This week I have the honor of being a guest co-host of the Growing Circles Hop. I have been participating in the hop for a number of months, and so enjoy interacting with other bloggers as we grow our Google Plus presence together. Please come on in and join us for this great hop!
This week we’re sharing some G+ Tips at Growing Circles Hop, because we want to be sure you know the benefits and how powerful it can be when used.
This week we’re starting off by answering this question:
What is a +1 on Google Plus?
What’s the purpose? What does it do for me?
Unlike facebook, though, when you give something a +1, it’s not shared with friends and followers as a status update. Your +1’s are saved in your Google+ profile and displayed for everyone to see there (if you have this setting activated in your preferences in your Google+ Settings). These +1’s will also be seen in the home feed of people that have you in their circles, if google thinks it might interest them.
In a nutshell, if someone gives your post a +1, your post now has the potential to be recommended by others. If a G+ user with a large number of circles gives your post a +1, there’s a possibility of your post being seen by all, or at least some, of their circles (which also very well could be a whole new audience for you).
So, to wrap up our Week 1 session, here’s a quick (less than a minute) video to explain further.
As a blogger, these +1’s can give your post a major boost, not just within Google+. When a post of yours has +1’s, it shows that it’s being viewed and that people value your content. The more you have, the more your post can be seen by others, and the more people will want to click on your link to read the full post! But, as we’ll explain in later weeks of our G+ tips, a post doesn’t necessarily have to have +1’s in order to be seen either (hope that got your attention!).
One of our regular #GrowingCirclesHop participants recently shared a blog post about reasons for bloggers to love Google+, and we wanted to share it with you today.
Number 1 on Sarah’s list of reasons:
Google Plus can be great for building your traffic from search engines!
This reason alone should be peaking your interest as a blogger. We all want traffic to our blogs, right?
Read the full post here, and read why else bloggers should love Google+:
6 Reasons for Bloggers to Love Google Plus,
by Sarah Fuller
Our Party Hashtag Feature Post
Would you like to Co-Host with us?
We need your help!
Send an email to 2justByou(AT)gmail(DOT)com with “G+ Hop Co-Host” in the subject line and include your blog and G+ links for consideration. We’d love to have you!
To make the most of this link party, please follow the rules below.
1. You MUST add your hosts and co-hosts to one of your circles before linking up.
2. Link up your personal Google+ profile, blog or business G+ pages, OR — you can link up a specific G+ post of yours – but NOT your blog URL.
3. Publicly share a post – (new or old) on G+ and use the party hashtag #GrowingCirclesHop.
4. Connect with others by clicking on your #growingcircleshop hashtag, or enter “growingcircleshop” in the search box at the top. Engage with at least 2-3 others by a Share, +1 and/or Comment.
5. Add new friends to your circles! Be social.
6. Grab a button for your blog, if you’d like. Help us spread the word so we can keep trending on Google Plus each week! (You can edit size to fit your blog in the code).
Throughout the next 12 hours, check back on G+ and +1 posts with the hashtag #growingcircleshop.
Google+ Tips
The real participation comes with sharing a blog post to G+ using the party’s hashtag and engaging with others who are also sharing posts from this party. Interaction and engaging with others on G+ will bring you the most success!
Help spread the word and invite your friends to our Party!
LINK UP below!!! You can now link up your G+ profile page -OR- you can link up a specific G+ post that you’ve already publicly shared using our party hashtag!