Google+ Businesses pages finally launched..

Ever since Google launched its much-anticipated social media network, Google+, business owners have been patiently twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the chance to make a profile for their company.

Well as of this week the wait is finally over. It’s the moment marketers, social media professionals and brands have been waiting for. Google+ Business Pages had finally been released out into the social networking world.

Google+ Pages – A profile page specifically for Brands and Businesses, much like its older relative Facebook Pages. According to official update on Google’s blog, Google+ pages will be a place where brands and businesses can connect and create a lasting bond with their customers.

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Google+ Pages rolled out globally this week and will be available for all users. However, based on updates seen on Google+, some users are having difficulty creating their pages.

It’s likely that Google+ Pages will have a high level of visibility than Facebook pages thanks to their integration with basic Google search. 

Pages places will generally turn up in the regular search results below an organization’s own website.  Google also plans to enable a feature they call Direct Connect. Limited pages have this feature at the moment, but Google states many more are coming in the future. You will be able to go direct to pages that have Direct Connect enabled simply by adding the ‘+’ in a search query followed by the name of a page.

Although the service looks promising, a few bugs still exist.  Currently, only one user can be registered to any given page, making management of a page difficult for a larger organization or department.  Some early users have also noticed that it is far too easy to accidentally publish information to an account so be careful!! 

Finally, a Google+ pages steer users away from companies’ actual websites in favour of their G+ Page.  This may be a drawback to some users, however, owning a space on Google+ is yet another web presence that no business large or small will want to miss out on.

Sign up to our newsletter to Download our newest guide hot off the press How to Use Google+ for Business to learn how to master the newest social network. 

Ready to get your business set up on Google+ Pages?  Head to the Google+ registration page to get started. Businesses are asked to classify under one of the following categories:

·         Local Business or Place

·         Product or Brand

·         Company, Institution or Organization

·         Arts, Entertainment or Sports

·         Other

Businesses are allowed to create as many pages as they like, providing you the ability to have a separate page for a particular product, product line, or event.  Your Google+ page will have a +1 button, similar to those now found around the web.  As a page however, you won’t have the ability to +1 other pages. 

Local business pages have additional functionality which allows you to provide a phone number and address that will add a map and local contact information to your page.  Although similar to the already existing Google Places service, they presently remain two separate services that must be managed individually. 

We’re excited about the new ability to connect with our audience on G+. 

Sign up to our newsletter to Download our newest guide hot off the press How to Use Google+ for Business to learn how to master the newest social network. 

How to boost your Google clickthrough rates.

Lately many site owners have been asking me what clickthrough rate they should be getting from listings in various page positions on Google. This is because they have not been getting the amount of clicks they would have expected.

A study by AOL in 2006 showed that on average each listing should get a predictable clickthrough rate. The number one spot should expect to receive a clickthrough rate of 42.3%, number 2 was 92%, number 3 8.44%, number 4 6.03%, number 5 4.86%, number 6 3.99%, number 7 3.37, number 8 2.98%, number 9 2.83%, and number 10 2.79%.

However recently these figures don’t match up with reality. Why not well mainly its due to the new types of listings that are being included in the SERPs of Google which are pushing down and drowning out the more traditional natural search engine listings.

Depending on the search term Google places alone can push down 70% of normal SEO listings completely off the front page. That makes the fourth natural search listing the 10^th actual listing on the page. Google news, shopping, paid search, you tube results etc also force down the natural search listings making them near obsolete.

As if this weren’t bad enough the natural listings are also becoming far less interesting than the other types of listings. So potential shoppers may see a natural search listing in position one but would rather click on the Google shopping result or one of the more exciting listings surrounding it.

The end result is that ‘simple’ natural listings are receiving far fewer clicks than they should for keywords that trigger universal search.

So what should you do? Well as the old saying goes if you can’t beat them, join them!! For every natural search listing you have for your targeted keywords, you should also have a least one more advanced Google listing such as, video, news, shopping, Google places, Google map, blog, sponsored ads (Adwords, PPC) or any others that apply to your website.

For more info please contact us Flarecom or Speedy Social Media

Google flipping out over Flipboard…

Flipboard is a social media ipad app has been downloaded 3.5 million times and has received more than $60 million in venture capital from some of the top players in the industry.

The app taps into feeds from social networks in order to create a digital magazine of tweets, status updates, news and more.

It allows users to tailor the kind of content they want to see, making it more interesting to each individual person that a standard newspaper or even news website.

Flipboard was named Apple Ipad app of the year. In fact the app has become so popular it has been blocked in China!!

So why are Google flipping out over Flipboard??

Well basically Google has been trying to buy the miracle app for quite a while now.

According to All Things Digital, “Google told Flipboard execs that if it did not buy the start-up, it planned to do a version of its own.”

So Google have now come up with its “Flipboard killer” – Google Propeller which will be like Google news on steroids!! It will revolutionize the way users interact with the daily news.

So get ready for to say goodbye to the newspaper and hello to Google and get ready for the sensational touch-screen social news experience.

Why not get in touch with Flarecom or Speedy Social Media to answer your questions or tweet us.

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Should Google get a plus?

When I read my emails in gmail it pretty obivious that the ads displayed in the right column are related to the content in my emails. We already know that Google, as a search engine, uses our search behavior for targeted advertising. This is nothing new, however what about G+?

Is G+, a platform where we share potentially private information, are we putting too much trust in Google?

                                         = ???

Everything we now know about Facebook is that it was designed as a place for people to “connect.” We share tons of private information on Facebook and that information is now used for advertisers that generates BILLIONS of revenue for the Social Media giant.

Now along comes G+. This is a new social media platform where millions of people are sharing similarly personal information. That we are used to, but what makes G+ different? Well maybe it is the main intention of the service from the beginning.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt did an interview with NPR’s Andy Carvin discussing the real names policy on G+. Carvin told Bloomberg Businessweek the following;

“Eric replied by saying G+ was built primarily as an identity service, so fundamentally it depends on people using their real names f they are going to build future products to leverage that information.”

So the real question that is on everyone’s mind is what then really is the difference between Facebook and G+. It’s simple. Facebook was not designed with any of this in mind. It was, from the beginning, a place to connect with friends and share the “college” experience, but ended up more about sharing your life experiences.

G+ from the beginning was designed to gather your information as an “Identity Service” to pass your information on to large corporate advertisers. For this reason ONLY do they care to provide you with this so called social experience.

So to me it is a question of integrity and trust. Should we be as open to share this information with Google knowing their true intentions? Or should we be more cautious? How much info will they share? Can we opt out? Maybe some questions we need to be asking before we give them too much.

Do you have a question about G+? Why not get in touch with Flarecom or Speedy Social Media to answer your questions or tweet us.

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Klout measures online influence and effectiveness, and is a great tool for anyone working in the social media, web, and communications industry. Even if you’re a purely personal blogger, why not sign up and get an idea of who’s reading your content, and why?

Localise your SEO

One of the most overlooked ares of search engine optimisation is local SEO. An optimisation strategy without thinking about your locality is a major lost opportunity. Denying your website the chance to attract local targetted keyword specific traffic is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

First on your agenda should be your niche geographic search queries. Analyse your stats to see who is searching for what and from where. Try to identify which words your potential customers are searching with. Are they ready to buy or are they just doing research? Are they big spenders or cheapskates? In general pick terms that match up with your service, that you think will convert into sales and will have a good search volume. 

Once you have settled on the best search terms ensure you have the right mix of geographic search terms and draw up a list of the primary search phrases that you can spread across the text of your site.

Ensure the keywords are consistent with the page theme and title, and that there is a good mix of content in your site aimed at local visitors.

Off site marketing works too. Promote your site to local and regional directories and don’t forget to claim your free Google places listings.

If you’re running a Google Adwords campaign, its worth creating specific ad groups to specific geographical areas. Being laser focused for optimisation, content, advertsing and promotion will serve you well in the long term and is also likely to pull in visitors from further afield, who maybe can’t find what they are looking for in their neck of the woods.

Do you have a question about search engine rankings? Why not get in touch with Flarecom or Speedy Social Media to answer your questions or tweet us.

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