Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Building A Power Base On Google +
I’m still kicking the tires on Google + but from what I’ve seen, it has the potential to be a real power building technology.
Power building for what you ask? How about for building brand awareness, building a voter base, changing the world, or shifting public perceptions.
Photo Credit: Pierofix on Flickr - License
Circles
I especially like the Circles concept. While advising clients on effective ways of using social media for their businesses, I often end up drawing concentric circle diagrams in response to the “who do I connect to” question.
I suggest clients start with the people they know and trust very well (such as employees, family, business partners) and put them in the center. Then in the next ring, they would put the people they trust and have done business with. The next ring would be people they have met locally during mixers, people in their same industry, potential customers, and possible referral sources. The last ring would be people they connect with online for the first time.
This last ring could end up with thousands of people. I wrote about how these networks can be activated in an earlier post.
Google + allows you to manage content per Circle without having to create separate accounts. On Twitter, the only way you can really separate content is by having different accounts. I have my main account (@jesseluna) then I have one that is blogging focused (@niceblog) and another that is focused on film (@cinemaluna). I could have used one account and tweet all the content from one place but I wanted to have more vertical presences with the latter two accounts. In other words, I wanted them to be super focused on the content areas.
The main idea with Circles is that we only want to share certain information with certain groups. We may want to do this for different reasons:
2) We may want to try out sharing content with different privacy levels. If you have content that is only relevant for your family or closest friends then that would make for a good circle. I thought of testing my “inner circle” by sharing some news that I haven’t posted elsewhere to see how leaky the group is in terms of information sharing and to see if the content would end up elsewhere on the Web.
Privacy, as always, is a big issue. Google has done a poor job at making users aware of privacy terms and issues with Google +. I had one Twitter peep who spent all afternoon trying to figure out the privacy settings.
3) Another reason to have different circles is to help build power by managing the movement of members from one circle to another. I know, power often has an egomaniacal connotation but it’s a key aim in building strong communities. Power is built by empowering everyone in the network, not just the person or group running it.
If you have a “Twitter followers” group and also a “Closest supporters” Circle, you probably have a lot more people in the former. Imagine how powerful your network would become if you moved over a lot of your Twitter Followers into your closer networks.
You don’t need thousands of people in your “Closest Supporters” group. Just as in the movie “300″, a strong army of 300 can change the world.
Power Building In Action
Chris Brogan is one of the top bloggers on the Web. He just put out a post entitled “The Google PLUS 50” with 50 things to think about in relation to Google +. Within a few hours of posting the article, it had already received 56 comments and 600 reactions.
Brogan could have written the standard “10 things” kind of post but 50 is a whopping number. With a post like this, he’s able to draw in his blog readers, Twitter followers, and his Facebook fans and get a strong foothold in the new social network.
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Adriel Hampton is active in the Gov2.0 world and is also known for live tweeting his run for Congress. Adriel was one of the first people in my Twitter stream that was actively hooking people up with Google + invites. He directed his Twitter and Facebook followers to “@” him their email addresses and also to request invites using his blog.
Would you be more likely to support a candidate who knew how to work the Social Web and took an early foothold in a new network? Um, Yes.
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As I was finishing up this post, I wanted it to be more gender balanced so I asked Twitter if there were any women out there taking an “early lead” on Google plus, especially community builders. One of my Twitter friends, Susie Wee (@susiewee) replied with a list of three people and one of the three provided a list of more women making an early impact on Google Plus.
Susie Wee – She didn’t list herself but she is a VP at Cisco. I met Susie a couple of years back at Shel Israel’s Twitterville book launch event in San Carlos.
Tatyana Kanzaveli – she is @glfceo on Twitter. She is an executive with Social CRM and an expert event planner. I also met her at the Twitterville event.
Susan Beebe – works in Global Social Media department at Dell. One look at her Google Plus posts and you know why Susie mentioned her. She engages and is helping to expand the platform. She is @susanbeebe on Twitter.
Trisha Liu – Trisha works for ArcSight, an HP company. The big brands are definitely finding their way to Google Plus!
Other women who were mentioned for expanding the platform with powerful and engaging content are Megan Murray, Robyn Miller, and Susan Scrupski.
Final thoughts on Google + power building
First of all, if you’re not on Google + yet and need an invite, feel free to tweet me (@jesseluna) your email address or post it below in the Comments.
Second, it’s not just about setting up the right circles, it’s about delivering content that engages your audience and resonates with them.
I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing about what you do with Google +.
Photo credit: Building – By DCMaster on Flickr – License
Facebook Creates Sneaky Way To Suck In Gmail Contacts
Google recently closed off Facebook’s access to import Gmail contacts. Google felt that if Facebook was able to import its Gmail contacts that Google should be able to import from Facebook. Since that wasn’t going to happen, Google pulled the plug on its Facebook integration.
To counter this Google move, Facebook added instructions to its site on how to do a workaround.
This is what I did:
1. Noticed the “Find More Friends” section on my Facebook profile
2. Clicked on the “Find Friends” button.
3. Facebook brings up a mini window which churns then redirects me to a “Find Your Friends” page which has instructions on how to download my Gmail contacts then re-upload them to be processed. SNEAKY!
This is the Find Your Friends page view:
It will be interesting to see if Facebook experiences a dip in new users after the Google move despite Facebooks workaround. What do you think, will it have an effect on Facebook numbers?
Photo credit: Ludovico Cera on Flickr – license
Why You Should Care About Backlinks
I ran into a cool backlink checker Web tool (or see the tool below) and thought I’d share it. Every time a web site has a link to your site, that is called a backlink (also referred to as an inbound link). Search engines love backlinks because that tells them that someone cares enough about your site to have a link.
I was blown away when I saw the over 1,200 links coming into jesseluna.com!
Why Check Backlinks?
- To keep track of the number of inbound links. As your site grows and you reach out to Web communities and comment on sites, this number will grow. But you won’t know that unless you measure.
- Because using the old “Link:< domain-name >” trick in Google doesn’t really work to show you all the Web pages that are linking back to you.
- Because backlinks are a key factor in deciding how much “Google Juice” your site has. If you are being linked to from a site with high authority (think NY Times) then Google and other search engines will reward you with a better search results position.
- So you can compare your backlink numbers to other similar but larger sites. This helps you keep concrete numbers in mind as you ask “how is my site doing?”
- Mostly importantly, now you can work backlink data into conversations with Web geeks at cocktail parties.
How Do I Increase My Backlinks Number?
The best ways to improve the number of people linking to your site are:
- Write awesome content that is link-worthy.
- Build relationships with other sites/blogs and leave thoughtful comments, making sure to add your Web site address in the “Enter URL” comment text boxes. If the Comment form doesn’t have a space for your site URL then you should check the site’s commenting policy to see if it’s OK to leave a Web address in the Comment text.
- Once you have a relationship with a blog site, suggest doing reciprocal links. In the early Web 1.0 days, linking to a site was a key way to reach out to new sites owners and was very common. Today, linking to other sites is much more strategic, especially for business sites.
Important Note: Not all inbound links carry weight.
Important Note Part Deaux: Google’s Webmaster Tools also include a Backlink checker tool. The feature is called “Links To Your Site” on the Tools site. However, I found that the iWebtool.com tool found many more backlinks.
How NOT To Create Backlinks
* DO NOT buy into spammy backlink sites or products.
* DO NOT leave comments on blogs for the sheer purpose of getting backlinks.
The Web is a beautiful place, don’t litter it with meaningless links.
Ready to Check Your Backlinks?
Here’s the tool. Enter your domain and a window will pop up and go to iWebtool.com.
Was this post useful? Do you have any other thoughts on site backlinks? I appreciate your taking the time to visit this blog and to contribute to the conversation.
Remember, every time you leave a thoughtful Comment you get a backlink to your site!
Photo Credit: Nicocrisafulli on Flickr - license
How To Add Google Analytics To Your WordPress Blog (Video)
Google Analytics allows you to collect and see statistics over your blog site traffic. You can see the number of visitors, referral sources, and the keywords that are driving people to your site.
I’m going to show you how to set up Google Analytics on a WordPress site. This video only applies to WordPress.org blogs, not to WordPress.com sites. Click here if you are a WordPress.com user. Otherwise, enjoy the video:
WordPress.com
Because WordPress.com does not support JavaScript, you cannot load Google Analytics. As of now, there is no way around this. If you have a WordPress.com blog and want to capture some statistics then you can use GetClicky. This site allows you to get some site stats but nowhere near the kind of information you can get from Google Analytics.
The other way to get site statistics is to use the built-in stats viewer in WordPress.com’s Dashboard. Here are a couple of views:
The Dashboard view:
Part of the “More Details” WordPress.com view:
So there you have it, installing Google Analytics on a WordPress.org and tips for checking stats on WordPress.com.
Do you have any questions? Leave a comment and don’t forget to squeeze the tube below and subscribe to my YouTube Channel (cinemaluna).
Don’t Muddle Your Brand with Bad SEO
There’s nothing wrong with using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. In fact, Twitter recently changed its pages to use more SEO friendly page titles to get better “Google juice.”
But if that’s your only focus then you can end up going down
some unsavory paths.
There are large companies out there that will help your site improve its Google rankings by creating multiple blog sites, each containing blog posts on various random topics (because they serve many different clients), and include links back to your site.
In the long run, this strategy will not serve you.
Sometimes the “SEO-optimized” blog post will end up complete gibberish because it’s main job is to associate a set of keywords back to the main client site.
It might help your Google search rankings for a bit, but it will mostly help damage your brand.
Nowadays, blogging is easier than ever. Use your blog to share your expertise and attract fans. Remember, content is still king.
[Photo courtesy of @Vermyndax via his blog]
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