Twitter Away Your Time For Profit

When I first heard of Twitter, I was amazed and amused that it was spreading like wildfire in a frenzy of popularity. It's all based on a message limited to 140 characters that basically tells people what you are doing at the moment.

My first reaction was, who cares? But apparently people do, and folks are not bashful about sharing what they are up to with others. So, why not use this proclivity to visit for word of mouth advertising or for spreading the word for a worthy cause? Your posted messages, by the way, are known as Tweets.

Twitter is a social networking application that is also a mini-blogging service, which limits posts to 140 characters, even smaller than a 160 character text message.

As long as you are tweeting away telling others about what you are doing, why not tell them about your business and use this system to bring in some bling?

The first thing to do is to sign up for an account. It's free. Watch the video for a nice overview of how it works. Then sign up by entering your name or email address and password. That's all there is to it, and you can began to Twitter and Tweet by following your friends and making new ones. You'll be surprised at how fast you will start attracting followers.

Be sure to fill out your profile and post a picture of yourself. Try to make your profile compelling. If you are promoting a business or a cause, you can add a one line bio and a URL for followers to view.

If you are away from you computer and still want to Twitter, you can do it on your mobile phone; it's easy to set up. Sign in to your account. Click on Settings at the top of the page. Then click Devices where you will enter your mobile number. After verification, you will receive text message instructions on how to use the system from your mobile device by texting your Tweets to the short code 40404.

Now, here's a little advice on how to go about marketing with Twitter. First of all, don't abuse the system by indiscriminately spamming your followers. In fact, I would strongly advise against any sales message whatsoever in your Tweets. Simply offer worthwhile information. I suggest that you write a blog article, give the title, and a link to your blog or Website in your Tweet.

Some links may be overly long for the 140 character format. To truncate them and save space, try TinyURL at tinyurl dot com. Here you can type in the long form and receive a much reduced form that you can include in your Tweet. You can also put a TinyURL button on your browser. Once the button is in place, all you have to do is click it, and TinyURL will create a short URL for the currently viewed page.

Another thing you can do is put a link on your blog or Website asking people to follow you on Twitter in return for following them to create more followers.

Don't overlook the tools that come with Twitter for gathering followers. Click on Find People at the top of the page. Here you will be able to search for individuals by username, first, or lastname who are already Twitter members.

Click on Invite from Other Networks, insert your email address, and Twitter will search your contact list for current Twitter members on your list. A list of contacts is also generated of people who do not yet have a Twitter account. You can have Twitter send an email inviting them to get an account and follow you. The only problem with this is that it only applies to free email accounts such a gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.

However, you can click on Invite by Email, and a box will appear that allows you to enter a comma separated list of contacts to whom Twitter will send an email message inviting them to sign up and follow you and tells them a little bit about Twitter.

This is what the message looks like:

From: tshphd
Subject: tshphd wants to keep up with you on Twitter

To find out more about Twitter, visit the link below:

Thanks,
-The Twitter Team

About Twitter

Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing-right now? With Twitter, you may answer this question over SMS or the Web and the responses are shared between contacts.

Remember too that you can sign up for RSS feeds in Twitter so that you can follow others and they can follow you, which represents an additional marketing opportunity.

Yet another way to spread the word is that you can share your Twitter Tweets on your Facebook account so that all your Facebook friends can see what you're up to as well.

Finally, go to the bottom of a Twitter page and click on API where you will find some Widgets that allow you to use Twitter even more creatively. If you want more, there are additional Widgets on the Twitter Fan Wiki. Don't forget to check out the desktop applications for Windows at the bottom of the page. You are invited to write your own widgets using API. The list is impressive and so is the array of creativity, which clearly demonstrates the enthusiasm for Twitter. Apps are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android,WM, and Blackberry environments.

In conclusion, Tweeting is a great way to twitter away your time profitably by using this social networking phenomenon as a powerful marketing tool.

The URL for Twitter is http://www.twitter.com. The mobile version is [http://www.m.twitter.com].

Now, if you want to follow me, send me a Tweet. I'd love to hear from you; maybe we can sell each other something. But, I have to warn you that I don't do MLM. What I'm looking for is a residual income of about $20K a month that requires that I don't have to do any work.

What's on Your Blog? Widgetize That Sidebar For Fun and (Maybe) Profit

Regardless of the number of social media fads destined to launch and fold in the next decade, one thing remains clear: the blog will likely never go away. Once a popular platform for angst-filled personal journal entries and detailed political commentary not accessible in the traditional media, blogs are fast becoming the traditional media - they are cited as sources by television news networks, have been known to break stories, and provide readers with the ability to easily share information. It's amazing to think twenty years ago one had to read a newspaper or watch for a special bulletin to be informed - these days it seems we hear about news before it happens, and blog are instrumental in bringing information to us in a timely manner.

That said, if blogging factors into your online marketing strategy, you want readers to get the most of the experience. While a percentage of your following may aggregate your posts through an RSS reader on their Google or Yahoo start-up pages, some likely prefer to read on-site. Looking at some of the more popular news and entertainment blogs, you're certain to find advertising, supporting links, and widgets displaying related social profiles - these are helpful in that they present a well-rounded profile of the blog, and encourage readers to subscribe via alternative outlets. Visitors to blogs may come and go, but one who clicks to follow the blogger via Twitter or Facebook becomes an opt-in capture, one who may be interested in contact for future products and services.

So if you're blog sidebar is naked - doesn't matter if you use Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, or another CMS - it's seriously time to consider dressing it up. If somebody is aware of your blog and reading it, they should know where else they can find you. Here are just a few widgetized goodies to use to brighten up one of your Internet homes.

AddThis Button: You blog needs to go viral in order for it to improve your business and income. A reader enjoys an article, and needs encouragement to share it with friends. The AddThis button is the one-stop shop for data sharing. Hover over the button to share an article with as many as 225 social media profiles, everything from AIM to YouMob. Even if you don't have 200+ separate accounts for all these sites, somebody else might. Give them the opportunity to advertise for you.

FriendFeed Widget: If you don't have a FriendFeed account, you're missing out on a great opportunity to collect your blogs and social profiles together in one place. One person may not be interested in visiting your blog, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel in the same day, but with FriendFeed they can. Adding a join box on your sidebar lets people know about this great catchall service.

Twitter Widget: I hear two schools of thought on adding a Twitter widget, particularly if your blog feeds into your Twitter account. On one hand, why display a widget that basically repeats information there? On the other, a blog reader will catch from this widget other posts you make, and in turn can catch up on blog links he/she may have missed. Even if you do integrate your RSS into Twitter, it's handy to have this widget up, and perhaps an additional one that tracks the tweets of like-minded accounts.

Facebook Badge: Facebook allows you to create different styles of badges for widgets. A "Join Us" badge may offer rudimentary information on your fan page, or a scrolling widget may preview posts and information featured there. Determine which would work best (if you don't have many fans to start with, try a style that doesn't highlight that fact) and get it up there.

Digg Widget: Perhaps one of the best known of the data sharing social sites, Digg allows users to determine a story's popularity by having them "dig" URLs toward the top of the search heap, or else "bury" links so they are not found. If you have a Digg account, more than likely you intend to submit your own blog posts to the site, but as a prolific Digg user you to need to share the wealth. This Digg widget lets readers know what articles and videos interest you the most.

Flickr Widget: Keep your photos in one place, particularly where they can integrate into other social networks and sites. Yahoo's Flickr photo sharing site gives you the advantage of placing slideshows and photo grids on your sidebar, so visitors can peripherally glance at your albums while reading.

AdSense: If you enjoy a large enough fanbase, why not take advantage of it and try to make a bit of money to support hosting, and perhaps pizza? Save some room on the sidebar for Adsense ads and earn some cash for every click-through. Bloggers users have the advantage of a built-in Adsense option, provided the content of your blog permits it.

The more information you provide in one place, the more likely you are to have visitors follow you wherever you go.

Kathryn Lively is a Virginia Beach social media specialist assisting clients with Virginia web design and social media writing.