Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. WTH?????

Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea how to make money with it.

All I know is that I put up a badge on my blog and have been getting steady followers since then. I don't have much traffic, but it works great. People want to read when I put up a new post, have some cool news, or whatever else. Then I get return traffic to the site... so I guess for me, that's where the value is!

Twitter is a neat website but it's not going to be a 'job-killer' in terms of traffic and sales unless you sell products that are related to 'making money with Twitter'.

There are some ways to generate traffic with Twitter:

1. Post links to your new products and blog posts. This in and of itself does get some traffic (the bigger and more responsive your 'Twitter list', the more traffic you get).

2. You can also ask for help in getting others to syndicate your blog posts on Digg and other social bookmarking sites. This helps in generating more traffic and also for search engine rankings.

3. Build a more responsive list. Invite subscribers on your autoresponder mailing list to subscribe to your 'Tweets' so that they can keep in touch with what you are doing. This is great for building up rapport and trust with your subscribers, with equals more sales.

4. And of course, not to forget, that it is a great tool for building business relationships if you choose to. The direct messaging tool can be more effective than email, and it's more likely that someone will see a Twitter direct message than an email (which is more likely to be lost in the clutter).

Fabian

I think Dana is the Twitter expert. Her username is Dana_W. I started using twitter (actually I think Vegas Vince made me) and it got kind of addicting but I still don't know why I use it or what its for so I can't be of any help.

ps- I use it mainly to chat with ppl in 140 characters or less, talk, socialize. I don't really try to sell stuff but I did give a tweet for my wso there and gave a tweet for a squidoo lens once. I know some ppl use it ONLY to try to sell stuff but I did not want to be spammy and always trying to sell stuff. I don't pay attention to tweets of ppl only trying to sell anyway.

Best advice-Just ask Dana.

I haven't seen much in they was of sales from Twitter, but I've been using to build my list. That's been very successful.

You're allowed to follow 2000 people total until you have more than 2000 people following you. The best way to get followers is to find another well know marketer's twitter profile, click on their followers and follow all of them, or 2000 of them because that's as many as you can follow.

Wait about a week and then unfollow those that didn't follow you back. You can set up an auto follow mechanism with Tools to Boost Your Productivity on Twitter TweetLater.com, this is really handy because when some follows you it will send them a message automatically. You can thank them with this message and include a link to your site. After about a week or two use Your Twitter Karma to mass unfollow those that haven't followed you back. You'll then have room to start following more to boost your followers past 2000.

Jason, can't you hurry that video up and do it TODAY instead?

While you're waiting for Jason's video, you
might find this useful:


John

John, thanks for the video. It's given me a few things to think about, and it's good to know Twitter can be used for more important things than telling people "what I'm doing at the moment", which most times would bore the pants off people anyway

Twitter is a great way to bring traffic to your site. Let people know about your new products and much more. Social Media is being to really Boom and Twitter is the place to start.

I love twitter, but I think the value is in the relationships you build rather than using it for marketing purposes. I've had several good joint ventures that arose directly from my twitter relationships, so it has been a good tool for my business, but I don't really consider it a marketing tool. Actually the thing I love the most about twitter... being able to ask a question (especially tech questions since I'm not a techie at all!), and getting 10 answers instantly! It's like having my own tech team right there at my fingertips - love it!

I've developed at least 3 JVs directly tied to Twitter.

My profile page has a PageRank of 5.

I regularly "connect" with 10-20 people per day.

I find deals on software and services all the time.

I help other people succeed and make money.

I steadily grow my *buyers* list each day.

Many people Stumble and Digg for me, without asking.

Shall I do on? ;-)

~ John

Guys, thanks for sharing.

I'd like to know though - how do get people who are interested in what you doing, when you are just starting out on Twitter?

I haven't got any friends that I know of, who use twitter and it's looking impossible to find "followers"

Help needed.

I've helped several professional service clients use twitter to attract new clients from their area...

Works very well for that application - A little to well.

Dave

Wow Randy, I used to live in Garden Grove! Small world.

Lots of people here have given some great advice and I'm sure that Jason's video will be helpful.

However, here's what I found with Twitter...it is absolutely 100% impossible to read every last post from people on your list.

Most often people will seek you out to try and get more followers themselves - if you don't follow them back, you'll generally see that they've stopped following you.

It's really a funky kind of game really. Sure you get people who really ARE interested in your stuff (heh - and they will usually sign up to your email list) but then you get those followers who simply want to boost their own popularity.

I personally market very little on Twitter and instead use it as a platform for just giving really good information (and a few off-topic and nonsense posts) here and there.

I'm curious though how Jason is tracking the links via Twitter. I have a script that will capture an id from a link and then email the information to me as to what links got clicked on but have yet to find one that covers all links I post.

Open to ideas on that if anyone has them.

This video should help a bit.

I've been on Twitter for about a month now. I can really feel the power of it if used right. I primarily joined it for business purpose but it's great for socialising as well. Actually socialising can have an extremely positive effect on your business as it makes you appear "REAL" instead just mindless link spitting drone.

I usually interact with others in conversation. If I can't jump in one I try starting one with an interesting question. Lately I've been really busy with my launch that I haven't had much time for Twitter and when I do go on it I just tell people what I'm up and do a bit of self promo. I do kinda feel guilty for doing this instead of interacting with them first but I'll make up for that later I guess.

Anyway I love Twitter.

Thanks
Adam