Laura Rucker asked:




I decided to join the herd (not my usual style) and sign up for Twitter a few months ago. I had picked the brand name of “MsWonka”, so also chose this as my Twitter name. I was happy to see the name was still available.

Twitter is very user friendly in guiding you to make a Twitter profile. I filled in the blanks, updated my settings and presto, I was ready to Twitter. While I was happy with the results of my Twitter profile I had created, the blahsay background image was lacking. I messed around with Twitter’s available images and color schemes to find something to differentiate myself from the sea of other “tweeps”. I wanted my background to “pop”, as they say in the designer’s world.

I decided to take the matters into my own hands and looked at several other profiles of people I was following. It was amazing to see how diverse everyone’s Twitter backgrounds were. It was obvious they, too, had decided Twitter lacked any real style to their background images.

I searched Google for how to make a custom Twitter background and found a great Twitter template download for Apple’s Keynote software at The Closet Entrepreneur. They also have the Twitter template available for PowerPoint users.

After downloading this template, I then did the following steps:

1. Double clicked on the download to open up the Twitter template in my Keynote ’09 software.

2. Chose a theme from the Keynote “Themes”. (On a side note, this is where I decided to set my background color as a custom solid color. The Keynote themes weren’t all that exciting to me. I did the custom background as the last step since I wanted to see the Twitter outline while aligning the images and text boxes.)

3. Inserted my desired text via the “Text Box” button and changed the text colors and fonts to my liking. I further manipulated the text by adding a picture frame via the “Inspector” > “Graphic Inspector” > “Stroke” > “Picture Frame” functions. I was also able to rotate the text box via “Inspector” > “Metrics Inspector” > “Rotate”.

4. Inserted my pictures via the “Media” button and used the “Inspector” functions as I did with the text boxes.

5. At this point I wanted to see how I did with the sizing of the text and image boxes on my actual Twitter page before adding my custom background color, so I saved my work. To save your file, go to “File” > “Save As” > “Name of File”. Then go back to “File” > “Export” > “Images” > “JPEG” > “Next” and save to your desired folder, then “Export” and you are done.

6. Logged onto my Twitter account and uploaded my new Twitter background via “Settings” > “Design” > “Change Background Image” > “Choose File” (from where you downloaded it) > “Save Changes”.

7. Viewed my new Twitter background on my Twitter account and noted any size and alignment changes (if any) I needed to make on the text and image boxes.

8. Went back to my Keynote software and made the necessary changes.

9. Added my custom background color via “Inspector” > “Slide Inspector” > “Appearance” > “Background” > “Color Fill” (there are other neat color options here you can experiment with, i.e., “Gradient”, “Image”, “Tinted Image”.

10. Saved my file again and uploaded to my Twitter account. Done! I LOVE IT! Check out my Twitter background and see for yourself how professional it looks.

I highly recommend customizing your own Twitter background. It’s fun and relatively easy to do. I hate to admit I spent about 4 or 5 hours on mine because of my annoying detail-oriented brain, but I think it was time well spent. Give it a try!

LESSON LEARNED: Never settle for the basic options if you can do it yourself!

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Geoff Dodd asked:




First we need a definition. What is Twitter? Twitter is a social marketing site and an excellent communication tool that anyone can use to post any number of micro-blogging posts, known as ‘tweets’, out to their followers. The micro posts are limited to 140 characters and can contain a URL web address.

Obviously, you need to be brief and concise with Twitter, and not too brazenly there for purely commercial reasons of money making. It is a huge mistake to pitch affiliate products continuously at your list of loyal followers. You are being read and judged by your peers and they can quickly turn on you, removing you from their ‘followed’ list if they feel you are not contributing something of real informational value to them. Remember that most people use The Internet to seek information about a problem area in their lives, such as health or finances.

Think of Twitter as ‘list building’ and you’ll quickly realize that by far the most important thing is to build a trust relationship with your list of followers. There is a real art to providing newsy, intriguing, fascinating posts in blogging and Twitter tweets are exactly the same but much smaller, being limited to 140 characters.

Many successful marketers on Twitter have a feel for the highly topical, news related stuff like Google’s latest Wave communication tool, or Apple’s iPhone 3GS smart phone or another, similarly innovative trend that Twitter has now started to list down the right hand side of the page for quicker access. Twitter’s ‘Trending Topics’ is equally as useful for web marketers, as is Google Trends.

Twitter members can reply to each other in the open space by adding a ‘@’ symbol before a user’s nickname. For example, ‘@geoffnow’ would prefix a reply to the writer. They can also send direct messages into another member’s private inbox. They can ‘favorite’ an update by clicking on a faint star image to the right of anyone’s tweet.

There is a language to learn. A re-tweet is a request for followers to repeat a message out to their own groups of followers. It is usually added at the end of a tweet, like: Please RT, or even ‘pse rt.’ You can imagine many followers not being willing to re-tweet something if it is simply a pitch for an affiliate product. An announcement of great newsworthiness or ‘buzz’ value, or a charitable idea — sure, many followers will agree to re-tweet something like that.

Hundreds of programmers and web developers have now written smart web applications that run alongside Twitter. The writer uses two viral marketing systems that help bring in more followers quickly. These smart web sites use surprisingly simple methods to encourage joiners to follow those at the top of the list. You are given a custom URL to promote the site, so as to accelerate the viral marketing effect. Savvy web marketers will recommend these fast-growth systems to their lists.

In summary, Twitter is a simple, but extremely clever communications web site that marketers are now latching on to very quickly. It allows anyone to build an unlimited list of followers. Web marketers are strongly advised to respect the followers and to provide them with newsy information, humor and added value, before even thinking about pitching a sales message. Pre-selling, such as gift giving, is an essential step on Twitter and on all social marketing web properties. Let’s be truly sociable and entertaining from the outset. Build trust first.

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Rob I Lawson asked:




Twitter. Even if you’re not a net junkie, you will still have most certainly come across a mention of this social media as it is popping up everyone online – in the news, on blogs and forums, in online marketing information, and increasingly on business websites. This nifty little concept has been around since 2006, but it appears that the last year has really let Twitter take the reins of the social media realm and gallop full speed ahead in the lives of Internet users around the globe. It’s not just celebrities and their die-hard fans crowding Twitter walls anymore – it has slowly made its way out of the ‘good for a laugh’ category and become a major player in the legitimate business of social media for corporate use.

So how does it work, exactly? Well, it’s been called ‘micro-blogging’, in that you simply (upon signing up for a free account and setting up a quick profile) post comments up onto your wall as often as you like. These are called ‘tweets’. Then, according to what settings you choose, people can view your tweets and respond back – all in a matter of seconds. You can post photos, links or simple messages. People can choose to ‘follow’ your feed, and you can follow others. It’s knowing what’s happening as it’s happening – and this is one of Twitter’s main appeals. Instant interaction is something that people demand, and Twitter is giving the people what they want.

The race is on

The public response to Twitter has been phenomenal. In January 2010, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong sent out a tweet announcing that he would be bike riding in a reserve in Adelaide, Australia the following Saturday at 9am. He was joined by a crowd of 5000. This is the power of Twitter – the ability to, in 140 characters or less that takes less than a minute to type, communicate and engage with millions of people across the globe. Recently, the Pope made a public announcement encouraging priests across the Globe to use social media such as Twitter to discuss religion with youth. More and more people and organizations are obviously recognizing the opportunities there are to be held in using social media to reach millions of people across the world. In a different sort of situation, yet still demonstrating the popularity of this social media, singer Imogen Heap wore a custom-made ‘twit dress’ to the recent 2010 Golden Globes. The dress had its own twitter feed and displayed Twitter pictures sent through by fans in real time. It was a way to let her fans ‘accompany’ her onto the red carpet, the singer said.

Tweeting through the peep hole

It seems to be this ‘accompanying’ that is making Twitter the fastest growing social media network. It’s the social media that is bringing down the walls between individuals in extremely different circumstances, such as the celebrity and the public. Even US President Barack Obama has gotten in on the jig, and over three million followers get regular updates on his day. Twitter was the fastest-growing social networking site in December 2009, with 18.1 million individual visitors. The year before, in December 2008, Twitter had 2.7 million visitors. Surely this is due in part to the appeal of ‘accompanying’ those we would not otherwise ever come into contact with. Once upon a time, the celebrity was always out of our reach, shrouded in mystique and awe – now, because of this innovative social media, we’re not only able to identify with them, but we are invited in to live their lives with them.

And then there’s the ever growing side of Twitter that isn’t about celebrities. It’s simply about accessing real time information with people from around the world. When a plane crash-landed into the Hudson River in the US last year, a tweet from a nearby observer made the rounds around the Twitter network before any major news station even picked up the story. Yahoo former employee Emily West maintained constant Tweets through the infamous Yahoo lay off in December 2008, with thousands ‘living’ through the traumatic situation with her. Heard something big happened on the grapevine? You can search for the subject in Twitter and see if anybody knows the go on what’s happening. With more than 18 million people using the social networking system, it’s a sure fire thing you’ll get some real-time updates. Through Twitter, you or your business has the entire world at hand for instant first-person information. What’s more, you can interact with those individuals that may very well become your future customers or clients. It’s been likened to the new virtual water cooler – it’s where we discuss things that have happened. Except now we can discuss them as they are happening.

Everyone’s invited

If you are still thinking that your client base couldn’t possibly be found or reached through Twitter, then you’re in for a surprise. Twitter use is relatively even across all demographics. Recent analysis found that 47% of Twitter users were aged from 18-34 years, and 31% aged 35 to 49 years. And 21% were 50 years plus, which compares to a 1% aged 12-17 – contrary to the popular belief that social media networks such as Twitter are only for the younger generations. As we can see, people of all ages are taking to the Tweeting skies – and this is probably because we are recognizing the usefulness of such a networking concept – for business relations especially. For more on how Twitter can specifically help you with your online marketing, read Twitter Away Part 2: Making your business the main attraction.

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William Coulter asked:




There is many ways to make money with twitter. Make money with Twitter is a hot topic and many Twitterers wonder how all those hours spent could be converted into cash. Many people are curious about how they can make money with Twitter but have no idea how to get started. You can make money with Twitter, but there are certain things you have to do in order to make a profit.

Twitter

Twitter is the latest heavy hitting social media application that’s got the world communicating in a whole new way. Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What’s happening. Twitter users love to click on links and the more interesting you make your tweets and the more curious you make them, the bigger chance you have of people clicking on your links. Twitter receives 55 million unique hits on a monthly basis. Twitter is a good tool for networking and cultivating relationships. Twitter marketing is being much popular now a days and many people are earning thousands.

Making Money

Twitter has now opened up many money making opportunities. Making money on Twitter, just like making money on blogging, is not a get-rich-quick scheme. I think its not bad but one must have a large number of followers and regular tweets to make some money. I personally feel the best way to make money with Twitter is to use it for building your trust factor and not attempting any direct money-making from it. So, getting legit followers should be our main target before thinking about making money. With a lot of followers, I mean with followers count in 5-6 figures, you can really make money.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online while doing very little in the way of work. Affiliate marketing is hugely popular, so it’s not surprising that people are trying to push products on Twitter as well. Tweet your affiliate links, if some of your followers will click from it, there is a big chance that you will get a customer and that particular customer might buy the product, thus will lead you to a more chance earn from commission of buying that product being offered. One of the best paid affiliate is magpie or RvtTw because what you need is just an account with this affiliates and account with twitter. For instance say when one of your followers is asking for suggestion to choose a web host, you can always suggest him the best one from your experience but at the same time use your affiliate link which can earn you some quick cash. So, follow the content providers, retweet good content and every now and then pop an affiliate link in there. Tweet your affiliate links at times where most of your followers are online.

Every time you go search for make money with Twitter, you end up finding comments saying you can’t make money with Twitter. Then you have other people saying you can make thousands. Patience really is a virtue here; get a few thousands followers then begin to tweet some affiliated links. Remember to take into account how many hours your spending on twitter and give yourself an hourly rate of pay you’d like to achieve to give yourself a figure to work to. This will give you a better idea if twitter marketing is for you.

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Kelly Curmi asked:




Using Twitter can be different to any other form of advertising you will do and you might even enjoy it as it is a social network where you can communicate with others on a regular basis while getting your point across. Twitter has a rule of maximum 140 character tweets. Short quotes or messages need to be enough to gain the interest of your followers. You will need to build up your friend numbers as much as possible as friends can see your tweets on their home page like you can theirs so building a large list of friends is important with your Twitter venture.

You can not overuse the benefits of Twitter, regular tweets makes a world of difference to your profile but at the same time you are a marketer and like most of us, can only dedicate a certain amount of time to each method. There are a number of sites like socialoomph.com that will allow you to publish your quotes and messages all at once and distribute them as you would like and at your chosen times. This is highly beneficial knowing that can dedicate 20-30 minutes each day to have a substantial amount of input on your profile.

Twitter allows links, which are an easy way to get your site accessible to interests, although try to contain yourself from over posting your link. If your followers are interested they are also able to view your website link in your profile.

If you have a blog or distribute articles or press releases to sites a lot of these sites will allow you to link your account to your Twitter profile therefore each time your content is approved for publishing, the site will tweet your Twitter page notifying your friends of the link to view. Even if you distribute your content to a number of sites it is handy to link as many of these to Twitter as possible so a reminder will be posted more frequently.

It does take effort to make Twitter work for you, but as long as you put a little thought into your tweets to make them interesting and worthy of reading you can establish yourself as a trustworthy authority, encouraging people to want to read your tweets and have interest in your profile. This will keep your profile on friend’s lists and when you do publish your link they will be more likely to click on it.

Every marketing technique takes time and consistency, but once you have mastered Twitter you will have an enjoyable network to work with and maintain friends that can easily become customers who keep coming back for more! Wishing you Success.

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Bill Law asked:




There are many ideas that have been tried to make money on the internet, just about all have been either saturated, or they don’t make you any real money. Due to the most up and coming social networking site around: Twitter, it is now possible to make real money online again.

You might have tried various different money making systems already, there are plenty out there, but you won’t have tried this yet. It is unbelievable how quick it is to get started as you will be making money within a few hours.

The system works so well due to the sheer popularity of Twitter and the huge amount of traffic you can get from it. It works by basically using specific tools to get you a massive following of people on the site, which you then use to make money from. Reports show people are getting over 20,000 followers within months! When you think that, on average, you can make sales instantly from 2% of your followers, this means 200 sales within minutes! The power of this traffic system is huge.

This really is the best time to take advantage as the site gets more and more popular. Would you want to be the person who thinks why didn’t they get into this system earlier, making a steady few hundred dollars a week? Or are you going to let the chance pass and continue life as normal, without that extra income?

As we speak, internet entrepreneurs are exploiting twitter for all its worth as there is so much scope for making money, yet this will not always be the case. The great thing about twitter cash systems are that you can leave them on auto pilot and you will still generate a good income, for doing absolutely nothing!

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Matt Findley asked:




- How do I get more followers? -

That seems to be the million dollar question: how do I get more people to follow me on Twitter? Well, you’re not famous, so that might seem like the biggest hurdle. One thing you need to keep in mind is that you have to keep your follower/following ratio to under 10%. To stay under Twitter’s spammer radar, you need to hover around that number.

You can have a million followers and not follow anyone yourself but you can not follow a million people and have no followers at all. It doesn’t work that way. The process I use is to follow any one who is in network marketing and related fields by utilizing the search feature on Twitter. Then I unfollow people that have not followed me back over a 24-hour period.

To figure out who’s not following me back, I use mytweeple.com. It’s a neat little tool that organizes everyone in my Twitter circle into four categories: People I Follow, People that Follow Me, Mutual Followers (people that I follow that also follow me), and Everyone. There are many different programs; this is just the one I recommend and it’s free. There I can scrub my list by unfollowing everyone who has not followed me back in a timely fashion. I only give it 24 hours because I might be following people that are inactive or aren’t serious Twitter users.

My objective is to get more followers. Since there’s that 10% followers to following ratio, it’s important to consistently unfollow anyone who’s not following you back within a certain time-frame. Another way to get more followers is to follow people in your field that already have a lot of followers, but that is a more timely process I’ll cover in another article.

- How do I automate my tweets? -

Automating your tweets is another great way to save time and get more people to follow you on Twitter. There are a lot of automation sites out there, some free and some paysites. The key is finding one that makes things easier for you. I highly recommend socialoomph.com. It’s both a paysite and a free site. The free features work fine for Twitter alone. There is a “schedule new tweets” tab on your welcome page and it’s pretty self explanatory from there. A key point to remember is to stagger out your tweets all day. On this particular site, you schedule what seems to be an endless amount of updates over a 24-hour period. I try to do one tweet an hour so as to not frustrate my followers.

Also, it is important to add value to your tweets; don’t post your website or opportunity 24 times in a row! Mix it up with some interesting quotes and educational content. Write some useful articles, post some videos, use humor and be yourself! Watch the trends on your feed page; what do you see that you like or dislike? Automation is cool because it allows you to free up time to do other things, but make sure you take a conservative approach.

- How do I keep up with everyone? -

Good news! You don’t have to keep up with everyone. In due time you will build up your own following and have a pipeline full of like-minded individuals to lead and learn from.

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Penny Haynes asked:




Want to stick out in the crowd of avatars on Twitter? Want to catch people’s eye as they are scrolling down their tweets, or looking at other people’s Followers? Then give an animated avatar a try!

The trick is, however, to find the line between eye-catching and annoyingly distracting. I’ve seen web cam video used as well as screen recordings. Slide show videos would work as well.

My first attempt was annoyingly distracting, and a Follower asked me to tone it down a bit – which I did. Some people will simply stop following, but that doesn’t bother me. I love looking at other people’s animations – it’s like looking through a virtual window to their soul!

1. If you are going to use a video clip, pull it into a video editing program to grab about 4 seconds worth (Twitter avatars must be under 700 kb). Or create one from scratch, like a slide show video, web cam recording or slide show video. REMEMBER that it will LOOP over and over, so watch to make sure there isn’t a jarring jump between the end and the beginning of the video. Windows Movie Maker, the Commercial Creation Center (http://www.CommercialCreationCenter.com) or Camtasia are great creation and editing tools – you just decide which one is easy enough for you to learn quickly. Save the video as a .wmv if you are NOT creating it in Camtasia. You’ll see the directions below for how to “produce” it in Camtasia.

2. The most important thing Camtasia will do is produce the video as an animated GIF. If you have Camtasia (there’s a free version available), you can do the creating, editing and outputting in there as well. Choose 150 x 112 pixels as the final size, which is the standard thumbnail size. If you don’t want to use Camtasia, there is a site that will convert the video to GIF for you (http://www.gifninja.com), but the final file sizes are larger, so you will have to cut your video down even further, possibly to 2 seconds or so.

3. Upload your saved, animated GIF to your Twitter Account Photo. We’ve seen Firefox give error messages that Twitter is overloaded, but just keep going or switch to another browser. It will take eventually.

Get feedback from your followers about whether or not it is too busy, and refine your photo until you and your favorite followers are happy. But remember, you can’t please everyone, so don’t bother trying. If you’re happy with it, then let yourself enjoy it, and change it around from time to time to break up the monotony.

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Carol Hansen asked:




Just about everyone has figured out by now that Twitter has an amazing potential to be a fantastic sales tool for their business. There are, in fact, many other benefits to Twitter besides direct sales that are just as valuable if not MORE valuable. If you build your Twitter account the right way, you should be taking advantage of each and every one of these benefits. This Twitter Marketing Tip shows the top 7 ways to use Twitter to build your network and monetize it.

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