How to promote a Business Google+ Page

Congratulations, you have created or are about to create a Google+ business page!
On Google+ a page can follow anyone, also personal profiles. A page can join communities and create them, too.  A page can +mention anyone, send private messages and engage just like a personal profile: Very different from Facebook.
See the helpful links at the end of this article!

For your page promotion to succeed, keep these five steps in mind:

★ Post good content, not only your own ads
★ Engage with others on comments
★ Share their posts and add your thoughts
★ Join communities
★ Don't spam communities, don't just drop links

Linking your Google+ Page and your website:

This is a great way to drive traffic to your page and it provides an excellent opportunity to engage with your customers and fans in a closer fashion.

Link your Google+ Page with your AdWords campaign:
Connecting your page to your campaigns allows your advertising and page to share +1's.
Any +1's on your ads will increment the count on your page and vice versa.



Create a RSS feed from your Page to your website:
See the right side of this blog with the feed from +Gplus Expertise page.

Add a badge to your website or blog, display your followers:

Now that you’ve got a fantastic Google+ page to offer your fans and customers, the time has come for you to spread the word via your content. This can involve several different promotion tactics, most notably placing a prominent link to your Google+ page on your main website. 

You could show off those already in your circles, allow your website visitors to share your content with their own circles with a single click, or simply provide a link directly to your Google+ page; with all of the different choices for interaction on the network, your options really are quite extensive.

Badge types - from Google Developers

Because Google+ pages, profiles, and communities are different, Google offers slightly different versions of the badges:

Profiles
Allow people to easily find you on Google+ and add you to a circle directly from your website.

Pages
Includes the profile badge features and adds some additional functionality. They help Google consolidate +1's from your website and your Google+ page, and make your website eligible for Google+ Direct Connect.

Communities
Help people find your community and engage with other users on a topic they find interesting.

Try these different strategies to promote your Google+ Page and gain followers:

Share your page – visit the Page but as your own profile, then share. :-)

- click the reshare arrow in the top banner next to the name of your page. This will allow you to share your page in a post with people.

The sharing action will thus come from your personal Google+ profile, not from the Google+ Page. For instance, let’s say Jaana has a page for her blog +Gplus Expertise. If her profile spreads the word, the people shared to will see the update as coming from Jaana, not from the page.

Post updates frequently and keep your profile fresh – People are more likely to engage with a page that contains fresh posts and a complete profile.  Use images, videos and don't link-bomb without an intro in the post.  Create a unique hashtag for your business and use 3-4 hashes in every post, in one line at the bottom.

+Charlotte Pierce gave good advice on a Google+ post comment:

Link your YouTube channel to your business page and verify it. Upload videos and/or run hangouts and introduce them on G+ as your business page. Comment on the postings with your personal profile so that your business page picks up some of the cachet and reputation of your personal profile. 

Be transparent about this; make sure people know that you're connected to the business page. Plus-mention yourself with business page and vice-versa.

More tips for the business page owner

Understanding Google+ Dashboard for business Pages:

Google+ Dashboard is a powerful tool for Google+ Page owners and managers to leverage their online presence.

Dashboard is also the Google+ entry point for local business owners to manage verify and edit their business listing, learn how customers find their business on Google, and promote their business with Offers and Adwords Express.

To access the Google+ Dashboard:
Choose Pages from the left hand Google+ menu ribbon or visit http://plus.google.com/dashboard.

From here, you can choose to Create a Page or manage an existing Google+ Page by clicking Manage this page.

- Google+ Help & Support for Google My Business - all articles for businesses!


I've added a very useful Google+ post from +Ryan Hanley with five actions for every day to grow your Google+ business page.  This is what he suggests:

1) I would take an old blog post and share it using all the proper formatting and explaining as to why this was an article worth reading... I DID NOT LINK DUMP. If don't know what I'm talking about watch this video on how to properly share on Google Plus...
2) I would work my way through my feed of people I've circled, made up of industry professionals and local people and businesses I've found. I'd +1 and comment on articles I thought we could add value to.
3) I'd do the same thing in a few local Google+ Communities and two small business communities I really like.
4) I'd take best one or two articles I found and reshare them to my own feed or a communities feed if I thought that was more appropriate.
5) I'd respond to any comments or notifications from Mr. Jingles.

Why would you wish to create a business Page on Google+?

There is a ton of articles written about the topic. The main outcome is: SEO and SERP.
Having an active Google+ page helps in getting more visibility in the Google search. For free.

Hangouts on Air is a great way to promote your service or product:  The easiest way to create a YouTube infomercial is to start a limited Hangout on Air, either you alone or with a guest. The video streams directly to youTube and after possible edits you can make it public and share around the Interwebz.

You can start a HOA from a business page, but not from a Local page, mind.

Google Plus aids in SEO Strategy

Google Plus also aids small businesses in SEO or search engine optimization practices, because companies can put trending keywords into their posts. Google has made it possible for Google Plus to be searchable, so this will help raise search engine ranking for all types of businesses.

The business owners can also use Google Plus to add photos, videos and other valuable content to their postings. Unlike Twitter, they have much more leeway as to how much info can be published and aren’t, for instance, limited to a mere handful of characters that causes it to be hard to keyword the data they need to get out to their customers.

All in all, this makes Google Plus a vital tool for all businesses, especially the small business owners who need a method that lets them better compete with their larger competitors.

Something to think about

To really learn about how to boost your business on Google+:
I suggest you could join communities for bloggers / businesses: Reading and learning from the people who are in the same position as you or already successful.

New to business? To learn more perhaps you could take a business course?  All social media has the same principles when it comes to business success, sharing good posts without having a sound business idea won't get you anywhere.
The knowledge how to best promote your business won't come in a week or two, it takes time: There's no shortcut that anyone could show you.

Google+ alone won't make anyone money:  it comes with a good business idea, hard work, commitment and passion.
The business idea should be the first major thing to think about. After that comes the social media.  Think about the world: What have you got to offer?

Links:

+GPlus Professionals - help for business owners

Help for beginners: Creating a Google+ Page

Business Pages Updates from this blog

Read more and get helpful links from Google  and YouTube

YouTube and Google+ Integration tips for Pages in a blog by Top Contributor +Peggy K

How about it: Google+ profile or a page?

5 Google+ promotion strategies for your business

Google+ Communities vs. Business Pages

Add a badge to your website - Google Developers

Google Webmaster tools

Do you have a brick-and-mortar Local business? A very good website with helpful articles is the Local University:
How should you market your Local Google+ page

Update about changing a Places listing to a Google+ business page:

More about Places and Local:

Would you like to add something? What are your best tips for promoting a business page?