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I haven’t written a post here in quite a while and I just thought I’d remind myself and others what blogging is really all about.

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A large Twitter following can be a very integral part of your attracting people to your website… more followers means more potential newsletter subscribers, affiliate revenue, and loyal customers. This is the key word… loyalty… is what you want, and that requires that you establish and maintain likeability. The way you use Twitter is no exception.

Professionalize Your Profile

Before you start actively attracting Twitter followers, keep in mind that online, likeability means professional, and professional means authoritative… both of which translate into trust. You want people who visit your Twitter profile to see your sincere legitimacy concerning these things. There are three very basic things to do so this is accomplished:

1. Show Your Name

You need to let people know your real name so they can identify with you as a person… people are hardwired to find other people very interesting and trustworthy… logos and tags, not nearly as much.

2. Show Your Photo

As with your name, let people see who you actually are. I’m not going to say “be sure to smile”, as your personal style is your own, but as long as people can visualize you personally, they are much more likely to follow you.

3. Show Your Bio and Website Address

Don’t remain a complete mystery behind your interesting tweets… tell people in a few words or phrases what you are about… your likes, dreams, goals, what you stand up for, etc… whatever it is you feel defines you as a person or is the message you want others to get from you and your site. And, make sure a link to your site is right there in your profile. Some experts say to make sure that your website’s entire URL is visible… but I say to give people’s intelligence the benefit of the doubt… the Twitter default website link will suffice, but it is up to you.

Let your background image tell something about you as well… mine might not be immediately recognized by most people as anything other than an ordered assemblage of lines and circles… but it probably speaks volumes about me and my interests to those who recognize the symbol.

Establishing Legitimacy

Let people believe in your sincere legitimacy. The things you Tweet should create in people a desire to look forward to your next Tweet. If you choose what you share with care, interest in YOU, and not only the things you Tweet, will build.

The three main things to Tweet:

1. Links to articles on your site.

This establishes that you are an authority to look to while at the same time bringing traffic to your site. This should be your #1 focus and goal… the more the better.

2. Links to articles on other sites that you wish you had written.

This instills in people that you legitimately care about the reason people chose to follow you to begin with…because you are a likeable person with similar interests as they who appreciates and understands the value of being inspired by your peers.

3. Anything you find personally interesting.

People like being reminded that you share because you are interested in similar topics as they and that your Tweets are not only about you making a profit via an affiliate link or whatever, but they also now and then want to hear an opinion or two from you. Think of your followers as friendly acquaintances with whom you share relevant information… people who enjoy knowing that you are a real person… on the other hand, nobody wants to know what you ate for breakfast or how you feel about the weather.

Your First and Future Followers

The rule here and to always remember is to never have fewer followers than you are following. To do so is to look careless, desperate or loose… very unprofessional and very non-authoritative.

So, get a head start on your following:follower ratio. Before or soon after you make your first Tweet, ask people in your personal life to consider following you. Friends, family members, co-workers, other students, etc. You can simply ask them, “Do you Tweet?” and if so, exchange handles (mine is @TroyBoylan); and if not, tell them they should check it out and give them your handle.

Send an email to all your email contacts (and make your Twitter handle a permanent part of your email signature), post about your new Twitter account on Facebook, write a blog article about why you are going to Tweet, put your Twitter handle on your business card, etc.

Searching For Followers and Un-following

After you have a few followers and have made a few Tweets, it is time to search for more followers. This is about finding people with the same interests as you and following them.

You can use the Twitter search feature to narrow down by topic who you choose to follow, and maybe they will follow you back. In my experience, only about 3/4 the number of people I have followed will follow back, which in time will send your following:follower ratio in the wrong direction. This is alright, because there is a service that is easy to use to both search by topic, and to quickly un-follow those who did not follow you back within a reasonable amount of time… I wait about a month or more before un-following non-followers. Hey, being friendly is about reciprocity… sometimes it just has to go both ways for it to last.

The service is ManageFlitter, and their FREE service is sufficient for any beginning Tweeter. With it you can do two vital things:

1. Search for accounts by interest, improving your odds of reciprocal follows.

2. Un-follow accounts that:

• are not following you back;
• are inactive;
• have no profile image or use a different language than yours;
• are fake or spam accounts.

I signed up with my Twitter account. It was fast and easy and took less than a minute to un-follow all the people who did not follow me back. I then used their search function, and again… fast and easy!

Another great function to use is their PowerPost. Its timeline tells you the best time to post your Tweets. You can add more data to better target your Tweets, such as showing when people in a certain location are on Twitter, and showing when the people you follow are on Twitter… and more… I highly recommend you Build your Twitter account with ManageFlitter.

To what do you owe your Twitter to?

Speak Your Mind Below!!!

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