Google+ & WordPress Integration: 15 Tactics

Google+ is a fast rising social network. Many bloggers and experts chose to ignore G+ when it was introduced. But almost everyone now understands the importance of this social network, especially if you intend to get ranked high on Google. Google+ is not driving a ton of traffic to our site at the moment but it is not something we can ignore either. Integrating Google+ with WordPress is a no-brainer if you would like to get more +1 votes and shares. Here are 15 ways to do just that:

Add Google+ Share buttons to your site: a pretty simple idea many webmasters are already trying. Not all your visitors may be active on G+. You are still going to get more shares when you have Google+ Share and +1 buttons on your website.

Display your Google+ badge: this is especially important for businesses who have growing Google+ pages. You will need this to make your site eligible for Google+ Direct Connect.

Implement Google+ Sign-in: some top brands have already taken advantage of this. This makes it easier for your visitors to interact with your site and join your community.

Take advantage of Google Authorship: we keep hearing about Authorship and AuthorRank these days. You will need to add the Authorship markup to your website if you want Google to show your author information in the SERPs.

Customize your site snippets: customizing the snippet people see when your page is shared on G+ could do wonders for your website. Google already has a tool to help you with the process.

Use Google+ Comments: many webmasters are already using Facebook comments on their websites. Google+ Comments look good and could make your site more interactive.

Promote your Google+ Hangout events: Google+ Hangouts are very popular among Google+ users. They can be very beneficial for businesses and individuals. The Google+ Hangout Events plugin lets you promote your events on your site.

Import your Google+ posts: you could do all kinds of neat things by importing your top Google+ posts to your site. We have covered a number of plugins that let you do this (even though most of them are not perfect).

Add social lockers: have premium content you don’t feel like charging for? You could always add a Google+ content locker to your site and give your premium content away to people who share your posts.

Try interactive posts: Interactive posts on Google+ could get more action. They can drive new visitors to your site and improve your conversion rates. We did have some problems implementing this but if you can pull it off, you will get a lot of value for your effort.

Add your social Stream to your site: sharing your social interactions on your website is another way to help your visitors keep up with your updates. The WordPress Social Stream can handle this job.

Display popular posts by share count: want your visitors to spend more time on your site? Displaying your top posts by share count is one way to grab their attention.

Generate a Google+ favicon for your site: this approach is worth trying if you are branding yourself. The Google Plus Favicon lets you use your G+ profile picture as your favicon.

Google+ & gamification: gamification does work. You just need to have a real strategy to succeed. Solutions such as PunchTab let you reward your visitors for their Facebook likes, Google +1s, and tweets.

Add Google+ to exit points: we all have external links on our sites. If you must send people away from your site, you may want to encourage them to give you some Google+ love before they leave.

Google+ may not drive a ton of traffic to your website right away. But as you get more active on it (with quality posts), you will get more followers, which will increase your chances of getting more attention in that community. The above plugins and scripts make integrating Google+ with WordPress easy.