Google+ for Business is officially here!

Grow your audience with Google+

Google Webmaster Central Blog

Webmaster Level: All

At Google, we help grow your audience by connecting you with new users. We introduced the +1 button so your site would stand out on search and your users could easily share your content on Google+. But, sometimes you want to join the conversation and post content directly to where people are sharing.

Today we’re introducing Google+ for Business, a collection of tools and products that help you grow your audience. At the core of this is Google+ Pages, your site’s identity on Google+.

Google+ Pages: Have real conversations with the right people
To get your site on Google+, you first need to create a Google+ Page. On your page, you can engage in conversations with your visitors, direct readers back to your site for the latest updates, send tailored messages to specific groups of people, and see how many +1’s you have across the web. Google+ Pages will help you build relationships with your users, encouraging them to spend more time engaging with your content.

Google+ Pages are at the heart of Google+ for Business

Hangouts

Sometimes you might want to chat with your users face-to-face.  For example, if you run a food blog, you may want to invite a chef to talk about her favorite recipe, or if you manage a fashion review site, beauty specialists might want to hold how-to sessions with makeup tips. Hangouts make this easy, by letting you have high-quality video chats with nine people with a single click. You can use Hangouts to hold live forums, break news or simply get to know people better, all in real time.

Hangouts let you meet your customers, face-to-face

Circles

Circles allow you to group followers of your Page into smaller audiences. You can then share specific messages with specific groups. For example, you could create a Circle containing your most loyal readers and offer them exclusive content.
The Google+ badge: Grow your audience on Google+

To help your users find your page and start sharing, there are two buttons you can add to your site by visiting our Google+ badge configuration tool:

The Google+ icon, a small icon that directly links to your Page.

The Google+ badge, which we’re introducing in the coming days. This badge lets people add your page to their circles without leaving your site, and allows them to get updates from your site via Google+.

 

Extend the power of +1, stand out in Google search
You can also link your site to your Google+ page so that all your +1s -- from your Page, your website, and search results -- will get tallied together and appear as a single total. Potential visitors will be more likely to see the recommendations your site has received, whether they’re looking at a search result, your website, or your Page, meaning your +1’s will reach not only the 40 million users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day. You can link your site to your Page either using the Google+ badge or with a  piece of code. To set this up, visit our Google+ badge configuration tool.

Bringing Google+ to the rest of Google

Our ultimate vision for Google+ is to transform the overall Google experience -- weaving identity and sharing into all of our products. Beginning today, we’re rolling out a new experimental feature to a small group of eligible publishers, Google+ Direct Connect -- an easy way for your audience to find your Google+ Page on Google search.  If you’ve linked your Page to your site and you qualify, when someone searches for your website’s name with the ‘+’ sign before it Direct Connect will send them directly to your Page. For example, try searching for ‘+YouTube’ on Google. Users will also be prompted to automatically add Pages they find through Direct Connect to their circles. 

Direct Connect suggestions start populating as you type on Google.com

Just the beginning
We want to help you get your site on Google+ as soon as possible, so we’re opening the field trial for Google+ Pages to everyone today. Creating a Google+ Page only takes a few minutes. To get started, you’ll need a personal Google+ profile. If you don’t have a Google account, it’s very quick and easy to join. And if you’re looking for inspiration, check out some of the sites that are already starting to set up their Pages:

To learn more about how Google+ works for your site, check out the Google+ Your Business site. We’re just getting started, and have many more features planned for the coming weeks and months. To keep up to date on the latest news and tips, add the Google+ Your Business page to your circles. If you have ideas on how we can improve Google+ for your site, we’d love to hear them.

Posted by Dennis Troper, Product Management Director, Google+ Pages

Sent with Reeder

Sent from my iPad

Article: Google updates search results to promote fresh content when it’s needed most - The Next Web

In light of this update by Google, how long do yo think your content will be "relevant" and "fresh"? This might be a good time to rethink your content marketing strategy!

Google updates search results to promote fresh content when it’s needed most - The Next Web
http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/11/03/google-updates-search-results-to-promote-fresh-content-when-its-needed-most/

Google has just announced that it has updated its search algorithm to promote the latest relevant results where it makes sense to do so.

The company explains “Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.”

(via Instapaper)

Sent from my iPad

Happy Diwali!

Wish you a Happy Diwali!

The "festival of lights" has a special significance in the Indian culture. It marks the beginning of a new year, and brings with it hopes of prosperity.

So, to all my friends across the world, here's wishing you health, wealth, and prosperity!

iPad 2 and iOS 5 proudly present "The Keyboard Split"!

Article: Eye-Tracking Google SERPs - 5 Tales of Pizza | SEOmoz

Very interesting study. From personal experience, I would agree that we tend to click on links that visually seem more "trustworthy". Having a local/Places listing definitely tends to increase this "trustworthiness". 

Eye-Tracking Google SERPs - 5 Tales of Pizza | SEOmoz
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/eyetracking-google-serps

I think the first and most obvious implication is that, as Google moves away from 10 plain listings for more and more searches, it is definitely having an impact on search users. You need to be familiar with your competitive space and take advantage of SERP enhancements, like video thumbnails. Ranking #1 might not be pulling the weight it used to if your competitors down the page have more visually interesting results.

These results also suggest that the in-page Local/Places results are having a strong impact, even if they fall in the middle of the page. In these limited cases, they seemed to pull attention away from the top organic spots. If your query has a local flavor, you need to be aware of how your Google Places page is competing.

(via Instapaper)

Sent from my iPad

Article: Eye-Tracking Google SERPs - 5 Tales of Pizza | SEOmoz

Very interesting study. From personal experience, I would agree that we tend to click on links that visually seem more "trustworthy". Having a local/Places listing definitely tends to increase this "trustworthiness". 

Eye-Tracking Google SERPs - 5 Tales of Pizza | SEOmoz
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/eyetracking-google-serps

I think the first and most obvious implication is that, as Google moves away from 10 plain listings for more and more searches, it is definitely having an impact on search users. You need to be familiar with your competitive space and take advantage of SERP enhancements, like video thumbnails. Ranking #1 might not be pulling the weight it used to if your competitors down the page have more visually interesting results.

These results also suggest that the in-page Local/Places results are having a strong impact, even if they fall in the middle of the page. In these limited cases, they seemed to pull attention away from the top organic spots. If your query has a local flavor, you need to be aware of how your Google Places page is competing.

(via Instapaper)

Sent from my iPad

Mid-Week Madness: 28 September 2011

Wednesdays are always a mixed-bag. Its always confusing whether to be happy that half the week is over or to sulk in the fact that the weekend is still far away. However, its always a good day to recap on the interesting stuff so far this week so as to know what to expect the rest of the week.

Here are some bits that I enjoyed reading so far. Hope you find them as enlightening, funny, educational, …yada yada yada….as I did!

An “Apple” a day, keeps the rumors, well…the rumors will never stop!

What better way to get through the week than read about new rumors about the upcoming, iPhone event on October 4th. If all the speculation and anticipation about an iPhone 5 wasn’t enough, we are also now excited about “what else” to expect. If there’s one thing that Apple has done right in the last few years, it is hiring the right marketing guys.

Facebook charging users? Hogwash!

The number of posts claiming that Facebook will start charging users for the new profiles reached staggering levels throughout the week. Not just on FB, these posts started making the rounds on Google+ as well! My only reply to one such post from a friend…GROW UP SON!

Google+ hits the 50 million user mark!

Quite a landmark for Google that also celebrated its 13th birthday! Google+ became the fastest social network to reach 50 million users. Hmm…now only if I can get my friends to join my circle…till then I will have to settle for posts from the likes of Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki. Not a bad deal really!

Why would I want to SHARE my circles?

In yet another update to Google+, users can now share their circles with their…umm…circles! Apparently, I want to let my friend know that I have put him in a circle called “Extreme Caution: Nincompoops!” !!!!

MIdweek Productivity: Yet another checklist

Well…lets face it, you are probably neck deep in work by Wednesday. You know you should have completed the work last week…but you find yourself staring at it this Wednesday. Yes, you deserve the “Employee of the Month” award anyhow. But, here’s another checklist to help you stay on top of tasks. Just go ahead and add it to your reading list for this week…right after Moby Dick!

Have a good rest of the week, and as usual, feel free to drop me a line on Google+ or on my Facebook page.

Random stuff on a Sunday night!

This is just a collection of some interesting stuff I found while randomly browsing through my Google Reader feed.

1. Could not wait to activate the Timeline for the FB profile. Am loving it!

2. What better to do on a Sunday evening, than play some offbeat iphone games! Procrastination is definitely my favorite sin!

3. Excellent checklist, if you have a blog that aims to make money. Me, I just blog for the hell of it!

4. Some food for thought if you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur. Do you challenge yourself?

5. And finally, cannot end the week without some Facebook love. Here’s some more info on what to do with the new FB changes.

Feel free to give me a shout out on my Google+ profile or find me on my Facebook page. Be cool!

 

Article: Facebook Redesigns News Feed, Makes Ticker Official

Facebook Redesigns News Feed, Makes Ticker Official

Facebook has redesigned the news feed (again!) and officially launched a ticker in the right-hand side of the screen.

Users have been seeing both of these changes in beta test versions in recent weeks, but today they go live across the site.

While the news feed and ticker at first seem like duplicates of one another, the latter looks like a skinnier version of the former.

The ticker sits on top of the chat feature, and you can move the grey bar separating the two to adjust how much you see of each.

Clicking on anything in the ticker expands it into a fuller-sized version in the space otherwise occupied by the news feed.

The news feed reflects the addition of the recently launched smart friend lists, the subscribe button and the relocated privacy controls on the site; Facebook explains how to use all of them in a new video that we’ve embedded beneath this post.

The feed focuses on the most popular topics among your friends and those you subscribe to; you might see it expand in places where people are commenting, as often as it might scroll down.

The ticker is more current and scrolls down faster than the news feed.

The redesigned news feed also shows larger-sized photos than the previous iteration did, while the ticker consists of only text and links.

Facebook Product Manager Keith Schacht explains that the news feed tries to show you what you want to see — things that have posted since the last time you checked the site, and items from friends pages you prefer over others.

“Through our announcements last week and today we’ve given users a new set of controls so they can tell us what they want to see. You can click on a story and indicate whether you want to see more news from a particular friend. We’ll listen to that feedback and show you that content. This whole set of changes is about not missing important updates,” said Schact in a telephone briefing.

Lest any of us mistake the redesigned news feed and official ticker launch as Facebook giving away the goods before the f8 developers conference this week, Schact said that the company has plenty of other things to announce at the annual event on Thursday.

Of course, users of Facebook will likely grumble about the changed formatting and then decide they like this layout when the next one comes through — that happens every time the site revamps its layouts.

In the mean time, we’ll ask you, dear readers, what you think about the latest version of the news feed and the ticker?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allfacebook/~3/BMTY8wyphaQ/facebook-redesigns-news-feed-makes-ticker-official-2011-09

Sent with Mr. Reader

Sent by Manish Mandhyan, Social Media Consultant

Article: Building of SEO Strategy for Small Business Sites

Building of SEO Strategy for Small Business Sites
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/building-of-seo-strategy-for-small-business-sites/32450/

Let’s consider the stages of a successful SEO campaign:

Setting goals and defining where you’re going, and what’re you’re planning to achieve
Research the competition and analyzing the market Analysis
Keyword research, which means selecting keywords with the best search-volume-to-competition ratio
On-site SEO, optimizing meta titles, creating correct robots.txt file, creating and submitting a .xml sitemap of your site, and a thorough analysis of your site’s content and structure
Link building
Results analysis

(via Instapaper)

Always a good time to get a refresher on the basics of SEO. Do you review your website/blog frequently to ensure you're not missing out on any of these?

Sent from my iPad as a <a href=”http://manishmandhyan.com/category/socialmedia”>social media consultant.</a>

MAJOR UPDATE: You No Longer Need 25 Fans To Get A Custom Page URL!

You No Longer Need 25 Fans To Get A Custom Page URL

Facebook used to require pages and individual users to have at least 25 friends in order to claim a customized address extension. That meant any newbie had to accept an ugly URL usually including a long number.

No one can remember URLs like this and they’re too long to put on your marketing materials.

Now you no longer need 25 friends for your profile or page to get an easier-to-remember address.

Go to facebook.com/username to choose custom URLs for your pages.

Brian Carter is author of the books The Like Economy and Facebook Marketing.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allfacebook/~3/yFcO-gH_108/you-no-longer-need-25-fans-to-get-a-custom-page-url-2011-09

Sent with Mr. Reader

Sent from my iPad

45 Years of Star Trek [INFOGRAPHIC]

Star Trek has always been and will be the greatest sci-fi series EVER! The one series that I can watch over and over again. And BTW, James Kirk was the best captain by a long shot. Anyone think otherwise?

45 Years of Star Trek [INFOGRAPHIC]

On Sept. 8, 1966, the dream of producer Gene Roddenberry came true: The first regular episode of Star Trek aired, beginning one of the greatest sci-fi enterprises in history.

The series received mixed ratings throughout the first two seasons and was even temporarily pulled off the air after season three. During the next two decades, Star Trek bounced between animation, film and television, ultimately capturing the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the world.

If you’re a fan of the series, chances are you know most everything about it. Still, it’s always nice to get a refresher. Check out how the events in real-life space exploration influenced the popular series (and vice versa) in this nifty infographic below.

Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

More About: infographic, Sci-Fi, Star Trek, television

For more Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/McSNtwTIbGo/

Sent with Mr. Reader

Sent from my iPad

New Facebook feature: Profile Review

Facebook has enabled a new feature, called "Profile Review". You can find it under Privacy Settings > How Tags Work. 

This feature allows you to manually approve posts you're tagged in before they go on your profile. When you have a post to review, the Pending Posts tab will appear on your profile. Note: You can still be tagged. This controls whether tags go on to your profile.

Stay connected with Manish on Google+ !

Article: Facebook for iPhone Gets Big Privacy Upgrade [PICS]

Have you updated your Facebook app yet?

Facebook for iPhone Gets Big Privacy Upgrade [PICS]

via Mashable! by Christina Warren on 9/6/11

Facebook has updated its iPhone app with a slew of new features and privacy controls, many of which mirror recent enhancements to the website.

Facebook for iPhone 3.5 [iTunes link] now lets users tag friends and places in posts and share external links from the web view. It also makes it easier to control who can see what posts, matching the enhanced controls now available on Facebook.com. The app also features redesigned Profile and Group walls, making it both more streamlined and clean.

Additionally, Facebook fixed a number of bugs and made some performance enhancements. We really like the update and are especially impressed with Facebook’s new privacy options tour that accompanies the app the first time it is launched.

On the downside, 9to5 Mac reports that Facebook has taken this update opportunity to remove the Facebook for iPad code that accidentally leaked in July. An official iPad app remains missing in action.

Let us know what you think of the new update in the comments.

Update Notes

New Privacy Controls

This pop-up guide launches when you start Facebook for iPhone after installing the update.

Tour: Tagging

Tour: Location

Tour: Groups Control

Updated Status

A status update tagging a person and a location.

Status Privacy Options

You can select the audience and/or friends list for your post controls.

Status Privacy Selection

Status Messsage

Profile Wall View

The layout and "About" section are slightly modified and more streamlined.

Groups Wall View

The wall view for Groups is more streamlined as well.

Share External Links

External links can now be shared within Facebook.

External Link Preview

A preview of an external link share.

More About: facebook, iphone, iphone apps

For more Mobile coverage:

• Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Mobile channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad