SEO Optimize Your Google Plus Profile

SEO (search engine optimization) on Google Plus is an absolute must. Since they announced they are indexing everything posted, this is huge opportunity to boost your SEO. But what do you do if you don’t know how to optimize for SEO? Google Plus is making it easy.

Your Name

Make sure that your name is actually your name, and yes you can use your stage name. You want to use the name you want people to know you by. Think of this as your personal branding. You want people to know who you are. The nice thing is that if you use a nickname, they give you the option of adding it without it replacing your name.

  • To add a nickname, click edit on your profile. Then click your name. Then click “more options”. You will see a box to add your nickname.

Google Plus Nicknameor

Google Plus Nickname

Just a little word of caution. Just like Facebook, Plus does not like you to change your name to frequently. So make sure you know what you want before you change it.

Your name, whether it be on your profile or you page is important. When people are searching for you on the network or on search engines, they will be using this name to find you. Make sure it is the name you want representing your brand.

Just a side note, Google will not let you use a name it thinks is not real. This might be a problem for some people in adult. If they deny your name choice you can contact them to get it approved or you can just set up a fan page instead of using a profile.

Search Signals

Search signals are the things that search engines are looking for when you do a search. Google Plus has made this part easy. The search terms that you want to be found for are the ones that you need to put in your profile.

The most important areas to load keywords are you introduction, employment, education and places.

If you place your keywords in these sections you will be more likely to turn up for search results for that key term. Places is an important one in case people are looking for someone from, or living in, a specific town. Make sure to include places you previously lived to make it easier for people to find you.

What about the tagline? Good question. It does not seem to be heavily weighted, if all. So put whatever you want in the tagline. Occupation and bragging rights are also not weighted.

In a search for your query, after your key word the number of people in your circles, profile verification, and engagement are all weighted and in that order from heaviest to lightest.

Currently Plus seems to be giving profiles more weight than pages, which makes it even more important to SEO optimize your pages!

Certain search fields are more important for internal searching on Google Plus vs. searching on Google the search engine. Places you lived is one of those fields, it seems only relevant for people searching for you within the social network.

There are ways to spam with keyword loading and people are doing it. But Google is smart and will catch on to this kind of SEO practice. So it is best that you do not blatantly keyword load. Keep your descriptive writing relevant and good quality. It will be better for you in the long run.

Getting Started with SEO for Goolge Plus

Google Plus is becoming a major player in the social networking world, even for adult. You could actually argue that it is becoming bigger for adult than Facebook because Google is not as discriminating against adult content.

One of the biggest advantages of Google Plus is the built in SEO. Google Plus indexes every link that you post. Meaning, if you post a link to your site, that link is immediately added to the Google search engine. Yes, even if your site is XXX.

This series will be broken up over a series of posts:

  • Your Profile: How to optimize your profile to appear in search results
  • Search Results: How you appear in search results on and off Google Plus
  • Social Snippets (SERP): How to optimize your SERP (search engine results page)
  • Badges: Linking your website and your Google Plus page
  • Engagement: The importance of being social

After this series, I will be writing on a couple of more advanced issues for Google Plus SEO: Getting Verified and Authorship.

Overall SEO for Plus is not the simplest of tasks. But once it is set up, maintaining good SEO habits is very easy. No matter what, if you are investing in Plus then take the time to invest in SEO.

Social Media Job: Tweet in German

We are looking for someone to tweet in German. The candidate needs to be very familiar with how to use Twitter and Hootsuite. They need to be fluent in German and able to write in a colloquial fashion, meaning they are able to use appropriate slang. This is for an adult site and you will have to view some adult content.

If you are interested, please send your resume to [email protected]

Thank you.

Google Plus for 13 Plus

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Is Google Plus no longer for adults?

Welcome the 13 year olds! Google Plus is trying to make themselves more competitive with Facebook. Though the social network is turning out to be more like a Twitter/Facebook hybrid, Facebook is still it’s #1 competitor and Twitter will likely remain a complimentary social network.

Until recently Google+ has been for 18 years and older. But staying and “adult” network was never in their long term plans. They recognize that teenagers are the biggest demographic, especially when it comes to new technology. But it does leave open the question of security.  Right now there is a lot of adult content on Google+…and we are happier for it. The tight laced nature of Facebook gets all of our panties in a bundle. But Google+ has been pleasantly more lenient. Will opening up the network to teenieboppers make them stricter parents? Well, time will tell

They are taking stricter precautions when it comes to who the teens will be able to circle. They are planning to limit it to teenagers only being able to circle other teenagers. Seems like a good start. Now what keeps someone from putting up a fake profile (ahem..remember Myspace)? Well, nothing that we can tell. But it is likely that they will have learned from their irrelevant social network pal (Myspace), that you do need some safeguards.

Opening up the social network will be beneficial as it will bring a wider audience to the network. Many people adopt a network after their kid have played around on it, look at Facebook. So hopefully this will be a boon for the network and not a big hit for all of us who like to keep the kiddies in the kiddie pool.

Now Everyone will have the Facebook Timeline

The Facebook timeline has been rolling out since November to the general public. Until recently people have been given the option of it they want to upgrade their profile. If they did upgrade and didn’t like it, they could return it to the old style within 7 days. Facebook has announced that there will be no more of these shenanigans and that everyone will be upgraded automatically to the new timeline profile.

Like most updates this has Facebook users up in arms. Many people don’t like the new timeline. Though graphically it is very beautiful, it is harder to find information on it. Plus if you post a lot it is easier to get information buried.

Lets be real. No one is actually leaving Facebook. They know that they can make these changes, completely ignore feedback, and people will continue to use the network. It has become too ingrained in our online and social culture. Where Facebook will make changes is when it starts to hit their bottom line, ie. affecting businesses.

Of course many of the changes they have made over the past year have greatly affected business on Facebook for the negative but individually they were so small that we couldn’t make a fuss over it. One change that did raise everyone heckles was when FB was deciding what posts should appear on your pages timeline. It resulted in a huge outcry from the business community and prevented the change from ever making it out of the trial phase.

So despite the new roll out, people will yell and complain. You will likely see posts in all caps complaining about how horrible it all it. You will likely hear that you can revert back to the old style (which you can’t), there will be scams that supposedly let you revert your profile (don’t click those links), or apps created claiming the same thing (they are bogus). Like it or don’t like it, the timeline is here to stay.

 

Army of Twitter Zombies

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Twitter Zombies might actually help you!

There has always been a lot of debate about weather it is good to buy followers or not. Generally the answer is no. When you buy Twitter followers you might as well be buying an army of Zombies. They won’t retweet you. They won’t talk to you. They won’t click your links. …though the might try to eat your brains.

We call these purchased followers Zombies because they might as well be zombies. They are mainly fake accounts that do nothing but boost your followers number. But that might be helpful.

To get followers you need to have followers. The more you have the easier it is to get more. So how do you get that ball rolling and does it matter is the ball starts off with fake followers?

So does it take followers to make followers? Simply, yes.

Now buying followers will not get you any real time results. You will not get clicks to your website. You will not get sales. You will not make “connections”. You will not improve your brand awareness. But you might be able to get you over that “growing” hump that can take so long. If buying followers helps legitimize your account , ironically, then it might be a good tool to help you grow your legitimate followers that will help you reach your ROI goals.

Things to think about.

SOPA is not your friend

Stop SOPAHave you heard of SOPA? It is the acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act. The act is designed to protect all of us from online piracy. Sounds great right? Sure, but in reality it is not protecting us it is hurting the small business. Let me explain why.

Have you ever used an image from online in one of your blogs? How about a logo? Most likely you have. Did you pay royalties on that image or request permission to use the logo? What about that video of your mom singing “Oops I did it Again” or even you singing “Happy Birthday”. All of that is considered a copy right infringement and SOPA can come after you!

Who SOPA is benefiting are the big companies, ie. music and entertainment. Much like we saw with Napster, the big companies don’t want people to use their material in any form. Except with Napster where it was taking money from their pocket by illegally downloading music a person would otherwise be buying, they are punishing people for increasing brand recognition.

What can they do?

Well for starters they can shut down your site. They can shut down your domain or even your paypal account. Their reach is broad and deep. They can also do this whether or not you actually infringed on copyright. Say someone posted a link in a comment that was copyright, you are now responsible. If you do get flagged for infringement, you can’t fight it until they actually shut you down. And even then it might not matter.

Of course SOPA is powerless when it comes to going after the real pirates. They can only block domains not IP addresses. The real pirates who are downloading illegal activity do that via an IP address not a single domain name. So for them a blocked domain means nothing. For you it can mean that you lose all your traffic and therefore your business.

The long reach of SOPA can actually give the every day user a 5 year prison penalty for infringement. Yes 5 years in jail for that video of your 5 year old singing “Can’t touch this”.

As you can imagine sites like Facebook and Youtube are fighting against SOPA. You can help stop SOPA by contacting your state senator or going to this site to help file your opinion on SOPA to your senator.

Social Media at AEE

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Next week I will be heading out to Las Vegas for Internext and AEE. Though no longer paired with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) it looks like it will be a good show. Last year I was on the social media panel at AEE. It was a great panel with standing room only. As I am on the panel again this year, I am hoping for similar turn out.

Social Media: Are You Connected? (AEE/ANE)
10:00am-11:00am
The thing about social media for businesses is that it’s always evolving even as the underlying goals—connecting with clients, branding, messaging, and community building—remain the same. Social networks are not only here to stay, for many people they are now the place where they get much of the news and other information they use to make decisions about what to buy and how to live. This seminar will bring attendees up to date on the latest social network trends.

Fellow panelist include:

If you are at AEE come by on Friday, January 20th, and check out the panel!

How to Change Your Twitter Username

Changing your Twitter name is a big decision. It is more than just a name on an social network. It is one of the primary ways in which people identify you online. If you are a celebrity, then your Twitter handle is extremely important to your branding.

But how do you change your Twitter handle? Thankfully it is not like Facebook where once you have your personal URL you are stuck with it. Twitter allows you to change your name on a whim…though that is not recommended. Before you change your name, make sure you look closely at the risks and the reasons.

How to Change Your Twitter Name

  1. Log in to your Twitter account
  2. Click on the picture of your avatar in the top right hand corner of the screen
    Twitter Menu
  3. Click Settings, the first menu option
    Twitter Settings
  4. You will see the Username right underneath your name. This is where you will enter in your new username.
    Twitter Username
  5. When you enter your new username it will let you know if the name is available or not.
    Rejected Twitter UsernameApproved Twitter Username
  6. Once you get a name that is available, just click save and your Twitter handle will be changed.