Why every business should have a Google+ page
Are you running a business that would benefit from more traffic to your website?
Would you like to get a free SEO kick from Google?
Then read on to see why it makes sense to get on board with Google+ if you haven’t already.
When we encourage our clients to embrace Google+ the response is one of just three shown and answered below:
1. They don’t want to start ‘yet another’ social media account that they may have difficulty keeping updated.
Our Reply:
To this we would argue that Google+ is different. While it would be ideal to add fresh content regularly the relationship between Google and Google+ means your page doesn’t have to be updated constantly. Your old content will still appear in search results. This is a significant advantage over Facebook where your page must remain in news feeds either as result of relentless engagement on your part or of paid ads.
Each Google+ post contributes to your overall SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) particularly with good use of #hashtags. Google treats your Google+ page as any other page on your website meaning it has the same chance of appearing in Google search results.
To save your precious time why not explore linking your blog or website page to your Google+ Page (and Facebook or other social media accounts if you wish) allowing you to have just one place to make your updates. Alternatively you might choose to make your updates on Google+ and feed that to your website (and Facebook etc). Many might say that you should have a different tone or message for each of your social media platforms but this depends on your business and you will be the best judge of that. Remember the same update to all platforms is better than no update at all.
2. But no one is on Google+ yet, it never got off the ground as a social media site.
Our Reply:
There are over 300 million active Google+ users and remember that it is umbilically linked to YouTube which in itself is a fantasic and very active platform. There are many reports that this will be the year for Google+ to really explode. Google+ is very well structured to allow you to Follow and be Followed or Circle to use the correct terminology. You can choose to email a segment or Circle of your followers with an update which is something that was missed by many businesses on Facebook when they were forced to move from using personal profiles for business. Do remember not to abuse this facility though!
A major reason why so many businesses with a physical street address are already on Google+ is that when they set up a Google Places Page (now called Google My Business) a Google+ page was also automatically generated. Sadly many of these pages are poorly completed. Don’t forget to add your logo or profile image and a great cover photo (use Canva.com for this – see our video tutorial here).
3. Yes, we are already on Google+ and love it!
Our Reply:
Well done! Make sure to add lots of visual content – images are great (again Canva.com is great for creating these) but also use video or have a go with Animated GIFS which are also supported. Do also add a G+ button to every page of your website so your website vistors can ‘Plus One’ your content. Google Hangouts are a great feature allowing webinar type content to be easily shared either live or recorded. This is something that is seldom used by SME’s and we include ourselves in that but watch this space!
Our Conclusion:
Make sure your business has a Google+ page – get the free SEO kick and explore this user friendly platform fully.
…. and please visit and follow our page here, Thanks!
