13 Things You Can Do Today to Enhance Your Google+ Experience

Google+ (aka Google Plus and G+) is all the rage.  The Google+ social network is getting tested, talked about and turned on every day with new tips, tricks and tools.After you read more about Google+ and start using it, try some of the stuff listed below to help you get the most out of Google+.

1. Brand Your Website or Blog URL with Google+ – Thanks Chris Lang for sharing this one.  It’s a great way to brand your website or blog address so it forwards to your Google+ stream:

2. Use the Google Search Command – Thanks to Chris Brogan for reminding us how to use this Google search command to find interesting people on Google+ in niches or industries we’re interested in:

site:plus.google.com <WhatEverYou’reInterestedIn-WithoutTheAngledBrackets>

So for the term “marketing”, the search command would look like this: site:plus.google.com marketing

3. Improve Your Google+ Stream Display – If you’re using Google’s Chrome browser, try G+me to collapse the Google+ stream into a real-time dashboard for a cleaner display:

4. Follow The Rules of The Road – Here’s some good discussion on Google+ Etiquette.

5. Become a Share Master – Here’s another Google Chrome extension called Extended Share for Google Plus that allows you to share what you’re posting to Google+ on your Facebook, LinkedIn, tumbler and Twitter accounts.

6. Meet New People – And another Chrome extension called Google Plus Directory that allow to meet new people, make new friend circles, and choose from over 200.000 Google Plus profiles.

7. Presenting Google+ – Need to do a Google+ presentation or just want a template that resembles Google+ theme?  Here it is.

8. Read All About It – The Google+ Startup Guide by Saidur (“Cy”) Hossain.

9. Read the ToS – An artist’s rendering of the Google+ Terms of Service, illustrated.

10. Do I Annoy You? – An article on How to Hide From Annoying People on Google+.

11. Show My Circles – Another Google Chrome extension, called Plus Minus, lets you select which Google Circles show up in your Google+ Stream.  It also allows you to easily mark individual or all posts as read, offers a wide-screen view so you can see more content without scrolling, and loads more posts automatically as you scroll down.  Sweet.

12. Make It Flow – This Google Chrome extension called Usability Boost for Google Plus will help you visualize the flow of information on Google Plus.

13. Over To You – Now it’s your turn.  What have you found cool, necessary or just plain fun for Google+?  Add your suggestion in the comments below.

Okay, I’ll add one more.  To keep an eye on the new Google Chrome extensions, apps, themes, etc. for Google+, visit the Chrome Web Store and search on Google+, G+, or ”Google Plus”.

Also, here’s one one more, the Google+ WordPress Plugin that displays your “googleCard” in your WordPress sidebar.

That’s it.  Circle Me on Google+.  I’ll be lookin’ for ya’.