I'm posting a series on using social networking to promote books,
based on material from my new book,
Google
operates the
Internet’s dominant search engine and the service responds to about one billion
search requests daily in multiple languages from all over the world.
Its stated
objective is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally
accessible and useful.” Google’s “bots” (computer robots) constantly scan websites
so the site’s content is available to searchers.
While it is
likely that your own website and blogs will be Googled, Google also allows you
to post a “Profile” so you can “decide what the
world sees when it searches for you.” This can help if you have a very limited
presence on Google, or if you want to try to counteract bad online publicity.
In the past, Google profiles were text-only, but now the feature has been
merged with Google+ (more later) and allows photos as well. Here’s part of my
profile:
(below) Like LinkedIn and Yahoo, Google hosts groups dealing
with many subjects. Unfortunately, when I checked, they were filled with spam
and there was little worth reading.
Search engines provide what I like to call "passive social networking." Google will make your information available without you doing any work.
Some
people will find your website or blog by searching for terms that are within the site,
and others may search for the name of your company (which may be your publishing company), a book or your personal
name. If Google thinks your blog or your company is important, it will provide links to
interior pages—not just the home page.
My Silver
Sands Books site gets treated just as well as book giant Simon & Schuster, which is part of
CBS. Simon publishes about 2,000 book titles each year. In our best year, we
did eight (and we’re cutting back)—but Google makes us look important.
Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus”)
is Google’s effort to build a social network to rival Facebook. You can set up
a “profile” with basic information. “Circles” make it easy to share specific information,
photos, videos, links, etc. There are “share boxes” on Google sites and +1
buttons elsewhere on the web which make it easy to share with your circles. You get to decide who sees what.
Mick Rooney’s
profile is below. He’s an author, and also publishes the online Independent
Publishing Magazine.
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