It’s official – Google+ has been opened up to public beta. Go on, go setup your account – you can read this anytime. Login to your Google account, then in the upper left corner click +YourName and it will walk you through the setup process. I was kind of giddy about the process—I’m pretty excited about Google+, it’s just so darn easy to use—it makes sense. The question is, will Google+ outstrip Facebook in popularity?
I’ll be posting as I explore and learn the G+ system. Feel free to share your thoughts with me and join me on Google+ too!
So far, the number one positive feedback I’m hearing is that G+ has excellent privacy features.
My favorite feature is the search functionality. It’s kind of like Twitter meets Facebook in the way that you can do a search for a specific keyword and you’ll get results for anyone who has posted publicly on that topic; then, you can create a Circle using that keyword name and add those interesting Plussers to your Circle. (Users are called Plussers by the way—no longer a “Twit,” now that’s a Plus).
Getting Started:
1. Set up your profile: you can share as little or as much as you feel comfortable sharing. Read the rest of this entry »
Build Your Platform through Blog Commenting
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—connect with your audience. Social media is a great way to do this, but the crux is to figure out how to get quality people to follow you. One of the most effective ways to do this is through blog commenting. Many of my readers are still unsure as to how this can really help establish an author platform.
Okay, let’s reverse the roles as an example: you are a mom who reads mommy blogs to see what fun new products are out there to make your life easier, to get a good laugh, and to be part of an adult conversation now and then. You decide to leave a comment on a post that really strikes a chord with you—you leave a genuine comment and you become part of the conversation. You decide to read what other people have said in the string of comments and you really like what Sally from Cincinnati had to say—so you look her up. Wow, you discover that Sally has a blog too, and she’s right on, you really connect with her and love to read her daily thoughts. So, you tell your friends about her, and you share her site on your Facebook page, and you email the link to your sister because she’s STILL NOT on Facebook….
Remember this: blog commenting works because you bring something to the conversation, not because you say, “hey I wrote a book—check it out.” If your comment is interesting, people will want to know more about you—especially if you offer sound wisdom and offer value in your comments.
Here’s another example: My husband Chad is a photographer and he follows lot’s of photography blogs. He left a blog comment about Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: blog commenting, Internet Marketing, SEO, social media
Posted in Internet Marketing, Tweet this, Website Wow | 2 Comments »