Tuesday 25 August 2015

Spotted: 8 Web Trends we are using in 2015

We are now half way through the year, where we are seeing some amazing trends in web design that will make you wish you had thought of it yourself! I must say, I for one am blown away with some of these trends, as they are so AWESOME that it websites are becoming more than just interactive entities, they are a piece of art.



I’ll walk you through these changes and how they are impacting us at Digerati Solutions on the design front.

1. Cinematic Design – LET’S MAKE IT BIG

You want to make a splash with your website – you want to be extremely visual with people being able to see what your site is about. One of the first trends that we are seeing is a cinematic influence. Think big – like Lord of the Rings BIG. Like Harry Potter BIG, like Ed Sheeran is singing at your wedding BIG… Okay, maybe not that far but you get it.

This usually consists of either a video or an image spanning the full width of your screen. The image gives you a feel for who they are and what they do, and they might have only one or two sentances to exhance the experience.

Think a Movie Trailer. Think, being at the cinemas only - you're not! You’re on your ipad, you’re on your desktop. You’re laying in bed scrolling through your phone before you go to sleep.

The trend is both visual as well as pragmatic- this gives users the maximum impact as soon as they land on your site. It is easier to code and works really well on mobile and desktop devices.

What does this look like?

A good example of this is Airbnb.


But don't just rely on a screen shot - go take a look... www.airbnb.com

The slow moving videos, the simple text like "Welcome home" or "Belong Anywhere" make you feel something. I feel calm, at ease and trusting - and that's exactly what you want to feel when you're travelling to a foreign city!

2. The Parallax Effect

The Parrallax effect is a classic example of how the old can be new again. It has evolved in many different mutations but it has one thing in common – designers use page scrolling or mouse movement to animate elements or properties of the page.

Sometimes this makes websites more fun and quirky, and other times it’s used to add mood and ‘depth’ to a 2D website.

Here at Digerati we did something just like this with Blue Mountain Camp. As you scroll, it takes you through the different experiences and features, taking you on a journey. It's a site to experience and explore, not simply just get what you need in under 3 seconds.  



Visit the Blue Mountains website

Here is some other great examples of the Parallax Effect in full swing - 

3. Long Scrolling sites

As more and more users are getting used to flicking up and down on their phones, websites are getting looooonger... In past days, every client asked me to ensure their website 'fit on the screen' or we discussed how the most important content had to be 'above the fold'. Now, while some of this rings true, most websites we're designing are a version of a long scroll. Still the most important message or call to action is 'above the fold' (or sitting in plain view when people first land on the site), the experience of the website happens as people scroll down the homepage. 

The great thing about this 2015 trend is that you have the opportunity to communicate more and communicate it more creatively on your homepage. You can give adequate room and white-space to content that gives it a renewed level of importance and beauty. 

Apple did this well when they launched the iPhone 6.


Visit the iPhone 6 website to get the full experience - www.apple.com/au/iphone-6/

4. Forget the Boxes! 

FORGET THE BOXES. We aren’t playing a game of Tetris here people! This is your website, we want you to experience everything that we can offer VISUALLY. As all the websites above have shown, creativity across the entire screen is the new approach to web design.

Web designers love to show how they think outside the box – and World of Swiss is a great example of how designers have done this.

Their site makes you feel like you are LITERALLY flying across the Swiss Alps, your destination – who knows! I’m too busy flying through the site! This is great fun!

Actually, you are flying through all the information that SWISS has to offer. It’s fun, it’s engaging and unless you don’t like flying, it's plays off your curiosity as you explore all it has to offer visually. 


Visit and experience the World of Swiss - www.world-of-swiss.com/en

5. Split Screens 

Vertical breaks are another trend we're seeing, where the full screen width is divided by two sets of content. This is ideal for companies who have two valuable products or services that they want to promote, where neither is more important than the other. 

For example, an online store selling two distinct products or to two distinct target markets could utilise this technique to ensure each gets the 'screen time' it deserves. 

For example, The Iconic. The first feature on their homepage is: Shop Women / Shop Men. 


Or, visit the live Iconic website - www.theiconic.com.au

6. Hidden Menus

This is the Ghostbusters of cool. This trend that has been appearing in some of the top websites over the last 6 months.

This is where menus are not your standard list across the top of the page with drop down, now they spend their time hiding behind buttons or tabs. The menu is only revealed when the mouse hovered over the icon or clicked. This is a fun and interactive way for users to search through a website.

This is the outcome of 'mobile first' design - where the first design consideration is; 'what will this site look like on mobile and how can we maximise the user experience (UX) here?' Mobile web browsing has resulted in the birth and growth of the "Hamburger Menu" or the "Kebab Menu" as we affectionately call them (aka, the three lines and the three dots). And now, we see these on desktop websites too.    

Hillsong do this across their sites, with a mega-menu that drops down when clicked. 


See the menu in action - hillsong.com

7. Very large typography

Large typography is a great way to attract your audience’s attention because it’s eye catching. It allows you to clearly communicate your key message or call to action. It also commands the audiences attention and becomes a design feature all on its own.

Tiny Giant have nailed this where they use large typography to engage you before your eye wanders anywhere else.


See the live site - madebytinygiant.com

SPOTTO - I see another Hamburger menu being used here too!

8. Ghost Buttons

What are ghost buttons one may ask? Ghost buttons are buttons that attract your attention but in subtle way. They are often transparent, 'flat', have a recognisable shape, are bordered with a very thin line and contain light san serif fonts.

It is a call to action button that isn't too invasive and over the top.

It is neat.

It is classy.

It’s the James bond of buttons. Not too distracting but once you see them, you want to click.

Remember the iconic homepage? 


These are great examples of ghost buttons. 

Ditto with the Hillsong Store homepage - see the 'Buy Now' button? 



Conclusion

So that's what we're seeing on modern and beautiful sites in 2015. No doubt these fun, sleek, interactive and user friendly features making their way onto more and more sites, and eventually onto yours!

Don’t be afraid of the bold changes, embrace them! Because in the end, the web is always changing, and next year, we'll be onto the next stage of website design.

So, until next time, Let's Make A Website!

Curated and written by www.digeratisolutions.com.au 





Thursday 23 July 2015

Schools, you've heard it said, "content is king!"

You've probably heard it said "Content is King!" – Bill Gates

So let’s talk about the content strategy for your school's website!



Having a strategy in place is so important in any business execution. When you are thinking about a school, everything is structured in a way that allows both current parents and prospective parents to find what they need.

Having a strategy in how you are going to engage your audience is the most important thing that you can do when working on the content for your website.

In preparation for adding in content, it is always good to have written ideas of how you want to convey your content to your audience along with strategies on how you are going to convey that.

So what is a content strategy?

A content strategy involves planning what you want on your website. This includes the amount of pages that you want, and how you can introduce your information to your visitors. It not only includes your word content but it also includes your images, and your media. This could include your music playing on your site, other images and videos.

Your audience, especially prospective parents and children, want to be able to find your information quickly and efficiently. Seeing your content clearly conveyed also is dependent on your User Experience.

User Experience (or, UX if you want to get hip and technical)

What is user experience you might ask? Well, the best way to describe your user experience is:
User experience focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities and their limitations. (usability.gov)

A schools website needs to convey this in a manner that not only differentiates themselves to their competitors but also engages their audience and helps them solve their problem.

For example,
Where do I enrol my child?
How to find school camps on offer?
What are the fees?
Where do I find my school time table?
What time is the bus timetable that takes me to school?
What extra curricular  

Considering both the user experience and using a content strategy will help you build on your ability to convey your content to your audience in a clear and concise way.

Your audience also wants to be involved in your content. In a school environment, audiences whether it be parents, students, or other members of the community want to feel at ease when they look to finding a school that will offer them what they want.

It is always good to have a plan of action. It allows you to be clear, concise and enables your audience to see what you are trying to convey.

A good content strategy depends on:
  • Good in depth research, this includes, keywords, search volume, and checking out your competition in regards to search pages
  • Differentiate your content
  • Ensuring that your content stands out using key phrases and key words is also an essential part to forming your content strategy.

You may ask, how else can I make my content different from others?
Some good examples include:
  • Interactive videos (don’t let your videos be too long as the audience cannot focus for very long when watching a video)
  • Images need to be clear and not pixelated. (They also need to be engaging through showing emotion)


Building on your reputation

As an educational institution, schools pride themselves on their knowledge and learning. Educating your audience on what your school has to offer is the key reason you want prospective parents to come to your school. It is all about building a reputation in a competitive market.

According to our recent Digerati survey, 85% of respondents said that they look at schools based on their reputation.

Through showing that your school is as successful as its reputation, conveying that to your audience is very important but also requires key planning. Making sure that you are able to convey these points using imagery, storytelling and testimonials as this will help in sharing that experience.

Content Focused Components
Conveying this to prospective audience is why a content strategy will assist you in building on that reputation.
Some of these components from Brain Traffic.com on content strategy are:
  • Substance: What kind of content are needed? 
  • Structure: What is the structure of your content? Will it be formatted, organised, and displayed?
  • Workflow: What processes and tools are needed?
  • Governance: What are the key decisions about content and it's strategy?


We want you to get the MOST out of your content so that your audience is able to see how your school can STAND OUT and be REMEMBERED.

Having a content strategy is complex but it will help in the long term in how to improve your Google ranking and SEO performance.

Build on those relationships with fellow teachers, students and current parents. Find out what makes them feel proud and inspired to attend your school. Enable them to feel involved in your content.

Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand – Chinese Proverb.


Until next time!




Wednesday 24 June 2015

A school's website – what am I looking for?

When I’ve looked at a school’s website in the past, I’ve thought to myself, what am I looking for?



Growing up, I went to two different schools. One was my local public school and the other was a senior school. One may ask, why did you go to a second school for only two senior years?

Firstly, I had a lot of friends from school that lived in the area of this specific school. This I felt was a win from the start. I had the option to change schools and still be around the people that I had grown up with. Awesome!

However, my main reason that I had wanted to change schools was that the current school I was attending didn’t offer what I had wanted to study. My aim had been to go to university and study marketing. In doing this, I knew I needed to get good marks and I felt that in attending a school that had a focus specifically for the Higher School Certificate, I would be able to get my best marks and achieve my goals.

The school that I went to offered many more subjects than my previous school. It was the fact that they were able to show me what they had to offer through their website that had me sold, even before I had stepped foot into the school!

In our recent survey here at Digerati, we found that 85% of users are looking for what the school curriculum offers for their family. Parents want to feel they can engage with your school, and the website is their first impression. So, you want to make it count!

First impressions.

The first time that I had looked at that school’s website, I had thought to myself:

Where can I find what they will offer me?
How will I benefit from going to this school?

In the end, my last thought was:
How do I apply?

They got me. They had won me over.

How did that happen you might ask? Well, it’s all about the first impressions!

Aesthetics.

The aesthetic look of your website, and the user experience needs to be smooth and easy to navigate. 

In saying this, you can’t over compensate with content for the way that a website is designed.
If the site is designed to be fun and interactive, make sure that your content mimics this. Use fun and engaging photos of students. Show them LEARNING, show them being CREATIVE, show them being INSPIRING.


It’s all about the story.



Everyone loves good story. When reading a story that is engaging, it gets you excited. It makes you want to be involved. It makes you want to do something great.

This is what schools strive for. As the saying goes, ‘Kids are the future’. And they ARE.

Through telling a story of how your students and chasing their dreams, building on their own skills, allows them to be able to see that they are talented and smart. They can think about how they will be as adults, and thinking back nostalgically to their school that they went to.

You want your content to show this.

When looking at a schools website, content is definitely one of the most important features. The audience want to find out as much as they can about your school, so having clear and concise content is key.

Your content should tell the story of your school, its values and its future. Storytelling is what encapsulates us into another world. As Plato said:

“Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.”


Remember it’s the school’s students that tell the story. Capture their accomplishments: this could be through imagery, their writing or feedback from parents. This will build the websites character and create an emotional response from the audience. 


The importance of clear content.

When writing your content and telling your story, whether it be the story of your school’s athletic carnival, or the charity event your students took part in, it is important to think of the way the story flows.

Make sure that there is an Introduction, body and an ending but also make it personable along with the facts.

You want to be able to convey to your audience, whether they be parents or students that your school can meet their needs, along with showing that your school is a community that works together.
Using images that would help to convey your story will also have a visual impact on your audience. It will help them to visualise the atmosphere of your school.

Referencing back to my own experience, it’s not only the curriculum that interested me in attending a different school for senior year, but I also wanted to look at it from a social aspect.
Were there extra-curricular groups that I could become involved in? What would the social scene be like if I had changed schools?

I had a valuable experience in meeting different students from my previous school. They offered international exchange programs which allowed me to learn about the cultures of others outside of my own.

My school conveyed these experiences in the stories from their exchange students. This is what I felt not only made my school stand out, but it also showed me that they offer many opportunities that I didn’t think I would have been given from my old school.

Thinking back about what I remember about my school years, was that my school offered me an opportunity to learn and grow. This is what all schools want to be able to achieve when portraying their schools website to their audience.

Make sure that you can show what you can offer that makes you stand out.
Be visual.
Be bold.
Be engaging.
Be motivating.

And overall show them that your school is the school for them!
Tell your schools story!


Until next time.




Wednesday 25 March 2015

A School's Website - more important than you think!

At Digerati, we have spent nearly a decade building website's for all kinds of businesses and organisations. We love it! And we love to be able to lead clients in the right direction, by sharing our experience and expertise.

Over the next few blog posts we are going to focus on a school's online presence.

Why? Because it might be more important than you think. 

I have begun looking for schools for my son. Sure he is only a toddler, but it's a really big decision, it's a new decision and it all starts with Preschools and Daycare centres. When I get a spare moment, I start my Google searching and I begin to look at the websites of all the primary schools, and centres nearby. I want to know anything and everything I can - where are you? who are you? what sort of things do you believe and do? when are you open? how do I apply? how are you different to the other one? how much does it cost? what are your facilities like? and so on...

At Digerati, we have also worked with close to 50 schools and school organisations across Sydney with their website project. In order to serve them and other school's better, we also conducted some research.

So what have we learnt about parents looking for a new school?

*****

Parents are looking up a school's website to get information. Not surprising! As is my experience, this is my first step. We know this is not only the case with schools but with all businesses now. A school's website is a key part of researching and decision making.

The research also indicated that when searching, parents are looking for schools in their local area. 64% of respondents would include their suburb or their region as one of the keywords in their search.

*****

And I thought I was the only one! Nothing bothers me more than comparing schools/preschools and seeing the same boring template!!! The respondents of our survey agreed. More than two thirds marked 'Good website design' as either Very Significant or Significant in their decision making process. Obviously, parents perceive that a good website reflects upon the school as it's the first impression they get. 

School's need to represent who they are and present their best through their website. After all, first impressions last! 

*****

Parents looking for a school want as much information as possible available online. And they want to be able to find it! This means, your menu's and information architecture needs to be logical! This might require some testing - grab your friends and ask them to find specific pieces of information. Watch them use the website - is it the way you imagined?  


If you are a school or a school based organisation, ask yourself: does my website send the right message? Is it the best first impression? Does it show how we are different? 

Digerati would happily talk with you further - we'd love to share our expertise and advice about how to get your message across clearly. 

Contact us - www.digeratisolutions.com.au or phone Adam on (02) 9545 2983   






Wednesday 17 December 2014

15 things you need to update on your website for 2015.

Here is a list of 15 things to look at editing on your website in the period just before and after the Christmas/New Year break. 



1. Homepage images - might be time to source some new images to refresh your homepage.
2. Add your opening hours over the Christmas and New Year period

3. Then, make sure you remove the holiday opening hours! 

4. The our team page. Might be time for new head shots and bios 

5. About us page – is there any dates or ‘we’ve been around for x years’? 

6. Footer details and dates (including the copyright date) 

7. Recent projects and portfolio

8. Prices and promotions – are these changing for 2015?

9. Testimonials – are there recent ones you could add?

10. Terms and conditions, returns and privacy policy pages. 

11. Contact details of your business and staff – are these all still accurate? 

12. eNewsletter template – does this need a refresh for the new year? This might be in terms of design, approach or content 

13. Featured products, testimonials, or projects – change these to refresh the site's content 

14. Any sort of ‘Merry Christmas’ references or images to be removed come January

15. Consider if there are any 'big' updates or changes you'll want on your site - is it mobile responsive? Does it need a redesign? 

Give Digerati Solutions a ring if you need any help with your website (02) 9545 2983. We'd be happy to guide you into the New Year with a fresh looking web presence.  




Wednesday 26 November 2014

17 steps you can take to improve your website

Following on from last month’s blog, we thought we’d now give you 17 ways that you can improve your website. This might be in terms of design, usability, content or search engine optimisation. If you work through each of the below, you'll be on your way to a great website that your target market will love.


1. Source better images

2. Redesign your homepage or just update a few small things to give it a fresh and modern feel

3. Speak to your web developer to see if there are ways to increase the load time of your website (don’t be fooled – your website CAN be made faster)

4. Re-write the homepage copy. Or heck, go and re-write the whole website. There is nothing better than good, fresh copy!

5. Ask new visitors to your website to find certain pieces of information. Watch them use the site – is it easy? Can they find what they need? Do you need to rename menus or pages to guide them in the right direction?

6. Investigate how to make your website mobile responsive? Put this in your budget for next year and get it done! More users than ever are browsing on a mobile and it’s important that you optimise it for them (your competitors will)!

7. Ensure all your contact details are correct and can be found. Test your contact forms – do they work?

8. Is there anything that you could make available for purchase online that would make things easier?

9. Is it clear what you do? Ask someone their feedback.

10. Ask yourself: do people call you or your office asking the same questions? Could these questions be answered on your website?

11. If you’re on social media, does your website feature this?

12. Re-read your ‘about us’ page. Could you improve this?

13. Do you have your staff on your website? This would be a nice addition, especially if you’re a small business

14. Could you condense or simplify your website, menus, content and information architecture?

15. Ask yourself if your website design is consistent. If not, work it so that all the pages and information is formatted similarly.

16. Add hyperlinks between pages and to external sites, if needed but always ensure new websites open in a new window so people never leave your website

17. Add ‘calls to action’ to your website such as “get a free quote”, “contact us”, “make a booking” or “buy now”


And if you need a hand, give us (Digerati Solutions) a buzz on (02) 9545 2983



Wednesday 29 October 2014

17 features your customers expect when they land on your website.

Do you have a website or are you looking to develop a new one?

Well here is a little check-list - 17 features that your customers are going to expect when they land on your website.


1. Great images

2. Appealing design

3. Quick to load

4. Fresh and up-to-date content

5. Easy and logical navigation

6. Usable on a mobile

7. Contact details

8. Products, prices and the ability to buy (if applicable)

9. Obvious explanation of your products and services

10. All the information possible to make a decision and take action. The customers should not need to call and ask obvious questions like ‘where is your office?’ or ‘what is your returns policy?’ or ‘what are the dimensions of this product?’

11. Social media integration and participation

12. Clear and concise About Us page

13. (If you’re a small business) An ‘Our Team’ page that has great images and staff bios

14. Simplicity

15. Consistent design and layout

16. Internal and external links where needed. But, users shouldn’t be leaving your website so have links open in a new tab.

17. A call to action ‘above the fold’ 

Digerati Solutions can help you achieve any of  this! Get in touch if you want to chat more. 
AND GOOD LUCK. 







Wednesday 24 September 2014

Creating a website that grows with you and works for you.


Imagine opening a new retail store. You've paid your rent, fitted it out with amazing signs and added your products in.

Your doors open, and the customers start to stream in. They love perusing your product ranges, and want to buy. They come up to the counter but you have no capacity to process their order.

OR you present them with a paper form to fill in and ask that they write you a cheque.

OR maybe your shop doesn't have any products on display at all – wouldn't that be a missed opportunity?

These might seem like crazy scenarios, but your website could feel a little like this to your customers. Most websites act like a brochure, giving a bit of information and your contact details. This is a great start but these days, in 2014, you really need more than ‘just a website’.

Customers like to browse, enquire and purchase online.

In 2013, Australians spent $37.1 billion dollars online, with the average per person spend doubling since 2006. (Data from: http://www.powerretail.com.au/research-and-intelligence/infographic-australian-e-commerce/)

People like to buy online because:
  • They get more choice, with access to shops and retailers all over Australia (and the world)
  • Most people think they are getting a good price when they buy online
  • Products are delivered straight to your door 

The amazing thing about a website, verses a bricks-and-mortar store, is that it can be easily edited, expanded, revamped, given a face-lift and process orders faster, smarter and cheaper! In short, your website can grow with your business and can be expanded to handle the growth and changes.

So how could your website work FOR you, save you time and be expanded?
  • Adding the ability for people to order and pay online
  • Including a comprehensive enquire form, that asks exactly what you need to know
  • An instant quote feature, so people can quickly see services and prices 
  • Turning PDF forms into online forms to save double handing and data entry
  • Website made mobile-ready and responsive to make for easy browsing on mobile devices 
  • Member/Customer log in to see orders, re-order or to access custom pricing or confidential information?
  • Automated emails when people order online, when a product is shipped or in response to an enquiry 
  • Ability to take bookings online and notify staff 

This is just a starter list to get you thinking… We understand business is not a static thing and that you want to grow and evolve over time. So why not consider how your website can be part of this process and create a great experience for your staff and your customers.

We can help by giving you an obligation free quote! Contact us today on (02) 9545 2983



Wednesday 27 August 2014

Could your website save you time?

I want you to have a think about something – what do you spend your time doing at work? Think of all the tasks and activities that leave you at 4pm saying “where did the day go??” Do you write and reply to lots of generic emails? Do you send forms to your customers? Do you process order forms and take RSVPs? Do you do much data entry? Do you invoice?



In this day and age and era of technology, there is actually a lot of tasks and processes that can be streamlined and simplified online.

At Digerati, we have worked with many different businesses and organisation to take their paper flow online.

  • We’ve worked with schools to ensure that their information is delivered straight to the end user. To eliminate their paper permission slips and eliminate the need to re-enter data into a spreadsheet.
  • We’ve worked with tradesmen to ensure that when the trade-work-day is done that they don’t need to spend their evening invoicing for all the jobs.
  • We’ve worked with not-for-profits to make a one-stop-shop donation form on their website, processing payments quickly and simply.
  • We’ve worked with small retail and wholesale businesses to ensure they can sell their products online, manage customers and track orders.
  • We’ve built member layers into website for correspondence within a business and/or organisation, with forums and easy RSVP functions.
  • We’ve enabled our clients to play more golf, surf, enjoy their family time and rid their office of paper! This is what we love.


Get in touch with us today if you’d like to save yourself some time and rid yourself of the tedious jobs!




Monday 28 July 2014

So, it's probably time we talked about Google+ !

If you were anything like me, when Google announced they were jumping into the social media sphere with Google+, you rolled your eyes, groaned or felt a level of stress at the prospect of managing yet another social account.

So 2 years ago, in walked Google+ and initially, it seemed like a pretty empty landscape. Perhaps you were an early adopter, signed up for an account because you had a Gmail email and then sat there as the tumble weed rolled by.

That was me.

All I was thinking was that Google is Google, they pretty much own the internet, and therefore, this thing is going to explode. But it didn’t seem to. There were limited people on there, the content was uninspiring and frankly, if I’m going to kill some time, I’d rather spend time with my friends and customers who are hanging out “over there” (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.).

There were rumours that Google+ was going to begin to edit and filter what you then saw when you searched on Google, but it didn’t seem too.

That was until recently.

I challenge you to do an experiment: Google something. A question, a brand or better yet, your own business and start to see what comes up.

Here is my example:



Yes – that big box on the right had side with the photos and map is linked to the Digerati Google+ page.

You may also notice that Google+ posts, people and bloggers come up in search results with an image next to them – making them stand out over and above the others.

You might not want to hear this, but Google+ is in full swing now and it’s really starting to define what you see in Google search results. More importantly, Google+ is going to affect the way your business is displayed and ranks in Google.

I can more than understand that people probably don’t want to manage ANOTHER social media platform however, if you are in need of a little google-boost (as probably 90% of our clients are) then you really need to put this on the to do list!!!

So, how can you go about this?
  1. Get a Google+ personal page set up – and fill in all the sections so the profile is full and complete
  2. Follow as many people and businesses as you can that relate to you, your industry or your business contacts
  3. Create your Google+ Business listing (http://www.google.com.au/business/). Fill it in as much as possible to ensure you have links to your website, your other social media, and add some images.
  4. Follow relevant businesses, or people from your business Google+ page
  5. Begin to post from both your personal page and from your business’ page. If you are concerned about managing multiple accounts, just commit to post on Google+ every time you post on one of your other media. You can also link other profiles to your Google+ and it will pull in your posts.
  6. Think about your keywords – if you want to rank on Google for certain keywords or content, use these in your posts and profiles.
  7. Use hashtags. Like most other social media, Google+ uses Hashtags and they are a great way to get noticed. If you aren’t in the habit of using them, #startpracticing #modeloffothers #usethem #itsfun  
  8. Keep in mind: Google+ at its best is public. Unlike your personal Facebook page, where you can add photos of you and your cat eating dinner in your pyjamas, we really don’t recommend this here. If people search your name, your Google+ profile will come up and so we advise you to use your personal Google+ Profile as an extension of your business page and keep it pretty professional. As per Google’s help, “The only information you can’t hide is your name, profile photo, and cover photo. Your tagline will also be public if you add one, as well as your YouTube channel if it’s linked to your account”. So yes, you can make aspects of your profile private, but you’ll lose some of its capacity in regards to search results.   
Give it a go and keep and eye on it. Hopefully you'll see it helps you be profiled more comprehensively by Google in it's organic results.

And, as always, Digerati is here to help if you have questions.