Get Your Pretty Face To Appear In Google Search Results

Well, the mortgage market being what it is in Phoenix, I have found that I am more valuable to the world putting my SEO stuff to work. 

My thing has always been mortgages and real estate SEO. But with the real estate market being what it is in Arizona, I have put originating Arizona VA loans on the back burner. I now do SEO full time-- more than full time-- for a couple of professional firms.

[EDIT: Sunday, June 10, 2012: If you search for this post in Google now, you can see it in action.]

So I'm going to be back here in the rain posting once per week, maybe twice per week (ambitious), on SEO related matters. Again, this is something I do about 60 hours per week. Just SEO. Nothing but SEO. If there is a better full time SEO person on AR, giving free advice, you should listen to them.

Okay, So How Do I Get My Face In The Google Search Results?

Pretty easy actually. Just follow these six easy steps and be done in 30 minutes, max:

1. Create a Google+ account. Please don't be a baby about this. Just do it. Yes, you are already on Facebook and you don't like Google+ and whine, whine, whine.

But do you want to master the Facebook search engine, or do you want to master Google?

What social network would Google prefer you use? The one that increases their stock price, or FB, which decreases Google's stock price?

It's common sense people. Social marketing is the future, and if Google wants you to sign up, I suggest you take their advice. If not, stop here- you won't like the rest.

2. After you sign up, edit your profile. Add your photo, some information about you, etc.

3. Under the "about you" section, you will see an area called "Contributor To". This is the area that you add the blogs or websites that you contribute to. In the case of most people here, you should have at least two: Your Active Rain Blog and Your Personal Blog. Be sure to add your AR blog here!

4. If your other blog is a Wordpress blog, or your website is simply built in Wordpress, install the following plugin: Better Author Bio. The easiest way to do this is to go to "add plugins" from your dashboard, search for the name, and click install. That's pretty much it. After it is installed on your website, go to "settings" and add your Google+ information.

5. Follow the simple plugin set up instructions, and now your face will start appearing in the Google results for your home page blog. 

Can we get our faces to appear in Google for our ActiveRain blogs?

Yep! At least one other ActiveRainer is doing it, his name is Craig Daniels. If you would like to see how awesome his ActiveRain blog looks in the search engines, check this out.

*******     How to get your ActiveRain posts to appear in Google. *********

And it's just as easy! Once you set up Google+, you're AR posts will start showing up.