Allow me to re-introduce myself, My name is Google and the +1 button is my *new* attempt to grab a piece of the social pie…
Google finally launched the +1 (Plus One) button everybody has been talking about. But you might be asking yourself if you should care or if you should worry about getting it on your site.
The +1 button is basically Google’s response to the Facebook Like button. A way for people to decide what is relevant online, in this case on Search.
Let’s start by acknowledging that Google’s latest ventures to conquer the social space have been less than fortunate, however, this time it might just work. The reason is that they’re adding a social aspect to what they do best, search. It’s too early and Google hasn’t really discussed much details but this little button is supposed to change how you see search results.
Why is it important to you?
This is a way of personalizing the results of what you search for, you will decide what is relevant just like you do when you give a post a “Like” or a tweet. These recommendations that you make by clicking on the +1 button are visible to your connections online.
Here is the official video from Google:
More importantly, if you have a blog/site, you need to drop that puppy in there so your readers start giving you some +1 love. Even though is very early, there are already a few ways to integrate the button in your blog.
How to install the Button on your site?
First things first, Google has published the “+1 Your Website” page for you to customize your own button and grab the piece of code to use it on your site. This is very simple, you should spend approximately 30 seconds on the site.
Alright, I hear ya! There are other ways to do this if you have no coding experience or don’t know where to drop that little mumbo jumbo. Let’s look at what else is out there:
To integrate into WP Thesis
If you’re a Thesis user, there is an easy way to do this in 3 steps:
- Add your code to the Thesis Options > Stats Software Scripts section on your WordPress dashboard
- Copy an additional couple of lines to your custom_functions.php that the good guys at DIY Themes give you here
- And add another line on your custom.css (you’ll also find it there)
If you’re not a Thesis user, sorry because I know that just sounded alien to you.
Is there something easier to integrate my button?
You bet. If you want to completely forget about touching anything in the back-end of your blog, there are already a couple of WordPress plugins that let you integrate the +1 Button.
I tested 2 or 3 different plugins and the one I like is WordPress plugin – Google +1 Button. The options are very simple, what kind of button and size you want, where do you want to display (if before or after post) and if you want it to float right or left.
You should get this rocking on your blog in a matter of 5 minutes.
Final Thought
I know I trashed them when they came out with Buzz but this time I really feel like Google has something that will stick in the social web. Search is still very important and combining it with social applications will keep it alive.
I know I always recommend to stay away from using too many tools but this is not one of them, integrate it in your site today and allow your user to “Plus One” your content.
The only thing that doesn’t make sense to me is this, if you say “I’ll Like your post” or “Can you retweet this?”, how are you going to turn “Plus One” into a verb?
You can already see the button here on SocialMouths, it’s down there for now but it will most likely go to the top of the post by the end of the day. Show me some sugar baby!
