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Monday, September 21, 2009
How to Make Money Using Twitter
Did you know that Twitter will could help you make anywhere from $.10 to $100 a day from your website? I’m making hundreds of dollars a week using Twitter as a marketing tool! Many websites offer you a chance to learn secrets for money-making success on Twitter, but I’m going to do it for free. Twitter is a fast growing social network facilitator and a powerful marketing tool whose potential is growing astronomically. Remember when Facebook only had 5 million users? Well now they have 300 million worldwide, and are still growing. Twitter’s potential is just as great.Not only is it relatively easy to make money using Twitter as a marketing tool, but its also a proven success for myself and for many others. There are a ton of free Twitter APIs that will help make your business marketing an effortless task, and one that basically runs on autopilot. If you’re smart about it, you might very well create a business that runs by itself! So here’s my secret (well, it ain’t so secret anymore), and if you think you can help or ad something, please let me know.
Make Money using Twitter
Twitter is an outstanding marketing tool for two reasons: 1. Potential clients (i.e. your twitter followers) basically opt-in by following you, so you can assume that anyone receiving your tweets and Twitter messages is doing so voluntarily. 2. Many third parties are trying to capitalize on the success and popularity of Twitter by featuring tweets on their websites...if you don’t believe me, visit Twetememe, Retweet or Twitter Search just to name a few. This is important, because Google rankings are, in part, based upon how many websites feature a link to your own. The more captured tweets, the higher your Google ranking, the more likely it is that someone will visit your website based off of a Google search.
My idea is basically this: Create a website and use Twitter to drive traffic to your website. Feature well placed ads on your website, and watch the cash roll in when visitors click on your ads. And they will...about one in every ten visitors will generate profit for you, depending on how well placed your ads really are. I have made several hundred dollars since I began with this plan just two months ago, and my profitability is rising every day. So, without further ado, here’s how it works:
1.Create a Website: Haven’t you always wanted to create a website or a blog that people will visit? If you build it, they will come! There are two things you can do here: 1. Make a website with interesting content (remember, content is king) so that internet users will come back frequently; 2. Create a website whose content is less interesting than the ads it features so that people will be more inclined to click on the ads than read/interact with your content. Option #2 is the lazy, more shortsighted way. Option #1 is the preferred way, because you can think of Twitter as a sort of incubator, gradually building your website up to the point that people will visit on their own! My website, for example, is called The Solar Koala, and I am building a readership and a client base by offering up specific and targeted content to readers interested in solar energy. Check it out!
If you’re a novice at website design, don’t worry...there are thousands of programs and websites that will help you! The easiest thing to do would be to open a Blogger account and create a blog hosted for free. Creating a blog on Blogger, like the one you are reading now, is super easy. They will allow you to choose from a wide range of colors, fonts, and layouts, as well as providing you with easy-to-use layout editor and widgets that give your blog dynamic and good looking content. If you are really serious about starting a company, you may want to invest in your own software (I use iWeb by Apple) as well as your own domain name and hosting. For this, you can easily go to GoDaddy or Yahoo and follow their instructions for beginners.
I’m not an expert in website design, but I can tell you that the people you refer to your website via Twitter are generally very savvy with social media, and they will want a website tailored to their interests. Think about creative ways to involve your readers in social media projects like interactive blogs, polls, forums, and software that plugs into Twitter, Myspace or Facebook (For example, you could get the “Retweet Button” that would allow your readers to refer your website to their followers). If you are writing a blog, consider the ShareThis or AddThis applications that would allow other readers to easily link to your content. For this process, it is also advised that you have an RSS or Atom feed...Blogger will automatically give you an RSS, but you will need to build your own if you have your own domain.
For each website you create, open a free Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools account, and take a little time to browse their functions. They will help you with targeted marketing and website optimization, and even for a comparative novice like myself, I found their tools to be very helpful.
2.Open a Google Adsense account. Google Adsense is the easiest and most powerful of the internet advertising services. After you have created your website, go to Google Adsense and browse the possibilities for ad placement. I recommend you take one of their many tutorials, and read up about which ad formats are right for your. The best thing about Google is that they choose the ads for you based on key words found in your website, and they are automatically updated and switched to reflect changes in your website. The more well-placed your ads are, and the more specific the content of those ads, the more likely it is that someone will click on it and the more likely you are to make money. One thing I must be clear about is that any violation of Google Adsense program policies will result in summary dismissal from the program. The internet is filled with stories from people whose accounts have been cancelled due to suspected “click fraud” activity. For more on “click fraud,” see this Wikipedia article.
Google Adsense is the easiest and most intuitive of the ad programs, but if you would like to try another program, for whatever reason, both Yahoo and Microsoft have beta version ad programs that you can join upon approval (they have content and traffic requirements, though), or you can select the far inferior Chitkita, Bidvertiser or Kontera.
When your website begins to take off, think about diversifying your advertisements by adding Affiliate Network Ads. Amazon, Google, and Ebay all have great affiliate networks, and truth be told, there’s a million others that I’m sure exist that I don’t know about. Affiliate networks will pay you commission for customers referred from your website...it’s a great way to make money, but I only recommend it if you have a decent readership to begin with.
*Optional – If you really think your website has legs, open a Google Adwords account. Adwords is basically Adsense in reverse...you pay to have your ads displayed on other peoples’ websites to draw traffic to yours. I wouldn’t recommend this unless you think you have a quality product to offer.
3.Open a Twitter account. In fact, open several. Choose a Twitter username that is both relevant and interesting. Choose a photo that will grab people’s attention. Think about interesting and concise ways to describe yourself, your website, or your business in your biography, and be sure to include links to your website. Fill out as much biographical information as you feel comfortable, but the more specific you are, the better it is for targeted marketing. I would turn off all notices, because if you end up with thousands of followers like me, that just serves to clog your inbox. Start tweeting! It is important to make your tweets interesting, and if you’re going for exposure, tweet during peak times (the start of the work day and about 5pm-12am PST). Also, learn the protocol by using tags and retweets. You may not believe it, but people will follow you just because they see that you have written something catchy, something cool, or because your website is of interest to them. There are also a lot of people who will follow you, hoping that you will follow back and check out their websites (many of which are pornographic in nature, so be careful). But the truth is that unless you are a celebrity, a professional athlete, or a politician, you probably won’t see thousands of people flocking to follow you on twitter...you need help!
4.Use Twitter APIs to gain more followers and help spread your message. Twitter APIs are programs developed by third parties that provide functionality linked to your Twitter account. Proper use of APIs makes managing your twitter messages and followers easy and more exciting. The inescapable truth about Twitter is that the more followers you have, the more likely someone is to check out the links you send in your tweets and in your messages. There are a very large number of people who consider sending out tweets and messages with links to be “Twitter Spam,” but it is important to remember that Twitter is an opt-in service, whereby anyone who chooses to follow you has agreed to receive your messages and tweets. Don’t overdo it though, because the key to keeping your friends and followers on Twitter is not to annoy them, because if you do, it’s very easy to unfollow you.
So to begin with, I use TweetAdder, an “Automatic Twitter Promotion Tool.” TweetAdder allows you to automatically follow users (in hopes that they will follow you back, anywhere from 3%-10% will), automatically send tweets and messages, and interact with your friends and followers for you. It is not as personal, but it is the easiest way to grow your Twitter presence without following everyone by hand. TweetAdder costs money, however, and you should only invest in this software if you are serious about devoting yourself to profitability. If you don’t want to spend the money, there are sites that will oblige like twitterkarma. I would avoid any site that purports to “add more followers” by submitting your username, because they force you to agree to post their tweets on your profile, and if you’re in it to draw attention to your own website, this is counterproductive.
Next, try Socialoomph. You can add each of your Twitter profiles to Socialoomph and have it automatically send out Welcome Messages, Follow Backs, and more.
If you would like to use your Twitter profile to be a platform for third party advertisements, go to be-a-magpie.com and open an account. I would recommend turning off the per/sale option because in the time that I have had an account, I have never had anyone buy a product from my Twitter referral (and I have over 10,000 various followers).
Finally, a wonderful twitter API is twitterfeed. Twitterfeed links the RSS feed from your blog or site directly to your Twitter account, so anytime you update your website or blog, it will be automatically posted to Twitter. You can do the same for forums, for news feeds, or for third party feeds that you feel to be important.
Remember, Twitter is a service that is growing at a torrid pace, and there will be new developments, technologies, and APIs daily that will affect how successful Twitter can be to your website or business. There is no substitution for a good website with good content, so let that be your primary goal. The better the website, the more likely people are to come back. And lets face it, getting people to come back is the most important thing you can do.
My idea is basically this: Create a website and use Twitter to drive traffic to your website. Feature well placed ads on your website, and watch the cash roll in when visitors click on your ads. And they will...about one in every ten visitors will generate profit for you, depending on how well placed your ads really are. I have made several hundred dollars since I began with this plan just two months ago, and my profitability is rising every day. So, without further ado, here’s how it works:
1.Create a Website: Haven’t you always wanted to create a website or a blog that people will visit? If you build it, they will come! There are two things you can do here: 1. Make a website with interesting content (remember, content is king) so that internet users will come back frequently; 2. Create a website whose content is less interesting than the ads it features so that people will be more inclined to click on the ads than read/interact with your content. Option #2 is the lazy, more shortsighted way. Option #1 is the preferred way, because you can think of Twitter as a sort of incubator, gradually building your website up to the point that people will visit on their own! My website, for example, is called The Solar Koala, and I am building a readership and a client base by offering up specific and targeted content to readers interested in solar energy. Check it out!
If you’re a novice at website design, don’t worry...there are thousands of programs and websites that will help you! The easiest thing to do would be to open a Blogger account and create a blog hosted for free. Creating a blog on Blogger, like the one you are reading now, is super easy. They will allow you to choose from a wide range of colors, fonts, and layouts, as well as providing you with easy-to-use layout editor and widgets that give your blog dynamic and good looking content. If you are really serious about starting a company, you may want to invest in your own software (I use iWeb by Apple) as well as your own domain name and hosting. For this, you can easily go to GoDaddy or Yahoo and follow their instructions for beginners.
I’m not an expert in website design, but I can tell you that the people you refer to your website via Twitter are generally very savvy with social media, and they will want a website tailored to their interests. Think about creative ways to involve your readers in social media projects like interactive blogs, polls, forums, and software that plugs into Twitter, Myspace or Facebook (For example, you could get the “Retweet Button” that would allow your readers to refer your website to their followers). If you are writing a blog, consider the ShareThis or AddThis applications that would allow other readers to easily link to your content. For this process, it is also advised that you have an RSS or Atom feed...Blogger will automatically give you an RSS, but you will need to build your own if you have your own domain.
For each website you create, open a free Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools account, and take a little time to browse their functions. They will help you with targeted marketing and website optimization, and even for a comparative novice like myself, I found their tools to be very helpful.
2.Open a Google Adsense account. Google Adsense is the easiest and most powerful of the internet advertising services. After you have created your website, go to Google Adsense and browse the possibilities for ad placement. I recommend you take one of their many tutorials, and read up about which ad formats are right for your. The best thing about Google is that they choose the ads for you based on key words found in your website, and they are automatically updated and switched to reflect changes in your website. The more well-placed your ads are, and the more specific the content of those ads, the more likely it is that someone will click on it and the more likely you are to make money. One thing I must be clear about is that any violation of Google Adsense program policies will result in summary dismissal from the program. The internet is filled with stories from people whose accounts have been cancelled due to suspected “click fraud” activity. For more on “click fraud,” see this Wikipedia article.
Google Adsense is the easiest and most intuitive of the ad programs, but if you would like to try another program, for whatever reason, both Yahoo and Microsoft have beta version ad programs that you can join upon approval (they have content and traffic requirements, though), or you can select the far inferior Chitkita, Bidvertiser or Kontera.
When your website begins to take off, think about diversifying your advertisements by adding Affiliate Network Ads. Amazon, Google, and Ebay all have great affiliate networks, and truth be told, there’s a million others that I’m sure exist that I don’t know about. Affiliate networks will pay you commission for customers referred from your website...it’s a great way to make money, but I only recommend it if you have a decent readership to begin with.
*Optional – If you really think your website has legs, open a Google Adwords account. Adwords is basically Adsense in reverse...you pay to have your ads displayed on other peoples’ websites to draw traffic to yours. I wouldn’t recommend this unless you think you have a quality product to offer.
3.Open a Twitter account. In fact, open several. Choose a Twitter username that is both relevant and interesting. Choose a photo that will grab people’s attention. Think about interesting and concise ways to describe yourself, your website, or your business in your biography, and be sure to include links to your website. Fill out as much biographical information as you feel comfortable, but the more specific you are, the better it is for targeted marketing. I would turn off all notices, because if you end up with thousands of followers like me, that just serves to clog your inbox. Start tweeting! It is important to make your tweets interesting, and if you’re going for exposure, tweet during peak times (the start of the work day and about 5pm-12am PST). Also, learn the protocol by using tags and retweets. You may not believe it, but people will follow you just because they see that you have written something catchy, something cool, or because your website is of interest to them. There are also a lot of people who will follow you, hoping that you will follow back and check out their websites (many of which are pornographic in nature, so be careful). But the truth is that unless you are a celebrity, a professional athlete, or a politician, you probably won’t see thousands of people flocking to follow you on twitter...you need help!
4.Use Twitter APIs to gain more followers and help spread your message. Twitter APIs are programs developed by third parties that provide functionality linked to your Twitter account. Proper use of APIs makes managing your twitter messages and followers easy and more exciting. The inescapable truth about Twitter is that the more followers you have, the more likely someone is to check out the links you send in your tweets and in your messages. There are a very large number of people who consider sending out tweets and messages with links to be “Twitter Spam,” but it is important to remember that Twitter is an opt-in service, whereby anyone who chooses to follow you has agreed to receive your messages and tweets. Don’t overdo it though, because the key to keeping your friends and followers on Twitter is not to annoy them, because if you do, it’s very easy to unfollow you.
So to begin with, I use TweetAdder, an “Automatic Twitter Promotion Tool.” TweetAdder allows you to automatically follow users (in hopes that they will follow you back, anywhere from 3%-10% will), automatically send tweets and messages, and interact with your friends and followers for you. It is not as personal, but it is the easiest way to grow your Twitter presence without following everyone by hand. TweetAdder costs money, however, and you should only invest in this software if you are serious about devoting yourself to profitability. If you don’t want to spend the money, there are sites that will oblige like twitterkarma. I would avoid any site that purports to “add more followers” by submitting your username, because they force you to agree to post their tweets on your profile, and if you’re in it to draw attention to your own website, this is counterproductive.
Next, try Socialoomph. You can add each of your Twitter profiles to Socialoomph and have it automatically send out Welcome Messages, Follow Backs, and more.
If you would like to use your Twitter profile to be a platform for third party advertisements, go to be-a-magpie.com and open an account. I would recommend turning off the per/sale option because in the time that I have had an account, I have never had anyone buy a product from my Twitter referral (and I have over 10,000 various followers).
Finally, a wonderful twitter API is twitterfeed. Twitterfeed links the RSS feed from your blog or site directly to your Twitter account, so anytime you update your website or blog, it will be automatically posted to Twitter. You can do the same for forums, for news feeds, or for third party feeds that you feel to be important.
Remember, Twitter is a service that is growing at a torrid pace, and there will be new developments, technologies, and APIs daily that will affect how successful Twitter can be to your website or business. There is no substitution for a good website with good content, so let that be your primary goal. The better the website, the more likely people are to come back. And lets face it, getting people to come back is the most important thing you can do.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sites
http://solartweets.blogspot.com/
http://socialmoolah.blogspot.com
http://twittermoolah.blogspot.com
http://koalatweets.blogspot.com
http://ftap-info.blogspot.com
http://kindlebazaar.blogspot.com
http://solarkoala.blogspot.com
http://twitags.blogspot.com
http://www.solarkoala.com
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_News_and_Information.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Power_Directory.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Marketplace.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Blog.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Forum.html
http://www.thekindlebazaar.com
http://kelleyandrob.blogspot.com
http://www.christmaskindles.info
http://www.holidaykindles.info
http://www.kindle-for-christmas.info
http://www.koalatweets.com
http://www.solarkoala.com
http://www.thekindlebazaar.info
http://www.thekindlestop.info
http://socialmoolah.blogspot.com
http://twittermoolah.blogspot.com
http://koalatweets.blogspot.com
http://ftap-info.blogspot.com
http://kindlebazaar.blogspot.com
http://solarkoala.blogspot.com
http://twitags.blogspot.com
http://www.solarkoala.com
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_News_and_Information.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Power_Directory.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Marketplace.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Blog.html
http://www.solarkoala.com/solarkoala/Solar_Forum.html
http://www.thekindlebazaar.com
http://kelleyandrob.blogspot.com
http://www.christmaskindles.info
http://www.holidaykindles.info
http://www.kindle-for-christmas.info
http://www.koalatweets.com
http://www.solarkoala.com
http://www.thekindlebazaar.info
http://www.thekindlestop.info
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