Michael Allen ~ Small Online Business Consultant

The buzz is all about Twitter. But, I have plenty of people who are asking me how in the world does it help them increase their business. While it’s true that it was not created with business people in mind, we can’t forget the fact that there are people making millions. How do they do it?

Well, you have to treat twitter like a property that you are going to create and at least invest a few hours a week doing. That’s about 30 minutes a day after you set it up right and I’ll show you how to do that.

You also have to look at twitter as a list building strategy. It’s true that you can only contact your followers through twitter unless they give you their email address. But, I look at contacting my twitter followers through twitter as actually a blessing. Not a curse. So, let’s look at the game plan first so that you can see how it works and then you can decide if you even want to proceed.

Twitter as a part of your business model is simple:

Gain followers.

Keep them updated.

Make sales.

It’s not that simple. But, that’s the basic premise. You have to find people to follow. They will most likely follow you. If they don’t, you can weed them out of your follow list and keep going. Keep all of your followers updated with information they find useful and you will always stay right there in the front of their minds. Your profile is your sales pitch, so don’t pitch your followers in your updates. Just keep them informed on topics relevant to your business. And if you think this takes too much time, keep reading. I have ways of automating the entire process. And then I have ways of making some of the steps semi-automated. All of that effort just to keep people coming at you with credit card in hand. If you are ready, keep reading. Here are the steps to make it all worth while:

Dress It Up

First, think of an interesting name. If you already have an account, then go to the next step. Your domain name is going to be http://twitter.com/yourname, like mine is http://twitter.com/celebadvo2day. Choosing a name that brands your business is probably the best idea if you are going to “tweet” for business purposes.

Next, make sure your description is interesting. You can sell your business here and even add a link if you want. But, I wouldn’t add a link here. You can add a link where the profile settings ask for your website. Use your description to create an interesting tag that catches your visitor’s attention. Use all the space to optimize with keywords, but make it legible. I’ve seen some pretty interesting descriptions like, “SEO Expert, Business Entrepreneur and Overall Great Guy.” Those things work, but you can also just use the description of your website if you have optimized your website appropriately.

Then, make sure to add your website URL in the Profile Settings. It will show up as an active link on your profile. Might as well take advantage of that opportunity.

Finally, create a graphic for your background. You can have a small one that sits in the top left hand corner or you can create a huge one that takes up the entire page. That’s up to you. But, this is where you can create a great message for everyone who visits your site. This is a great place to display your logo, your tagline, your website address, email address, contact information and everything else you think will get you business.

Now, your profile is set. Here’s where the real fun comes:

Automate Your Twitter

I’m not saying lose interest in twitter. I’m just saying add some automation to it so that it is still running while you are away. There are automation efforts and then there are semi-automation efforts. I have streamlined all of them so that the best are listed here.

First of all, you want to go to bit.ly and create an account. You’ll need your username and API later in the process so it is best to just get it started now. Bit.ly is a URL shortening service that when used with other programs, will become a big part of your update automation efforts.

Now, open a new window keeping your bit.ly account open in the other window. Visit Google and create an account if you don’t have one already. Then, create a Google alert. You should see it in the Try Something New section of your Google Account Page. Start with a keyword that fits closely with what your business offers, leave comprehensive selected, leave once a day selected and choose delivery to Feed. Go ahead and create the alert. Now, you’ll see your alert listed. If you don’t and you get a message stating that you don’t have an alert, refresh the page. It will show up then.

If you look at the Delivery method, you’ll see a Feed link. Choose that and you’ll be taken to another page where you’ll find a feed url in your browser that looks something like this:

http://www.google.com/alerts/feeds/1234567890/0987654321

Copy and paste that into your clipboard. Now, open a new window and visit twitterfeed.com. Login using your OpenID you have from Google and go to your twitterfeeds. You’ll have to create a new one in which you’ll Authenticate at Twitter using your Twitter login and username. It’s completely safe. Go ahead. You will be taken to the twitter website where you will be asked to allow access. That’s how you know it’s safe to use with your Twitter account. You’ll be redirected back to the twitterfeed site once you have granted access.

Now, it’s easy. Copy and Paste the Google Alert Feed into the RSS Feed URL form. Choose every hour, 1 post, include Title only. Then, check Include Title Link. Now, here’s where bit.ly comes into play. You’ll have to copy and paste your username and API into the Shorten Link Through and make sure you select bit.ly. I think it is preset as a default so it might already be there. All you have to do now is Create the feed and this will automate your twitter updates.

You’ll be able to add your own tweets to twitter as you see fit. But when you forget about twitter for a day or two, which I strongly urge you not to do, your twitter updates will remain active. People will still think you’re alive and active at Twitter.

Now, Let’s Find You Some Friends

In order to get people to follow you, you have to initiate the process by following them. Some people will find you and follow you on their own devices. But in order for you to effectively affect your followship on Twitter, begin the task by following others. Those who don’t follow you can be weeded off of your following list. But, I would say to wait at least a day to purge the non-responsive follows. That gives them time to check their Twitter and get the chance to follow you. After a day or two, you can just about count that it’s not going to happen. Shave them off your list and you can move on with finding more people to follow.

You can search on Twitter itself and then advance your search to narrow or broaden it. You can find one person with a great deal of followers and then go through those people to choose people to follow. There are several sites like Twollo.com and Twellow.com that will help you find followers using keywords. Twollo automates increasing people you follow, but it moves slow. Twellow is semi-automated. Using a keyword, it finds the people and you simply push follow. That’s pretty easy. But, it’s still work.

There are many ways to do it. But, the easiest and most effective method can be found at TweetSpinner. You’ll have to open an account and there is a free option that has great functionality that will make you forget all the functionality you are missing with a paid membership. Once you’ve opened an account, add your Twitter account. Once again, completely safe. It’s a program put in place to help you with your Twitter account. In a few seconds, you’ll see your stats. How many people you are following and how many people are following you. You can use TweetSpinner anyway you want. But, this is the main way in which I use it.

Under Friends and Followers, edit filters. Choose 300 where:
Filter: Stop following if my friend-to-follower ratio is > than … (Put 300 in the box)

Then, Save Filters.

Add keywords under Keyword Following. Choose several keywords that are relevant to your business or what you have to offer. Then, save them. When you are ready, start choosing follow on each of those keywords. The free account you are signed up under will select 40 new people for you to follow for each keyword until your friend to followers ratio reaches 300%. When it does that, close the account and come back the next day. You’ll see that people following you have climbed. So, you can start following people again until you reach 300%.

At first, the 300% will be reached rather fast. But as hundreds of people start following you, you’ll be able to add hundreds and hundreds by the day. You’ll be able to add thousands upon thousands in only a few short weeks. That’s the fastest list building method I know and it works wonders for your business.

Keep your followers updated and keep your profile fresh with new backgrounds periodically that highlight a new portion of your business. You’ll make plenty of money as you increase your business.

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