interact and answer questions right away. Thanks for helping us all be better bloggers!
Danielle Parsons invites you to read: Phone Opt In Tool
You are so very welcome, Danielle!
Wow what a terrific Google plus resource Ana. I must admit I have not used Google plus as much as some of the other popular social media sites. I know I should be as anything owner by Google is going to be good for SEO.
It definitely does, Rob; take a look at this post: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/social-media-influences-google-rankings/
Wow what a terrific Google plus resource Ana. I must admit I have not used Google plus as much as some of the other popular social media sites. I know I should be as anything owner by Google is going to be good for SEO.
You are very right, Bill; check out this post: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/social-media-influences-google-rankings/
I completely agree with you that we should give Google plus a chance but not waste too much time on it. I signed up for an account a few weeks ago, have yet to really play with it, but I did make a few circles. I’ve read mixed reviews on it, people seem to like it but it already looks as if it’s losing the steam it was trying to build up. Any changes in opinion now that it’s been a few months since you wrote this article?
I am still sticking with it, Rosie.
Turns out Google+ is great for rankings, so that’s yet another reason to be there.
Ana,
Thanks for the great wrap-up. Is it true that Google is heavily indexing posts on Google+ and ranking them with Authority in search results?
I’ve seen debates as to the merits of Blogging or micro-blogging on G+ because of this.
Thanks,
Ryan H.
Haven’t seen G+ entries ranking on Google as of yet, Ryan – for any searches that I perform anyway.
However, Google is definitely leaning towards showing posts that have been +1′d by people we are connected with.
Nice post! I have a feeling that G+ Business Pages will soon replace Google Places listings or will somehow merge. I’d also love to see Google’s authorship markup made available for business pages, which will help with validating citations. One would be able to link to their Yelp Listing from their G+ Business page and identify it as a page about the business.
This will help Google Places prevent duplicate listings created by third-party sites from ruining the NAP (name, address, phone) signals from listing that are incorrect.
Arsen invites you to read: Online Promotion & Social Media Marketing for Music, Artists, and Bands
Definitely makes a lot of sense, Arsen.
I am still having trouble getting my authorship markup show up in SERPs… Shouldn’t be THAT difficult.
Great tutorial Ana, but how about one more addition: a way to have your blog posts automatically display on your Google Plus wall everytime you publish
Caleb invites you to read: How To Post To Google Plus From WordPress
Thanks so much, Connie – my content being shared is the biggest compliment I can get.
How do I manage? I have no idea… Running like a chicken without a head most of the time just like the rest of us. LOL
I am bookmarking for sure….
Would it be alright if I share this article (linking to your site of course) in my newsletter?
Thanks for researching this and compiling it in an easy to read manner!
Sure, Carolee.
Hi Ana, I have just found your site and this tutorial on Google +, it really is fantastic, I have been registered with Google + plus for several months now, but have not really understood it, with this I will certainly be able to get up and running with it. I love how you can separate all the different areas of your life with it. Looking forward to it growing bigger and better.
Thanks again Ana.
Cheryl
Hi Ana,
I love this 101 on Google +. It is great!
Have you found a way to send an RSS feed to make posts in your posts tab?
Hey Ana,
The Google + page is not available to everyone yet, I am right or just confused? I have a Google Profile, but when I tried to set up my Google + page, I’ve got a message saying that only few people where alowed for now. Could you clarified this for me if you could?
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read: How Can You Start a Good Blog From the Get Go
You are right, Sylviane. It is being released in stages.
Hi Ana,
I am slowly becoming addicted to your posts. You really write well and this is another splendid, concise (I know you said it was long but you covered a lot of ground in about as concise a way as possible) and useful post.
I’m fascinated to see how this evolves vs facebook and all the rest.
I really like it (G+) but am still in the habit of looking at facebook first. Interesting because there’s no reason not to use Google+ – I guess it will be what the masses decide.
Thanks again – I’ll certainly be sharing this,
take care,
Alan
You are so welcome, Alan.
So far I’ve been getting a lot of traffic from Google+ – much more than Twitter and FB.
Wow – thanks Ana, interesting about the traffic,
Alan
Alan invites you to read: Wonder-food: the apple – to be eaten raw, unpeeled, organic and unbruised!
I have joined Google Plus just a couple of weeks ago and I am still trying to sort it out how it can be useful in my online endeavor. Your tutorial will surely be of great help. I’m sure!
Nice tutorial. I really the difference of G+, but as with anything new it takes people a little convincing. I’m still explaining to friends what it is.
A. Tatum Jr invites you to read: Apple Improves Recycling Program and lets you earn $$$
Me too. All the best with that!
A really comprehensive tutorial, Ana. I don’t have time to work another social media platform. You should do a video tutorial for this. Actually, all these points would make a couple ones under 5 min. I’ll bookmark this for when I can outsource some of my tasks.
ivin invites you to read: Transition Your Position.
I will, if I can make the time. LOL!
Nice post Ana! Though Google+ is still under trial today we must not ignore and underestimate its potential as a tool in internet marketing.
Agreed. Thanks, Noel.
Nice post Ana, not sure if you can see the new G+ Games in your profile yet!
Hesham invites you to read: Google Plus Games and The Battle of Game Developers
Haven’t seen them yet, and not looking forward to them, Hesham. LOL
One reason I dislike Facebook…
Ana. It is a good article but in G+ there is no option available for Friends request “Accept” or “Reject”. Have you any idea about it?
There’s no such thing as a friend request in G+, Ken.
So I am starting to understand more of what Google Plus can do for me. Looking at it though for the market I wanted to target, I did a few searches and only appears to be 2 people on there so far that I could target. A huge comparison where I have a facebook fanpage which has 4,000+ likes. Seems to me like I would have to do alot of the heavy lifting to get the people to convert over to Google Plus. Unless I am reading it wrong.
-Jean
That’s great, Jean.
Those figures should theoretically improve. I’m adding GooglePlus, not replacing Facebook (just yet!).
Half of me just wanted to be Comment 100… but I promise I had something to say, too. I appreciate this tutorial, as a newbie to Google+ I’m still working everything out, and while I’m sure I’d have poked around and figured it out eventually, this is a helpful alternative to the floundering.
You’re welcome, Laurie. Glad it helps you.
Thanks for sharing this useful information. I’ve added it to my bookmark for future reference.
You’re welcome, Justin.
Awesome – I’ve actually had an invite to Google+ sitting in my inbox for a while, but I was wary to accept since I still didn’t really know much about it or what to do once I had one… But thanks to this tutorial, I feel like I have a much better handle on it! Thanks
Natasha
You’re welcome, Natasha.
Hi Ana,
Who else can write this byte-sized tutorial for Google+ but you? You covered everything yet it was so easy to read. It reminds me of the 202 tips post http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/blog-traffic-original/ which was the first post I read on your blog
I think I’m going to read that post again!
Love this!
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Thank you, Flow. That’s sweet of you.
excellent post – just bookmarked it. i was part of the beta testing group, and frankly i found it very easy to use and navigate through. i like its functionality better than facebook, but have not incorporated it yet in my overall business strategy. curious about your thoughts on its development, longevity and future prospects? often those of us who work online tend to do things just to stay on level ground with the world, even if those efforts don’t pan out of prove to be a waste of time.
Sunil from The Extra Money Blog invites you to read: The Perfect Recipe to a Healthy Financial Life
Good observation, Sunil. Thanks for your valued input.
I believe there is a Chrome extension which enables you to post to Google+ and it then posts the equivalent on Facebook. Could be a time saver when spreading a message using the social networks.
Of course, just using Chrome ahead of Firefox, Safari and IE would save you a lot of time each day in any case.
Google+ could definitely grow faster if they start marketing it through the home page, YouTube and TV. They’re not done yet and there’s definitely a great deal of growth to come once the majority start to adopt it.
I don’t think it will ever get “Facebook big” though because Google+ is simply an awful name for a social network. Facebook is a genius name for a website and Google+ doesn’t really occupy the same mindspace in the consumer’s mind as Facebook.
For the IM/blogging niche, it may attract a more targeted crowd though especially if they’re careful about how they open up their API, so Google+ doesn’t get too much FarmVille or Mafia Wars type of garbage on there.
The competition is helpful for the PPC advertiser to keep click costs in check and will certainly play a significant part in SEO in future major releases of the Google algorithm.
Handy “link bait” article Ana. A further tip for your readers to be aware of is that they can claim their vanity URL by going to http://gplus.to
Thanks,
Wayne
Yes, there’s a multitude of Chrome extensions that will claim to “enhance” your Google Plus experience, including the one you mentioned, Wayne.
I haven’t had the time to check them out yet, but I will.
I agree about the name – not the catchiest one I’ve heard.
So far I’ve been on Google plus for a couple of weeks only and it already is ahead of FB traffic according to my GA. The main difference between the two as of now is quality is that’s what we are all starved for.
Thanks Ana, another great set of tips that saves me hours of doing my own research! I’ll be right on to Google+ shortly
Cathy
Cathy Presland invites you to read: Hate Marketing, Love Your Business?
Glad my time was well invested then, Cathy. That’s the drawback of new things – the time it takes to research it.
This is a pretty comprehensive how-to that you have here. Now if only Google+ would allow those of us who didn’t get in during the first wave of signups to register, some of us might be able to use this how-to. As a matter of fact, the last time I checked, the website isn’t even allowing those with invites to register…
Really? It opens up for registration from time to time, so if you have an invite, so just keep trying.
Google+ is so wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to compile these tips, Ana. Very handy.
You’re welcome, Jane.
I expected you would give 100% on G+. You gave 101.
Thanks Sreekumar. I try my best.
Hey Ana,
Wow, what a comprehensive review of google plus and it’s features. Google should use this post to teach everyone how to use google+.
I predict in 2 years, google plus will be as big as facebook. I guess only time will tell.
Thanks for this post Ana and have a good one!
Ian
Ian Belanger invites you to read: Free Traffic Tips Part 1 | How To Get More Free Traffic To Your Website
Ian, it would be lovely if Google put up a big “Ask Ana” link under their tutorial section, but I suppose that would be wishful thinking. LOL
Ana, this is an excellent summary.
I find it amusing that you’ve basically emulated GMail with you Cirlces. In fact, I was just telling my buddy Mitch Mitchell that G+ is just another email distraction, by which I meant that I get notifications from G+.
The reason it is a distraction is directly related to your 44th item. You see, long before the big G started rolling out so many products, I created myaccount@gmail.com. Later, I learned how to change my MX records to use Google’s mail servers with my domain. (The email I use on the comments.) I wound up forwarding my gmail.com to my domain.com. Which is why I get those notifications! (I turned off 90% of them, just like I did with Facebook and Twitter.)
As you know, Google treats gmail.com like royalty, while acting as if domain users are a royal pain. My main email is through my domain and, even though it looks exactly like gmail.com, I can’t do all the one-click wizardry that might actually make the G+ experience more meaningful.
My problem extends to YouTube as well. So, the compromise is that I created a startup page in Chrome for G+ (actually the Google account home page.) This makes it very easy for me to disconnect from the G+ world when I need to get back to work.
However, I’ll be playing with it a bit as I work my way through your tutorial!
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen invites you to read: Spellcasters
Wow, Mitch; I had no idea you were so technically proficient!
Truth is learning how to use G+ was really the extent I am planning on going into it.
I am not big on distractions either; there are simply not enough hours in a day.
I’ll be on Google Plus for only as long as I need to to “show my face” and not a minute longer.
LOL. Not a minute longer! Words to live by. I usually exceed that by about half an hour.
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen invites you to read: Mutant Email
That was a really, really long list of options.
I have a Google plus account but I have not used it yet.
Like all social media, it is indeed a “black hole” in terms of your time if you let it be.
I say all marketers form one “giant” circle of friends and plus one everybody else’s web pages in a slow and consistent fashion…;)
LOL
Mark
Mark invites you to read: How To Make Money With Google Adsense And Maximize Your Adsense Earnings
LOL. That’s the sensible thing to do, Mark.
Hey Ana!
Thank you; an exhaustive and, no doubt, exhausting to research tutorial on G+. You continue to provide superb content packed with breaking information, quality hints, tips and ideas and the occasional ‘food for thought’ playful controversy items.
Question: If you had to choose between committing fully to G+ OR Facebook, rather than go half-assed at both, which would you focus on and why?
Good question with no easy answer, Stuart.
It’s too early to tell about G+ so far. However, if you haven’t really started with either, then go for G+.
Ana,
Thanks for the Google + tutorial. It does make setting up Google + a little less overwhelming. So many social networks, so little time to figure it all out and do it right. Your information definitely cuts the learning curve down.
Best Wishes!
I’m glad it helped, Melanie. I know it’s overwhelming to those who don’t want to join yet another network, but would like the benefits.
Great resource Ana ! I hit the +1 button and noticed that we are connected on this fast moving network. I like the fact of the monster Google search engine picking up conversations about marketing and business. You have provided some more excellent value for those of us making a living on the internet!
I like that too, Danielle.
I know I should sit down and mess with Google Plus, but I have been putting it off. After reading this post I think I will not be in a hurry to mess with it. You have some good tips and explanations, but it makes me think that it will take quite a while to get the hang of things. One of these days I will get around to it though.
Ray invites you to read: Backups what is the ideal time
Ray, while this post is very comprehensive, a lot of it is basic stuff that you are already used to. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quick enough.
Ana;
Thanks for another great job of simplifying the complicated. I would never take the time to read all the cryptic tutorials and try to make sense of them, much less, reinterpret them into understandable English. Great job! I would vote with those who are going to minimally use this service. It is actually kind of sad to watch as the giants try to mimic the success of other giants. Microsoft steam-rolled the OS and word-processing world, but they have played second fiddle to the internet search business, the browser business and others.
Now Google is trying to play catch-up with Twitter/Facebook…sorry dudes there is only so much time in a day. The carrot seems to be enhanced SEO ratings. It will be interesting to watch as some enterprising souls come up with ways to game the + system and find customers willing to pay for their services.
Thanks again for all your efforts!
Michael Brown
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You’re welcome, Michael. Your reaction is similar to that of many readers. We’ll have to wait and see.
Hi, Ana.
Please where is my Google Plus ID located?
When you are logged into Google Plus, go to your profile and take a look at the address bar. Your ID is that ridiculously long number you see there.
For instance, mine looks like this:
https://plus.google.com/115854344437995415484/, so all those numbers are my ID.
Thanks. I’ve seen it
But the GoogleCard Plugin has a problem. It keeps throwing up this error message thing.
A very long article indeed Ana, but definitely worth putting in my permanent “resource files”. I know pretty much there is to know about sparks and circles, but did not yet use hangouts. Mind you I did not know there was a “plugin” to use the feature…. Will remedy that soon. Thanks!
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Thank you. Try the hangouts, I think you’ll like it!
A very great post but the bottom line for me is this – what Google offer now is just not enough for me to want to leave Facebook and I certainly don’t have time for multiple social media sites.
I guess I will only do enough on there to help my SEO.
Yes, that’s a concern for many and many people say they will do only enough. We’ll have to see how it goes.
That might have been bite sized but there is STILL too much to take in in just one read. I’ll have to come back and go through it again later.
I did go ahead and make a circle just for folks I want to be sure and keep up with.
Thank you very much! Good stuff.
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You are so very welcome, Elle – and yes, it’s a lot to take in.
Must admit to having not yet caught up with G+ and trying to run around in circles. Your statement “”"However, the bottom line for me is it’s another social network, another time pit we all feel pressure to invest into.”"” sums up the topic completely.
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“Running around in circles…” Pun intended?
Yes pun intended. I haven’t yet caught up with facebook and twitter so you are light years ahead. As some others have suggested it may not be for everyone or maybe even last. Google has had its share of failures.
http://www.southernaffiliate.com/search-engine-bloopers/
Yeah, it’s for those like to hangout (pun intended, too). LOL
Hi Ana, phew did you come up for air while writing that one – have visions of you slowing turning purple as you managed to gasp out just 1 more sentence! Very comprehensive thanks.
I loved your title and have to admit to feeling every so slightly disappointed when the answer was ‘yes’!
G+ is getting rave feedback at the moment so I feel it could just be here to stay … who know, next time I have ‘nothing to do online’ (?! – do I ever have even 1 second when I don’t have anything to do online?) I may just come ‘hang out’ with you – especially now I know you cannot get rid of kick me out (isn’t that a bit like squatter’s rights? ‘It’s your hangout but I may just come along and annoy you so much that you leave and I can claim it for myself’ ?!
… All in a day’s work for the busy online entrepreneur I suppose
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I agree, Mandy – judging by the majority of reviews thus far, this one just might stick around.
“Squatter’s right”… you made me laugh. However, you are absolutely right; why shouldn’t I be able to kick out the trouble-makers?
Anna Wow that must have been exausting! Keeping it to read when I get a min or two.
Thanks for this. Just getting the hang of G+.
Added you to my -People to follow circle.
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Thanks, Kathryn – pleasure to see you around.
You’ve done it again Ana! I’ve seen many Google+ guides, but this is one of the best. It is hard to resist the draw of being in on the ground floor of the opportunity. Hopefully, it will pay off!
Hope so too, Gary – I’ll be very upset over all the wasted hours of learning it otherwise!
Hi Anna
I have a very simple question,I am applying the new gogle +1 to my estore (300 page) yet I find the instructions an where to paste a little vague, the previous snippet was pasted to my <head/head> where is the new one to be pasted?
If it is to go after the last plusone tag,do I have to remove previous ones if new pages with +1 are added
Thanks
Peter
I wish I could help, Peter – I am not technical enough to know the answer.
Suggestion: I got a lot of quick answers from Google employees via Google Plus.
If one of my readers sees your comment and can help – great. If not, I would post your question on Google Plus.
Ana, how can “You can choose if you want your Google Plus social profile to be indexed by the search engines.”?
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Go to your profile and click “Edit”, Dan. Then scroll all the way down and make sure the last line says:
“Search visibility: Visible in search”
If not, you should be able to edit it right there.
I am not yet part of Google + and find I already spend too much time trying to manage and optimize my use of social media. However, with your great tutorial I am sure I will ultimately become part of G+ which I probably would not undertake without such clear step-by-step instructions as provided by you. Thank you for sharing your expertise and time with all of us.
You are very welcome, Marian. We do have to prioritize, don’t we?
Well said Ana,
I don’t want to tend any new social networking site than Facebook since I have much satisfied with it, all I do is just post my updates on Google+ and no active discussion with fellow people since I don’t find time to access.
That not to mean Google+ lacking some important features and I personally have a opinion that Google+ is a mirror of Facebook.
Thanks to the wonderful brief tutorial.
I actually find it more interactive than Facebook, Vijay, but that might be simply because it’s not as crowded just yet.
Well Ana, I’m on Google+!! thanks for the great tips, very helpful. Now I won’t have to spend days and days like you did learning it. I tweeted and shared as much as I could for you. You are such a great help, don’t know how you manage it all! I’m still goin crazy tryin to keep up.
Thanks Ana
Connie
Thanks so much, Connie – my content being shared is the biggest compliment I can get.
How do I manage? I have no idea… Running like a chicken without a head most of the time just like the rest of us. LOL
Ana – Thanks for the great tutorial. I have certainly struggled with how to use Google+. It seems almost a certainty that Google introduced Plus to get data to improve their search results. While I feel no compelling need to use Plus, I am nervous about missing an opportunity to send signala to Google about my online influence. I will take your advice on making the time I spend on Plus as productive as possible.
You hit the nail on the head, Randy.
I could care less about Google Plus per se, but we certainly can’t ignore the potential implications this could have on our overall search engine rankings.
Google is playing the flute and we need to dance.
I read through this fairly quickly, but have bookmarked it to read again later today or tomorrow. You’ve quickly become one of my favorites for down-to-earth actionable tips. Thanks again, Ana.
Ana, This is fantastic & you deserve a raise for all this work. I will have to come back to it at a later point to get all the info into my brain.
Thank you so much!
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I can completely understand, Sally – this is definitely a “bookmark it for later” kind of post.
Ana,
Awesome!! I learned so much!
My only question. You said “21. Create a circle for bookmarks with no friends in it; add to it the posts you like for your own use or to share later.” How do I add posts to it?
Thx.
~Allie
You add posts to it by pressing “Share” under each post, Allie, then you can choose your bookmark circle from there.
It is complete tutorial on Google +.It has security. Friends,family and business groups are separate. It has attractive features than facebook and many facebook prominent users has move towards Google +
I’m not sure about them moving to Google+, but they are certainly using and user counts are increasing daily.
I have this feelign that google is never going to break into the social networking side of things in any significant way – which is why I am not planning in putting any energy or time into that particular direction. This article is a fantastic little tutorial if I was going to embrace – but for now, there simply are not enough hours in the day…..
Very understandably, Sam – if I had a luxury of sitting on the sidelines on this one, I would too.
What a surperb article Ana, You always amaze me with your long and well informed tutorials. I don’t think I will ever use G+ to the extent I use twitter in fact I haven’t even used G+ yet unless my friends ask my to add them into the blog engage circle. To be honest I think it’s too much like Facebook and don’t see the point of it.
It’s actually sad what is happening to the giant Google struggling and trying to hang on to the market share they have. Don’t get me wrong I think g+ is col but it’s not better or different then Facebook. Obviously this is my opinion because I have seen many of our blog engage community member engage g+ like there’s no tomorrow so it’s a matter of time and I will most likely be using it like everyone else.
I was however a little smarter this time by creating my account so I can build my circles I started twitter so late and I didn’t want that to happen. I think so far I’m doing fairly well on g+
thanks again for this reference I’ve saved it to my favorites on blog engage to refer to it later as it’s impossible for my brain to take in this much all at once. plus I’m off on a commenting mission so I can’t stay long haha!
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For the most part, I agree, Brian.
There are some things I like about Google Plus much more so than Facebook.
However, the bottom line for me is it’s another social network, another time pit we all feel pressure to invest into.
No one wants to be left behind though, and that’s the primary reason we are all on it as of right now. It’s exciting to be on the ground floor of something potentially so big… even if it turns out to be another flop! LOL
Thanks for coming by, Brian; always a pleasure to see you around.