By Shawn Culver
I’ve only had a Twitter account and been active for about 6 months, and here are a few things I have learned.
Keep in mind, many of these tips are only relevant if you use Twitter for website or blog promotion.
When someone visits your homepage on Twitter, the first thing they will see is your last 20 tweets (your recent Twitter tweet stream.) So you have 20 chances to sell them on following you.
You want your Twitter tweet stream to exude value and give potential followers a glimpse of what they will get as a follower. You will be surprised at how many people use your recent Twitter tweet stream to make the follow decision. I always do.
Take a few moments and look over your last 20 tweets. Try looking at them from the viewpoint of a potential visitor who may be thinking of following you. See anything you might possibly want to change?
Note: Many people use Twitter clients instead of Twitter.com, so they possibly will see fewer than 20 tweets when they view your Twitter landing page. Keep that in mind as well.
When you reply to someone, make the most of that reply so other followers can benefit.
If someone asks me what software I use to record my screen, I could simply reply with…
@username Camtasia Studio.
There’s a slight problem with this answer. My followers did not see the original question. So even if they know what Camtasia Studio is, they have no idea what I’m talking about unless they click the person’s username to find the question.
A better reply would be…
@username I use Camtasia Studio for my screen recording videos. You can download a free trial here…
Not only have I helped a curious follower, but I’ve provided information that my other followers may find useful.
Thorough replies like this also add value to your recent Twitter stream as I mentioned above in #1.
Note: Twitter made an update recently so that when you begin a tweet (reply) with @username, the only people who see it is the person you are replying to and anyone who is following both of you.
So if you want everyone to see your reply make sure you do not start the tweet with @username.
I created a Twitter Background page to give people a quick overview of who I am and what they can expect if they follow me.
Some will argue that it’s best to link to your homepage for the “link juice”, traffic and earnings potential. So I have followed that advice and receive daily Twitter traffic.
I think it’s very important to gain new followers and build credibility through content. There will be plenty of time to promote my sites as I build up my credibility.
Most people who buy from your site are going to be visitors who have grown to trust you — not potential Twitter followers who are just trying to figure out if they should follow you or not.
Get the follower now and make the sale later.
If you get a lot of questions on Twitter, you don’t have to reply to everyone publicly. Not to mention, a bunch of replies can clog up your Twitter stream.
I have been using direct messages a lot more since I read Marko Saric’s book, Twitter Marketing: How to Go Viral on Twitter, where he encourages you to “pick your tweets wisely” and to be careful about tweeting too much as it may become “white noise” to your followers.
No one wants to follow someone who continuously brags about themselves or promotes their site in every single tweet. (Yawn!)
Learn to mix it up and give your Twitter stream some variety. Poll your followers, engage them, offer some words of wisdom, be funny. The key is finding the right balance.
Never lose sight of the fact that your goal is to provide VALUE to your target audience. However, a fun or off-topic tweet here doesn’t bother most people, and many welcome the variety.
If you’re going to promote products, affiliate links, etc. you really have to make sure your brand is solid and people respect you.
I don’t do a lot of affiliate link dropping on Twitter. Quite honestly, I’m not very comfortable with it.
I prefer to let my tweets do the PREselling and hope that my earned credibility will turn my followers into loyal site visitors and customers in the long-run.
Nothing wrong with an occasional site promotion or affiliate link here and there, but you definitely have to choose your promotions wisely and build the credibility first.
About the Author
Shawn Culver founder of Make Cash Now.biz home business and PLR membership website offering 150,000 articles, 1,000+ ebooks, 4,500+ software titles, 2,000+ business products, working home business programs, training material, 900+ internet scams revealed, and much more! www.makecashnow.biz.
What have you learned by using Twitter?
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August 1st, 2009 
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