Paul Bradish's Internet Business Blog

If you haven’t seen it, here’s a good introduction to the Google +1 Button:

If you haven’t installed it on your website yet, I’m happy to say that setup is a snap. Practical eCommerce just released a nice little write-up on the new service along with instructions. Here’s the official Google +1 page where you can grab the necessary code.

Whatever it is that you were working on today, I would take a break and place this snippet of code on your E-commerce site.

If you don’t know what Google +1 is, Todd Wasserman posted an excellent Q&A about Google +1 over at Mashable a few months ago. Here’s a small taste:

Google’s announcement that it’s adding a “+1” button to incorporate sentiment into its search results raised a lot of questions not addressed in the company’s official announcement.We spoke with Google rep Jim Prosser about +1. Here are some of our questions answered. What other questions do you have about the new product?

As an E-commerce webmaster, you’re going to want to include the Google +1 code onto your product pages ASAP. Will Google’s +1 feature surpass Facebook’s Like button in terms of sheer user volume? Probably not. But I suspect it will play a pretty substantial role in future niche search rankings.

Let’s face it, whether you’ve decided to embrace social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as part of your internet marketing arsenal or not… they can absolutely work wonders in growing your brand’s image, reputation, and sales when used correctly. And I think it’s officially safe to say by now that social networks are here to stay so you’d either better start using them – or – at the very least make sure someone else isn’t social cybersquatting and banking off of all of your hard work.

Enter KnowEm. I am a HUGE fan their service, which lets you to check and see for yourself if your brand’s username is available on hundreds of social networks.

Knowem.com allows you to check for the use of your brand, product, personal name or username instantly on over 500 popular and emerging social media websites. Grab your name and secure your brand before someone else does.

This is a very handy tool which I have used now for numerous e-commerce websites. If you’re on a tight budget don’t worry, it comes with both free and paid options which are nearly identical.

Free: You create any new social network profiles yourself
Paid: KnowEm creates new social network profiles for you

This is something that I seriously encourage every online store owner out there to set aside the time and do. Making sure that your brand name is in the right hands on the major social networks out there is a big deal. Even if you don’t plan on using these networks, most social network profiles will offer up a nice juicy backlink so it’s a great SEO opportunity as well.

(6/2/2011) EDIT: Another useful site to check your brand’s username availability is NAMECHK. It is fast and easy to use. I recommend using both services, again 100% free.