Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve almost certainly heard the latest news that has the social media universe in a frenzy:

Google +1 buttonThis week, Google released its Google +1 (“plus one”) button to compete with Twitter’s Tweet button and Facebook’s Like button.

In order to capitalize on the potential traffic and exposure that this new button can generate, you’ll need to incorporate it into your site as soon as possible.

There’s one little problem, though.

Unless you’re a ninja, you’re probably going to get frustrated while trying to add the buttons to your site.

For most people, there are just too many options and too many different ways to integrate and configure the buttons, and this leaves them feeling uncomfortable with the result.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I implement something on my site, I like to know that I’ve done it the most efficient and effective way possible.

In keeping with this line of thinking (and also with my company’s focus on making the web faster and easier), we’ve gone ahead and published a detailed tutorial that will help you add the Google +1 button to your site with confidence.

Oh, and here’s a pro tip before you go: Under the “Step One (the API Call)” section, be sure to use Option 2—it’s the one that will yield the best performance!