When Google developed AdWords about eight years ago they
revolutionized how we advertise on the Internet. You could now decide
exactly which people saw your ads and when they saw them.
Google+, while developed as a social network for casual users, offers a very similar upgrade to social networking.
Instead of sending a message to hundreds or even thousands of people whenever you want to update your list, you can customize and target your sharing using the Circles functions.
We’ve only just begun to think of ways to use this. But, I can tell you one thing. It’s going to revolutionize how people interact with their customers.
And while most of you are Internet marketer, off-line businesses, whether you own one or market to them, are going to use this tool as it grows to build relationships with their customers and new and exciting ways.
Now, when you decide to produce a new free report, you can send the information only to those people who care. So, if your Circles look like this:
It’s targeting at its finest and with the way Google has set this up, it’s easy to use too.
In the end, it made more sense for Google just to create their own social network. Before you get too critical, consider the fact that Google has managed to do this and multiple other areas.
They developed their own mobile operating system, which is now the largest in the world, they developed their own Internet browser which is now used by nearly as many people as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and they may have one of the best free e-mail services on the Internet.
These are all things designed to help Google improve their search functions and provide new properties on which to sell advertisements.
So it’s not surprising that Google has already started integrating search and social with Google+. How they end up doing this will depend on a number of factors. For now, we know that you can claim your own websites and show up in search alongside them, and Google will use the +1 tool to impact search results.
This should excite you…
or terrify you.
Because, all it’s going to take is a percentage of Google’s users becoming addicted to this new tool for the entire search landscape to be affected. Imagine what happens when 50 million or 100 million people +1’ing things across the Internet are integrated into the search results.
You may have carefully groomed your website to appear in the top spot, but suddenly it falls six spots due to the social impact of Google+.
This is what we’re up against. And to be successful, we need to not only understand how Google+ works, but how to use its new tools and social services to our advantage.
The result though has been software that either looks a lot like everyone else’s (*cough* Buzz *cough*) or they make something so convoluted and strange that people go cross eyed trying to figure it out (I’m looking at you Wave).
That’s part of what makes Google+ such a game changer. Google has managed to create a social network (and much more!) that conforms to the expectations people have of social networks without being complicated.
In fact, I’d say Google+ is easier and more intuitive to start using than Facebook and its ever evolving, ever infuriating interface.
But, and this is the coolest part, Google+ has so much more going on under the hood.
After all, this is Google we’re talking about. They have tools that will make Google+ more valuable simply through their existence. Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, Picasa – the list goes on and on and already it’s forcing Facebook to stumble around and pick up the pieces.
But, by far the most powerful thing Google has going for it is the ability to perform market research and target content development in the search engines.
Because Google happens to run the world’s largest search engine (and advertising network, but more on this in a bit), they can offer features that would take decades for other social networks to duplicate.
Just look at Facebook. They have a lucrative deal with Bing, but have they been able to take advantage of it yet? Of course not – Bing is too new and too sparse to provide the kind of coverage needed to offer what Google+ does out of the box.
Let’s take a look at what we can do here:
As you know, Google is already integrating some of their content into the search results. Here’s an example from when I searched for “Google+ invites” while preparing materials for this book:
It’s a normal SERP, except it’s not. There on the bottom left is a picture of Steve Kovach and his name is attached to the article. This was shared by Steve on his Google+ profile and because it was reread multiple times and shared across the network by multiple users, it became quite popular.
As a result, Google indexed the page that Steven linked to (at number 5 for this keyword, BTW). This is huge for a LOT of reasons. Think about it for a moment.
You can get content indexed in Google by sharing it in Google+. Not only that, but that content can skyrocket up the SERPs based solely on the interest shown by your fellow members.
It may seem like this isn’t something we can take advantage of, but let’s not forget who we are. We’re Internet marketers and we can take advantage of anything if we put our minds to it.
You probably already have a Circle filled with prospects that are interested in information about weight loss. These are people who have followed you, bought your products, shown interest in your comments or simply asked you questions.
Now, by looking through their profiles, reviewing their comments and seeing what terms they search for (using some good old fashioned keyword research), you can develop content that they are more likely to be interested in.
So, for my Circle filled with weight loss prospects, I might write a 2,000 word blog post reviewing the most popular diets right now and why they are too risky to attempt. Not only is the post loaded with timely keywords related to the people in my Circle; it has a chance of going viral on Google+, thereby drawing many more people to the article.
In a matter of minutes, I’ve just gotten this article indexed and bumped up in the SERPs significantly. If I throw in a few old school methods of backlinking and comment generation, I might soon have a Page 1 article on my hands, and it took almost no time.
At first glance, Sparks may look like every other search engine that Google offers for its properties, but it’s so much more. Google Sparks allows you to find topically related content, add it to your stream and discuss it in real time with people if you so choose.
We have no idea what gets things into Sparks, but we do know that it’s targeted for relevancy. That means, unlike Google’s major algorithms, the content does better if it’s newer. Old content isn’t relevant so it drops out of the listings.
You can use this to your advantage to not only get your content in front of people when they want to see it, but to learn more about your niche and stay up to date on hot topics in that niche.
After all, you’re supposed to be an expert and that requires a lot of data on your doorstep which you can then share with other people. Sparks makes that much easier.
Better yet, learn what’s showing up in Sparks and copy their strategies so your content will show up in Sparks as well. Don’t forget that Sparks is a search engine that people will use to keep themselves up to date on interesting information in their niche.
If you can target that information as well as you target content in the standard search engines, you’ll be able to go viral.
Yes, folks, Google has made it possible to do SEO for viral content. Don’t believe me that you can get your content in Sparks for top keywords. Check out what I found when I did a search for “copywriting”:
Notice that product image for Barbara Ling’s post about Copywriting? That’s a marketing website and she just showed up number two in Sparks for her post – plus it was written three days before my search. That could be you.
How So?
The big question is how to show up in the top spots in Sparks for things that you know your targeted prospects will search for.
What I want to show you is how I have used this strategy successfully to generate content that will sell in my niche as well.
Here’s how I do it.
First, there’s SEO. Yes, you need to do the normal SEO stuff. Optimize your content for keywords that you’re targeting, submit the content to plenty of locations immediately to start getting backlinks and start building traffic, and make sure you develop a long term strategy to generate ongoing traffic to your content.
But, Sparks isn’t about long term – it’s about getting people to your content right now and keeping them interested in that content in the short term.
So, to do that, we need to boost our profile and make sure people see the content, read the content and most importantly, +1 the content because you know Google is taking these into account.
So, share your content on Google+ and get people to check it out. If you want to really drive sales, you need that exposure. Next, make sure people are interested enough to actually read and then share your content.
Do this by promoting it in your Huddles and Hangouts, putting a +1 button on your blog and developing content that is interesting for a number of reasons for a variety of different groups.
Finally follow-up. Tag people in your shares so specific people have an opportunity to read what you have to offer and always be willing to provide updates or direct links if someone wants to learn more about something you’ve shared.
The goal is to make it as easy as possible for someone to find what you’ve posted and learn more about what you’re writing.
And of course, be quick. Sparks is a very time-sensitive search engine. Anything older than three or four days simply won’t show up at the top. You’re already at a disadvantage by not being a major news portal like BoingBoing or Huffington Post.
If you want to overcome that you need to get a LOT of +1’s very fast and get your content into the Sparks database. Do that and it will go viral. And while nothing stays in the Sparks listings for long, regardless of how many +1’s you get, you can take advantage of your growing popularity for long term search.
Think of Sparks as a sort of dry run for SEO. Get something in Sparks and move it up in the listings on the traditional organic search engine.
Google+ has integrated a number of interesting new features into the Google canon of products. The most obvious is the development of the Google Home Bar – the login bar at the top of the screen whenever you use a Google product.
This shows up when someone logs into Gmail, Google Docs, Google+ or anything else that the search engine company owns.
Huge advantage for you.
As you can see, the Google Home Bar has a simple box at the top right with notifications – colored and styled in a familiar way for anyone who has used Facebook or an iPhone before.
So, when you receive a notification, you know it.
Our goal then is to send notifications whenever we want someone to see something we’ve posted. This is huge because as you know, it’s very easy to miss a LOT of the messages posted by people on your lists in Facebook and Twitter.
Even with Circles breaking down these lists into bite sized chunks, it’s easy to miss hundreds of messages a day, especially if you don’t have time to read them all.
So, if something is particularly important, you want to make sure everyone in your target Circles see it.
Here’s how you do it.
When you create a new post and are getting ready to share it with people in a Circle, put your mouse over the Circle you’ve selected and hover for about 2 seconds:
The above options will appear, allowing you to send them a notification that you’ve just posted something for them to read.
There are limits of course. Circles with more than 100 people cannot be notified, so you need to segment your Circles into small chunks if you want to use this tool. Secondly, you cannot send notifications to your Public Circle or multiple Circles unless they are small and you manually add them all to a single custom made Circle.
This is a powerful tool, especially if someone happens to be in Gmail checking their messages and a notification pops up. If they’re bored or procrastinating at work especially this is a perfect way to get them to your website where they can review what you just posted.
While most people operate on different schedules from each other, there are a few specific times of day that play to the numbers best. Right before work (pre-9am), at lunch time (12-1pm) and right before the end of the day (pre-5/6pm) are all great because people are getting ready to work or leave work and therefore are less likely to actually be doing work.
Don’t forget mobiles either – if you plan on using this strategy, remember that a lot of people now check their email remotely on a mobile phone, so make sure your links are mobile friendly. If you have a blog you link to frequently or you post videos, use mobile friendly layouts. WordPress and YouTube are your best options for this because they work very well on most mobile platforms.
Since posts are not limited in length, you can tag as many people as you want. But, because Google+ is informed by Twitter, you can use the +USERNAME prefix to tag people and send them a direct message that they’ve been tagged.
It’s intuitive to anyone who’s used Twitter (250+ million!) and it’s fast and simple. Don’t spam the function though or people will ignore you when you do tag them, but feel free to tag certain people, especially if you have anyone in your hot prospects list – these people are most interested in your offers and will respond better if you basically send them a specific message saying ‘check this out!’
Google+, while developed as a social network for casual users, offers a very similar upgrade to social networking.
Instead of sending a message to hundreds or even thousands of people whenever you want to update your list, you can customize and target your sharing using the Circles functions.
We’ve only just begun to think of ways to use this. But, I can tell you one thing. It’s going to revolutionize how people interact with their customers.
And while most of you are Internet marketer, off-line businesses, whether you own one or market to them, are going to use this tool as it grows to build relationships with their customers and new and exciting ways.
What We’re Talking About
Imagine starting a campaign in which you target individual people in different ways. So, you could have one Circle contain all of your JV partners, another contain all of your customers, and 10 others contain different prospects based on their interests.Now, when you decide to produce a new free report, you can send the information only to those people who care. So, if your Circles look like this:
- JVs
- Buyers of Weight Loss Product
- Fitness Prospects
- Weight Loss Prospects
- Muscle Building Prospects
- Organic Eating Prospects
- Health and Wellness Prospects
It’s targeting at its finest and with the way Google has set this up, it’s easy to use too.
Integrating Search and Social
The goal of Google has long been to integrate social tools into their search functions. They tried to buy other social media services, they worked with Twitter and Facebook, and they tried to develop new ways to integrate these tools directly into their searches without overriding the algorithms they spent 15 years developing.In the end, it made more sense for Google just to create their own social network. Before you get too critical, consider the fact that Google has managed to do this and multiple other areas.
They developed their own mobile operating system, which is now the largest in the world, they developed their own Internet browser which is now used by nearly as many people as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and they may have one of the best free e-mail services on the Internet.
These are all things designed to help Google improve their search functions and provide new properties on which to sell advertisements.
So it’s not surprising that Google has already started integrating search and social with Google+. How they end up doing this will depend on a number of factors. For now, we know that you can claim your own websites and show up in search alongside them, and Google will use the +1 tool to impact search results.
This should excite you…
or terrify you.
Because, all it’s going to take is a percentage of Google’s users becoming addicted to this new tool for the entire search landscape to be affected. Imagine what happens when 50 million or 100 million people +1’ing things across the Internet are integrated into the search results.
You may have carefully groomed your website to appear in the top spot, but suddenly it falls six spots due to the social impact of Google+.
This is what we’re up against. And to be successful, we need to not only understand how Google+ works, but how to use its new tools and social services to our advantage.
Targeted Messaging
One of the things that has long plagued Google’s social media attempts is that they try to do too much. They have a bunch of ridiculously smart guys and gals coming up with crazy ideas that no one has ever heard of.The result though has been software that either looks a lot like everyone else’s (*cough* Buzz *cough*) or they make something so convoluted and strange that people go cross eyed trying to figure it out (I’m looking at you Wave).
That’s part of what makes Google+ such a game changer. Google has managed to create a social network (and much more!) that conforms to the expectations people have of social networks without being complicated.
In fact, I’d say Google+ is easier and more intuitive to start using than Facebook and its ever evolving, ever infuriating interface.
But, and this is the coolest part, Google+ has so much more going on under the hood.
After all, this is Google we’re talking about. They have tools that will make Google+ more valuable simply through their existence. Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, Picasa – the list goes on and on and already it’s forcing Facebook to stumble around and pick up the pieces.
But, by far the most powerful thing Google has going for it is the ability to perform market research and target content development in the search engines.
Because Google happens to run the world’s largest search engine (and advertising network, but more on this in a bit), they can offer features that would take decades for other social networks to duplicate.
Just look at Facebook. They have a lucrative deal with Bing, but have they been able to take advantage of it yet? Of course not – Bing is too new and too sparse to provide the kind of coverage needed to offer what Google+ does out of the box.
Let’s take a look at what we can do here:
Targeted SERPs with Google+ Sharing
I have seen this a few other places, so I’m not telling you anything new, but it’s such an exciting opportunity and I’ve already seen so many people doing it wrong that I want to devote a short section to it, just to give you my take on the process.As you know, Google is already integrating some of their content into the search results. Here’s an example from when I searched for “Google+ invites” while preparing materials for this book:
It’s a normal SERP, except it’s not. There on the bottom left is a picture of Steve Kovach and his name is attached to the article. This was shared by Steve on his Google+ profile and because it was reread multiple times and shared across the network by multiple users, it became quite popular.
As a result, Google indexed the page that Steven linked to (at number 5 for this keyword, BTW). This is huge for a LOT of reasons. Think about it for a moment.
You can get content indexed in Google by sharing it in Google+. Not only that, but that content can skyrocket up the SERPs based solely on the interest shown by your fellow members.
It may seem like this isn’t something we can take advantage of, but let’s not forget who we are. We’re Internet marketers and we can take advantage of anything if we put our minds to it.
Step 1 – Targeted Content
Develop targeted content that is interesting to a specific subset of your friends. You already have a huge advantage here because you created Circles that target a specific niche. Let’s say you are selling weight loss eBooks.You probably already have a Circle filled with prospects that are interested in information about weight loss. These are people who have followed you, bought your products, shown interest in your comments or simply asked you questions.
Now, by looking through their profiles, reviewing their comments and seeing what terms they search for (using some good old fashioned keyword research), you can develop content that they are more likely to be interested in.
Step 2 – Writing Content Based on Google+ Connections
Gone are the days when you would write any old article or free report and market it to everyone. You can now use social media to target a specific demographic and boost your rankings in the SERPs dramatically as a result.So, for my Circle filled with weight loss prospects, I might write a 2,000 word blog post reviewing the most popular diets right now and why they are too risky to attempt. Not only is the post loaded with timely keywords related to the people in my Circle; it has a chance of going viral on Google+, thereby drawing many more people to the article.
Step 3 – Sharing My Content
When the article is done, I post it to my blog and then share it with my Circle of weight loss prospects. That’s 400 or 500 people who I know for a fact will either read or consider reading that article. Some of them will follow the link; others will +1 the content. Either way, I have instant readership and probably some of them will share it with their fellow users.In a matter of minutes, I’ve just gotten this article indexed and bumped up in the SERPs significantly. If I throw in a few old school methods of backlinking and comment generation, I might soon have a Page 1 article on my hands, and it took almost no time.
Knowing How to Use Your Research
The goal is to use the data you’ve gathered from Google+ effectively. There is a little bit of guessing here; you’ll need to determine which keywords your target prospects are searching for and when they search for them, but even so, the results will be well worth the extra effort put into the process. You’ll get a tremendous volume of readership and a bump in the SERPs almost overnight.Market Research
Google has a huge network of data to draw from which means you can access it for use on any aspect of your Google+ account. In this case, I want to do some market research and possibly get some of our content listed in the indices that Google draws from for its Sparks search function.At first glance, Sparks may look like every other search engine that Google offers for its properties, but it’s so much more. Google Sparks allows you to find topically related content, add it to your stream and discuss it in real time with people if you so choose.
We have no idea what gets things into Sparks, but we do know that it’s targeted for relevancy. That means, unlike Google’s major algorithms, the content does better if it’s newer. Old content isn’t relevant so it drops out of the listings.
You can use this to your advantage to not only get your content in front of people when they want to see it, but to learn more about your niche and stay up to date on hot topics in that niche.
After all, you’re supposed to be an expert and that requires a lot of data on your doorstep which you can then share with other people. Sparks makes that much easier.
Learning What People Want to Know
You probably have already done a lot of keyword research on the niche in which you are marketing your products. That’s a great thing because we can now use that research to target specific terms that we know our prospects are looking for in Sparks.Better yet, learn what’s showing up in Sparks and copy their strategies so your content will show up in Sparks as well. Don’t forget that Sparks is a search engine that people will use to keep themselves up to date on interesting information in their niche.
If you can target that information as well as you target content in the standard search engines, you’ll be able to go viral.
Yes, folks, Google has made it possible to do SEO for viral content. Don’t believe me that you can get your content in Sparks for top keywords. Check out what I found when I did a search for “copywriting”:
Notice that product image for Barbara Ling’s post about Copywriting? That’s a marketing website and she just showed up number two in Sparks for her post – plus it was written three days before my search. That could be you.
How So?
The big question is how to show up in the top spots in Sparks for things that you know your targeted prospects will search for.
What I want to show you is how I have used this strategy successfully to generate content that will sell in my niche as well.
Here’s how I do it.
First, there’s SEO. Yes, you need to do the normal SEO stuff. Optimize your content for keywords that you’re targeting, submit the content to plenty of locations immediately to start getting backlinks and start building traffic, and make sure you develop a long term strategy to generate ongoing traffic to your content.
But, Sparks isn’t about long term – it’s about getting people to your content right now and keeping them interested in that content in the short term.
So, to do that, we need to boost our profile and make sure people see the content, read the content and most importantly, +1 the content because you know Google is taking these into account.
So, share your content on Google+ and get people to check it out. If you want to really drive sales, you need that exposure. Next, make sure people are interested enough to actually read and then share your content.
Do this by promoting it in your Huddles and Hangouts, putting a +1 button on your blog and developing content that is interesting for a number of reasons for a variety of different groups.
Finally follow-up. Tag people in your shares so specific people have an opportunity to read what you have to offer and always be willing to provide updates or direct links if someone wants to learn more about something you’ve shared.
The goal is to make it as easy as possible for someone to find what you’ve posted and learn more about what you’re writing.
And of course, be quick. Sparks is a very time-sensitive search engine. Anything older than three or four days simply won’t show up at the top. You’re already at a disadvantage by not being a major news portal like BoingBoing or Huffington Post.
If you want to overcome that you need to get a LOT of +1’s very fast and get your content into the Sparks database. Do that and it will go viral. And while nothing stays in the Sparks listings for long, regardless of how many +1’s you get, you can take advantage of your growing popularity for long term search.
Think of Sparks as a sort of dry run for SEO. Get something in Sparks and move it up in the listings on the traditional organic search engine.
Targeted Notifications
Here’s a simple trick that you can use if you have done everything else I’ve recommended thus far with your Circles.Google+ has integrated a number of interesting new features into the Google canon of products. The most obvious is the development of the Google Home Bar – the login bar at the top of the screen whenever you use a Google product.
This shows up when someone logs into Gmail, Google Docs, Google+ or anything else that the search engine company owns.
Huge advantage for you.
As you can see, the Google Home Bar has a simple box at the top right with notifications – colored and styled in a familiar way for anyone who has used Facebook or an iPhone before.
So, when you receive a notification, you know it.
Our goal then is to send notifications whenever we want someone to see something we’ve posted. This is huge because as you know, it’s very easy to miss a LOT of the messages posted by people on your lists in Facebook and Twitter.
Even with Circles breaking down these lists into bite sized chunks, it’s easy to miss hundreds of messages a day, especially if you don’t have time to read them all.
So, if something is particularly important, you want to make sure everyone in your target Circles see it.
Here’s how you do it.
When you create a new post and are getting ready to share it with people in a Circle, put your mouse over the Circle you’ve selected and hover for about 2 seconds:
The above options will appear, allowing you to send them a notification that you’ve just posted something for them to read.
There are limits of course. Circles with more than 100 people cannot be notified, so you need to segment your Circles into small chunks if you want to use this tool. Secondly, you cannot send notifications to your Public Circle or multiple Circles unless they are small and you manually add them all to a single custom made Circle.
This is a powerful tool, especially if someone happens to be in Gmail checking their messages and a notification pops up. If they’re bored or procrastinating at work especially this is a perfect way to get them to your website where they can review what you just posted.
While most people operate on different schedules from each other, there are a few specific times of day that play to the numbers best. Right before work (pre-9am), at lunch time (12-1pm) and right before the end of the day (pre-5/6pm) are all great because people are getting ready to work or leave work and therefore are less likely to actually be doing work.
Don’t forget mobiles either – if you plan on using this strategy, remember that a lot of people now check their email remotely on a mobile phone, so make sure your links are mobile friendly. If you have a blog you link to frequently or you post videos, use mobile friendly layouts. WordPress and YouTube are your best options for this because they work very well on most mobile platforms.
Tagging
Along the same lines as notifications is tagging. Tagging isn’t new to social media – both Facebook and twitter offer similar functions, but the way Google+ implements it is light years beyond what we’ve seen in the past.Since posts are not limited in length, you can tag as many people as you want. But, because Google+ is informed by Twitter, you can use the +USERNAME prefix to tag people and send them a direct message that they’ve been tagged.
It’s intuitive to anyone who’s used Twitter (250+ million!) and it’s fast and simple. Don’t spam the function though or people will ignore you when you do tag them, but feel free to tag certain people, especially if you have anyone in your hot prospects list – these people are most interested in your offers and will respond better if you basically send them a specific message saying ‘check this out!’
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