Blogussion » twitter

Utilizing Twitter for Conversations and Information

Derek Jensen — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:00:09 +0000

Twitter is a tool that is becoming more and more widely used by bloggers, journalists, businesses, and the general public. It’s free to use, easy to get started, simple, but still highly underestimated and used. Let’s look at how we can use the best of Twitter for having conversations and gathering information all in real time.

Twitter is an experimental tool. It’s your experimental tool

Why is Twitter so underestimated and used? Why do I even say this? Let’s look at the different groups of people that use it that I previously mentioned. We bloggers mainly have used it to connect and socialize with other bloggers and make people aware of our own content. Link love! Journalists or news agencies simply publish their feed. Lots of link love! Businesses are slowly utilizing it to talk to their customers and competition. Finally, the general public is gathering information from the top Twitter accounts, news agencies, and just having conversations with their other friends that actually have Twitter.

After looking at the most dominate forms of using Twitter we can agree that it’s mostly used for spreading links, gathering links, connecting with people, and socializing with people by very many approaches.

Who are you?

In order to use a tool that has the potential to help out people in so many ways, we have to know who we actually are.

Simply put, “who are you?”

But knowing that this is far from simple, what do you feel defines you? I ask, because this question can also be “what is your passion”, and in order to use something like Twitter should establish this first.

For instance, if you are into knowing the latest news and staying updated you will use the best of Twitter than if you were someone who gets their information by talking with people and holding conversations. Or for that matter you could be both. You just have to know who you are.

Twitter is used both for conversations and information and I’ll be looking at the same four features of Twitter to help both out.

Conversations

Conversations are that social connection we have and can hold with one another. We all know that social media has increased this opportunity and frequency. Twitter is certainly a tool to take advantage and utilize for your benefit all while conversing.

Lists

You’ve heard of having groups. Well lists are just like groups and allow you to have conversations with people related to a certain topic, interest, or belief, etc. Many times when you have many followers or people you want to follow you forget who all would talk about what/who. Lists help you out with this potential dilemma. Oh, and if you wish to make a list private, meaning a group just for your use like the “connect” list I have (shown to the right) for people I want to connect with more.
It’s up to you.

Replying

Casual talk is on the rise. Just start a reply. It’s simple as that

Replying is when we decide to talk back, respond, or offer additional input to whatever they have tweeted out.
Say you see someone discussing or talking about a certain thing that interests you, you have the opportunity to respond to them at anytime with extreme ease. Think of it has a geeky (but the next) way of emailing or contacting someone and just to have a very casual talk.

Casual talk has a new meaning and new home, called Twitter. All you have to do is reply to them and all of your followers can see you actually conversing with people. Transparency is at an all time high.

Search

So many are unaware of how to start conversations with people using Twitter if they don’t really know who is all on that would be of interest to them.

Easy solution. Use search.twitter.com and search for a keyword that would be of interest to you to start a casual conversation with that person related to that keyword happy tweet. This is again how people can find you too (keep that in mind). You just never know when someone on Twitter might talk with you.

Third-Party Clients

Third-Party clients are things that allow you to use the basic functions of Twitter, but add more ease and function. Some examples are Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Tweetie, and Brizzly.

All of the ways to use Twitter for conversations I have already stated can all be more ease of use to you and strive for more conversations with people on Twitter through these third-party clients.

Conversations are for starters, but we can get more. Actual beneficial information.

Information

All of the above features I went though (all four) you can use to help you obtain useful and beneficial information for yourself, your followers, and even your blog community.

Let’s go through them quickly:

Lists: Use lists to categorize the type of information you are in need or want of. i.e. Social Media, Blogging Tips, World News, Gadgets, etc.
Replying: Respond to people related to each of the lists you have made to gain more information or ask any questions you may have about what they have published, reported, wrote, or commented on.
Search: Looking for something. Think of this as a real-time Google Search, but keep the search entry short.
Third-Party Clients:Gain and retain the most information at your finger tips. Here is where you have to dig into each specific client to see which one better suits your needs.

I’ve looked at four features of Twitter for conversations that also help with gathering information, but recognize how you can begin to start using Twitter in different ways.

Yes, there is so many ways to use Twitter. You just have to find the best ways that fit your way of connecting, holding conversations, or finding information. Remember Twitter is your experimental tool .
The video from Chris Brogan (to the right) even has more ways to use the best of Twitter.

I’m sure that you all have your one twitter tip. Well, how are you using Twitter to benefit you the best?

How to Twitter-ize Your Facebook Profile

Rob Stretch — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:00:44 +0000

So you’re torn… Should you use Facebook or Twitter to promote your business? The two social platforms have grown to mainstream popularity, from local restaurants to Fortune 500’s. But is one better than the other?

Of course, it depends on your business. For those of us who don’t have the time or the expertise to make a distinction, I have a solution:

What if you could have the best of both worlds and post to Twitter AND Facebook with just one 140 character statement? That’s actually entirely possible now thanks to a few new Facebook tricks I’ve listed below.

After setting up accounts on both Facebook and Twitter, these tips will allow you to share information seamlessly across both social platforms. You won’t have to decide which user base to focus on – just put it all out there and see who reacts. Not to mention, sharing information simultaneously on both platforms allows you to interact more with less time and effort.

The key is to start by making your Facebook settings and profile look a lot more like your Twitter ones. Let’s look at how to “Twitter-ize” your Facebook, and vice-versa.

1. Change your Profile to Public

Let’s face it. I may catch some flak for this given the recent Facebook privacy snafus, but privacy really doesn’t exist (in the way it used to) on the internet anymore. Even if it did, the chances that your business profile contains anything that you consider private or sensitive is relatively slim.

Twitter is more of an open platform currently, less complicated and with a lot less features. Bring Facebook in line with Twitter by going to your Privacy settings in Facebook and change each item to “everyone.”

Now, just like Twitter, your profile is completely open to anyone who would like to take a look. Customers react positively to businesses that openly communicate on social platforms. Participate, don’t hide.

2. Install a Twitter-friendly App

Facebook has a variety of Twitter apps that can help you link the two programs. The main Twitter app found here simply links the two services together so that when you send a tweet, all of your friends on Facebook can keep up as well.

There’s also Tweeter, which has a few more features, and Tweetsync which features two way linking, Facebook status changes post to Twitter, and Twitter posts are synced with Facebook.

3. Match Your Bio on Facebook to Twitter

Let’s face it, Facebook has a tendency to be a bit cumbersome and boring at times. In order to stave off boredom and keep things light and short, scrap your old bio from Facebook and replace it with the short, 140 character bio that is the same as your Twitter bio.

That way, anyone wanting to learn about you can do so in a short, concise manner.

4. Customize Your Page Background, like Twitter allows

Facebook’s same old blue and white background might be clean and user-friendly, but it also can make it hard to stand out from the crowd. Luckily, there are plugins and software programs that allow you to create your own layout. What this means is you can create a Facebook background themed on your business.

Put your logo, hours, tagline and contact information into a custom layout and users can then see these things plastered on the side of their Facebook page when visiting your site. If nothing else, this option allows you to have a different look and feel to your profile or Fan page – something users might stand up and notice.

While Twitter allows for easy background customization, many people don’t know about these options on Facebook, so take advantage of them!

5. Twitter is all about sharing

In the end, Facebook and Twitter are there to share and connect with users and your customers. In order to become a full-fledged “sharer,” you should equip yourself with the following tools

Each of these tools is a free and easy way to manage your accounts in real-time, without having to toggle between browser windows and login. You can basically create a “mission control center” that combines Facebook and Twitter into one easy setup.

While you may find some of these tips and tools fit you better than others, there’s no question that spending just a few moments now to update your Facebook page and make it more Twitter friendly can help make communicating via both platforms a simpler, more effective process. For business owners with a limited amount of time on their hands, why not go the efficient route?

3 Networks to Find & Spread Your Personal Brand

Alex — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:00:42 +0000

A personal brand is often overlooked by many bloggers trying to create a powerful business look for themselves. But, the way you advertise yourself, meaning getting a little personal, is more important than many people think it to be. How does telling people simple details about your life help you?

It all goes back to your personal brand. Some people know me as the kid who runs Blogussion, and others know me as that obnoxious Patriots fan from New Jersey. No, announcing my favorite sports team to the world isn’t necessarily helping my business, but it is making me look more personable and more of a human being rather than a blogging machine.

Your personal brand is extremely important, and is just as important as your businesses brand. It may be even more important in some cases.

Take a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk, the author of the book Crush it!, which really taught me the importance of personal branding:

I think that it is important to build a personal brand because it’s the only thing you’re going to have. Your reputation online, and in the new business world is pretty much the game, so you’ve got to be a good person. You can’t hide anything, and more importantly, you’ve got to be out there at some level.

Now, Gary is probably the most personable successful entrepreneurs on the web. He replies to as many emails from his readers as he can, connects on social media websites, makes videos and really gives us major insight into his life. My only peeve is he’s a Jets fan, but what are you going to do?

Gary’s personal brand is so strong, it was the way I discovered him. I didn’t find him through his primary business, Wine Library, but I found him over at his more personal video blog where I just thought he was some cool entrepreneur talking business. I had no idea about Wine Library until I did a little digging.

By reading Gary’s book, I learned about these great tools and networks you can use to find what other people are saying about you, your blog and pretty much anything else about your personal brand.

It’s important to know what people are saying about you so you know what kind of a job you are doing. If people don’t like you, they’ll have a lot of bad things to say. If they like you, then you’re doing a good job. But you’ll never know until you try out these great networks.

Google’s BlogSearch

Find & Spread Your Brand

This free tool by Google is an excellent way to find blogs in your own niche and connect with them. You will find blogs of all different sizes, with different communities, and it’s up to you to take advantage of these findings.

This is a small-scale way of promoting your brand, but nevertheless, an important on. Once you find these blogs, visit them and leave a comment or two on their blog. Talk to other people who have commented on an article and just try to leave a mark in what you say. The smaller the bloggers, the better the chance you have of them visiting your blog and them leaving a comment.

Generally, the following happens when I do this method:

I get a little traffic to my site from the comment link.
The owner of the blog will leave a comment on Blogussion, and maybe we’ll even become friends later on.

That sounds like a good deal to me for just leaving one comment on someone else’s blog. Do this on a larger scale, and you will see results with Google’s BlogSearch.

Twitter Search

Find & Spread Your Brand

First of all, if you don’t use Twitter you’re missing out on a huge opportunity and need to signup for an account now. If you’re using Twitter already and not monitoring your brand, you’re also missing a giant opportunity.

All of the people who read and share your content through Twitter almost always has something else to say about your brand and blog. Twitter offers a very comprehensive search system and can find any tweets that mention a keyword of your choice.

Use this tool excessively and effectively. Search for your name, your blog(s) name, anything that relates to you directly. You can find a good deal of feedback from your readers that they don’t always send directly to you.

Ping.Fm

Spread Your Personal Brand

Ping.fm is an incredible tool. It’s hard to balance all of your social network/media accounts and keep everyone up-to-date with your content. That’s where Ping.fm comes in – it acts as a tool for updating all of your social network accounts in one shot.

So if you have a Twitter account, a profile on Facebook and a Delicious account, you can use Ping.fm to update them all and share your content throughout your whole social media collection simply.

This message will be displayed on the social media profiles I choose.

How do you find & spread brand awareness?
Creating a personal brand for yourself is one of the most fun things to do when it comes to building an audience. I have shared with you the tools I use, now I am curious to see what you do. How do you make sure you’re building your brand the right way, and what do you do to actually build it?

The Astonishing Power of Social Media & How to Use it

King Sidharth — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:00:34 +0000

Social Media is latest cliché in the realm of the internet, and mythical creatures called “social media experts” are at peak of their fame. I think it’s foolish how some people are tricked by these titles. There really isn’t much to know about social media, and anyone can use it. It’s very easy actually.

The Human Way

I published a post about carpets, nice beautiful Persian carpets. It was a perfectly fine post with plenty of information in it. I lovingly posted it on Twitter and Facebook, hoping to get huge response from my audience. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a response at all. Sounding familiar?

Information is obvious. Wikipedia is great at telling me all about carpets so why in world would I come to you? It’s big – information is everywhere. Why should I come to you?

You are the Best Thing About Your Blog

What’s unique about you? You know the answer. You are the answer! You are unique. Your experiences and your life are all unique; your perception of carpets and how to maintain them is even unique.

Because you are you and you have your own unique voice, I will come to you. I will read your blog over someone else’s because I find you more engaging, convincing and even entertaining. But I have to be able to find you first, of course.

FreelanceFolder is great at engaging with their audience. They actually talk to their readers (keep in mind, they have thousands of them) and see them as other human beings. If you tweet them a question, they will answer. Tweet them a joke, they will laugh. I love the work on their Facebook fan page. After promoting their post they will ask you your favourite ice-cream! No human could resist that. Do you communicate with your audience like this?

The Context

Content was king. Too many kings came around, so context took over. Everyone knows what blogging is, and if I want to learn about it, I’ll go to the one who tells me about it in the way I love and I will most likely share it.

The only catch is, you have to show me your blog. I can’t learn from you if I don’t know about you, so that’s where social media comes in. To help me find you and your own unique voice.

Write me (your reader) something funny or something I can laugh at and I will post it on my Facebook and tweet about it. I really don’t mind that I’m promoting for you either. Give me something I can share with my friends. That’s what social media is.

Be funny or clever. These type of posts, updates, and shout-outs work the best:

Funny: Jim Gaffigan
Sexy: Megan Fox
Cute: Sleeping baby, or a pet
Teaching: Alex Fraiser

You don’t have to be Megan Fox to promote your blog. But, with a little help from her (and the use of clever headlines, images and maybe some Photoshop edits), I see a viral social media post. Put Jim Gaffigans’ humor in your headline, combine it with an interesting topic, and you have a potential Digg homepage hit!

I want something entertaining and if you are that – you are also a Social Media Rockstar.

False Promise of Social Media

If you think you can earn millions from Social Media, forget it! It was never really made as a source of income, but as a source of communication and the start of new friendships. It was built for genuine people who want to talk as humans and make connections. Build relationships and a community around your brand. If you can just do that much, the rest will be taken care of and your audience will see to it.

Does social media promise success and money? No! It promises people. Real people. Now, what you do with them will determine your fate. Treat them like friends and they will respect you. Treat them like a statistic, and they will lost whatever interest they had in you.

So if you are looking for increase in traffic – leave social networks alone. If you are looking for friends who *might* see your new post – you are made for social media.

Entertain Me

I know I’ve said it earlier but since it is so important and so many people get it wrong, I am repeating it. Entertain people if you want to go viral on social media sites. Why do you think the entertainment topics over at Digg flourishes?

Make a funny video and post it. Crack a stupid joke, or ask a question. If you can’t entertain them, they will find someone else to entertain them.

Remember: to you, anything you write on social media sites may just be a mighty campaign to promote your blog product. But to your audience, it’s pure entertainment!

Remember #moonfruit trending on twitter? They were giving away MacBooks. People weren’t interested in MoonFruit necessarily, they were interested in a free MacBook! Bribery works! It’s a form of entertainment, and I know that campaign did wonders for the company.

Tell a story

People love stories. And people love happy stories. Be positive in your approach. You can use dark humor, but at the end – it should make your reader feel better about themselves. Making the crowd unhappy isn’t always the best approach when it comes to marketing a product. However, If I am unhappy and can relate to your unhappy story then I might sympathize. But again, negativity and trying to sell a product do not work at all.

Make me hopeful or happy or passionate and I’ll buy your product this instant.

If you entertain me with sad story turning happy and you tell me that your service/product did that, then I’ll buy it.

It doesn’t take an expert to do this all. Just a Facebook friend with good intents, or a Twitter tweep with a rockin’ audience.

In the End (Err… Beginning)

In nutshell, treat your social network profiles (for your blog) like your personal account. Be friends with your fans, talk to them – make it social. Social media is about building a community, not obnoxiously marketing your blog. Once you become friends with your fans, they will be more likely to spread your content, so it kind of works out for you in both ways there.

These were my tips and take on social media. Now I want to hear from you. What’s your approach to social media?

Twitter Account Building: What’s the Best Way?

Alex — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Twitter has proven to be one of the most beneficial social networking sites to use as a blogger looking to bring in some traffic. It is easy to use, easy to build and has a lot to give back to the user.

Unfortunately, the massive amounts traffic we all want Twitter to send us doesn’t just happen in a day. It takes some time to build a powerful Twitter account that thousands of people follow and interact with.

There have been many claims that there is a “best” way to build an account. Believe it or not, there is actually more to a strong Twitter account than just having thousands of followers. Just because you have a lot of people following you does not mean you will start bringing in each and every one of them to your blog.

If you have thousands of random people following you (people who you don’t know or aren’t even in your niche), maybe about 5%, sometimes not even that, will click your links. So by following “dumb” account building methods, you will successfully accomplish nothing.

Now, you can try smarter methods and end up with less followers. But any followers you do end up with will no doubt be interested in what you say. So, what sounds better? Thousands of followers with an extremely low click rate, or a few hundred with a higher click rate?

What’s the Best Way to Build A Twitter Account?

I like to think that I have been slowly, but smartly been building the @Blogussion Twitter account here, and as a result – Twitter is one of the top traffic sources. But, I feel like it can do so much better at a faster rate.

I do have some strategies in mind of what it means to build a really powerful and authoritative account, but I won’t share them in this article. I would much rather hear from you guys and get your opinions on what the best strategies there are out there.

Have a great weekend, and Spring break!

5 Things You Can Stop Worrying About Right Now

Alex — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:00:56 +0000

Blogging is not something that “stands still,” it is always changing. Trends, strategies and beliefs are always shifting and how you stay up to date with it is your decision.

But some people are never really “alerted” to these developments in the blogosphere. Because there are already quite a large number of things to worry about on your blog, it’s probably best that you try to cut that number down as much as possible. If you’re worrying about trends and strategies that aren’t really important to your blog anymore, you will be wasting a lot of much-needed time for nothing.

I took a moment and tried to remember back to the days where this blog started, and even at past blogging ventures. I tried to remember things I worried about back in 2007 and 2008 when I really first started blogging, and how irrelevant they are now in 2010.

You don’t worry about any of the following now, right?

1. Google PageRank

I think this is the biggest thing that most bloggers and webmasters in general have stopped worrying about. I remember the days where everyone would be trying to build as many back links as possible for the sake of having a higher PageRank. At one point in time, you could use PageRank as a selling point for a domain name. Now? Not so much.

The only thing you can gain nowadays from a high PageRank is bragging rights. My buddy Rob and I were talking about the PageRank of our blogs a few weeks ago, and we both rank 4. I would like to see Blogussion hit 5 as a ranking (just to rub it in his face), but I won’t be spending even a minute trying to do it, or a second worrying about it.

Why do you think PageRank has lost its value? What was once a defining factor of a “successful website” has now been deemed virtually useless. What happened?

2. Negativity

I remember back when I created my first blog that receiving negative comments, or hearing people disagree with what I wrote about was the end of the world. Controversy was the last thing I wanted to write about, and negativity was one of my biggest fears. I think I feared it because I didn’t know how much it could help me.

I used to think that negativity and disagreement were problems, but it’s actually pure positivity and agreement that were the actual problems. When you write an article that everyone agrees with, one of the two things probably happened:

You wrote about a dead-obvious subject that has been overly talked about in your niche.
You didn’t add a unique point of view to the subject you talked about.

When I see disagreement within the comment section here, I also see success. It shows that people actually read my article, and actually took time to analyze what I said and write out an opposing opinion. That’s a lot better than seeing those comments where all anyone says is “I agree, nice post!”

3. Aggressive Competition

Is it just me, or are bloggers in the same niche actually nice to each other? Maybe I just don’t know any mean bloggers, but it seems to me that we would much rather help our “competition” than slam them nowadays.

I remember reading SEO articles that warned you not to stuff your meta tags with keywords as a blogger in your niche would report you to Google and get your site penalized. I just can’t imagine any of my friends (and most of them are in the same niche as me) doing that to me. But I don’t see myself keyword stuffing either.

Yes, competition still serves a purpose: to inspire you to keep doing good. But, your “competitors” also help you a lot too. They link back to your articles, they include you in their Blogroll, retweet you on Twitter and even want to connect with you on a more personal level. That isn’t what I remember first starting out.

4. Content Thieves

Alright, so they still bring up some worry to many of us. But nothing nearly as bad it was even a few years ago.

Content thieves (aka scrapers) are people who take your content, oftentimes word for word, and publish it to their own blog. Most do it out of ignorance and think it’s okay, and some just think they are sneaky and that it’s actually helping their site.

When content gets stolen, it becomes duplicate content, and duplicate content causes a bunch of negative effects to your SEO. So why do I think content thieves aren’t anything to worry about?

Luckily, things have changed a little. Most of the time when you contact the owner of the blog (the person who stole your content), and ask them to remove what they have stolen, they will listen. Some just need to hear you ask them to remove it, some need a warning, but there are also the few who won’t take it down. In my experience, I have never been declined when asking someone to take down what they have stolen, so some of these people do actually have a conscience.

I can’t back this up entirely, but I believe search engines have also gotten smarter when it comes to duplicate content and can often determine a scraper from a legitimate source. So, if the site that has stolen your site seems spammy, I wouldn’t worry even the slightest bit about penalization in the search engines.

5. Simple Marketing

It’s become extremely easy to carry out even the simplest marketing techniques. So there is no excuse for you to not bring in even a few readers to your blog.

Marketing has literally become as easy as signing up for a Twitter account, following a few people and tweeting. It has become as easy as leaving a comment on a blog. Those are just simple techniques, yes, but many forms marketing has become such an easy task with the web becoming a better place for bloggers.

What’s there to worry about?

I think my blogging life has become a little easier since I stopped worrying about the things I talked about above. They all were pretty important things to me when I first started, but are now trivial and meaningless to me.

So, what are some things you have stopped worrying about? I find that the more experiences you get with your blog, the fewer things you worry about believe it or not. What are your current fears and woes? I’m sure we can talk about them all day.

Successful Guest Posting Strategy in One, Two, Three

Ann Smarty — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:00:55 +0000

Like anything else, a guest post needs to be perfectly planned if success is to be achieved through it. Ann Smarty has written out what a successful guest post plan would look like, and does so in great detail. Want to write for us too?

Guest posting is probably one of the most unappreciated forms of marketing that I can think of. If you can use the proper strategies and have your mind set towards creating a quality guest post – you will be rewarded for it.

Because really, only the passionate bloggers guest post. The benefits are plenty and lack of time is no excuse, however, it is something that many bloggers just can’t get around to doing.

Some of the most important benefits of guest posting that I value the most are:

Get inspired by exposing your content to new audience and getting new comments, fresh insight, etc
Get more readers and subscribers, more promoters who will tweet and stumble your content.
Build your authority and reputation of the real expert in your niche;
You will be building new contacts with the blog owner, and the people in their community.

I hope that was enough to convince you to keep reading about how useful one simple guest post can be to your blog.

Finding blogs that accept guest posts

1. Start by contributing to your friends’ blogs. This way you will learn to “feel” another blog atmosphere and adapt to it.

The first place to start with is to look around your contacts. Your current blogging friends will be glad to accept your guest post and will help promote it. Besides, it’s a good way to remember your old contacts and remind them of yourself.

2. Search Google
If you are a new blogger (who doesn’t have a lot of friends who blog on the same topic) or if you have already blogged for most of your friends, head over to Google. I did a detailed post on finding guest post opportunities using Google. Read it thoroughly and try to apply the tips you’ll find there. Search queries you want to start with include:

“Submit a guest post” / “Submit post” / “Submit blog post”
“Add blog post”
“Submit an article”
“Suggest a guest post”
“Send a guest post”
“Write for us”;
“Become an author”, etc

3. Check (guest) blogging forums and communitie
Blogging forums that can be used for hunting guest posting opportunities are plenty. Some of them are general: Authority Blogger is one community to consider: it was started by a guest posting guru Chris Garret.

Another two places to be aware of are BlogHer (uniting blogging women) and 20sb.net (which unites bloggers aged between 20 and 30 years). Speaking of the latter, they regularly run guest posting events that encourage members to exchange guest posts.

Another place to find guest blogging opportunities is MyBlogGuest.com. That’s a forum (started by yours truly) that is meant to connect bloggers interested in fresh content to authors who would like to promote it.

2. Act now: write a killer pitch

Once you have found a couple of great guest posting opportunities, you may want to contact them and offer your guest post. Here’s how the process should look like step by step (also be sure to check this post by Alex on preparing a guest post in 5 steps):

Read the blog carefully. Think what type of a guest post might be interesting to the blogger and his readership;
Brainstorm a few great post ideas;
Search through the blog to see if there are any overlapping posts already;
Write the post (if nothing similar has been published yet). Don’t forget to link to related articles you found in step 3;
Contact the blogger and attach the post.

Note: there may be some intermediate steps. Some people prefer to discuss the post ideas with the blogger before submitting the post. It is really up to you. I can do either way from case to case.

Now to the ethics:

Spend some time on writing a good, personalized pitch: start with the blogger’s name and mention why you think the post is a good fit for his blog
Don’t send one and the same article to multiple bloggers. Send it to just one. This is very important. Don’t turn your guest blogging into article distribution. This is just plain wrong.

3. Now wait. Be patient

High-profile bloggers are very, very busy. Don’t be offended if they don’t respond to you for a week or so. I usually wait a week and then write a follow-up message and wait one more week. If I do not hear a response even after that, I will send them an email one last time to ask if they every plan on using the post. If there is still no response, I will submit it elsewhere.

Once your post is published, be sure to check back often, subscribe to comments and reply to everyone who comments. This is important, because writing the post is only about half of the job. Replying to comments and really engaging is the second part many do not take seriously.

Something else that can be useful to you is to track any Twitter mentions of the posts. Three tools I recommend you can use to help you track tweets around the post are:

BackTweets is a popular tool that tracks and aggregates Tweets linking to a particular page. It supports a number of URL-shorteners which makes the tool one of the most complete.
Twitter Reactions (for Google Chrome): shows the Twitter juice about the current page;
Topsy displays recent tweets for any given URL:

How do you do it all?

As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, guest posting is a very powerful, but often overlooked form of marketing. The benefits it brings in can be immense, but at the cost of a lot of hard work.

So, how do you do it? What drives you to write an entire article for someone else? Are you in it for the traffic? Or are you looking for something greater than that?

Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier

Seth — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:00:43 +0000

Twitter is one of the most popular sites on the web (over 40,000,000 users) and if you have not gotten an account yet, stop wasting your time and get one. What happens next is the most important part of this process — what you do with your account.

Who cares if there are over 40 Million users on Twitter if you don’t know how to reach out to them? Today we are going to have a simple discussion about not only what Twitter is, but also how to use it effectively to accomplish your goals.

What is Twitter?

If you already know the answer to this… skip down below and find some of the great tools you can start using to make Twitter more effective. If Twitter is something unfamiliar to you and very foreign.. watch the video below. Its a simple explanation of what Twitter is and what its purpose is.

Twitter Applications

Understanding what Twitter is a necessary first step to mastering it to meet your goals. The next step is to develop a strategy to reach them. I prefer to use the old fashioned advertising approach.. reach as many potential clients as possible. I’m not a spammer, I don’t follow everyone, and I still have a very large amount of followers who click on my tweets (messages). You see I use twitter methods which are both important and easy to do.

I have also compiled and categorized a list of the most useful Twitter applications to help you tweet successfully. There are multiple options for every category and sometimes they do the same thing, so use what you feel comfortable with. Also, you might notice I didn’t add everything to this article that some sites have and that is on purpose. The applications I chose do almost everything you would want and even a lot of what other applications do alone. So find one or two good applications and stick with them. The easier it is the more you will use it.

Networking & Management

Applications in this category focus on conversation, messages, and connecting. These tools make it easier to use Twitter for what it was made for… connecting with other people. These are not spam tools and if you are looking for automated following (which is a scam and should be avoided) then you wont find them here.

Tweet Deck

Excellent tool for mastering the intricate network of Twitter. With its very custom and flexible dashboard you can chat, link, view, and retweet friends, followers, and complete twitter strangers. One of the best features is the internal Twitter Directory and search capabilities. The functions available make TweetDeck the ultimate twitter dashboard for beginners and pros alike. – TweetDeck

HootSuite

Similar to TweetDeck in many of the options available but with a few extra features that might make HootSuite the best for managing Twitter. Features like in program statistics, pending tweets, scheduled tweets, and adding blog feeds to your Twitter Account. When it comes to managing Twitter, HootSuite has it all. – HootSuite

Follower/Following Management

Building your followers and learning how to follow are important parts of Twitter. These applications make following, unfollowing, and crossfollowing really simple. Just check out the videos to learn how easy it is.

Refollow

Refollow is the best program for getting rid of followers who are either (1) Spammy (2) Not willing to follow you back (3) Not active on Twitter anymore. Using refollow is simple and in my opinion the very best way to clean up your followers without giving out your password or messing your account up. Just be careful and actually think about what you are doing and what it could mean to the people following you. – Refollow

Buzzom

Any easy way to grow your account is by using Buzzom. It allows you to actually target who you follow with out just randomly picking and also gives you some choice in the matter. Its very simple to use too!

Other Application Lists

The Most Twitter Apps Anyone Would Ever Need! – Seriously there are 275 Applications at the moment. Many of them do the same thing or are completely useless, but if you want to explore and also be amazed.. this is a great list to learn about Twitter.

Top 20 Twitter Applications – Great list of Apps by TechCrunch based upon traffic rankings. Some of the applications do the same thing and/or obsolete with new changes in Twitter or management tools. Great list though and very interesting to see who is picking up the most traffic outside of Twitter themselves.

There are many other “programs”, “software” and scams to get you followers and allow you to “make money” using Twitter. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, unless you are on the official Twitter page or directly connecting into it… never give out your Twitter password to shady sites.

Conclusion

Using Twitter is a powerful way to build traffic, get rid of pesky spammers and create a social media brand. Just make sure you are not missing out because you haven’t started using the right apps yet.

What do you think? Are these apps really the best or am I dead wrong?

At Last, a Simple Guide to Mastering Twitter

Rob — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:00:48 +0000

Today, Rob brings up a great way to market your site thru Twitter using very effective marketing strategies. Don’t forget to show your friendly love to Rob on Twitter @Robswebtips . Want to write for us too? Read here for more details.

With Twitter having over 4,000,000 users it is definitely an effective way to drive traffic to your website. Twitter has become a very effective tool for traffic for many bloggers, including myself. With over 8,000 Twitter followers, and driving in over 7,000 page views from Twitter monthly. I think I’m safe to say I’ve mastered the ways of Twitter.

However, some people are unable to create a large enough audience, and find the techniques to effectively market their blog.

Finding followers on Twitter

In order to market effectively on Twitter you need to first build your audience right? So let me break down the easy 2 step process to getting followers on Twitter.

1: Build credibility in your Tweets

Nobody likes a boring tweeter, or someone who tweets about when they just got out of the bathroom. Tweet with interest! Maybe you came across an article and you think it might have some interest for your followers, go ahead and tweet it. This process is how you build credibility through twitter. Displaying valuable tweets of interest!

2: Find people who are targeted in your niche

What is the point of wanting to people to follow you if they have absolutely no interest in what you have to tweet about it? This is why it’s important to find people who are big on Twitter that’s in your niche.

For example: @Problogger is one of the biggest names on Twitter for my niche blogging. With over 75,000 followers, your bound to drive some over to your side of town.

But how do you do it? The secret is to add their most recent 1,000 followers for that day. 30% people on Twitter will follow you back if you follow them. So… for the other 700 that do not follow you how the hell do you get rid of them? Huitter is a service I use to un-follow everyone who does not follow me back.

How to add 1,000 people without any hassle at all

Now clicking on 1,000 “follow me” links can get a little annoying, and time-consuming right? So why the hell waste your time doing it, when you could be catching up on your favorite T.V show or writing a new blog post. The secret to this nifty trick is to use Grease monkey’s Tweet adder.

Setting up Grease monkeys Tweet adder:

Download Firefox browser
Download Greasemonkey add-on for firefox
Install the Tweet-Adder script (Make sure greasemonkey is enabled)

Using Greasemonkey

Using Greasemonkey is very easy to do. Find someone in your niche and click their followers (make sure Greasemonkey is enabled) and the moment you load the follower’s page, Greasemonkey will automatically add everyone.

Pay attention to these next following sentences closely: Greasemonkey will continue adding followers to your Twitter account even if you reached your maximum follower count for the day. I suggest checking your Greasemonkey status every 2-3 minutes to avoid being flagged by Twitter.

Effectively marketing your website

Now that you have the followers, and have built a pretty reputable status on Twitter it’s time to start marketing your website. There are 3 simple, but effective techniques that I use to drive traffic to m blog.

Twitterfeed

Twitterfeed is a great tool I use that syndicates all new articles I release, and tweets it on my Twitter account. Another great thing about Twitterfeed is I’m also allowed to add other blogger’s blog on my feed list, so I’m sharing the love to my respected bloggers and providing valuable information to my followers.

Check out Twitterfeed

CoTweet

CoTweet is by far my favorite Twitter application to use. With CoTweet I can schedule my tweets to be sent out ANYTIME of the day I want, without me being their to send the tweets. All I have to do is schedule the tweet, select a time I want it to be sent, and I’m done!

Building an effective Tweet schedule for maximum results

A lot of new tweeters would try and take advantage of this by scheduling a tweet to go out every 5 seconds, thinking it will do their blog better. Unknowingly they’re lowering their traffic + credibility.

If you’re going to schedule tweets schedule 2-4 articles to go out PER HOUR with at least a 15 minute wait time, between articles. Also…it’s important not to tweet duplicate posts. If you already tweeted about that post earlier today, don’t tweet it the next hour. Give it sometime and let it marinate.

Using these simple techniques will help you become a more effective tweeter on Twitter, and will double your page views.

Check out CoTweet

Being a “friendly” tweeter

Nobody likes someone who is stingy and holds all the glory. So instead of always tweeting about your website, take the time and RT (retweet) some other peoples articles. Now, everyone may not do the same for you but… it shows people you’re a respected tweeter and the ones who do value your content will RT your posts.

Group Discussion

Do you tweet? If so what are some of the techniques you use to be considered an “effective tweeter”? Share some tools you use to dominate twitter, and tell us what do you think about this post? Did you find it helpful? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

Oh… and remember!

Focus on what you’re good at and the (quality) followers will come.

-Matt Cheuvront

Photo by Jeff Turner

Are You an Effective Tweeter or Just Another Bird on the Wire?

Matt Cheuvront — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:28:33 +0000

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple years, Twitter has become the next best thing in the world of Social Media. Who knew that 140 characters could be so powerful? Both businesses and individuals are tapping into the Twitterstream, but are they doing it effectively or simply contributing to the clutter? Are you a “successful” tweeter, or just another bird on the wire?

Here are FIVE ways you can “up your game” and start soaring above the social media “noise”.

Break Free of Old Beliefs

What did you think of Twitter before you started using it? For me, it was nothing more than a glorified Facebook status update. From the outside looking in, Twitter can seem pretty lame. Why do I want to know about Greg’s Friday night plans to get drunk and make bad decisions, or Sarah’s countdown to “New Moon”? (Sorry Twilight fans)

Eventually I said “What the heck” and dove head-first into the Twitter-sphere. What I found was a powerful networking tool: A way to interact and connect, instantly, with like-minded, interesting, location-relevant people. Not only has it been an integral tool in promoting my own blog, but it’s been a driving force in developing my freelance business, establishing amazing connections, and dare I say, has even led to making “real life” friends.

In order to be a successful and effective tweeter, you gotta’ believe! You have to believe in the medium to be a proponent of it’s effectiveness. Does that mean it’s the optimal tool for everyone? Not at all, and if it isn’t working for you, maybe you should take another approach. Different strokes for different folks.

Interrupt Conversations

In real life, stepping into another person’s conversation is just plain rude. But in the world of Twitter, it’s perfectly normal and even suggested that you do a bit of eavesdropping (Twitter Search is a great place to start) Do a little research and if people are talking about a subject you’re interested in or have a strong opinion about, don’t be bashful – @ reply them and join in the conversation. Odds are, you’ll start chatting back and forth and a connection will undoubtedly be made. What’s the magic formula of “getting more followers”? Step one is being actively involved in multiple conversations.

Become a Resource

If step one to being “follow-worthy” is being a good conversationalist – step two, which goes hand in hand, is in becoming a resource. In short, you want to develop you social media niche (the same goes with your blog). It seems obvious but is often overlooked or avoided by most. We don’t want to pigeon-hole ourselves and become overly defined – but if you start a blog, and when you get on Twitter, there’s a reason behind it. You have to have a vision and purpose, otherwise you’ll be running around the social media jungle like a chicken with its head cut off (are you keeping a tally on the number of bird references in this post?)

If your niche is social media – start tweeting links to relevant blog articles – follow other social media thought leaders and retweet what they have to say. Ask questions (publicly) and initiate conversation with the masses. People may not care about what you’re making for dinner, but over time, as you become a “trusted resource” within your niche, people will develop expectations and they’ll direct others to you as a reliable and compelling source of information.

Be Transparent (Without Giving Everything Away)

Transparency is the name of the game when it comes to social media. Why do you think Ashton Kutcher has nearly four-million followers? Because everyone wants a peek into the personal life of a celebrity. While you may not be married to Demi Moore, if someone follows you on Twitter, they’re obviously interested in what you have to say – so don’t disappoint them once you have their attention. Be relevant, share good information, but above all, be yourself. Your followers will see right through you if you’re trying to be someone you’re not.

Don’t Try to Please Everyone (FYI: You Can’t)

While we have outlined ways to “effectively” use Twitter, ultimately there is no right or wrong. It comes down to you, what you expect to get out of social media, and the way you go about it. If you take away nothing else from this – remember that you can’t, never will, and shouldn’t try to please everyone. Some people will love you and others could probably care less – that’s just the way it goes. Focus on what you’re good at and the (quality) followers will come.