Posts Tagged "twitter"
Lessons On Twitter Etiquette
The following article, “10 Things You Need To Stop Tweeting About”, has been taken from TheOutmeal which is well worth a visit and definately worth following on Twitter.
I wonder how many each of us guilty of, and more importantly, how many each of us is willing to admit to!?!?
Lesson #1: What you are eating
Lesson #2: Social media
Lesson #3: The conference or event you’re at
Lesson #4: Twitter itself
Lesson #5: Your workout
Lesson #6: Your… whatever…
Lesson #7: Speaking out of context
Lesson #8: Dailybooth photos
Lesson #9: Emotional breakthroughs
Lesson #10: The number of followers you have
Laborious Link Building
We all know that asking other web sites to link to your own is not only low cost, effective for inbound traffic and also helps with search engine ranking, but by god isn’t link building laborious!
Links aren’t only one of the most popular ways for people to find new sites, but as we all know, when you get inbound links from good quality sites it helps immensley in climbing the Search Engine ladders. But how do you get the links in the first place?
- Be Pro-Active
Make it clear on your website that you want links. Ask for them directly and make it easy for people to link by writing the linking code for them so they just have to copy and past. Remember to use keyword phrases in the linking text and explain why it will help: “If you’ve found this site useful, please link to us so that others can become a better cook”. - Tweet To Your Fans
Much has been said about Twitter and that 40% of it’s use is garbage (i.e. “I’m having a sandwich” or “Brown or white chocolate – help me decide” type of crap). If your website posts new informative articles regularly, then create a Twitter account that automatically updates your followers with news of your latest recipes. - Viralise Your Website
Viralise? Yes it’s a word I’ve just made up! Viral marketing is where an advert, for example, is emailed from friend to friend, colleague to colleague etc, spreading the word without people realising it. By simply adding an Email This Recipe not only means that visitors can send it to their own email account for later use, but can send it to friends and family helping spread the word. Viralise… remember where you first heard it! - Squidoo
Personally I don’t have much experience of this, as it’s not an avenue I’ve explored much. There have been mixed reports as to how effective it is, creating a Squidoo lens and how beneficial it is considering the time and effort made creating one. Maybe someone with experience could share their findings? - Contextual Linking
This is the holy grail of link building!Contextual links are normal HTML links to your website incorporated in story about your website or an article that relates to the same, or similar topic as your website.Some findings have shown that Contextual links on lower PR pages give more “link love” than many higher PR footer links or generic link pages. As well as increasing link love, these contextual links are more likely to receive a higher click through rate. - Buy Links
Again, depending on which article you read, there’s mixed reports as to whether these are effective or not. If you choose to buy inbound links, then you run a risk of being penalised by the major search engines.
With all that in mind, over the next few weeks I have 4 new website going live, all of which will solely rely on word of mouth, organic traffic and pushing them in existing newsletters etc. Therefore I’ll be on the lookout for anyone wanting to swap links, preferably InContext, in the following verticals:
If you have any related websites, then please do drop me a line.
Read MoreTwitter – Followers vs Following
Recently much has been made about the numbers of followers people have in Twitter, when in reality, the opposite should be more important. I’m not a preacher and therefore if I have 10, 50 or 1,000 people following me, it doesn’t really make a difference. What is important to me, is what other people are saying, recommending or talking about as it may help me in the future.
Twitter, to me, is a business (and occasionally social) networking tool, more akin to LinkedIn than Facebook. My Twitter account is locked, meaning I prefer to see who wants to follow me, and check that either I know them or I share some interests. It’s far too easy to open access up to everyone and have 100’s of spam bots or Russian escorts who promise to show you a good time for £1.
How do you find relevant people or companies to follow?
Well TweetPromote is relatively new to the scene, and is by far the fastest, easiest and most powerful way of finding targeted people worth following on Twitter. You can find people based on your interests and keywords, and also drill down to friends of friends!
In the example to the right, I follow Fraser and both of us have tagged “Affiliate” and “Marketing” as being an interest of ours. I can now take this one step further and explore Fraser’s contacts to see any that he follows, which I don’t, that also have similar interests.
As a result I find Fraser is following someone called Jim Banks. Jim is old school SEO but also happens to run Global Media Network which is an affiliate network I haven’t heard of before and has UK merchants!
So TweetPromote has helped me locate Jim who maybe worth following and reading what he has to say in the future, and also has opened up the possibility of working with a new network.
TweetPromote is about helping you find people to follow and learn from NOT about getting gazillions of automated followers! There’s no automation, no robots, no spam, just quick and simple exploration of the Twitter users that match your interests.
Read MoreTwitter Tools To Help Promote Your Business
Wanting to see what other people thought about personalised car number plates, I searched for a Twitter application that would allow me to post a poll which other people could quickly and easily take part in.
Came across Twtapps which, in my opinion, is a fantastic suite of Twitter tools that are useful not only for personal Tweets, but business too!
TwtPoll
Create an online poll by simply typing in a 140 chars question, multiple choice answers, and embed or share it!
Twtvite
Create an event, enter the location, date, time, your 140 chars description, and share it whilst managing RSVPs.
TwtBizCard
Send and manage your Twitter business card by adding #twtbizcard to your tweets.
TwtQpon
A simple coupon creator for businesses. Enter your promotion details, choose an image and enter a code + url!
Twtjobs
Got a job opening or wanting a change in career? Create your “Twitter resume,” post job openings, apply to jobs, and embed and share them!
TwtBiz
A Twitter business directory allowing you to find businesses, entrepreneurs and even investors!
Other useful and fun applications twtapps have developed include;
twtTRIP – travel organizer
twtwlst – gift registry
twtcard – greeting cards
twtpets – game for pet lovers
As you would expect, you can follow Twtapps and keep up to date with their new developments and suggestions on how best to use the mini applications to help promote your business.
A4U Awards
Before heading off to the A4U Awards in Park lane, myself and Jane headed for a cheeky drink or two courtesy of the DGM guys & girls in the Met Bar where we were lucky enough to stumble across the current F1 Leader, Jenson Button.
After chatting to him for 5 or so minutes, it transpired that we has on bottled water as he was racing (and won) in Turkey at the weekend. He was surprised at the number of people Tux’d up in the Met Bar, and asked what was going on. Didn’t bore him with what affiliate marketing was, just explained there was a big party with about 500 people just down the road and left it at that.
The awards took place with not too many surprises (well done to all!), and the next morning a rather sore head was dragged out of bed to make the Eurostar to Paris for the next 5 days. Luckily we had fantastic weather in Paris and made plenty of friends by opting for Italian Wine with our meals 
Sadly we didn’t go in the Moulin Rouge but headed to Crazy Horse instead. After little more than 10 minutes I was counting the number of lights in the ceiling and look at my watch wondering how much more I had to endure. If we could have, I think we would have escaped at the earliest convenience especially as it was €20 for a regular bottle of Leffe!
Read MoreIncreasing Your Twitter Following
So you want to increase your Twitter following? How do you go about it?
TWEET – RETWEET – JUST MAKE IT INTERESTING!
Firstly, you have to tweet regularly, or at the very least, tweet something thats of interest. A pet hate of mine, which usually results in me stopping following someone, is when they Tweet for Tweeting sake. It reminds me of what turned me off using Facebook with peoples status updates informing me that they’re “Making a coffee” followed by “Made a coffee” followed by “Enjoying a cup of coffee”. How interesting! Really… who gives a toss if you’re eating a “Yummy crumpet with lashings of butter”? Not me!
SLAP ON SOME MAKEUP!
Make your Twitter page a little more interesting. Try designing it so it gives a little more information about you as a person and you’re interests. I updated my Twitter Page a few weeks ago, and since then have seen many other people repeating my advice with Paul Wright giving a step by step guide. If you’re a brand then try blending it in with your current website design, something I’m working on with DiscountCodes.
USE TWIVEAWAY
Twiveaway is a free, automated way of increasing your twitter exposure and following by running a competition of sorts purely based on Twitter. Every person who follows and ReTweets a message is automatically captured by Twiveaway and you can see, via an online dashboard, who has been entered into the competition.
You also have the option of replying via Direct Message, a good way to say something like “Thanks – you’re now in the competition. Check www.domain.com for list of winners”.
Via the dashboard you can specify one prize, or offer everyone who ReTweets your message a prize such as a free download, eBook etc.
By having your followers ReTweet details of your competition and website, will help you reach an audience that maybe unaware that you, your brand or your website, even exists! The first time I saw this in use was earlier this week by <a href=”http://twitter.com/insight_uk”>Insight_UK</a>, a UK Affiliate Merchant wanting to reach out to affiliates. It worked!
WIN £25 MARKS & SPENCERS VOUCHERS
If you want to give it a try, follow Discount4U and simply copy and paste this in Twitter:
RT: @discounts4u: is giving away a £25 Marks & Spencer Voucher. Follow & Re-Tweet this message to be in with a chance of winning!
Social Stuff
