Setting up your Google+ Business page

I promised I’d do a step by step guide to setting up your Business on Google plus, so… *deep breath* Here goes!

Step 1.  Set up a personal Google+ account with a new gmail address if needed.

Currently you cant have more than one person administer your business page, so if you need to give access to more than one person (or want the option) you need to set up a gmail address specifically for your pages login,

You can create a Google account here  and then

Sign up for a Google plus personal  account here 

Its super easy to do – just follow along the wizard, very similar to other social media sites.

Step 2.  Create your Google+ Business page

Go here and you’ll see this:

 

If you have a local business, shop, restaurant etc that you want people to visit make sure you choose the Local business or place option. It will take you to a screen where you put in your country and phone number and Google goes and finds your place page to link up.

If your business isn’t place oriented, then just choose whichever one fits best,  hovering your mouse over  each of the options gives you some examples but Google say not to stress too much about picking the right one.

Follow the wizard and fill in all your business details. You’ll be prompted to come up with a 10 word tag line, again don’t stress this CAN be changed later.

Step 3: Snazzify your page

Add your photo strip that will show at the top of your page. You have 5 photos (and yes you can change them and order them) , this is similar to Facebook but you have more control. The photos at the top are your “scrapbook”. They can either create a banner effect as one image or be separate elements of your business.

Add videos if you have them and make a few posts, so people have something to see when they stop by.

Step 4: Spread the word you are there and engage

Invite your friends, share with your profile, follow other relevant pages etc to find and engage your users ON Google plus.

Step 4 and a half:  Integrate Google+ with your website

Put a badge on your site and your web address in your profile,from the help section (notice the bit I bold typed? If you are on the fence about having a google+ page pay attention to that)

To link your Google+ page to your website:

1. Go to your profile by clicking the profile icon at the top of the page.
2. Click Edit Profile.
3. On the ‘About’ tab, click Links.
4. Click Add custom link.
5. Enter a title for the link and a URL.
6. Click Save.

After you’ve linked your Google+ page to your website, make sure to also link your website to your page. Learn how to add the Google+ badge to your website.

Linking your page and your website is useful because:

• It helps you connect with your friends, fans and customers.
• It provides Google with information that we can use to help determine the relevancy of your site to a user query on Google Search.
• Your site will become eligible for Google+ Direct Connect.

 Connecting to your website may be beyond a DIY thing for you- Its easy when you know how though, so shout out if you need help and we can take care of it!

Step 5: Adding Circles and (maybe) hang outs

One of the most powerful part of G+ that other social medias don’t have is the circles feature. You can group your followers into different circles. There are four by default (following, customers, VIPS and team members) but you can make up as many as you want.

As people or pages add your page to their circles you can put them in relevant groups. The beauty of this is that you can have special offers for VIP’s or intro offers for potential clients. When you make a status update you can choose which circles see it.

If you have different programs for instance you can send updates on those programs only to the people interested in them and avoid annoying the rest of your followers.

Hang outs are a great place for discussions, focus groups or customer service. You can set up “opening hours” for Q and A or support sessions for example.

Here is what Mashable are doing with their hang out

Step 6 : Explore

This is brand new for everyone and brands are all feeling their way, take a snoop around other peoples pages and see what they are doing to get some ideas.

Don’t forget to drop by and say “hi” on our page. Click here > >

Want more about the difference between Google plus and Facebook? Click to have a look at what I wrote last week

Thoughts? Ideas? Rants? Leave ‘em in the comments.