nmjudy - 12:24 pm on Jul 8, 2011 (gmt 0)

Any strategy you think of should include a way for your users to have some kind of Google account, because if they're not logged in to a Google account - they won't even see the +1 button.

I wonder how many Facebook likes would happen if the "Like" button didn't display if users weren't signed into their Facebook account.

These are my biggest challenges in promoting Google +1:
- Educating my users about various Google accounts they can sign up for.
- Convincing them to sign up and stay signed in
- Educating my users about what the +1 button is and what it does
- Dealing with the privacy issues of their personal information showing up in the SERPS (I have users under the age of 13).

On one of my high traffic websites, I put the +1 button on a couple of popular pages. I've gotten 9 people to push the button in the past week. My stats show that a large percent of my traffic is repeat visitors, so obviously, visitors like the website. The +1 button would be so much easier to explain and market if people didn't need to be signed into their Google account beforehand. Also, a better explanation on how the user's personal information will be used should be clearer.

I assume Google will eventually tie the +1 button with the Google+ system that's in beta with limited invites. That will make things easier, but for now, there are way too many steps a webmaster needs to do to even have visitors see the button.