One of the major mistakes that niche site builders make often is that they only do “just enough” work to put out a website and hope it ranks. What I want to discuss today, is how to make sure it ranks well by becoming an authority in your niche, and using Big G to help you do it!
Please note: Google+ is actually outpacing Twitter and is now the 2nd largest largest social network in terms of active monthly users.
Who is In Your Circles
For Starters, you need to get on Google+ right now… if you are already there, you know why this is important. When creating a niche site, it is really good to dive in and become part of the community. The best way to do that, is to actually become an authority. To be an authority in your niche, your have to do a lot more than just make a few posts and stauts updates on Google+. Google+ offers a ton of ways for niche builders to develop relationships with their audience, including Google+ Communities.
Communities allow nichers to create or join small groups based on specific topics or interests. And when you get involved in an active community, it not only helps you to build better relationships with their audience and acquire more advocates of your brand, but it also helps you to establish yourself as an authority within your niche. For instance, I recommend anyone interested in niche sites join this niche site community on G+ which now has over 185 members (had about 75 when I first joined). Hopefully this post will get it past 200+!
Start by growing the people within your circles, which is a tactic that is frequently used on Twitter. By doing this, your name and Google+ profile is being put in front of new people, which influences them to return the favor. And the more people you add to your circles, the more likely it is to have more people join your circles, read your posts, and most importantly visit your websites. While you can add anyone to your circles, this strategy is most effective when targeting relevant people. To do this, nichers should search for influencers within their niche, as it is a good chance they may be able to promote you on other platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even email lists.
If you already have a large following on a social network like Facebook or Twitter, make sure that you are promoting your Google+ profile to your followers on the other platforms and even tease exclusive Google+ content in order to persuade your audience members to make a profile and follow your brand on Google+.
Post Great Content
Cash is king, but content is most certainly the queen! The best way to prove that you are an expert or authority in a niche is to produce engaging content that gets +1s, likes, etc. Even if you are just starting out, the only way to get high engagement rates is with content that captures attention and makes audiences feel like they need to share the information with their circles. There simply is no other path to follow– in order to become an authority in a niche, a niche website builder has to create and post relevant content that hits home with their audience.
Interacting With Your Circles
So hopefully by now, it is clear to you that having people share your content, make comments and +1’s help a brand gain authority, so obviously the best way to do encourage your audience to do this is to actually talk with them!! You probably know that when you add someone to a circle, follow them, or like something they wrote, they tend to do the same. This is called the Law of Reciprocity, and can benefit you greatly. So get involved and start interacting, it will pay huge dividends.
That said, you shouldn’t just start interacting with everybody that creates an update or post. You do need to be selective in the topics you discuss… after all, you wan’t to be an authoritative expert, not a social butterfly. For example, if someone comments on one of your posts, obviously the right thing to do is at least respond back to them, even if you disagree with them. This will help build brand loyalty by showing your audience members that you are involved and care about what they say – making them more likely to interact with your website again in the future. Likewise, if someone posts interesting content that is relevant to your industry, an action as simple as a +1 or share could influence them to return the favor in the not-too-distant future.
I tend to setup Google Alerts for my niches content, and whenever a post comes up I am sure to read it and when appropriate I comment. Generally when I comment, I get a visit back from at least the site owner, but often times from others in that sites audience as well.
Use the Google+ Page Badge
If you have been following me for a while, you may notice that I just did this, look to your right —>
Just as you should display social sharing buttons for Facebook and Twitter on your niche site, it is also important to feature the Google +1 button and a profile badge. These button help to encourage your niche site visitors to publicly recommend your content and share it with their Google+ circles, as well as add you to their circles. And the more +1’s you obtain, the more authority you gain, as it shows Google that you are a trusted source of information… which leads to better rankings in the SERPs!! Which is why you are doing all this work in the first place.
Last, Take Advantage of Authorship
Make sure you are getting credit for all the content that you are putting out there. By linking your Google+ account to the content you are creating, you are able get your mugshot next to your listings in the SERPs. While it may not work for really ugly people :), it is supposedly increasing click through rates for those listings that have authorship associated with their content. Obviously this is another critical piece to the puzzle, as you not only want to have content listed in the SERPs, but you want to get people to actually visit your niche website in order to make money with your niche sites.
Have you had success with Google+ ? Let me know in the comments below.
