Once you have setup your Twitter.com account, it is critical that you spend some time to personalize your profile.

When it comes to setting up a personalized profile on Twitter, there is not much to do. All you have to do is select a pre-existing background (or create a customized one), select your avatar thumbnail photo, and then fill in some short “bio” and “about me” information.

Finally, remember to add the URL of your business; and to create a bio section that briefly explains 1) what your business does; and 2) what the purpose of this Twitter profile is (i.e. to give away free stuff, to hold contests, or to provide free information).

Track Your Twitter Results

As with any marketing campaign, you should monitor your Twitter promotional campaigns by tracking the results. One free way to do this is to use http://search.twitter.com/ to find all instances of people talking about you or your business on Twitter.

Another tool you can use is called Tweet Beep: http://tweetbeep.com/. This service will automatically email you whenever something about you or your business is Tweeted.

Finally, you can check your website’s analytics/traffic statistics program to determine how much traffic you have received from Twitter. If you don’t currently have a good traffic statistics program, you can get one for free from here: http://www.statcounter.com/.

Using the Twitter Search Engine

Another approach you can take is to use the Twitter search engine to find Tweets related to your business’s niche. This is an easy way to locate people who might be interested in your products or services.

Initially, a lot of people you add may opt not to follow you; however, over time, if you accumulate 50 new followers each day, you’ll gain momentum. If you make interesting tweets, offer coupons, or tweet vital information, you might get re- tweeted, expanding your reach and possibly bringing in new followers.

Use Twitter to Conduct Market Research

Unfortunately, marketers often approach social media with the wrong attitude. Marketers often miss the great opportunities that Twitter presents—such as doing market research. In the past, it was very hard to observe your customers when they talked casually about your products or about competing products; however, this is exactly what you can do with Twitter.

Link Your Twitter and Facebook Accounts

One way to save some time while maintaining your presence on both Facebook and Twitter is to link the two accounts. This will allow you to have Facebook automatically update your status using your Tweets.

Doing this is pretty simple; and can save you the hassle of moving between the two accounts and re-posting the same messages multiple times. If this sounds like a good idea to you, go to the following URL http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/.

Once you are there, all you have to do is click the button to allow Twitter to post your Tweets to your Facebook account. After that, your Tweets will automatically be posted to your Facebook account.

Encourage Others to Promote Your Twitter Account

You can use contests and other incentives to get people to become a “fan” or a follower. But even if you don not want to go that far, there are much simpler things that you can do to draw in new members of your network.

For starts, you can encourage people to tell others about your fan page or Twitter account. This is as simple as including 2-3 lines of text on your profile that explicitly state that visitors should tell friends and family about your profile if they find it useful.

Most people are happy having as many followers as possible, but why are they following you? Why do people who don’t have a clue who you are want to follow you? Unless you can answer questions such as these then you do not know how to use the site, let alone how to make friends and money from Twitter.

That’s right – make money! It is possible to make money with Twitter by using it as it can be used, but you have to know how to do that. Twitter can be used to drive masses of traffic to your blog, Squidoo lens or website. There is nothing illegal about it, and Twitter will not throw you off: in fact they will welcome it. The reason for that is that the owners want it to be as popular as possible and to have as many Twitter users and followers as they possibly can get.

Part of that might be due to reported bids for Twitter from Rupert Murdoch, Apple and Facebook, and perhaps even Google: obviously the more popular sites are visited more and have a higher value. However, a lot has also got a lot to do with pride, and the more uses to which people can put the site then the less it will be known as a one trick pony, useful only for short tweets but nothing else.

If it becomes a useful means of internet marketing, and can be extended into a mainstream income earner, then Twitter will assume a new dimension and not only increase its value but also its reputation as a more solid WEB2 site and not just a bit of frippery on the periphery of real internet marketing entities. You can make money with Twitter, mainly by using it as a marketing tool to drive traffic to your blog or website. You can also use Twitter to send visitors to your MySpace, Facebook or YouTube pages and any other web presence that you have such as your Squidoo lens.

Anybody can do it, not only the experienced internet marketers, and if you have an idea that you can sell, or even a physical product that you want to promote, then there are ways to do that extremely effectively using the application – but first you have to understand how to use Twitter for more than just tweeting.

You require expert instruction on how to use Twitter from more than just simple tweeting, but also on how you can make money with Twitter. There are not many doing so yet, but Twitter is growing astronomically, and if you are to make best use of it you had better start learning now or you will be left behind. You can use Twitter without spamming, and without annoying any of the other tweeters that use it.

In fact many might want to join you, since they will learn a lot more about this fabulous communications technique than they do right now. Once you understand how Twitter can be used to the maximum of its potential then you can pass that information on free if you want.

First, however, you have to understand the basics of Twitter. You might think you know all there is to know about Twitter, but you are being silly! Nobody knows that, not even me, and I know a heck of a lot. Nevertheless there is still a lot to be learned, and you should start learning right now before you get left behind.

By learning how to use Twitter properly, you will broaden your outlook and enjoy tweeting much more, and if you know how to make money with Twitter when you need it, then these sudden expenses that come along will no longer pose problems. By combining the benefits of WEB2 sites such as Squidoo, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter you can create a marketing entity so powerful that you find it difficult not to make money.

Twitter is one part chat and one part blogging. Mini blogging to be exact, as you only get 140 characters per post.  Some businesses such as traffic generation explosion like to referrer to Twitter as Micro-blobbing. 

You can also use Twitter on your cell phone to keep in touch better. Some of the benefits are you have the aspects of social sites because you can follow others and be followed as well. 

1. Immediate Interaction 

The immediate interaction is one reason to use twitter in your marketing efforts.  This will help build the relationship with your customers and friends that so many are looking for. 

You get to interact immediately with your customers (followers) in a way you can’t do with a regular blog or even via comments on sites like MySpace and Facebook.

 2. Twitter is being used by everyone 

This goes along with number one. You get closer to your customer base which helps build your relationship. As more and more people start using Twitter you will see more benefits, so will your competition. If you don’t adapt and take advantage of applications like Twitter you’ll be left behind and lose customers. 

3. Short and to The Point, make it count 

Twitter like a phone text message, limits you to 140 characters.We all know we are too busy, get bombarded with too many marketing messages and too many emails to read much more than that anyway.  Your customers will appreciate these short and to the point messages. 

If you’re not using Twitter, I highly recommend you start. It’s another marketing channel for your Internet marketing efforts to pay off.  http://www.traffic-generation-explosion.com would like to thank Twitter for all they do.  Keep up the great work Twitter. 

Author: Al Ferretti, Jim Grygar, Skeeter Hansen

Product Description
Produced by entrepreneurial blog Geekpreneur, creators of the popular Geek’s Guide to Twitter, the book covers methods as varied as TwitPitching, app-building, trend-spotting and affiliate selling, and is filled with practical ideas for everyone.

Illustrated with case-studies and proven examples, 99 Ways to Make Money with Twitter reveals how individuals and businesses are using microblogging to build brands, land sales and win new customers. Each chapter… More >>

99 Ways To Make Money Using Twitter

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