Fastest Way to Get Google+ Followers - Circle Sharing

If your looking for the fastest way to get Google+ followers, it is a pretty simple process. Try Circle Sharing, most of the friendly Google+ people will add you back if you add them.

Circle Sharing on Google Plus

So you want more Google+ followers to see all the fantastic content you are posting?

The answer my friend is 'Blowin' in the Wind'. No, not really, the answer is Circle Sharing.

This another reason I favor Google+ over Facebook, they make it easy and encourage Shared Circles, so you can quickly build up a following, and get more exposure to your fantastic content.

I made a video to show how this is accomplished, but here is the simple text version on how it's done.

1. Assuming you have a Google+ account, log in.
2. Type in 'Circle Share' to search all of Google+. You will find plenty of results.
3. Simply click add to circles. Select which Circle you want to add these lovely people.
4. Within moments, your notifications will start popping up, showing you who added you to their circles

Join the circle you added. There will be simple instructions on how you too can be included to this shared circle. Most of the time all the circle sharer asks is that you plus, comment, and share the circle.

See my video below for a hands on demonstration.

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Web Design Basics

Basic Web Design Tips

This is a little guide on basic web design tips for those who are just starting out, or webmasters who perhaps may have overlooked a few of these simple but important points. 

Their are many types of different web design software programs available (free or paid) to help you get your graphics done, or you could do it yourself, or hire me to do it (shameless plug, sorry). Graphics are very important, but not the whole enchilada.  Now, onto the rest of the recipe-

1. Planning - You have to have an idea for the website. This is an obvious one, but sometimes people jump right into the web design process blindly. Are you trying to sell something (goods or services)?. Is your web site going to a source for information? Personal blog? I like to jot down a blueprint on paper first. No, you do not need an engineering degree.
2. Eliminate Scrolling as much as possible. People have short attention spans, that's no secret. I would be surprised if one third of my visitors made it this far. Use a nice compact design, and try to capture your audience with some compelling text right off the bat. If a web page is going to be too long, break it down into other smaller pages.
3. Menus - Use a nice , clean header and menu bar. Try not to jam too many categories into your web design on the menu bar. If needed, make a pull-down menu for sub categories, so your menu bar fits nicely below your header or below.
4. SEO - A couple tips on search engine optimization. I will compose a more comprehensive SEO guide in the future, but here are some simple SEO tips you can use during the design process. Always use your keywords in the URL of a page. Embed the keyword phrase you are targeting in the ALT image tag of any images. (I did that on this post by the way.) It's also a good idea to have your keywords in a <h1> heading tag, which I also did here.
5. Have fun. If you are not having fun and looking at web design as a chore, you will not succeed. Believe in yourself and enjoy what you are doing. 

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My Top 5 Most Annoying Websites

Today, while trying to work and surf the web, I became really ticked off at the load time of one of my favorite websites, MLB.com . It was not the first time I had to sit there and wait just to get last night's scores and highlights, so that spurred me on to make this list of my top 5 most annoying websites.

Tim's Top 5 Most Annoying Websites

1. MLB.COM

Come on now MLB, every time I freaking visit your page, you take eons to load! Now, I know you are not some Tom, Dick and Harry operation, your a billion dollar industry!

You mean to tell me that you can not afford a team of web developers to speed up your website's load page times ? Give me a break.

There is just no excuse for this. If I did not love baseball so much, you would be blacklisted from my internet adventures. And no, it is not my internet connection , it is YOU! Big BOOS for you!

2. Facebook

When I first got on the Facebook bandwagon, I thought it was great.

I was finding a bunch of old friends who I had not heard from in years, saw what they were up to, pictures of their families, it was awesome. I was addicted.

Now, Facebook is way too commercial for me. All of a sudden I am seeing advertisements pop up in my stream? What is that about? I did not opt-in for this.

Do not get me started on those silly games. If  I see one more request for Farmville, I am going to burn that farm down! Enough.

Also, my friend (you know who you are) if you keep asking me to help you find something in Mafia Wars, I am going to de-friend you!

3. Ancestry.com

Okay, I would love to see if there is anyone famous in my family tree, I just wish it wasn't such a hassle.

Now, I know all the good things in life are not free, so I did not expect much from the free version, but I got nothing. I answered all the questions, but in my mom and dad's birthdate, etc.. Just a big zero.

So, I joined and paid the fee. Guess what? I still got nothing. Very time consuming and it only went as far as my grandfather ( I knew him already).

Bummer I have no famous ancestors, or do I? I may never know, but after this experience, I really don't care anymore.

4. Cartoon Network

My kids love Cartoon Network, and I myself get a kick out of Adult Swim, so I took a visit to their website. My kids wanted to try out some of their games.

The problem with most of these games, is that you have to download software to play them. This of course consumes more time, and the kids get anxious.

Five out of seven of the games needed to install some java or flash on my computer, and it is a brand new machine.

Then once you get these games going, be sure to turn down the volume when your kids play it, because they are noisy games, and extremely annoying.

5. My Bank's Website

I have had the same bank for over seven years now. I have been connecting securely to their website from the same IP address for four years. I find them quite annoying for the past few months as they keep asking me to verify my identity.

I understand security measures and all, and perhaps I should be thankful. You would think the software would remember me by now after the thousand's of times I have logged in. This is a new added security feature, I get it, but a better job could have been done.

There you go, I needed to vent. Be well everyone.

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Using Google Webmaster Tools Effectively

This is a brief tutorial for new webmasters on how to use Google's webmaster tools. Sometimes Google's instructions are a little difficult to understand, so I am attempting to make this easy for beginners.

Simple Guide to Using Google Webmaster Tools

So if you already have a gmail account, you have access to Google webmaster tools. One Google account gives you access to everything Google has to offer.

When inside Webmaster Tools, the first thing you will do is add a site. Self explanatory, add your URL.

Now that your site is added, Google Webmaster Tools will give you all sorts of valuable information about your newly added site. It will show you how many pages are indexed in Google, crawling errors, top pages, search queries, clicks etc. Next, however it is imperative to add a sitemap.

Adding a Sitemap

Once your site has been submitted, you should always add a sitemap which will help Google crawl your site, and discover all the pages of information your fantastic creation has to offer. Well, before you submit a sitemap, you need to create one.

If you have a Wordpress blog, there is a plugin called XML sitemap generator, which will do this for you , fast and easy. Now for a regular website, creating a sitemap manually can be a daunting task. Luckily there is the Google Sitemap Generator  which does all the hardwork for you. Simple go there, input your URL, and you are done.

When a sitemap is generated, the output will look like this 'somesite.com/sitemap.xml'. Make sure the xml file is uploaded to your main site's directoy, click submit sitemap in Webmaster Tools, and you are done. Then Google will show you how many pages submitted, how many are indexed, and if there were any errors in your submission.

The sitemap , in my opinion, is a very important step to getting indexed and having new content discovered on your site quickly.

Navigating Webmaster Tools

Here is quick guide to the left side navigation of Google Webmaster Tools.

1. Site Dashboard - will give you a quick glance of your site. Crawl errors, search queries and sitemap information. Click the header of each to get more details
2. Search Appearance - this is not really for beginner's - will explain more about structured data, sitelinks, etc .. in a future post. Do not really concern yourself at this point with this,
3. Search Traffic - this is important because it tells you about incoming links to your site, how they link to you (anchor text) and more about search inquiries.
4. Crawl - this is another great feature I love on Webmaster Tools. You can see errors encountered while the Googlebot crawled your site, and crawl stats to see how much information was downloaded off your site, and my favorite feature 'fetch as Googlebot'. Tip - if you want to get your site indexed as fast as possible, use 'fetch as googlebot'.

Well, that pretty much covers the basics of Google Webmaster Tools. Once again, this post was intended for beginner's, intermediate users may laugh at this, but people all have to start somewhere.

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Comparing Google Plus and Facebook

You maybe asking yourself the same question I have pondered many times, which Social Media giant Google+ or Facebook will help get me maximum exposure to my blog or website. I have experimented and compared both, and have concluded the hands down winner is Google+.  Read on to see how I drew this conclusion.

Gain Followers Faster on Google+

I have had a Facebook account for about five years now, and Google+ for maybe 3. On Facebook I have garnered about 300 followers and Google+ over 3,000! Shameless plug here, see my Google followers widget to the right? Add me, thanks!

There is a feature you can use on Google+ called circle sharing. This will help you grow your following by leaps and bounds. I will do a post on circle sharing, but if you search for 'Circle Share' once in Google+, you will probably be able to figure it out yourself.

Facebook has no such feature. If you have the time, you can scour Facebook and see who your friends follow, and who your friend's friends follow, and so on, and so on... Then send a friend request to them, which will most likely never get accepted.

More Google +1's Than Facebook Likes

I have found that Google will bring you more '+1's' then Facebook likes. Of course, I have way more followers on Google, so that would be expected now. However I was once an even playing field a year or so ago, and was able to draw a conclusion.

So keep in mind, at the time of this experiment, I had around 250 followers on both platforms.

I posted a page from my baseball cards site, to both

networks. On Google+ it was plus'ed fifteen times. On Facebook it got three likes.  Now, when I submit a page to Google+ it averages 20 to 30 shares and/or +1's giving me more exposure. I just do not bother to post to Facebook anymore.

Communities and Pages

Google+ has more active communities. When logged in +, you can search for a community to join or create you own, with a click of the mouse. Communities are a great place for you to post on topics you and others can share. This will get you more re-shares and +1's. I have found a vast number of more user friendly communities on Plus then Facebook.

I have joined a few communities, and one of my favorites is Bloggers of Google Plus, and I would like to give a shout out to +Ralf Skirr and +Pauline Cabrera .

Both of the platforms give you the ability to create pages. Usually when I start a new blog or website I will compose a Google+ page and share my blog posts to it. Then , you can invite your current Google+ followers to view or join.

Facebook page creation is easy, but the challenge is getting fans. Of course you can get paid advertisements or find a service to get you more fans, but again I find Google+ wins in this category too.

This is just my two cents. I do not work for Google, and by no means am I trying to bash Facebook. Google+ for me just gets better results for my pages and brands. I still use Facebook for what it was originally intended for, keeping in touch with family and old friends, and finding that long lost friend you lost contact with.

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