How to Start Tweeting
Signing up for Twitter is easy. Go to www.Twitter.com and click on “Sign Up.” Enter your full name, then a Username. Your Username will show up in your public profile like this – http://twitter.com/USERNAME, so you might want to create a username related to your website topic. Next, enter a password and your email address. You can check a box if you want people to find you by your email. As always, you must agree to the Terms of Service, then click on “Create my Account” and you’re set!
Your Twitter page will show up with a box at the top and the question, “What’s happening?” As you type in your tweet, the character counter will countdown from the maximum of 140 characters. When you’re finished click on “Tweet.”
You can use your mobile phone to send and receive tweets as well. Simply click on “Mobile” and enter your number. Twitter will give you a special number to use for sending tweets.
How to Attract Visitors with 140 Characters
People find you on Twitter when they search for your keywords. Google and the other search engines index Twitter accounts and messages. In fact, each tweet is like a mini-web page. Be sure to include pertinent keywords in your tweets so they attract more readers. Pay special attention when writing your bio. You must describe yourself or your company in less than 160 characters. Be sure to include keywords associated with your topic or business in your bio also.
Click on “Find People” and look for friends, business associates or other potential free website visitors and respond to their tweets. People can “follow” you on twitter—subscribe to your tweets—and you can follow others. Following those potential viewers of your website may increase your traffic as well. You can also ask people to read your tweets by clicking on “Invite by Email.” Or browse interests and follow an organization related to your website topic.
The beauty of Twitter is that you can reach an unlimited audience. Send out timely information about your topic or company, get customer feedback, note product improvements, or respond to customer complaints and you’ll build firm relationships with your readers. Ensure your tweets contain useful information, and you’ll increase your number of followers. Your tweets must be less than 140 characters, so make your point quickly.
You can also conduct real-time market research with Twitter. Ask a question or solicit an opinion. Not only will you generate interest in your topic, you’ll learn more about your potential website visitors. Use that information to enhance your website.
What to Do Before You Start Tweeting
Spend some time making a plan for using Twitter to boost your website traffic. You should also determine how you’re going to integrate Twitter with other social media like Facebook or LinkedIn before you get started. Social media is a great way to attract visitors to your free website, but it can be time consuming.
Twitter’s “About Us” page has a useful section on using Twitter for business. They suggest checking out some current Twitter conversations to get a feel for the conversational flow and an idea of how different businesses are using Twitter. That’s a great suggestion, and you don’t even have to have an account to do a Twitter search.
As you listen in, you’ll get more ideas on how Twitter can help you reach your website goals. Be careful, though. Once you start tweeting, you might be hooked.
