Recently I've been trying to get some good local rankings for my Hypnotherapy practice here in Kauai. What kind of things can I do to optimize my Google+ profile/page to rank higher in the search engines?
Just need to local visitors! You can listing local directory,forum,blog etc which is your local web site.You get local visitors form here. You also create Google + profile/page/community/events etc and collect local friends.
You need local visitors to share and +1 your links or your page on google+. You can do it through sharing your link with your friends and other local traffic. Any person using google products can +1 your link and his g+ friends can see your url on the top of their searches.
A good start to learning about ranking in local search is looking at David Mihm's Local ranking factors. Just google it as I can't put a URL here. Next, learn how to setup a G+ local listing properly. There's a lot to do to make sure it's done properly, but it's worth the effort.
An important step to take is adding pictures to your Google+ profile. Before you upload the pictures however, you need to optimize them by adding your keywords and your business Name, Address, Phone number to the properties of the image. This makes them like a citation for your company and Google loves them. I guarantee you that your competitors are not taking this step.
Make a Page on Google Plus add your local network that will show your address, on your gplus page then create post for local areas u work in or for..
I would suggest you to get you business listed in Google places. You can login with your G+ a/c and can add new listing with your physical business address that will help users to contact you.
Create a page link to you your google listing. Add reviews and get listed on other sites you will get rank easily.