Are you in Google+ yet? The search giant's new foray into the world of social media has generated quite the buzz over the last few weeks, and for good reason. While you're in there, navigating your G+ Stream, you may notice the subtle highlight Google offers to show you which posts are new and which post is currently active.

Or you may not.

These days it seems like everyone knows about Google, no matter if you are from Green Bay or Suamico, Brown County or Oconto County, the city or the country.  It does not even matter whether or not you have an internet connection.  I am betting you know Google.  “To Google” is even a colloquial and commonly used verb.  If you hear “I will just Google it,” the chances are good you are within listening range of someone who is wanting to find some bit of random information online.

Now, as a small business owner, you do not need to use the word “Google” in your every day conversations, but you should know about how it can benefit you and your small business - yes, even a small business in Green Bay.  Specifically, you should know about the various features that Google provides to its users.  These are more commonly known as Google’s “apps” (short for applications).

The chances are good that if you manage a website for your small business here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, you have a million and one things going through your mind.  The terrain that is SEO can be difficult to navigate, much like the roadways in Brown County during the winter snows, and link building in particular can seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The process of building links in Green Bay isn't impossible, but it can be extremely confusing and time consuming.  Where do you even start?

Written below are some reasonable link building tips and methods that I have collected and compiled during my time out in the SEO universe.  These suggestions are just that: suggestions.  Pick the methods that you feel will work best for your website, leave the ones that won't.  After all, choosing link building strategies that you're comfortable implementing is top priority.

Tip #1: Network Online and Offline

Use the connections you've made through your business!  Building links online isn't done exclusively on the internet.  Surprised?  Consider your customers, suppliers, and any other professional connections you may have in the Green Bay regional area.  If you own your own small business website, then the chances are good that some, if not most, of your business relations own and operate their own business website, too.  With your best connections, all you may have to do to get a backlink from their site is pick up the phone and ask, or maybe you might have to offer something in exchange.  Still, receiving backlinks from your current business relations should be a relatively easy process.

Another way to build links online is by offering to provide testimonials for the suppliers of any of the products that your small business uses and enjoys.  When they post your testimonial on their website, they will more than likely link back to your website.  This will make your generous offer mutually beneficial.  If they don't backlink, or if they forget to include your link, it never hurts to politely inquire about backlinking afterward.

Search Engine Optimization – more commonly referred to as SEO – is the art of optimizing your website for the best performance in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Search Engine Optimization on modern day search engines has become a billion dollar industry with fierce competition.

With modern search engines, optimization has gone far above what you put as your meta keywords and the rest of your meta data and is more about the structure and content of your website itself. Some would even go as far as saying that your meta data (including keywords) has nothing to do what your position in the Search Engines Results Page (SERP) – and I would agree with those people.

It’s obvious isn’t it? You could get a million – even a billion - hits a month to your website, but if a percentage of those visitors doesn’t convert into customers of some sort, it doesn’t make you anything.

The conversion rate of your website is the only thing that makes it worth having a website; otherwise you wouldn’t have one, would you? Many businesses get a website to have a website and they don’t see the big picture - A website is a source to sell to customers, inform customers and potential customers on what you do, and make money.