Twitter is just a fad, right? Nothing to worry about for anyone focusing on their site’s search engine visibility. It isn’t as if a tweet at twitter will rank well in Google or something. Wait a minute! It is a fad? That means that people are using it, right? And eyeballs are what any web marketer is looking for.
Here are a few tips on how to turn Twitter traffic into search engine success.Twitter is what we call a microblog service. Members are allowed to send out short messages (max 140 characters) to their followers, i.e. to people that are subscribing to their messages (tweets).
On their Twitter home pages they will get a constant stream of such messages from the people they are following.
You may include a URL in the tweet, and many do so to guide their followers to interesting articles etc. However, the links are automatically
nofollowed, which means that although Google may spider the tweets themselves, the links do not contribute to strengthening the ranking of the pages they link to.
So, adding a large number of links to your own blog or site in Twitter will in and for itself not lead to better search engine rankings.Indirectly, however, Twitter links may have a strong effect. Here’s why:
Search engine marketing on TwitterQuite a few people use Twitter to tell each other about online news and resources. For instance: in the search engine marketing arena itself, many of the best known experts are using Twitter, sending out links to interesting post and commenting on each other’s tweets. There is Danny Sullivan commenting on a blog post by Google’s Matt Cutts. A few moments later Matt responds on Twitter.
This means that Twitter has become a source of fresh news and discussions, and a lot of bloggers and journalist follow these streams in order to get the latest scoops and the best information. This is exactly the kind of information they use when writing their own blog posts and articles, and a link found in those blog posts matter a lot!
Some also use the Twitter search engine to track down the latest news and trends. You want those searchers to be able to find tweets on your articles.
However, if you want the experts to follow your tweets, you have to contribute valuable information. This does not mean that you have to stay online all the time. Four of five carefully selected tweets a week may actually do the trick.
What if you haven’t got the time to follow Twitter? You need your time to write blog posts, right?
You may still establish a presence on Twitter. There are services out there that will turn the RSS feed from your blog into Twitter messages. This means that your blog will automatically send out a tweet every time you add a new post to your blog or site.
How to get followers on TwitterThat doesn’t solve the problem of getting relevant followers, though. How do you get the insiders in your field to follow your tweets?
Twitter has a search engine you can use to search for the names of people you know. Search for brands and site names, as well, as many companies and sites have discovered the usefulness of Twitter. There are also third party Twitter people search engines and directories you can use to find people who share your interests.
Follow the ones that seem to be knowledgeable in your field. Then go through their list of followers and look for people that share the same interests. Follow all that seem interesting.
This will cause Twitter to send an email to those you follow, telling them about your subscription. Many of them will take a look at your Twitter feed and see if there is something interesting there for them. If you have already added a few high quality tweets, they may subscribe to your messages. And presto, you online “radio station” has an audience.
That’s not all: If you provide useful information, they may also explore your profile which includes a link to your site.
Optimize your Twitter profileWhen potential followers click on your username to find out more about you, they are taken to your profile page. There are several ways to optimize this page so it holds the kind of information your visitors are after. Click on “Settings” in the top menu and make these easy changes:
- Add your real name so people who know you can find you.
- Add the URL to your blog or web site in the “More Info URL” box. This will place the link on your profile page.
- Add a short, hype free biography in the “One Line Bio” box.
- Make sure the box for protecting your updates is not checked. Otherwise no-one dropping by will see what you are tweeting about.
- Add the URL to your blog or web site in the “More info URL” box. This will place the link on your profile page.
- Upload your photo or company logo in the “Picture” tab. This makes your tweets easily recognizable.
To add even more info, you may want to change the default background image of your Twitter home page with one of your own. Make a jpeg file some 150 to 200 pixels wide and 500 to 600 pixels high. In this area put your logo, your URL and other types of relevant information. The image will not be clickable, but it will help you tell the visitors what your site or product is about.
So what should you tweet about? Well, restrict the number of “Another cup of coffee” messages. A few may make you seem human, but too many and they become irritating noise.
Do provide links to your own articles and blog posts, but also to high quality on topic articles provided by others. If your followers see that you contribute good stuff, they will remain your followers and they will be more likely to visit your site, as well.
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