NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Google continues to improve its social networking platform Google+ to compete with social giants Facebook and Twitter. In January Google introduced Search Plus Your World to integrate personalized results on your search engine results page. Now Google has overhauled their look.

The new Google+ graphical user interface is bigger and more visual. Before the change, all the relevant content – the news stream and profiles – gravitated toward the center of the browser. The new home page takes up the entire browser, making pictures larger and making the news stream more prevalent. Contacts appear on the right side of the window so you can still chat as before. But now “hangouts” are a focus.

Hangouts allow users to video chat with up to nine other people in their circles. Google also let certain users broadcast their video hangouts to the world. They call the broadcasts Hangouts On Air. On May 7, Google opened up Hangouts On Air to all users. The live broadcasts will become more prevalent over the next few weeks as Google lays the groundwork for an outpouring of data. You can broadcast live to a worldwide audience, and you can also see how many people are watching you in real time. Once your live broadcast is complete, Google uploads the video to your YouTube channel and saves the video on your Google+ homepage as a post. President Barack Obama, soccer star David Beckham, and supermodel and TV personality Tyra Banks have all hosted G+ hangouts.

But that’s not the only thing Google’s pulled out of its hat recently. On May 9, Google announced a G+ mobile app for increased sharing capabilities.

“To be clear, we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller,” Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra writes on the Google blog. “We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive.”

Smartphones are essential to many people’s lives. They use them to check the weather, to check their email, to video chat and to play games. It’s surprising that Google just now unveiled its G+ mobile app, but taking time to perfect its features may pay off in increased user participation.

As soon as I saw that Google released a mobile app I grabbed my iPhone and installed it. (The iPhone app is available now, and Google says the Android version will be released in a few weeks.) The first screen on the mobile app – after signing into your Google account – is to turn instant photo upload on or off. Photos from your mobile device will instantly upload to a G+ album, cutting out the manual uploading for users. Next your G+ stream flows vertically down the screen. The app is highly visual, and if I do say so myself, nicely executed. People in my stream show up in modern, sans serif type and posts have non-invasive +1 buttons that are sleek and intuitive. The posts are also visually-driven, so remember to add a photo to your G+ posts for more eye-catching content.

Releasing google mobile app will help G+ compete with Facebook and Twitter for mobile sharing. Sharing more on G+ means more opportunities for your content to reach a wider audience. Everyone who shares your posts matters, as users in the same circles will have more access to personalized search results. This emphasis on sharing is perfect for organic SEO, as relevant content will likely be shared with interested parties.

I’m interested in what other changes Google will implement to differentiate their G+ platform from Twitter and Facebook. Personally, I think the mobile app and live broadcasts are important steps.

What improvements would you like to see Google+ make to increase their user participation?

SANTA MONICA, CA — We’ve said it once, and it’s worth repeating: Google Places, along with organic SEO, is the most important factor for small businesses looking to attract a customer base. In Google Places is Where You Need to Be, SEO Expert Ali Husayni explains its importance in helping customers find you. The article included the following pieces of advice for Google Places: positive reviews under your Google Places listing, adding a +1 button to your site’s pages, and running a campaign to improve your website’s link popularity. Husayni encouragingly points out that, as shown in a Master Google survey, clients that appeared on Google Places showed an increase of $45,000-to $274,000 in their annual revenue compared to those who didn’t. These businesses spent a small fraction of their budget to achieve these results, making it a great choice.

Now there are a couple of new suggestions of ways to keep you ahead of your competition (and rise your ranking) in Google Places: by keeping your content consistent and completing missing information.

Image courtesy of Onbile.com.

Keeping Your Content Consistent:

Keeping each of your online profiles consistent can be tough, but be sure to update all of your content, on every platform, every time. Failure to do so can hurt your SEO efforts big time, according to a recent article by Ashley Zeckman of TopRankBlog.com.

“It is important that your Google Place profile contains the same information as any other profiles your company may have online. Google Place pages create another opportunity to build trust and consistency as part of your marketing strategy. Be sure to audit your other profiles and answer each question as consistently as you can,” Zeckman says.

Other great ideas that Zeckman brings up to create consistency with your content across multiple platforms include:

• Linking: The problem here is often too many profiles for your business. Link them when possible.
• Branding: Be sure to reference your brand in the same way, every time.
• Imagery: Fight the urge to use different images in different places. Keep them the same.

Completing Missing Information:

When filling out profiles, there is often so much to fill out, that a business leaves an optional spot or two blank. Don’t or it might impact how easily you’re found online.

“Have you ever heard the expression ‘better off safe than sorry’? Take the same approach when setting up or editing your Google Places profile,” Zeckman advises.

No matter where your online profile is going to go, or how many of them you have, always fill out these bits of information: company name, email address, phone number, website, and address. Sometimes this can get time consuming, and not all businesses can fix everything at once. But regardless of which of these tips you take or leave, it is important to understand the continuing importance of staying current with Google Places, as Husayni explains.

“It won’t matter if you don’t know how to use Adwords, Analytics, or Google+,” Husayni says. “Being seen at the top of search results is equivalent to purchasing a large, eye-catching ad in your local Yellow Pages that everyone owned 10 years ago. If your ad was the first, your phone would not stop ringing.”

If you are not listed with Google Pages, please see the simple steps to getting listed with this video: to get on Google Places.

BOULDER, COLORADO – One thing is certain when it comes to Internet marketing- nothing
stays the same.

Internet marketing continues to evolve and these days it seems to have settled- at least
temporarily- into three primary areas: social media marketing, search engine marketing and
search engine optimization.

Today we will discuss social media marketing, and we will cover the other two areas in
two future articles. Social media is the term used to describe a variety of Web- and mobile-
based tools designed for discussing and sharing information among users. It is becoming an
increasingly powerful tool businesses can use to reach new clients, as well as build rapport with
current ones.

Social media really isn’t about media at all, wrote Brian Anthony Hernandez, a Business News
Daily staff writer recently. It’s about relationships “and like a relationship, it takes heart,
authenticity and work.”

There are myriad social media outlets, but as of this article’s writing, two have risen above the
rest: Facebook and Twitter.

In a nutshell, you need to have a Facebook account and a fan page for your business, says Master
Google CEO Ali Husayni, a Google SEO expert.

“You need to encourage your friends to “like” the page, and you must post useful information,
videos and photos to it on a regular basis,” says Husayni, who offers SEO consulting services.

Social media accomplishes several goals most businesses strive to achieve. Jonathan Richman
outlines seven of them nicely on Dose of Digital in his “The Seven Uses of Social Media in
Business- The 7 Cs” post. They are:

1. Communicating
2. Cause support/sponsorship
3. Contest
4. Consumer research
5. Connecting others
6. Customer service
7. Community building

“These are things businesses work on every day, and social media makes it quicker and easier
to do these things,” Husayni says. “Lots of social media sites also have very detailed analytics
available to assist businesses in determining ROI.”

Yes, businesses still gain customers through word of mouth and traditional advertising, but
compared to what Google and social media have become, those methods are becoming less
valuable, and traditional advertising has been less cost-effective for some time now.

Google is becoming more important as companies learn they must improve their organic SEO
search results. Now more Internet marketing experts are considering what kind of role social
media will play in the SEO services they offer in the future.

“Social Media definitely is increasing in usefulness,” Husayni says. “The rise of social media has
prompted us to look into it deeper and consider if- and if so, how- we can help our clients use it
to improve their site’s ranking in organic search results.”

Husayni says this isn’t uncharted territory, but it’s still new territory for Internet marketing
experts and as social media grows and changes, it will be interesting to see how businesses are
able to best use it to their benefit.

Learn More
To learn more about SEO company Master Google and the importance of social media, visit
www.mastergoogle.com or call toll-free: 877-932-6559; internationally +1-303-932-6559.

About Master Google
Master Google is a search engine optimization firm based in Boulder, Colorado that utilizes
knowledge of the Internet market and ongoing research to develop and implement SEO strategies
for its clients. It is an affiliate of Sinai Marketing, founded by Ali Husayni in 2004. Husayni
serves as the firm’s chief executive officer and SEO expert.
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© 2011 Master Google. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Sinai
Marketing is credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this press release is strictly
prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.