How to Make Money with Google Plus

Google Plus is the Internet mega company’s venture into the social networking game. Comparisons to some of its Internet rivals abound, but nonetheless, Google Plus offers some unique opportunities for making money which will be explored in this tutorial.

Google Plus was launched in a limited form in June, 2011 and opened to a handful of users. These users were later allowed to extend a limited number of “invites” to the social network as a beta-testing project before the site was officially launched. The site finally went public in September, 2011 and anyone over the age of 18 was allowed to join.

Google Plus integrated some of Google’s previously existing features. Google Buzz and Google Profiles are two examples.

Google Plus was the first to integrate the idea of social or friend/contact “circles.” Users are able to add their contacts to a specific “circle” of friends as designated by the user. For example, a user could create a “family” circle, in which they would place only Google Plus contacts from their own families.

Once circles are created, a user can post information and mark it as visible only to a certain circle or circles. This level of privacy is something that had previously been lacking in most competing social networking sites.

Since Google Plus is so new, there aren’t as many extrinsic methods for making money using Google as there are for, say Twitter (such as “Sponsored Tweets”). Undoubtedly there are several in the works, though, which will probably become available within months. In the mean time you should work at building up as big a following as you can on your Google Plus profile (more on that later).

First, we’ll tell you how to sign up for your Google Plus account:

1. If you don’t already have one, you must create a basic Google account. Unfortunately there is no way of getting around this; you can’t get a Google Plus profile without a basic Google account. It’s simply one of Google’s ways of ensuring Internet dominance. To do this, go to the Google accounts page.

2. Enter your primary email address and choose a password. (Google will have to verify that this is an acceptable and unique password.)

3. Enter the country you live in (this may show up by default), and your birth date.

4. Enter the funny text so Google knows you’re a real person and not a spam bot, and read Google’s “Terms of Service.”

5. Click on the button at the bottom of the page market “I accept, create my account.”

Your account has been created, and you should receive a confirmation email from Google shortly.

Creating Your Google Plus Profile

Now that you have a basic Google account, you can create a Google Plus profile. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to https://plus.google.com/ and sign in using your Google ID.

2. In the pop-up box, make sure that your name is correctly listed and select your gender. There is an option to add your photo. You should definitely have a photo on your profile, but if you skip this step now you can still add your photo later.

3. Click the “Join” button.

4. On the next page you can find other people that you know to add to your list of contacts. Google can search Yahoo and Hotmail if you wish. If you have contacts through these venues then you should definitely do this. Otherwise, skip this step.

5. Next you’ll be taken to your profile page. Google will automatically check your other Google affiliations (like Gmail) and find your Google contacts. You can then organize these contacts into “circles.”

Building up a Following

As already mentioned, Google Plus is still too new and there are not yet any money-making apps or pay-per-post Google Plus programs yet available. It won’t be long, though, before you’ll be able to find some.

Right now the best way to use Google Plus to make money is to use it as a platform for cross-promotion. In other words, you can use your Google Plus profile to promote your other Internet ventures.

Before you’re going to be able to make any money off of your Google Plus page, you have to amass a following. Your followers are your audience, and your audience is made up of contacts or friends that are part of your network.

The strategy that you use to amass followers on Google Plus is going to have to be different than the one you would use for Facebook or Twitter or social/business networking Websites.

The average Google Plus user tends to be older than the typical Facebook or Twitter user. A significant number are 20, 30 and 40-something business professionals. Keep this in mind as you think about appealing to your audience.

Here’s something else to remember: just because you’ve placed a contact within a “circle” it doesn’t mean that you are “following” them. The converse is also true: you can be in someone else’s “circle” but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are “following” you.

“Following” someone is an entirely separate action from making them a contact. To “follow” someone else (or for someone else to “follow” you) you (or they) must:

1) Go to your profile’s home page. Look to the sidebar on the left hand side of the page. At the top is your profile picture and underneath is the heading “Stream.”

2) Under the “Stream” heading, find the link that says “Following” and click on it.

3) You’ll be taken to a page that shows who you are following and any postings they’ve shared. On this page, look at the right hand sidebar marked “Following.” Here you’ll see people you are already following. Underneath is a field marked “Add to following.”

Type the name of a person that you want to follow and Google will pull up profiles matching that name. You simply click on the right one and you will then be following them. You can follow both people in your circles as well as people who are not in any of your circles. Others can do the same with you.

How to get People to Follow You

This is a bit trickier than following someone else, but you’ll need to pursue this if you hope to make money using your Google Plus profile. Here are a few suggestions:

* Follow everyone you know and personally ask them to return the favor and follow you back.

* Use your other social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.) and to ask people to follow you on Google Plus. Be sure to include a link to your profile or to the Google Plus home page.

* Follow people who are of like-mind and ask them to follow you back. People who are in a similar profession or have similar interests as you are usually glad to return the follow.

* Make intelligent comments on the things people post. When others see you commenting on their material, or on material they are also interacting with, they are more likely to start following you.

* “Tag” people in your comments. When you do comment on the postings of others, you can “tag” a specific person. When you do, they’ll be sent an email notification which may eventually lead them to check you out and become a follower.

Basically, you need to “put yourself out there” in ways that get you noticed. By actively participating in conversations (respectfully, of course), you keep your profile at the forefront of people’s attention and hopefully gain followers.

Promoting Your Other Ventures on Google Plus

When you’re ready to try making some money, you can use your profile and your comments to promote any money making ventures you’re involved with. For example, a business owner might use Google Plus as a platform for promoting his Website. This might include him joining in on conversations that relate to the genre of his business, or simply posting updates on what’s new in his business with a link to his Website.

You can do the same, even if you don’t own your own business or have your own Website. One of the easiest ways to do this is through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

You can use your Google Plus profile as a platform for advertising one or more affiliate products. Affiliate marketing is the idea of selling a product on behalf of a company and earning a commission fee on each one sold.

The first step is to find an affiliate to work with. Amazon Affiliates is one of the Internet’s most well-known affiliate marketing companies. However, there are lots of different ones to choose from.

Additionally, many product makers have their own private affiliate programs. If there is a particular product that you love, see if its maker accepts affiliates.

The key to success in affiliate marketing is finding a product or products that you actually believe in and have used yourself. It’s much easier to make sales pitches that sound genuine and attract buyers when you believe in the product. So choose carefully.

It’s best to stick with one particular “niche” if you decide to market multiple products. For instance, you could focus on cake-making and market different items related to cake making and decorating.

Here are the steps, in a nutshell, for affiliate marketing using Google Plus as a platform. These steps are generalized, because every affiliate program is slightly different.

1. Choose your niche. Start by thinking about what you enjoy or know a lot about.

2. Choose your affiliate/product. If you don’t already have a specific product in mind, visit some affiliate marketing program Websites and peruse their products. Select one or more that appeal to you. (We suggest starting out with no more than one or two products.)

3. Sign up with your chosen affiliate company. This process is usually fairly straightforward. You’ll have to provide your basic biographical info, like name, address, birth date, etc. You’ll also be asked to select either a specific product, a type of product (i.e. books), and/or keywords that relate to the types of things you want to market. For example, if you want to market cosmetics, you should choose keywords like “cosmetics” and “make-up.”

4. Once you’ve completed the sign-up process, you’ll be given a unique URL that you can add to your profile and/or any comments that you make. Any time a follower clicks on the URL and buys the product, you receive a commission.

Hope this helps,

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