Here is why you should help your blog readers share your posts on Twitter and how to quickly and easily get this essential in place on your wordpress blog with a retweet button.

Updating your blog is very important to the success of your website as it provides new information and refreshes the search engine results for your page.  As important as it is to update your page it is equally or more important to update the links coming back to your page.  So as well as the viral effect of Twitter in this respect it is important to know how to add a retweet  button to your WordPress blog.

Using software found easily on the internet from various URL shortening services will make it possible for your readers to tweet new blog posts.  Every time you make a new post to your blog your readers will be able to retweet it to the masses around the world.

Adding new technology to WordPress is very easy and is actually part of the appeal of using the service in the first place.  This addition will help your WordPress blog take off and you could be shooting up the search engines in no time.  All because of a little Twitter how to know how.

As you can see I use Tweetmeme here on the Twitter How To blog, not only do I highly recommend you do the same but this is exactly how you can too!

Firstly Tweetmeme for wordpress is installed just like any other WordPress plugin, I am definately no coder so rely on awesome plugins like this. Once you have installed and activated the plugin you will see a Tweetmeme tab on your WordPress dashboard.

Now click on the Tweetmeme settings to customise your own tweetmeme button. From here you can choose:

• When and where your button will appear
• The actual style of the button
• Your choice of URL shortner
• Hashtag from post tags or a default or none at all ( Hint: hashtags are great for visability on Twitter! )
• Plus a few more…

Once you hit the save button your done. Easy right? So no excuses!

If you haven’t already, go right now and get Tweetmeme set up on your WordPress blog to include a retweet button and help your readers spread your posts across Twitter.

Do you use Tweetmeme? Let us know what you think in the comments below. Maybe you use an alternative, then let us know. What did you think to this post? I am always looking for feedback so if you think I failed tell me, but if you think this post was great my ego could do with your comments also

P.S. If you did like this post be sure to click the Tweetmeme button at the top of the post. Thanks!

Technorati Tags: how to use twitter, retweet, tweetmeme, twitter how to, twitter wordpress plugin, wordpress

Since the advent of the internet there have been countless revelations about the best ways to get people to your website and stay there.  Everyone has jumped on board with the thought that having a poll on their website creates both interest and a rooting pride.  If you can learn how to easily run a poll on Twitter using Twtpoll you can encourage many followers to your Twitter account and find out exactly what your followers thoughts and opinions are, giving you a great insight into what tweets, blog posts or product developments you should be actioning to make your public audience and customers happy.

Setting up your poll is as easy as going to the main page for Twtpoll, selecting the option of creating a poll.  Next you must put in your Twitter name and decide on the type of the poll you want to have.  You have the option to create a multiple choice poll, essay poll and several other options.

All you must do at this point is type in the question in one box and then the answers in another box.  You select a few options like the type of answers and how long to keep your poll live. Then you have your poll all ready to go so just click on the link to create your poll.

This is when you will also be able to share your poll on various social networks including Twitter. Above the share options you will also see the tab to embed your new poll on your own website or blog just like I have in the sidebar on this site (Go ahead and answer my poll if you want to see Twtpoll in action). Anybody that answers your poll will also be shown the same share options helping your poll go viral across Twitter or any of the other social networks.

A couple of the advanced features I really like about Twtpoll are, you can brand your polls with your own branding which is obviously great for businesses. Also you can now set up a poll to get feedback on a video or image!

If you can learn how to easily run a poll on Twitter using Twtpoll you will never look back!

Have you tried Twtpoll? Let us know how you used it and how effective your poll was in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: how to use twitter, twitter how to, twitter poll, twtpoll

If you are a blog owner these days and you are trying to get traffic to your website you would be silly to not be using Twitter.  For those of you that are using WordPress you may not know that there is a Twitter WordPress Plugin that makes the process of using Twitter much easier.  There are a few things that you should know about the Twitter WordPress Plugin and they are listed below.

1.    If you have different writers assigned to your blog to write for you they must have a “publish post” permission setup in your blog to use the Twitter WordPress Plugin.  You can also post to Twitter using the Twitter WordPress Plugin.

2.    When using the above feature with the Twitter WordPress Plugin you can have one post to the other and vice versa without doubling your tweets or posts.  This way you don’t overdo your posting or tweeting priviliges.

3.    When your new posts get “tweeted” don’t have the “new blog post” prefix removed as this will cause havoc with your Twitter page.

To get your plugin head to http://twitter.com/goodies/widget_profile

There you will be able to customize many features including the widgets appearance.

The Twitter WordPress Plugin can be a great asset to you to help you grow your blog in popularity and performance.  Use the Twitter WordPress Plugin right and you will grow your site quickly and solidly.

In future posts I’ll be showing you alternatives for connecting Twitter with your WordPress blog, until then if you have any questions or suggestions please add them to the comments below.

Technorati Tags: Twitter Wordpress, twitter wordpress plugin

Twitter has started rolling out the Discovery Search Engine, a small test group of accounts now have Twitter search fully integrated to the home page.

As one of the accounts to already have this feature, I wanted to show you what the fuss is all about.

The first difference I noticed was the position of the search box which has moved from the top of the page, to a more natural position in the side bar.

The real improvement is the way your search results are returned. No longer are you taken to a new page. Instead, when you do a search, the relevant tweets instantly show up right where they should be, on your home page.

I think this change really improves both the functionality and feel of using Twitter search to find any tweets that contain the word or phrase you’re interested.

Another feature added is the ability to save a search for a term or interest that you want to follow . Saved search terms are placed permanently in your sidebar for easy access. So if you want to know what people are saying about the weeks football games, a product you sell, or just about anything else, it becomes a link on your home page.

And there’s more…

Also now appearing in the home page sidebar are Twitter trends. The top ten words and phrases being mentioned on Twitter make up the currently trending Twitter topics. This is a great place to start if you are looking forinfomation or a discussion on a current event or topic. Clicking on a trend will bring up the latest tweets that include the trending term.

Introducing the improved search features will surely encourage new tweeps to remain inside Twitter as oppose to using third party search app’s. However, I do not see a huge number of tweeps that make use of desktop and browser Twitter clients with built in search switching over. This said, I do think Twitter has got the search integration spot on.

Well done Twitter!

Technorati Tags: twitter, twitter blog, twitter client, twitter search

If you are using Twitter to send tweople to your blog or website you need to write tweets that get tweople clicking on your links.

I approach writing these tweets like writing a headline.
A hot and compelling headline will promise benefit or reward for the reader, in exchange for the valuable time it takes to click through and read more.

Now, I use this headline type in between other types of tweets. If I was receiving just headline tweets linking to a tweeps own site, I would see this as spammy, and unfollow the tweep. So, I continue to chat, ask questions, suggest interesting articles and most importantly help other tweople. Then, when I have a new blog post up, I will encourage my followers to take a look using a headline tweet.

Recently I came across an excellent piece on writing great headlines, over at Copyblogger. Brian Clark used a section of the Copywriter’s Handbook by Bob Bly, high lighting eight time-tested headline categories that compel action. Carfully adapted and used sparingly, with a little testing and monitoring these headline type tweets will almost certainly encourage your followers to click through the links in your tweets.

Copywriter supreme, Bob Bly suggests these eight, time-tested headline categories that compel action:
(I have edited some of these slightly to fit our needs on Twitter)

    * Direct Headlines hit straight at the heart of the matter, without any attempt of subtlety or cleverness. For example “Skittles – 30 Percent Off” A direct style tweet could read “Free SEO E-book For All My Followers”.

    * Indirect Headlines take a more subtle approach using curiosity to raise a question in the reader’s mind, which the linked copy answers. You can make the most of a double meaning for this type of tweet. An indirect headline type tweet might be “Fresh Bait Works Best” and yet have nothing to do with fishing, it’s actually about writing timely content that acts as link bait.

    * A News Headline is pretty self-explanatory. A product announcement, an improved version, or even a content scoop can be the basis of a compelling news headline style tweet. Think “Introducing Flickr 2.0″ or “My Exclusive Interview With Steve Jobs”.

    * The How to Headline is everywhere, online and off, for one reason only – it works like a charm. Bly says that “Many advertising writers claim if you begin with the words how to, you can’t write a bad headline.” I have found this to be true of tweets also. After all, if you found this post via a tweet, it probably included the words “how To”!

    * A Question Headline must do more than simply ask a question, especially used as a tweet. It must be a question that the reader can empathize with or would like to see answered. Bly gives this example from “Psychology Today: Do You Close the Bathroom Door Even When You’re the Only One Home?” An example Brian Clark suggests is used way too much in Internet marketing guru-ville (and we are increasingly seeing more of on Twitter) is, “Who Else Wants to Get Rich Online?”

    * The Command Headline boldly tells the prospect what he needs to do, such as Exxon’s old “Put a Tiger in Your Tank” campaign. Bly indicates that the first word should be a strong verb demanding action, such as “Get Your Twitter How To Questions Answered Today!”

    * The Reason Why Headline. Your tweeted link leads to text consisting of a numbered list of product features or tips, which you then incorporate into the headline tweet, such as “Two Hundred Reasons Why Open Source Software Beats Microsoft.” It is not even necessary to include the words “reasons why.” For example, “10 Ways To Boost Your Twitter Following.”

    * Finally, we have the Testimonial Headline, which is highly effective because it presents outside proof that you offer great value. This entails taking what someone else has said about you, your product or service, and using their actual words in your tweet. Quotation marks let your followers know that they are reading a testimonial, which will continue in the linked to page. An example is, “I Turn To @twtr_gator To Maximize My Tweetin’ Efforts” admits Barack Obama. (That one is not true, but a good example)

There are two more points you should also consider.

Firstly, if you are linking to your latest blog posts, a great post headline often makes for a great tweet.
Secondly, always mix these traffic grabbing tweets in with your regular conversational tweets. It does not matter how amazing the content you are linking to is, if all you do is broadcast headline style tweets, you are not interacting with your fellow tweeps. Remember, Twitter always works best when you give more than you look to take.

As I mentioned earlier, if one of your reasons of being on Twitter is to drive traffic to your site, you really should be monitoring the click through numbers and I will show you how I do it in a future post.

If you have any thoughts on this post please do let us know in the comments below.
If you found this post to be useful and interesting please tweet to let your followers know about it.

Technorati Tags: how to use twitter, twitter how to, twitter traffic

The Twitter How To blog is starting to appear all over the web. Now we can be seen on Technorati here.

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