Twitter is amazing for generating viral traffic, and will even help you increase comments on your blog. However, you have to know how to use twitter effectively to reap the rewards.
Contrary to popular belief, simply setting up a feed for your blog and letting your account run itself will not create a noticeable effect. Instead, you should strive to use twitter in a way that gives value to your followers and increases the authority of your blog.
I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be away on vacation for a week tomorrow. I will return July 4th. As far as posting goes, I can only hope Janith will come around and cover while I am gone. But I think a few days of posting will be missed as he is nowhere to be found.
Register Your Blog’s Name as Your Username
If this one isn’t obvious, you can increase your blog branding by using the blog name as your twitter username. This will increase the exposure and branding of your blog online.
Use a Memorable Avatar
Instead of a random anime character or a generic character illustration, invest in using a brandable avatar. Perhaps part of your logo, or a picture relevant to your blog’s name and/or design. Having an outstanding avatar is a huge part of marketing on twitter, as it is how people recognize you easily.
It is even helpful to have a picture of your own self on their too. A picture of yourself will help with the connection/interaction you have with your readers.
Create a Custom Background
Although often overlooked, creating a custom twitter background increases the branding for twitter users who actually go to twitter.com to use the application. You should design a twitter background that includes your blog’s name, logo, and URL.
You don’t have to have anything fancy, just take the Twitter background I made for Blogussion. Nothing special, it’s just an image with an info panel to the left. I made it match our blog colors to make it match more with our site. Try to make your background so it matches with the theme of your blog, that was your Twitter will be a lot more recognizable.
Retweet tweets from users in your niche
Interact and share value from important people in your niche by retweeting valuable niche links, quotes, offers, and questions. This will have people looking at your profile more, and it will make you seem more interactive to the twitter community. Then people who visit your profile will follow the link back to your blog to learn more about you.
Tweet interesting articles and resources in your niche
This has the same principle as retweeting from experts. Build your authority by sharing useful links and generating responses. Interested Twitter users will follow your tweets all the way back to your blog, looking for more useful information.
Auto-update with Your Blog’s Feed
Wiring your blog’s RSS feed through your twitter account will alert readers to new posts on your blog. Make sure your headlines are interesting enough to draw people in, and ask your friends to retweet links from your blog. This will increase your blog’s visitors.
I use the tool Tweetburner to auto update the Blogussion Twitter account with the feed here, and even some other blog feeds as well.
Reply to questions from users
If someone addresses you with a question or comment, @reply them and build a relationship with your followers. The friendlier you are, the more they will be willing to look into who you are, and more importantly, where you blog.
What About A Twitter Ebook?
A little bonus here, I bought a fantastic Ebook all about Twitter that has really helped me grow the Blogussion Twitter account. In a short summary, after I bought this Ebook (last week), the followers for the Blogussion Twitter account have doubled. The Ebook is full of simple tricks to getting more followers and creating authority on Twitter.
More details on this Ebook can be found here.
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?You should also use bit.ly to track the clicks you’re getting
I’ve been using this and I’m still experimenting with it to see what gets me more clicks.
At the moment, I wouldn’t recommend auto-tweets of your blog updates, I think you’re better of using a more custom attractive tweet to get more clicks.
I haven’t been using the retweet feature as much as I should, but thanks to you, I’m going to make more use of it. Great article as always
.-= I’m Abdul, the Internet Entrepreneur´s last blog ..Whats Going On! No Updates? =-.
Hey Abdul, I also strongly recommend using bit.ly to create your links and post your tweets. I’ve only been using it for about a week now and it’s really interesting to track the effectiveness of your tweets.
Enjoy your vacation, Alex!
.-= Nick Tart´s last blog ..How to Create a Contract with a Template =-.
i agree with nick, bit.ly is i guess one of the most useful tool for tweeting with its automatic shorting of links command.
.-= elmot´s last blog ..From Hate List to Wish List In Driving =-.
Thanks Abdul! I always use bit.ly to shorten my URLs and every once in a while I will go through the list and see how many clicks I get. I have never really studied them that much, I suppose I should try it out a bit more myself!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
You can also use Skype to promote your Blog and Twitter account..Some Great tips are on this page..
I have only used Skype a few times and I have like 3 contacts in there already. Not much of a promotional tool yet. :p
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
I have to say that your Twitter page looks really good. I’m gonna follow you after I’m done with this comment. I’m already following most of the tips that you mentioned in your post. I thought I should share another great article on Twitter by Mashable.
Here’s the link:- SEO Tips For Twitter
Thanks for a great post.
.-= Havoc Marketing´s last blog ..SEO Optimization Secrets – Unlimited Free Targeted Traffic =-.
Thanks for the follow and link. I’m going to check it out after I get through replying to all of these comments!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Nice post! I use Twitterfeed to automatically update my twitter account with post from my blog, sharing a blog post in your twitter can help drive traffic and also you can use some twitter widgets to increase your followers on twitter.
Thanks
.-= Web Hosting Blog´s last blog ..You can’t keep a good geek down – Steve Jobs back at work =-.
I use Tweetburner on my @Blogussion account and it works really well.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Too bad tweetburner is having trouble with it’s data base, so I can’t register now, anyway, I have been using twitter all along, and by twitting relevant information and reply message really is building up extra traffic for my blog….
.-= The Bad Blogger´s last blog ..5 Reasons You Should Dump SEO And Keywords Stuff Right Away ! =-.
Is it really? That’s a shame, it’s a really powerful tool! I hope you get an account soon.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
I also suggest following people from your niche. Most people unfollow those who don’t reciprocate, but it’s fine by me. Sometimes, it’s not just about your blog and your marketing techniques but also the valuable information that is shared by people all over the web. Twitter is condensed so it’s a lot easier to skim through everything within minutes.
.-= Liane YoungBlogger´s last blog ..They Are All Turning Full Time Bloggers! Now, Have You Asked Yourself This Question? Are YOU Ready To Go Full Time Blogging? =-.
I understand those who can’t always deliver. It’s not easy to keep going consistently. I just think it sucks that other people don’t understand that and then they unfollow that person.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
You have given some real useful tips on how to make your blogs more popular. I don’t have a tweeter account.But have lots of friends on facebook so i would like publicize my blog there itself. do you have any tips for optimizing facebook?
Although the tips mentioned here has tempted me to join Tweeter but there i have to start all over again.
Thanks a lot Sachin. If you ever get a chance, set up a Twitter account! You won’t regret it if you follow the right profile building tips!
I’m not very keen on Facebook, but the other author here Janith is. You may have already seen this article he published recently, but if not here it is: Facebook Marketing.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Twitter is still not my favorite platform and I only invest a little bit of time with it. Nonetheless, I do have a custom background for it.
To me, Twitter is only a feed extension somehow… I should find the time to leverage more on it I think.
.-= Nicolas Prudhon´s last blog ..Google Now Focuses On Speed! =-.
I would honestly recommend that you experiment with it since I also once thought It wasn’t as good as it seemed, but until I used bit.ly to track the clicks I’m getting, I was suprised.
.-= I’m Abdul, the Internet Entrepreneur´s last blog ..Whats Going On! No Updates? =-.
What social networks do you use instead of Twitter Nic?
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
I can confidently say that many people, including some well known marketers, have either not explored the potential of twitter, or do not know how to use it. Before you even start thinking about twitter as a marketing and promotional tool, you have to keep this in mind…
twitter is not a marketing and promotional tool!!!
Nevertheless, you can derive great success from twitter by using it wisely. Do not plug your sites and products with every tweet. In fact, send out retweets, useful info and helpful tips to your followers and in between, insert a bit of promotion for yourself too. But do not blatantly advertise yourself every time you log onto the twitter platform.
.-= Richael | Domain Marvelous´s last blog ..Domain Registration Length – Does it Matter? =-.
I think Twitter has many uses, and I will stand by my belief that it can be used as a marketing tool. Of course you will need to have good moderation on how you promote with it, but I do see it as a great marketing tool.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Great tips here Alex. I like the Twitter eBook Idea. I might try that sometime
.-= Caden Grant´s last blog ..List Building Techniques =-.
Thanks Caden, the Ebook was fantastic and has helped me grow the Blogussion Twitter account. I recommend you get it if you have an extra $20 sitting around!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Great tips! I am new (and quickly addicted!) to twitter, and have a brand new blog. I’m enjoying playing around on Twitter, and meeting fascinating people in my niche. I’m going to check out Tweetburner, per you suggestion to synch my blog and twitter.. thanks for the tips!
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Blogging Blueprint Review =-.
Thanks Karen! Yeah, Twitter is pretty fun!
I really recommend Tweetburner, we use it on the Blogussion Twitter account and it does all of the work for us!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Very useful post..I also use Feedburner and I love it..very useful tool. The thing with Twitter is the more time you put into it the more you will get out of it.
.-= Tycoon Blogger´s last blog ..Is Twittley better than Tweetmeme? =-.
Feedburner or TWEETBurner? Feedburner has nothign to do with Twitter, it’s just a really crappy RSS Manager (crashes so often). I’m sure you meant TweetBurner, Tycoon
Lmao!
That’s so true Janith, I love how you put it!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Alex u are 15 years old amazing writing so gud at this age
Thanks a ton Atul. Soon I will be 16 though.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
I agree with Atul. In my country Singapore, probably less than 1 out of 100,000 fifteen year olds are mature writers like you
Thanks for the tips. I suck at Twitter, hoping to get serious with it soon. Your tips will come in handy.
.-= Charles´s last blog ..The Winning Formula for Blogs? =-.
That’s Alex for you! He’s a genius at what he does and makes me proud to be his partner in this blogging experience
Appreciate it bro. Really glad to have you as a partner too. I still remember the night the idea of merging our blogs was conjured up! I know you know that, but that was like the best thing I have ever done online.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Thanks Charles!
Do let me know how how Twitter work out for you.
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
I just realised we utilize 6/7 of these tips! That’s so cool – hopefully we can release an eBook in the near future
Retweeting articles in my niche is something I need to start doing. I’m terribly lazy sometimes >_>
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Weekend Round-Up 7/04 =-.
Wow, I just realized I forgot to write the summary for this article. I was in such a rush to finish this post up before I left on my vacation that I forgot to do it!
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Big Changes Coming to Asnio + My Week Long Absence =-.
Social networking is developing at dramatic speed these days. New functions keep being introduced into the market place. For many web-based business, more and more media need to be taken into consideration when making online marketing strategy.
.-= Nevin´s last blog ..National Debt Hits a £799bn Record High =-.
I think, in the modern society, few companies could afford to go without proper online stratety.
Branding and being on top of search engines are actually tied up these days.
That’s why new social network could grow at dramatic speed today.
.-= Sky´s last blog ..Shoppers Delight =-.
You obviously put a lot of work into that post and its very interesting to see the thought process that you went through to come up with those conclusion. Thanks for sharing your deep thoughts. I must admit that I think you nailed it on this one.
Thanks for the follow and link. I’m going to check it out after I get through replying.
Thank you, It’s really useful for my twitter blog !
You know what I find funny? I go to the affiliate link on the ebook you got and read the ‘reviews’ on how awesome this ebook is, and all three of them are following just about as many (or more) people as they have followers. Doesn’t seem like anything new there, I have nearly 4 times as many followers as they have and I never paid a penny for this ebook or any other tool, for that matter. Good content is what gets you followers, not some tricks you have to pay for.
.-= Robomaster´s last blog ..CoolAppSite is now Officially DoFollow! =-.
These are good pointers. Using your blog name as your handle and creating a custom background is definitely a plus. Since, you are marketing your blog, might as well make sure that your blog branding will have an impact or make a brand recall to your followers
I don’t know whether these tips are your successful experience or team brainstorms they’re great as always for bloggers and twitter fans. I wonder someday I can embed my screencast into my twitter so everyone will staring at me with envy
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These are good pointers. Using your blog name as your handle and creating a custom background is definitely a plus. Since, you are marketing your blog, might as well make sure that your blog branding will have an impact or make a brand recall to your followers.
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