Back in 2007, nobody thought much about the social networking site called Twitter. With only 140 characters (including spaces) to be used for every post, people were reluctant to participate in this community because it seemed restrictive and a bit boring. What can you say with only a few words anyway?
Today the tides have definitely turned for Twitter as it is now one of the heavyweights in the social networking world. Twitter means different things to different people. It is through Twitter’s flexibility and utility that entrepreneurs and bloggers alike can find ways to promote their website.
You might feel more than a little restricted because you only have 280 characters with spaces to work with, but if you know how to play well with words you can definitely use your tweets to improve your site traffic and readership significantly. The best thing about Twitter is that it’s free, so you all need to do is invest your energy and time into making it work for you.
You can be lazy and use the title of your new post as a tweet, but that’s not going to hook your readers in and convince them to click through to your website. Here’s what you can do instead to effectively promote your website through Twitter and keep in touch with your readers:
Choose a Twitter name and background profile that reflects who you are and what you do
Most personal blogs feature the real names of the people who write them, so what’s stopping you from using it on Twitter? Besides, using your own name will help people find you on Twitter easier, and it’s also easier for readers to remember.
You can also design your profile in such a way that your blog is tiled throughout the page as a background. Include a link to your site and a short description so that random visitors to your Twitter page can also click through to it easily.
Tweet your post tastefully
As already mentioned, copy-pasting your new article’s title on Twitter and hitting the post button is far from effective. What you can do instead is to ask a question or write a teaser about your core topic and then provide the link to your page. Shorten long, scary links with a URL shortner to encourage readers to click it.
Your goal is to catch your reader’s attention, so you have to be more creative with your Tweets. Asking for their opinion or teasing them with a tantalizing line engages your readers more effectively than a bland post title. You can also switch gears and promote your post even before it is rolled out to stir up interest.
Gain strength in numbers
It’s not enough to tweet your post after you’ve uploaded it on your website, because your tweet will most likely be buried beneath the tweets of other people whom your readers are following on Twitter. To get maximum results, tweet five times or more at different times of the day if you think that’s not pushing the envelope too far.
Ask for retweets
Don’t be afraid to ask your followers to retweet your post. This is the fastest and easiest way to gain more readers through the network of other people. If you’re on WordPress, you may also include a plug-in that allows readers to easily post your pages on their Twitter profiles as a retweet.
Of course, if you’re asked to retweet somebody else’s post and you think it’s relevant to your field, go ahead and share it. They will most likely return the favor so it’s a win-win situation for both.
Tweet about the comments on your posts
When you’re promoting your site, you have to think beyond merely spreading the word about your new post. You also have to make your blog look busy and lively by putting an emphasis on the comments that flow into different posts, even if they were uploaded a month ago.
As long as the comments keep coming, your post is still relevant and fresh, so you can ask your readers to check it out. It’s a way to shamelessly promote your killer posts and let your readers know that you actually have a solid online following.
