Google+ has long been considered the underdog by many, and doesn’t seem to be getting much respect from the social media community. That’s all about to change, however.
I’ve been a fan of Google+ for quite some time, mostly because of it’s very clean and uncluttered interface, and the ability to precisely segment your contacts into individual “circles” that you can share information and interact with. That by itself is extremely powerful, because you can share information with all of your circles, just some of your circles, or to the entire general public. Let’s think about this for a second. That is powerful stuff!
If you’re a business owner, you can create circles for specific products you offer, enabling you to directly interact with people interested in any specific product. If you’re using Google+ for personal use, you can segment your circles between work, family, best friends, casual friends, etc. And since many people at work like to interact with each other outside the office, this really helps provide a great way to keep your work mates either in the loop or out of the loop of your daily personal life.
And for as awesome as Google+ already is, it’s about to get better. Google has already rolled out the Google Authorship feature, which enables you to quickly and very easily link all your blog content to your Google+ profile.
Why is this so huge? It’s huge because once you link your Authorship, your Google+ profile and your blog content become interlinked. This is a huge boost for your SEO, and for your Google Search results as well. And, it’s automatic!
Another big plus is that via your Google+ profile, you can put your business on Google Maps, and share all kinds of great information with your prospective customers. Your business location, the products and services you offer, even customer reviews, are all on a very clean, easy to read page. If you’re a small business owner, or even a one person freelance or consulting business, Google+ really can help you boost your social presence as well as your ability to be found online.
And, last, but not least, Hep tells us that Google+ has started the process of rolling out vanity URLs! I’m excited about this because right now getting to your Google+ profile is by way of a very long URL. For example, mine is https://plus.google.com/u/0/112920925582413479691. Doesn’t quite fit on a business card, does it? With a vanity URL, it will then become: https://plus.google.com/helpfuladvisor.
So, my personal recommendation is that you give Google+ a try, you won’t regret it. And if you stay tuned, Google+ just keeps getting better and better. Don’t believe me? Add me to your circles and find out.
Article Reference: The Underdog All Along: Google Plus and Why It’s Worth Your Attention | Hep Communications Blog
