Archive for Twitter News
How To Get Traffic To Your Website From Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsTwitter is still the newest craze that a lot of people are using now and still growing. Not only is it a way to get to know more people, it can also be used to get traffic. Getting Twitter traffic can maximize your exposure in ways you may have never imagined.Twitter is simple to use, yet it is really powerful. You might need a couple of hours to get familiar with the basic functionality of Twitter and of some of the extras it has but you can harness its power, even if you don't know it very well.
Twitter is simple to use and this is what made it so popular. Twitter is fashionable right now, so enjoy the moment. Even the creators of Twitter admit that as with MySpace and other Web 2.0 sensations, Twitter will inevitably go out of fashion some day. If you don't have a Twitter account, then you will need to sign up for one. It's easy and it only takes a few minutes. The best part about having one is that it is free.
Unlike most of the other places you can get traffic for free, Twitter is a microblogging platform, which means that there are restrictions on the number of characters in a message. Therefore, you need to be concise in your Tweets and use your space wisely. In addition to being concise, here are some more tips to help you get traffic from Twitter:
1. Make Your Profile Interesting
Your profile and your username are the first two things your visitors will see when they go to your Twitter page. If your profile looks boring, people won't bother to read your tweets, not to mention visit the links you post in them. You can't write a very long bio of yours, but you can enter a few words about you – i.e. your occupation, your interests, etc. You can also include a couple of keywords in your bio. You really should try to make your bio interesting or funny.
2. Pick a Username Targeted to Your Niche
Your username is also very important. You need to pick a username that is targeted at your niche. For instance, if you are promoting your search engine optimization company and want to drive traffic to your SEO site, you can choose something like SEOcompany, SEOmarketing, SEOservices, etc. Your username will show in searches other users make and this is why you must pay attention to what you choose.
3. Make Sure to List Your Website URL In Your Profile
According to some statistics, 80% of Twitter members don't provide an URL in their bio! Well, maybe these people are not SEO experts or internet marketers on Twitter and they don't need this traffic but you as an expert in your niche can't afford to miss it. So, don't forget to include your URL in your profile! The best place to have your URL if before you start your bio to make sure it doesn't get cut short.
4. Share Your Twitter Profile Link with Everyone You Know
Your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances will be your most loyal audience, so if they don't know about your Twitter page, make them aware of what they are missing. If you have their emails, or know their accounts on other networks, you can send a mass invite.
5. Search For Other Twitter Users Who Share Similar Interest With Your Niche
You can use the advanced search functions on Twitter and find people with similar interests. http://search.twitter.com/advanced You might have millions of friends, but more followers are always welcome. Find as many as you can and invite them all. These people might not be as loyal as your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances but still you will get hits from them as well. Some Twitter users report that about 1-2% of their followers visit their site a day, which means that if you have 1,000 followers, you might expect to get at least 10 or 20 visits a day to your site.
6. Interact With Your Followers On Twitters As Much As Possible
If you don't post tweets, then your followers will think that you are not interested anymore and will stop tweeting at your Twitter website. When you are active in Twitter, respond to the posts of your followers and visit their links, this seriously increases your chances that you will get the same in return. Getting the most out of Twitter traffic hinges on whether or not you participate in engaging with your followers.
7. Post Your "Tweets" Regularly
As with all other kinds of media, if you want to keep your audience, you need to feed it regularly. Writing a short tweet takes just seconds, but it is enough in order to keep your followers happy. It goes without saying, that your posts should contain substance and meaning. Your followers will be interested in what you have to say and will continue to come back for more. If you can't think of something meaningful to post about you or your sites, it is quite alright to post a link to a news article, a funny video, a blog, etc. that you found online.
8. Do Not Spam
You might be tempted to make as many users as you can aware of your Twitter page and your latest "tweets" but you'd better refrain from doing this, unless you want to see if you can get baned. To keep the relationship going, you can tweet on comments that were sent to you from previous tweets. This way, you can post your tweet again and include your link. This is a subtle way that you can use to promote your business. It would not be considered spam because your purpose was to comment on the tweets
9. Make Live Search Love Your "Tweets"
Twitter has a great search function and its main advantage is that it offers real-time results. Google now offers real-time search results, too. People are hungry for hot news and nothing beats a real-time search. Many users report seeing their "tweets" show up in Google search results as soon as they post them. Some users get more visitors from Twitter than from the major search engines.
10. Add Twitter Widgets To Your Website or Blog
Lots of free Twitter widgets are available and new ones are being released every day. The cool thing about Twitter widgets is that your blog visitors can become your Twitter followers. If your Twitter followers have many followers, chances are that some of these followers will notice you and will join your network. If you have a lot of followers, then your chances are greater for people to visit your website. Facebook apps can let you update Twitter/Facebook together. This means your Tweets can become your Facebook status and vice versa. Facebook is the most popular network around. Between Facebook and Twitter, you can build quite a following.
In my experience Twitter works best if you have a service or an offer that will fulfill a need. Seek out the people looking for your services and let them know how you can help them. If you can, offer solutions for free and soon you'll be the go-to person in your niche. These are just some of the ways you can use Twitter to drive traffic to your website.
Why Create A Custom Twitter Background?
Posted by: | Comments1. Personalization and expression: It’s a chance to express yourself and who you are. Are you an artist, a musician, a blogger, or a cook? Do you love Macs or the beach? A new backdrop can really help people understand who you are.2. Contact info: It’s an easy way to add additional information you can plug into your 160 character bio.3. Personal branding: Having your contact information, your face, or additional bio information within your background is a common practice. It helps potential followers understand what you do and why you are someone people should follow.4. Artistic creativity: Twitter is a great opportunity to push the limits of your talents.
Some great examples of custom Twitter background designs
If you’re looking for some inspiration for your Twitter background, look no further. These are some of the most unique, most inspiring, and best-branded Twitter backgrounds around. There’s not enough time or room to showcase the thousands of great backgrounds that exist on Twitter, so be sure to check out some comprehensive lists and discover some on your own.And remember: you don’t have to spend an obscene amount of time to make a great background. It’s all about making a background that’s perfect for you, not for anyone else.
Doug Cone (@nullvariable): Doug, a web designer and consultant, brilliantly integrates his face with his brand and contact information in this spacey theme.There are literally hundreds of great Twitter backgrounds. Part of the fun is discovering on your own.CoolTweets (@cooltweets): CoolTweets, which collects, well, the coolest tweets on the web, gets an A for its simple and clean layout. Perfect for many brands.
Justine Ezeraik (@ijustine): The popular new media star has a balanced theme that perfectly reflects her brand.
Kristi Colvin (@kriscolvin): Kristi, a favorite tweeter of mine, opted to create a beautiful mosaic of color and life. I could stare at it all day.
Loic Le Meur (@loic): No, it’s not that Loic’s background is the most amazing, most complex, or most visually appealing image in the world. It’s that his background reflects who he is – a smiling, personal, fun-loving guy…who also happened to found Seesmic. You just have to love the picture of him kitesurfing, too.
Creating your own background: the basic requirements
Now that you understand the reasons for creating a background and you’re feeling inspired, there are a couple of things you need to know about custom Twitter backgrounds.First, you need to know how to actually change your background. This is a simple process: just go to settings, then design, and then click “change background image.” You can now browse your computer and add any image you’d like, so long as it’s under 800k in size.Next, the actual dimensions. This is important because improperly-sized images can be covered up by your Twitter profile or can start to tile, which often leads to an undesired effect. In most circumstances, you want your background to be large enough not to tile. To achieve this, the total image size should be around 1600px wide by 1200px tall. This encompasses almost all screen resolutions.If you build a left-hand column, popular on many Twitter backgrounds, make sure that it’s small enough not to be covered up by the central Twitter content – many designers suggest smaller than 200px or 235px. For more information on dimensions, check out Croncast and their numbers.In the end, building your ideal background often requires trial-and-error.5 Reasons Why Twitter’s Growth Cannot Be Stopped
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With all the skepticism of whether it’s just a social media fad and questions about how the company expects to generate revenue, Twitter has left many critics silent by continuing to grow. Though the company has made some improvements, including its recent redesigned homepage, many wouldn’t credit these changes with the successful growth of Twitter. It’s all about the people and how the service has been put to use by the millions. Whether using it during their everyday lives, marketing a business or reporting on tragic events, users have shown the value of Twitter and will continue to contribute to its growth. Below are just five reasons why Twitter will continue to grow. Please add your thoughts below in the comments, as well as other reasons you believe Twitter will continue to grow.1. Consistent growth
The microblogging site reached 23 million unique users in June, according to Compete, which was a 16 percent growth compared to May. This doesn’t even include the millions that do not visit Twitter.com and instead use third-party services to update. The site has had a consistent growth, and we expect it will continue to do so for July numbers.
2. Gaining approval from big companies
According to PR firm Burson-Marsteller, as reported by Mashable’s own Adam Ostrow, Twitter is the social media platform of choice at Fortune 100 companies. The firm reported that 54 percent of the companies have a Twitter presence and for the companies that use only one social media platform, 76 percent of them use Twitter as their preferred choice. And if the big guys are using it, well, the smaller companies will do so as well. Oh wait, small businesses are already using Twitter. So basically they have the ground covered big and small. Either way, the complete results of the study are below:
3. Twitter is the number one most social brand
Twitter is the most active Web presence and generates most conversational volume on the Web, making it the number one social brand for July 2009, according to Social Radar. It was at number one in June too. Social Radar analyzes the Web to see what brands are mentioned most by unique sources. This includes blogs, other social networks, forums, etc. The analysis includes brands, not just social networks. Facebook is at number 4, with the iPhone and Google at number 3 and 4, respectively. Check out the full list for July here. The point is there is a lot of buzz out there about Twitter and people are continuing to talk about it, and it’s even becoming part of everyday language.
4. Twitter receives millions in free media coverage
The media loves to cover Twitter and anything that relates to using the service. In fact, Twitter received $48 million worth in media coverage in 30 days, according to Ad Age, which also notes that the figure is about half of what Microsoft plans to spend on marketing Bing. So what amounts to $48 million worth in advertising? How about 3 billion impressions and 57 percent of that is from TV. These figures don’t even include the smaller newspapers that likely mentioned Twitter. The irony is that this very post is contributing.
5. Continued growth internationally
As news breaks, more users internationally are learning the value of using Twitter. Whether it is the protests following the Iran Election or the Jakarta bombings or the fact that the Chinese government felt they had to block Twitter during the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the site gets more users in those countries as the value of the service unravels during a time of need. Right now, about 55 percent of the audience is international, according to comScore. This number too will continue to grow.
Vadim Lavrusik is a new media student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is @lavrusik on Twitter and blogs at Lavrusik.com.
