Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone these days is talking about Twitter? Broadcast news stations, talk show hosts, friends, family and colleges all seem to be jumping on the Twitter band wagon. Still there are many bloggers and other online businesses not taking full advantage of what this social media platform can do for their businesses. Hopefully this tutorial will help provide more focus on how to use Twitter to boost visibility and traffic to your blog.

What Exactly is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro blogging platform allowing you to communicate with others via 140 character messages. These messages appear in real time, sort of like instant messaging but slower. You can send these messages through mobile messaging, instant messaging and the web.

What Can “Tweeting” Do for Your Blog?

Twitter can be an important part of your brand management strategy. It’s an online social tool that makes it easier to connect with others and build important relationships. Even thought the Internet makes it easier to reach out to a global market, you’ll need to build recognition in order to stand apart from thousands of other businesses out there attempting to do the same thing. Networking with others via Twitter makes it easier.

Let’s Get Started

Setting up your account is really quite easy. Go to the Twitter website and click on the yellow box on the right hand side of the page that reads: “Let Me In.” You’ll be taken to a sign up form asking for your full name, a user name and password for the account.

If you are using your account to create brand recognition for your business, it’s a good idea to consider using your domain name without the “.com” as your user name.  If your goal is to build recognition, make sure to use your own name.

Next, add your email address. You can use your business or personal email for this purpose; it doesn’t really matter. Type in the two codes words in the box that follows, and then finally click on the green arrow at the bottom of the page containing the words “create my account” and you’re all set.

Setting Up Your Profile

The profile you create on social networking sites like Twitter is an important part of your online business reputation. Consider it your bio.  In just a few words it tells the world about yourself. Twitter only gives you so many characters to create a brief description, so make sure every word counts. My own profile is very simple. Feel free to take a look (and feel free to follow) at @avidwriter.

To begin setting up your profile, sign in and go directly to the bar located at the top of the page and click on “Settings.” Make sure to add the URL for your blog, Your Twitter background design (you can upload a custom design or choose from one of Twitter’s available designs) and you’re all set.

IMPORTANT: Some people using Twitter will not even consider following certain accounts. They include:

• Having no clear profile
• No URL
• Those with protected updates

You can opt to have your updates protected through the “Settings” application. I don’t recommend activating protected updates for your account if you’re serious about promoting your blog.

Finding the Right People to Follow

Now you’re ready to mix and mingle. I should warn you that you’ll come across all sorts of social media experts claiming to have the perfect strategy for maximizing Twitter’s virtual networking potential. Personally, I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution that will help every businesses using Twitter succeed. Your blog is unique, so what works best for one established blogger may not work as well for you.

You will have to take the time to find new people to follow, engage in conversation with others, retweet important information and pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t.

A few tips to get you started:

Follow those who have similar interest. For example, if you are a clothing designer, you might follow others in the fashion industry including other clothing designers, jewelry designers, local celebrities, local shop owners, publicists, marketing professionals and so forth.

Use Twitter search and find people to follow by searching for relevant terms. Example: someone looking for homeschooling resources my search using keywords like “homeschooling mom” or “unschooling.” Narrow the search even more by adding your city to the keyword terms: California homeschool ; Atlanta homeschool. Search for people within your niche, but also include people with the same type of businesses, professional goals, specializations, etc.

Engage  in genuine conversation with others. Solve a problem for someone, retweet (resend) important and helpful messages for others, share valuable information that others in your network may find interesting.

Try to update daily. Twitter can become a distraction if you don’t establish time boundaries. However, it’s important to try to post an update since some people will “unfollow” you because of inactivity.

Stay up to date on the latest news and share it with others; especially if it’s a topic that will interest your niche. As you contribute more to the conversation, you will notice that others will from time to time retweet your messages resulting in more followers coming to you from outside networks.

Add a Twitter application to all of your social networks. This includes adding a link or button to your website, blog, Facebook, squidoo, etc. Be sure to add a link to your Twitter profile in your business email signature as well.

Whatever you do, don’t just show up to post links to your website, your blog post, your products for sale. This is considered very self-serving on Twitter and can backfire bigtime. Twitter is very much considered a community. Interestingly, when others
see you regularly contributing to the conversation sharing valuable information, they will help promote and support your business efforts.

You will notice that many times when you follow someone they will automatically return the favor; not always, but sometimes. Some people on Twitter are very preoccupied with numbers. They seem to constantly worry and tweet about how many people are following them and how many people have stopped following them (this is also known as “unfollowing”). Many even use applications to find out exactly who is unfollowing them. Don’t fall into this trap. It’s a distraction that will keep you from meeting your networking goals.

Avoid randomly following lots of people all at once hoping they will automatically follow you back. This is considered spamming and could cause your account to become suspended due to suspicious activity. Follow these simple steps in the beginning and you’ll be off to a great start.

photo credit: playerx

I can hardly believe that my time as an intern here at ProfitableMommyBlogging.com is quickly coming to a close. These past 10 weeks seemed to fly by. I’m always looking to learn more about building a profitable business from home, and this Moms Talk Network’s Blogging Internship was the boot camp learning experience I needed.

As a freelance writer I’ve provided articles, blogs posts and other content for various clients, but now I  feel ready to tackle some personal projects like affiliate marketing and niche blogging that will that will really increase my bottom line. Kelly’s internship has taught me so much about the social aspect of blogging, and I’ve learned how important building online relationships with others really is.

If you’ve been thinking about stating your own blog, now is the time to submit your application for the next blog internship series. You WILL work hard and be pushed to meet weekly goals. This internship is especially exciting because it will be focusing on affiliate marketing and product creation along with the blogging lessons. Believe me the knowledge you’ll gain and be able to apply to your own business is priceless!

If you want to learn how to build a profitable online business, the Moms Talk Network Blogging Internship might be just what you need. Here’s your chance to learn first hand from a recognized blogging and Internet marketing expert, so don’t let this rare opportunity pass by. Submit your application today!

photo credit: Biology Big Brother

As most of you already know, affiliate marketing can be an extremely profitable way for bloggers to make money. What if there was a way to jump into a profitable niche and skip a lot of preliminary research and testing?

Suzanne Myers may have the answer. Suzanne is an affiliate marketer who has been successfully making a living from her online income for the past three years. She has productized her valuable knowledge in order to make it easier for you to have immediate access to the most profitable niches online. Her Affiliate Niche Packs are ideal for those who are new to affiliate marketing (like moi) because it takes so much guess work out of the process. Each pack contains:

• A detailed description of the niche
• A description of your target market
• Ideal affiliate products
• 100 possible domain names
• 1000+ keywords
• 100 article/blog post ideas
• 15 resource box samples (for article marketing)
• Two separate marketing strategies and a blueprint for putting them into action
• Available PLR
• List of recommended resources

All you really have to do is take action by putting all of the research to use. But I have to admit, it’s the affordable price tag that really got my attention. Suzanne also offers coaching to help newbies get their feet wet and remain focused on their goals.

If you’ve been thinking of getting started with affiliate marketing, make moves to check out Suzannes’ Affiliate Marketing Packs.

photo credit: Photos8.com

Blog headlines have a big job to do. They have to:

• Let readers know they’ve come to the right place
• Attract your target readers’ attention so that they’ll want to stick around to read your post.
• Give some indication of what the information that follows is about

What’s Wrong with “Plain Jane” Headlines Anyway?

You’ve probably noticed that some bloggers skip the bells and whistles approach to headline writing and state what they have to say very plainly: “Family Vacation Planning Tips” is a headline that may interest anyone planning a family vacation, and you’ll know exactly what to expect from the content (helpful vacation planning tips). But if you come across 10 other blog posts offering vacation tips, would you consider “Family Vacation Planning Tips” intriguing enough to stand out from the rest?

Spice Things Up

If you want your blog post to stand out, you’ll have to sell your headline by taking a simple statement of fact (“Family Vacation Tips”) and add some meaning to it – something that would benefit your reader. This is what will distinguish your post from the others.

If you find yourself stuck, ask yourself this important question: “Why is this content important to my readers?” The answer is what will sell them on your post. You may end up with headlines like:

• “Family Vacation Tips: How to Plan the Trip of a Lifetime on a Budget”
• Family Vacation Ideas Even Your Teen Will Love
• All Inclusive Family Vacations: Guaranteed Fun for All Ages

The point of spicing up your headlines is not to sensationalize, but rather sell your readers what they want in the headline, and then deliver the goods in your content.

photo credit: dno1967

Bullet lists work well in blog posts and other web copy because they’re so easy to read at a glance. The reader’s eye naturally scans a bulleted list more easily than paragraphs, so this is a great way to highlight information supports your subheadlines.

Let’s say you’re writing a blog post to show your readers how to make homemade macaroni and cheese. You have a long list of ingredients to share with your readers. This is the perfect opportunity to present everything into one bulleted list:

• 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 pinch paprika

Here’s an excellent blog post about how using bullet points strategically can make you a stronger blogger.

photo credit: rick

A few weeks ago I discussed the importance of targeted keywords in my SEO series. Highlighting these keywords and other important words/phrases throughout your blog posts in bold is another powerful technique that can help make your blog posts more scannable.

This is a common and very effective technique used by professional copywriters. Your reader’s eye will instantly be drawn to the highlighted words. Look for words/phrases that would interest your readers by asking yourself: “Which words would my readers search for in my post?” Look for interesting facts that are sure to grab their attention.

Be careful not to overdo it. If you emphasize too much of your content, you’ll wind up defeating the purpose of the highlighting technique which is to genuinely point out important or special information to your readers.

photo credit: Giulio Menna

Yesterday I talked about the importance of breaking up your blog posts into short paragraphs separated with white space to make it easier for your readers to scan through your entries. Today I want to talk about inserting subheadings into your content.

Subheadings Are Informative

Subheadings are short phrases that introduce the paragraphs of text that follow. They are usually in bold or a slightly larger font size so that it’s easier to distinguish from the rest of the content. There are three good reasons to consider using subheadings in your blog posts:

• They help break up long, blog posts.
• They help scanners quickly get to the content they’re most interested in reading.
• They help tell a story quickly (the content that follows provides the meaty details.)

Make Sure Your Message is Clear

Before you write subheadings for your posts, think about the story you’re telling. They should instantly be able to communicate a complete message in just a short phrase.

When you complete a blog posts, read back through, only reading the subheadings. Ask yourself these key questions: Do they illustrate the point of the post clearly – do you know what the post is about without reading the paragraphs that follow the subheadings? Are they interesting enough to pull the reader into taking time to read the content that follows?

photo credit: John-Morgan

This week I want to focus on web writing strategies you can use to make your blog posts more interesting to read for your readers. You’d be surprised at how much small changes in how you present your content can affect readability.

As you know, when reading our favorite blogs we often scan the content first looking for something interesting to jump out and justify going back to read the article more carefully. Understanding how information on the Internet is consumed will help you craft appealing posts your readers enjoy.

Shorter Paragraphs and White Space

There’s this one blog I read daily, I really enjoy the blogger’s personality, wit and writing style. However, the posts are composed of very long paragraphs and no white space to give your eyes a break and making it harder to scan the copy into easy to digest bites of info.  If I’m having a really busy day, I reluctantly skip reading it because I just can’t absorb the information as quickly and easily as I’d like.

When you produce easy to read content, your readers can scan the information, and if they find it interesting or important, go back and read it more carefully.

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

This week Melissa Ingold shared a sneak peek into a very interesting round table discussion featuring some of the top affiliate marketing experts. Melissa and the crew were attempting to come up with some fast cash affiliate marketing strategies that those new to affiliate marketing could implement and experience a relatively high chance of success. Experts like Tiffany Dow, Nicole Dean and even our very own Kelly McCausey all weighed in. You can visit the ImSweetieBlog.com to see this discussion unfold for yourself.

It was interesting to see that everyone had a different approach to Melissa’s affiliate marketing question. I guess it shows that there are several different strategies that will work.  I consider myself a newbie to Affiliate marketing so I’m always on the lookout for good advice. I certainly learned a lot from all of the responses and look forward to implementing some of those ideas in my own online pursuits.

photo credit: teamstickergiant

I’m always amazed at how much really helpful information we bloggers can access online absolutely free. It may take a bit of digging around, but it’s out there if you need it.

One of the biggest things I’m learning through this internship is that blogging is not just a  simple task of rattling off an entry and posting it on the web for everyone to see. I realize that if you don’t get out there and mingle with other bloggers and let others know what you’re doing, chances are not too many people will even read your post. There are lots of elements that work together toward building a successful, and hopefully profitable, blog.

Here are just a few interesting blog posts I enjoyed , and learned from, this week:

How to Get Free When You’re Feeling Scared and Stuck

Eight Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

If You Don’t Have Money to Burn, Don’t!

Review Your Posts to Improve Your Blogging

photo credit: stickystarfish

It’s been a while since I’ve shared my Twitter #Follow Friday favs. One thing I love about Twitter is the access it gives you to targeted information. If you’re looking for information on how to get started blogging, make money as an affiliate or are looking for promotional tips, you can enter a keyword into the Twitter search engine and you’ll have access to some of the best experts available like:

@AngelaWills
@imsweetie
@DeniseWakeman
@nicoledean
@aliceseba

These are only a few of the  experts I look to for advice online marketing advice. If you’re not already following these ladies, consider adding them to your list.

photo credit: m1ndy9876

The word evergreen is one that gets tossed around quite a bit online. It refers to topics that will always be considered relevant and interesting to readers. For example, pregnancy is a pretty evergreen subject to blog about because someone is always having a baby and looking for information online. Weight loss is another popular evergreen subject you can expect to be a hot topic for a long time. Both of these are good examples of blog topics people find interesting enough for you to build a readership. But even once you choose your blog’s theme you want to make sure you create evergreen posts as well.

Evergreen entries are specific topics that will stay fresh for a long time. If you blog about pregnancy topics, a post titled “10 All Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness” might be a topic that will continuously be searched for and found online. It’s timeless because it’s very likely that women suffering from morning sickness will continue searching for safe solutions.

You don’t have to stifle the creativity and natural flow of your blog by only posting about evergreen topics every single day. Your readers will also enjoy posts containing information and news that’s just for the moment. Still, it’s good to add a few evergreen entries now and then because they will generate a steady amount of traffic to your blog over time which could mean more back links.

Many evergreen topics are widely discussed so there is a lot of competition when it comes to the information available online. One thing you can do is keyword research to find highly targeted, low competition, long-tail keywords to use throughout your content. Also, don’t just rehash the information that’s already out there. Dig a little deeper in your research to come up with fresh ideas or find a point of view on the topic that others have missed.

photo credit: dno1967

If you are keeping track with your blog statistics on a regular basis (you are, right?), you may start to notice that not all of your carefully crafted posts inspire feedback from your readers. Finding the right formula to inspire readers to develop a discussion can be tricky. Your posts need to engage your readers, speak directly to an individual about something that really matters to them so they can’t help but respond. Here are a few tips to get a conversation going on your blog.

Ask a Question at the End of Your Post

Questions like “What do you think?” “How do you deal with X?” get your readers thinking about their answer and makes it appear that you could use their input. It shows that you appreciate their input and shows your human side.

Share Your Opinion

Your readers are interested in what you have to say or they wouldn’t be reading your blog. Sharing your opinion provides a fresh, unique point of view on a topic rather than regurgitating what’s already been said. Readers are much more likely to respond to a unique perspective.

Poll Your Readers

Polls are another great way to engage and connect with your readers. It provides them with a simple way of contributing. Some may prefer participating in polls because they have the option of remaining anonymous.

Spark Some Controversy

Some bloggers shy away from this strategy, but it works. People love controversy, but you have to be careful when you dabble in it because your reputation is a stake. You don’t want to badmouth another blogger or product. Respectfully disagreeing with another blogger’s post and explaining why you feel the way you do is just one safe way of bringing on a little controversy.

Reward Them for Reading

Giveaways, contests and discounts are all proven ways of encouraging readers to spark discussions on your blog. Announce a prize for the reader who contributes most over a two or four week period. This may also attract new readers to your blog.

photo credit: Freedom Moreno

Every so often someone asks me asking for advice about earning an income online. Unfortunately, I’d have to say about 65% of those who contact me probably aren’t serious enough to make a go of it. I say this based on the type of questions I receive.

If someone is asking you for very basic information they could plug into Google themselves and find with just a bit of effort, will they really be willing to put for the time and energy it takes to get a profitable blog off the ground?

This week I stumbled across several great blog posts full of helpful, useful information that I’m happy to share. I hope you enjoy them.

• How to Overcome Obstacles and Turn Vision into Reality
• How to Be a Professional Blogger
• Poor Bloggers Focus too Much on Blog Posts
• Online Business Fundamentals

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

I love frugal theme blogs, mostly because they’re about living well without going broke (I mean who wants to feel deprived?). One of my favorite frugal blogs is the fashion blog Budgetnista.org.  This anonymous blogger’s cute tag line: “A Confessed Fashion Cheapskate” says it all. This blog is all about looking good for $20 or less. Impossible you say? See for yourself.

The blogger is a single mom with a son in college so she makes every penny count. Working with a modest salary under $46k a year, this frugal fashionista has managed to put together a very smart, stylish, colorful wardrobe on the cheap. She shares photos of herself looking amazing as she flaunts her fabulous fashion finds. She even shares a few tips to help her readers look great for less:

Stick with Clean, Classic Cuts

Items like trench coats, belted blazers, dresses and sky high stilettos (that may not be practical for everyone of course) are excellent wardrobe staples.

Don’t Go Crazy with Trends

They’re usually fleeting and within a year or two can look very dated. Experiment with trendy accessories instead. This is a much more affordable option. The exception is finding a trend that extremely flattering as well as cheap.

Shop Target All Day

This fashion blogger boasts that almost half of her stylish wardrobe comes from Target’s Mossimo and Merona brands. And she’s also not at all shy about recommending that frugal fashion forward shoppers also check out Sears and Kmart as they have made impressive improvements on their apparel selections.

Just because you spend the majority of your time working from home doesn’t mean you can’t look cute doing it. Stop by Bugetnista.org for some fashion inspiration.