Link to Your Google Reviews Page

Make it easy for people to review you. Provide a direct link to your Local Google+ page in all of your promotional activities and on your website. You might also print out a postcard with the link and instructions, or make a YouTube video showing people how to make a review. The direct link is a very useful and simple process.

Simply add “?hl=en&review=1” at the end of your Google+ page URL. Your Google+ page URL is currently located on your “About” page.

An example of Greg’s Keynamics business is:
www.google.com/+Keynamics4u?hl=en&review=1

Please note that Google is likely to change this direct link extension to add to your Google + Page URL. So check back here often for the latest information – we’ll do our best to keep up with all of the ongoing changes with Google Local Business.

Even if Google changes the direct linking option above, a good backup policy is to also feature a customized link to your Google + page in your advertisements and branding. Hopefully, Google will always allow reviews from your Google + page – See the link below to set up your custom URL.

Click Here for information to set up a Custom URL for your Google + Business Page

Click here for Google’s Community Page for Google My Business

Click here to get started with your Google Local Business Listing

Click here for the Google My Business Help Center

Click Here for Google My Business FAQ’s

Click Here for Google My Business Guidelines

Google Local Business Listings and Google+ Page Setup

Google’s local business map has evolved over the years, and sometimes the frequent changes are enough to make your head spin off. As we write this book, the dust is still settling on the latest change which moved Google Places to Google+ and renamed it Google My Business. Google My Business connects you directly with customers, whether they’re looking for you on Search, Maps, or Google+.

When you add your business using Google My Business, you’ll create a Google+ Page for your business. Just know that this is one of the first steps in “Playing Google’s Game”—and it’s free.

Click here to get started with your Google Local Business Listing

Click here for the Google My Business Help Center

Click Here for Google My Business FAQ’s

Click Here for Google My Business Guidelines

As frustrating as all of these Google local business changes have been over the years, there is no getting around it; if you want to attract local customers then you must continually tweak and work on your Local Search SEO.

Use Google’s Search Console Tool to See Your Backlinks

Who Has Linked to Your Site?

It’s pretty easy to determine all of the websites that are linking to you. You can choose between one of two ways: search your URL or use your account at Google’s Search Console.

1. Link: Operator
To find a “sampling” of links to your website, you can simply do a Google search using the link: operator.

For example, a Google search for link:www.PlayGooglesGame.com will list a selection of the web pages that have links pointing to our website.

Editing on Your YouTube Video Manager Page

There are many editing options available after you have published your video. One thing to note is that there is no way to replace an old video with a different version (even if it’s just a slight revision of the same video) and keep the original view count, comments or ratings. Instead, you may want to try using clickable annotations or link to the new version of the video from your old video.

Go to your channel’s Video Manager

You will see a list of your uploaded videos. Find the video you want to edit, then click the little Edit icon in the middle of the video.

On the Info and Settings page, you’ll see three tabs, depending on your account type:

Basic info: Change video title, description, tags, category, privacy. Note: You can use most characters to fill in the information in the video fields (like title or description), except angle brackets.
Monetization: See the options for monetizing your video. Learn more about monetizing your content.
Advanced settings: Change comments permissions, license, caption, video location, recording date, and 3D video options.

Caution: Be careful; changing a title that is already optimized and ranking well for your keywords is a big mistake!

Tip: Download the YouTube Creator Studio app for iOS or android. The app allows you to manage your YouTube Channel from your mobile device.
Enhancement Options and Features Available after Publishing

You can also make some changes to a video that you’ve already uploaded by using YouTube Video Enhancements. The Enhancement option is constantly adding features, so check it often for updates and ways you can tweak your video that has already been published.

Currently, in order to be eligible for YouTube Video Enhancements, your video must not have received more than 1,000 views; other restrictions apply.

Using enhancements, you can make some of the following improvements and edits to your videos. Note that on videos you have already published, you can’t use Cut/Snip at this time to remove middle segments. This feature is only available before you publish the video. You can only use Trim to remove frames at the beginning or the end.

Auto-fix: Performs a one click-fix to enhance the video’s lighting and color. You can also make manual adjustments to Fill Light, Contrast, Saturation, and Color Temperature by using the sliders
Lighting: Fill Light – Contrast – Saturation – Color Temperature
Stabilize: Adjusts the video to correct any shakiness
Slow Motion: Slow the speed at which your video plays (half speed, quarter speed, eighth speed)
Trim: Clip parts (frames) off the beginning and/or end of your video
Filters: This tab shows pre-set color filters that you can apply to your video to give them a stylish and unique look
Face blurring: Protect the anonymity of people in your video. Click on Special Effects to access this feature

YouTube Guidelines – For Getting Reviews

It’s perfectly OK  and Google encourages us to ask For Reviews on our YouTube videos

From Google: “Businesses can strengthen their relationship with customers by directly engaging with reviewers on Google. To encourage reviews for your business simply remind your customers to leave feedback on Google. Reminding customers that it’s quick and easy to leave feedback on Google on mobile or desktop can help your business stand out from sites with fewer reviews.”

Conflict of interest: Reviews are most valuable when they are honest and unbiased. Google does not want you to review your own business, or if you’re an employee don’t review your employer. Don’t offer or accept money, products, or services to write reviews for a business and don’t write negative reviews about a competitor. Don’t set up review stations or kiosks at your place of business just to ask for reviews written at your place of business.

See the review guidelines

See YouTube’s Overall Guidelines

How To Use Proper Lighting for YouTube Videos

As with still photography, lighting is going to be your biggest challenge. Poor lighting can make an expensive video camera look bad, and great lighting can make a cheap video camera look fantastic. It’s all about the lighting and you have to think ahead and plan for it: the time of day, the weather, etc.

Learn More with this YouTube Lighting Lesson

Learn more tips about lighting From YouTube

The goal of lighting is to create flat, diffused light and eliminate shadows. We’re trying to mimic an overcast day, which are the best circumstances to shoot video or still photography. To do this indoors, use two lights, pointing towards the subject from a height just above the person’s eye line. A good rule of thumb is to place the lights about three feet away from the subject. The lights should be located on either side of the camera, right in front of the lens.

Soften the light with diffusion material in front of the light source, or bouncing the light off another surface suitable for diffusing and reflecting it back on the subject.

Tip: A technique photographers use is to bounce the light off a wall or ceiling. Conditions have to be right, but this works more often than not.

Keep the subject off the background (wall) at least four feet to create separation between the subject and the background and eliminate shadows. A good trick is to bring in a third light and place it right behind the subject, low and pointing up to the back wall.

Introduction to YouTube live streaming

Let’s keep an eye on YouTube’s Live Streaming and other live video streaming platforms that companies are just launching. Live Video Streaming apps – YouNow – GoPro (Meerkat) – Twitter (Periscope)

For YouTube Live Streaming, you need to enable Live for your channel.

Confirm that your channel is verified and in good standing.

Then, enable live streaming from Creator Studio tools –> Live Streaming.

Once enabled, you have two options to start live streaming on YouTube:

1. YouTube an easy, instant way to start streaming now. Start sending content – They’ll automatically start and stop the stream for you.
2. You can also schedule a live event. Preview before going live, change privacy settings, setup a backup for redundancy and manually start & stop.

Learn how here