A Simple Twitter Strategy To Enhance Your Site’s Traffic

Twitter has taken the world by storm this year. Actually, among those who proudly call themselves "web geeks," it’s been mainstream for even longer. One way to tell that a new web app or technology has really hit big time is when grandma or grandpa willingly embrace the new technology. And in this case, many have — Twitter is definitely for real.

So is it time to jump on the bandwagon?

Well, if it’s just for your own personal use, sure give a try and see what you think. Not essential, but many folks really find it useful, entertaining, or at least otherwise amusing. Just don’t invest too much time in it or you might never come back.

But here’s the real kicker — if you have a website and you’re trying to build the traffic count, using Twitter to your advantage is a must. You might eventually gain just a handful of new visitors (but they’ll be very targeted if you do it right), or with a little luck, you might even be able to attract new visitors in virtual flocks thanks to your Twitter strategy.

Here are the basics of starting a new Twitter strategy like this:

Start a separate profile just for your website. As tempting as it might be to mix your personal and professional Twitter accounts, just don’t do it. Start a brand new account and profile just for your website.
Tweak your Twitter theme. Try and match or complement your website’s look by using appropriate colors and perhaps using your logo for your profile picture. Add a compelling one sentence description to your profile and be sure to include your website’s URL. Because space is limited on what’s shown on your profile page, be sure to skip the www and just get right to the point with sharing your web address.
Add an app to your website. If you have the appropriate place ready on your existing website, adding a Twitter app to display your most recent tweets right there is a good idea. This can be completely customized to really blend right in with your site, or if you’d rather take the easy path, Twitter does provide a plug and play app (just a snippet of code to paste in).
Make some friends. Now don’t get too ambitious here and just start following anyone and everyone. Keep it related to your niche and grow your followers accordingly. Start with perhaps your direct business partners and then follow others that complement your niche. Proud member of your local business scene? Tap into that network on Twitter. The thing is, the tighter you keep the follower base, the more valuable it can be — and at the same time, those who follow you will be much more likely to also be within or related to your niche.
Use it wisely. Active participation is the key to success with Twitter. You can’t just broadcast a message every day and expect that to do much good. But if you answer questions, participate in ongoing conversations, and share tips and advice, you’ll build up some "street cred." And then, you’ll be able to share a promotional message every now and then to a captive audience.
Get subscribers. A few online marketing gurus out there have found that using Twitter to grow your opt-in mailing list can be extremely effective. If you place a great deal of value on your email subscriber list, you’ll definitely want to experiment with this technique.