Blue Wave Concept's Blog

Google+ has opened the doors for business and brand pages.
In this article I show you how to set up your Google+ page and provide examples.
If you haven’t already created a personal Google+ profile for yourself, you’ll need to do that first (you cannot simply sign up a business page from the main Google+ signup screen).
Check out the How to Get Started With Google+ for more on personal Google+ profiles.
If you do have a personal profile, here’s how to create a page for your business.
Visit Create a Page on Google+ to begin, and follow the steps below to get started with Google+ pages.
The first step in getting started creating your Google+ page is to choose from the following five main categories.

#1: Local Business or Place
Local Business or Place includes any local business—hotels, restaurants, places, stores or services. If you choose this category, you will be asked for the country in which your business is located and the primary phone number.
If Google finds a matching result in Google Places with your phone number, it will use this information for your Google+ profile. If not, you can add your business info to Google and continue.

#2: Product or Brand
Examples given by Google+ of pages that would fit under Product or Brand include apparel, cars, electronics and financial services.
Here, you would enter your page name and website, and choose an applicable category which includes anything from Aerospace and Defense to a Website, or you can simply choose Brand, Other, Product or Service.

#3: Company, Institution or Organization
The next category, Company, Institution or Organization includes pages for companies, institutions, organizations and non-profits or similar entities. Here you also enter your page name and website, and choose an applicable category with the same options as a Product or Brand page, or you can simply choose Company, Institution, Organization or Other.

#4: Arts, Entertainment or Sports
Pages for movies, TV, music, books, sports and shows are considered a good fit for the Arts, Entertainment or Sports section. Again, you will enter your page name and website, and choose an applicable category—this time with options ranging from Album to Website, or you can simply choose Entertainment, Other or Sports.

#5: Other
If you don’t feel your page fits in any of the above-mentioned categories, you can simply select Other, where you can enter your page name and website without any additional narrowing of category selection.
For pages in any category, you must also choose whether your page’s content is suitable for any Google+ user, users 18 or older, users 21 or older or specifically note that the content will be alcohol-related. Then you will tick boxes to opt-in to updates for Google+ pages and agree to terms and conditions to continue.

Be sure to actually check out the Google+ Additional Terms of Service to see their notes on Authority, Access, Content, Data, Contests and Suspension & Termination.
Customize Your Page’s Public Profile

Once you’ve selected your page’s category, you can start customizing your page’s public profile.

#1: Add Your Profile Photo and Tagline
First, you will be asked to add your tagline (the 10 words that best describe your page) and your page’s profile photo.

After you have added these items and clicked on Continue, you will be asked to spread the word about your new page through your personal Google+ profile. If you’re not ready yet (which you probably aren’t, since you haven’t completed your profile), click on Finish to be taken to your new page.

#2: Editing Your Page Information
Once you’ve perused your page’s welcome screen, you will want to edit your page’s information. Go to your page’s profile by clicking on the Profile icon at the top, left of the Search Google+ box. Then go to your About tab and Edit Profile.

Here you will be able to click on everything from your page name to your links to enter relevant information about your page within Introduction, Hours (for local businesses or places), Website and Contact Info (phone, email, Skype, etc.). Also be sure to enter additional links to your page in the Introduction section using the Link button and under Recommended Links to link to your other social profiles, blog, blog posts and so on.

#3: Adding Your Photostrip
Last but not least when it comes to your Google+ page design is filling in your photostrip. These five photos will be displayed underneath your page’s name and tagline.

It’s similar to the five photos you can have on your Facebook page. While editing your profile, click on the photo area where it says “add photos here” and upload a photo in each of the five photo spots. You can use different photos that represent your business or creatively cut one photo into five pieces and spread it across the area.

Congratulations! Your Google+ Page Is Ready.
Once your profile is ready, you can start posting to your profile by adding status updates, links, photos and videos just like you do on your personal Google+ profile. I would suggest writing a post or two before you use the “Spread the word” option in your right sidebar to announce your page to your personal profile connections.

Following and Engaging With Your Fans
So what’s the difference between a Google+ page and a Facebook page? The big one I’ve noticed so far is the fact that you can follow your page’s fans back and add them to Circles.
To find out who has added your page to their Circle, you can check your Notifications under Stream in the left sidebar. You can also look under your Circles > People who’ve added you area by clicking on the Circles icon.

Difficult economic times mean that there are less dollars being spent. This means that as a business owner or business marketer, it’s critical to be sure that your market share is increasing. How can an effective website and Internet marketing strategy help to increase market share?

1. Be found when your prospects are looking.

2. Engage with your customers on an ongoing basis.

3. Maintain your relationship with your customers and provide excellent customer service.

An effective website can help with the first tip and position your business to be found when customers are looking. Unfortunately, many websites that were build in the last few years were created for beauty and not for function. The first thing that an effective website must do is to be found on the Internet by search engines such as Google.

One way to test whether your site is going to be shown when someone researches your services is to do a simple search yourself. Keep in mind, the more general your terms, the larger the field of players would be. A realistic search would be to use a phrase. For example, if I were searching for something that I offer, I would include a phrase such as “hubspot certified partner philadelphia” instead of “hubspot”. Using the latter would yield results are more likely helpful for Hubspot, than WebMarCom as a Hubspot Certified Partner. This is the way you should think about searches… not in the broadest context, but in a more specific context.

If you have identified that you are not coming up in the searches, then there are things that can be done starting with the architecture of the site. If you are a marketing manager or a business owner, it would be more efficient and effective to reach out to someone who works in the field to fix your site. You can also use the hubspot WebSiteGrader to get an idea of things that should be the focus of the person you contract with.

Contracting with someone and the scope of what you hire them for will depend upon how extensive your site is. The skills that you will be looking for include Seach Engine Optimization, website design, marketing experience, and inbound marketing. If the person truly understands your business, they will be a tremendous resource and aid in positioning your site, not just for search engines but also for lead generation.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that it’s not just about traffic. A website that gets a lot of traffic is only as effective as the leads it generates. So, the website should also generate conversions.

If you are not getting leads and conversions currently, you are missing the opportunity to increase your market share. Many businesses and consumers turn to the Internet to find resources. Having a Facebook Page or a Linkedin Profile are great because they are both discoverable in a Google Search. The question is whether they are keyword savvy and work to help your company be discovered. A great Internet marketing company will take a look at all of the social media marketing opportunities and help wordcraft your bio, and suggest social media accounts that can position your company as a market or industry leader and knowledge resource.

Try Googling yourself and keep note of the results. If you are not coming up when you try a search, you are missing the opportunity to increase your market share!

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