Web Design & Marketing – Web Advice & Tips | TWMG Blog

SEO (search engine optimisation) is a rather complicated task that requires a lot of time and effort. Since SEO is responsible for most of the traffic generated by a website, it is advisable to “play the game” with extra caution. One of the best things that website owners can use these days is Twitter.

All of us know that Twitter is a social media network which its users post short messages which can be viewed by all their followers. Tweeting is already a great internet marketing and SEO strategy in itself. This is because one can use a tweet to build a link back to their site. A backlink is an SEO strategy which ensures that as many websites outside your own are talking about your website. In this way, the traffic of your website will increase, which ensuring that search engines are keen to your page.

Posting meaningful tweets that give details about your products or services, then posting a link back to your website can be a nice step to build your web traffic. However, unlike other SEO strategies, it gets simpler from here. If your posts are interesting and meaningful, your followers can choose to retweet them. Retweeting happens when somebody taking your tweet and reposting it on their timeline, so their followers can view it. If any of your tweet was retweeted, a link to your website is distributed to people you do not know and this can be equated to viral networking. If one person likes your website, which they accessed through a link on your tweet, they will tell other people about it so that they can visit your website as well.

Retweets represent ‘Votes’ for your content

Retweeting does help to generate traffic, but better still, it helps in improving your website’s ranking. This is because search engines love backlinks and the crawlers will always settle on your website and rank it highly because of the many one-way inbound links. Even in the case of Twitter where the link is ‘nofollow’ Google still looks at each retweet as a ‘vote’. Lots of retweets alone can bring you a higher result on the Search Engine Rankings. Therefore, you should ensure that your tweets attract as many retweets as possible.

Post Relevant Content for the Right Audience

Achieving this is very easy, and one simply has to put their mind and effort into the task. For starters, you should ensure that your tweets, like any web content, are relevant and meaningful. This is because you would like to generate relevant traffic that will ultimately result in conversions. Therefore, people should read your tweet and like what it says. Your tweet should encourage them to click on the URL so that they can find something even more useful in your website. Once they like your tweet and your website, they will want to share the information with their friends and followers.

Keep it Short

Apart from making the tweet meaningful, you should also make it interesting. Tweets are very short, and one has very little word space to create an impression. Therefore, you should be very creative in order to ensure that you capture the attention of the reader immediately. This is the only way you will manage to convince them to access your website through your link.

Ensure that your tweet is clear in order to give people an idea of what they are clicking. This will help to add value to your tweet and increase the likelihood of twitter users clicking on your link. Another very important tip is to realize that social media involve people, and in order to get people to retweet your post or to click your link, you must interact with them and be engaging in your conversations. This will not only help you to generate traffic back to your website, it will also help you to build a solid following on Twitter that will be able to view, and possibly, retweet future posts.

Social media is a great marketing tool which can result in a lot of profit if used as an SEO device. A lot of SEO companies have realized that Twitter is a cash cow, and they have come out in droves to milk it dry. Such companies offer retweeting services to clients in order to ensure that there are as many backlinks as possible through twitter. However, it is important to know that if the link is not accompanied by a relevant post, posted on a poor quality account, and if your website does not have relevant content, the retweet will not be helpful. Therefore, use Twitter to talk about your website and watch as the numbers and the traffic increase.

Last week, Twitter announced the release of its new app – Twitter #Music. Since there are so many musicians and artists are on Twitter, Twitter has decided to release an app to show you the currently trending musics on Twitter based on the tweets from all around the world.

Users are then able to play the iTunes preview of the song. If you are a premium Spotify or Rdio user then you can stream the whole song right there from the Twitter #Music app.

There is no Android version of this app yet, but regular desktop users can still access this new feature at https://music.twitter.com

The iOS app itself has a couple useful tabs:

1. The most popular music currently on Twitter.
2. Fresh emerging musicians.
3. Suggested artists (possibly integrated with Twitter’s advertising).
4. #NowPlaying showing you the most popular music from the people you follow.

"Most Popular" tab

The songs on Twitter #Music currently come from three platforms: iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. Twitter has said they will add in more music services over time.

This app looks like a good start from Twitter and the service is currently available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The only problem is that not many people may go into iTunes and download this app (the app is not integrated with Twitter). Also, the main music services like iTunes, Spotify and Rdio already have popular and trending lists that may be somewhat more accurate than a playlists based on people’s tweets.

Twitter is going from a social media tool to a media platform that is turning into a “premium solution for your brands”, just like Facebook. Brands can still use it for customer service, customer engagement, and promotions, but they are having to be increasingly creative to do so. This week, we look at five of the best campaigns run by brands that had creativity at their core.

1. Ben & Jerry’s

Ben and Jerry’s wanted to promote Fair Trade Day so it built an app that allowed users to post tweets. What made this app unique was that it used the leftover characters to squeeze in a fair trade message, including a link to an article about it.

2. A Twitter Powered Vending Machine

This drinks company in South Africa – who wanted to get more attention for its products while doing some sampling – asked people to tweet to get their drink.

3. Mourning Tweets

It comes from Argentina to help to mourn victims of the Amia terrorist attack. The app allowed you to blank out the first part of the tweet with black writing.

4. Amex Sync with Twitter

Financial services companies are always slow to get on board with social media, but Amex launched this smart campaign that allowed its users to convert hashtags into something more valuable.

5. Mercedes Twitter Race

Mercedes has been running a couple of these Twitter style races in the US and its latest campaign puts Twitter users in charge by giving them the ability to decide the plot.

Still considering social media as a time-waster? Here is a good example on how social media can be a handful tool when we use it in the right way. The Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam is facing budget issues, so they teamed up with Havas Worldwide Amsterdam to showcase a little pro-active commercial adaptability. They launched the Metropole Tweetphony, allowing Twitter users from around the world to tweet their own 140 character composition notes, have it added to other crowd sourced compositions and played out in near-real-time.

Twitter’s social video sharing app, Vine, has finally released the feature that many Twitter’s users have been waiting for – the inclusion of trending hashtags, as mentioned in their latest blog post. The application has an explore tab, similar to how Instagram shows off their most popular content.

This should help users for searching more popular content. Moreover, it will be more interesting for business owners if Vine decides to introduce promoted trends like Twitter advertising offers.

Using Twitter is a must for every businessmen who want to expand their business on a higher level. Twitter is compact and reliable to spread your messages and promotions. However, we believe that Twitter’s usage can be maximised through some ways, so it will be more effective.

Ways to use Twitter

It’s free to create a Twitter Account business or personal
but how to take advantage of this amazing tool still eludes many people.

Twitter Cheat Sheet

Basic Terminology:

TWEET – Any message 140 characters long sent out to everyone.
Unless you send a direct message (DM), everything on Twitter is
viewable to the public. ( as some famous people have found out)

DM – Direct Message. These messages are private and only between
people who DM each other.

RT – Retweet. Twitter has created a re-tweeting tool that makes
it easier, but the standard convention is to put a RT, cite the
source of the message, and then retweet. Internet ettiuqtte

Example, if I wrote: “I write, but not always right.” You would
RT @websiteguys “I write, but not always right.”
The goal is to encourage others to retweet your message thus
expanding your reach and business.

# – Hashtag. These are used in front of a word or set of letters
to allow easy communication on a specific topic. For example, if
you tweet about internet marketing with other net marketing lovers, you could use the
hashtag #internetmarketing. This becomes a clickable link in your message
and when clicked will display all the tweets using that hashtag.

#FF – Follow Friday. It’s a nice way to show support of other
tweeters. On Friday.

Tips to Optimize Your Use of Twitter:

1. Use Your Real Name, If Possible
Make it easy for people who know you to find you on Twitter.

2. Add a Profile Picture
This should be a picture of you. People connect better with
other people, not cartoons, book covers, logos, etc.

3. Link to Your Website
Hopefully you have a blog or website you can link to. If you
don’t, create one now.

4. Write Your Bio
Make it memorable. Make it relevant to who you are. You don’t
have to be funny or cute, but if you can, and still be relevant,
then do it.

5. Tweet Regularly
This is the biggest obstacle for authors. But it is key to
promotion. It doesn’t matter if you only have two followers and
one is your mom, you still need to tweet daily, to be effective.

If you don’t have something to write, then RT something funny
or useful. Another way is to connect your blog to your twitter
account, then every “post” you write is automatically “tweeted”
on Twitter.

6. Tweet Relevant Information
Don’t tweet every moment of your life, such as “I am at mcdonalds
or “I should have ate a salad.” These tweets are not
interesting or relevant. However, if you were eating a hamburger
with a famous person sitting at the next table, then by all means,
tweet. “I just ate the best hamburger sitting next to paris.

7. Link and Don’t Link
It’s good to link to other places and share your discoveries;
however, if all you do is link, people may think you are just
trying to sell to them and won’t give much regard to your posts.

8. Have a Personality
This is easy. Be yourself. You don’t have to be overly, funny
or smart. Twitter is all about connecting with people – so be
a real person.

9. Follow Those Worth Following
Some people are all into the quantity. But I recommend looking
for quality. Just because you are being followed by someone you
do not have to return the follow. Only follow people that are
relevant and beneficial to you or your audience.

10. Communicate with Others
Twitter is all about communication. If people talk to you or RT
your message, then talk back and/or thank them. (SECRET: People
like to feel involved and acknowledged. I like it, you like it,
everybody likes it.)

http://twitter.com/#!/websiteguys

Set up your free ‘Twitter Account’ (http://twitter.com/)

“Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity.”

Ever log onto Twitter only to be blindsided by the message above, usually accompanied by some type of stylized cartoon bird? If you have, it’s a pretty disheartening feeling (at least, I would assume), one that is a mix of emotions, such as sadness, anger, frustration and betrayal (Why, Jack Dorsey? Why?).

Recently, the social networking site has started suspending accounts that they felt were violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This rash of suspended stops in the Twitterverse leads to one penultimate question: What exactly does it take to get suspended or banned from Twitter?

Twitter’s rules and regulations are in place to keep spammers and bots from filling up news feeds and just generally ruining the whole experience for the rest of us law-abiding Twitizens. So, if you’re a ruthless spammer, the above message shouldn’t surprise you much, but if you’re just an average user trying to promote your brand or business on one of the world’s largest social networking sites, you may be a little confused.

Unfortunately, a lot of the things that online marketers might be doing to market their brand, product or service might actually find them in violation of some of Twitter’s rules, and your innocent attempt at marketing will soon find itself on the receiving end of an account suspension.

While the folks at Twitter are monitoring accounts for suspicious behavior, there are really four things that they are going to look at to determine the legitimacy of an account.

If an account has recently started to follow a large number of people in a short amount of time, they’re going to take notice. This is because usually spammers or bots will try to follow a bunch of people at once in hopes that they will follow them in return, and then they can spam them. So, if Twitter sees someone starting to follow an incredible amount of people in just a day or two, they’re going to be a bit wary of their motives. The best bet for a marketer is to follow a few people who they know will be interested in their brand or company, usually because the user already follows a similar brand, and then let their networking grow from there. As the Twitter rules page says, “Remember, Twitter isn’t a race to get the most followers.” Targeted networking is key on this social network, and following every user you can find is, by all accounts, not targeted.

Another issue related to mass following is mass unfollowing. As I said, people will typically follow a lot of users at once in hopes that some of them will follow them back in return. However, occassionally, when that doesn’t work out, the original user will go back and unfollow those who chose not to follow them. As Twitter starts to limit your numbers and scrutinize your account more once you start following around 2000 users, many spammers will unleash mass unfollowing fury every once in a while, which is usually a good tip off to the site that you’re up to no good.

An account with a small number of followers compared to the number of people they’re following is also a red flag, at least in Twitter’s eyes. This one is questionable, especially for new accounts who are just starting out and many potential followers may not know about yet, but it is also sort of a natural extension of the first warning sign. If you continue to follow new people every day, but no one seems interested in following you, there may be a reason. Not that you’re spamming necessarily, but if you’re not, you may want to figure out what the deal is. Still, I think this is one of the lesser concerns of a Twitter user, because if you’re networking the right way, things should even out naturally.

Updating mainly with links and not personal statuses is another thing they don’t take too kindly to around them parts. This is the ultimate technique of the spammer, just constantly updating with links and impersonal nonsense. Remember, this is social media, so Twitter wants you to be social. Obviously, if you have important links to post, go for it, but keep it lively and communicate with your followers. Use this tool the way it was intended and have a little fun. Social media marketing is not the same as old-school business marketing, it requires a more personal touch.

The last big one should be really, really obvious. If Twitter has a problem with a lot of users blocking your profile and/or writing in with complaints that you’re spamming, you’re going to be suspended, and probably almost immediately. There’s a simple solution: don’t spam. It’s rare that anyone will ever complain if you’re not actually spamming, and Twitter is probably going to notice pretty early on if you are, anyway.

There are a few other practices that can lead to suspensions even though they may be harmless on the user’s end. Inadvertently “spamming” by posting the same thing, especially links, to other users, maybe asking them to vote for you in a contest or something, will draw the ire of the Twitter crew. So will duplicate updates, which could be happening without your knowledge if you use a third-party app to post on your social networking sites, which is why it’s a great reason to monitor those applications daily just to make sure nothing is going wrong. Finally, Twitter hates username squatting, which is where you’ll sign up for an account only to hold that title hostage. Many people who just don’t use their accounts very often will find them suspended for this reason, even though it’s perfectly innocent. Just ask our Editor-in-Chief, Peter Prestipino.

So, just to refresh, here are a few things you’ll want to avoid so you don’t bring down the wrath of Twitter. Don’t go a spree of mass following a bunch of people, and, likewise, don’t go too crazy unfollowing people all-at-once, either. Try not to overuse links and make sure you incorporate personal status updates into your Twitter content; nothing says “spam” like a bunch of dispassionate linking. Don’t go overboard posting content for specific users, especially if it’s the same material. Make sure that all of your posts are going through only once and you don’t have duplicates. Check in on and update your profile every once in a while, which you should be doing anyway if you actually want something to come out of your Twitter marketing campaign. And, finally, please, don’t intentionally spam.

Oh, and pornography…don’t post any pornography.

Happy tweeting!

According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, Twitter usage has climbed to 13 percent of U.S. adults online – up from 8 percent in November. Usage among people ages 25 to 34 and 55 to 64 has more than doubled since late 2010.

These statistics are impressive but they don’t tell the whole story about recent developments with Twitter and the fact that it is on its way to becoming the Web’s next great search engine. For that, you need to optimize. But first, let’s look at how Twitter is getting closer to its goal of becoming a legitimate powerhouse.

Earlier this year, Twitter acquired TweetDeck, the service that helps users organize information on Twitter and eases the burden of constantly streaming updates. They also recently acquired AdGrok, an advertising platform intended to help Twitter monetize the site. Other recent developments include an embeddable button that allows users to more easily follow their favorite accounts on Twitter, and the ability to share photos on Twitter directly (expect video to follow).