This is a guest post from Chris @TheTrafficBlogger who shares how to get more blog traffic. You may remember Chris because his previous guest post here went viral when it was tweeted by Tony Robbins and got over 350 RTs. (Yes THAT Tony Robbins.)
Last weekend was my sister’s fiance’s bachelor party. No, I didn’t fulfill the role of the creepy brother in law like in the Hangover.
Besides gambling on horse racing and the fourteen of us drinking ourselves silly, I also had an opportunity to meet several entrepreneurs who run successful businesses on the side. Like me, they feel that it’s important to have a day job to guarantee money for your family, but they also know that side businesses can generate enormous amounts of income.
One of the guys I spoke to ran a ticket reselling business and mentioned that competition had become difficult as of late, with many people entering the market thanks to new technologies being more accessible. I asked him how he was dealing with the situation and he stated that he had become a manager of other ticket sellers and ran a website to bring in new customers.
The conversation came up again, although this time we were both a little tipsy after a few hours at the craps tables (@#$% casinos with their free booze!). My new friend revealed that he was trying very hard to find a new way to bring in customers in order to stay at the top of his niche. This is when Twitter came up.
You know what his reaction was? “Meh, I don’t think I’ll ever use THAT.” I thought, what are you thinking man? However, I immediately analyzed why he had said that. Without much detective work, I realized that he was afraid to use Twitter because he was skeptical of two things:
- Getting a Large Following
- Making Good Money from Attracting Real Customers
I spent an hour convincing him that Twitter was the way to take his business to the next level. It’s not the first time I’ve had this conversation, and it won’t be the last. Here are the points that I made to him.
1. Twitter is a Live Conversation
Marketers know that nothing converts better than a real conversation about a product where the discussion is interesting and solves a problem. By having live conversations with others, I have managed to sell more in the past two weeks than I ever have in any one niche. Why?
Because my conversations involved not only speaking, but listening as well.
In fact, I make it a habit to listen first, ask questions, and only speak after I know exactly what someone is looking for. This process of listening with questions and then delivering great answers is how I pitch my products or the helpful products of others on Twitter.
With the case of my gambling friend here, Twitter is an opportunity for him to discuss upcoming events and sell tickets to people who are wishing that they could go.
2. Twitter is for Collaboration
Far too many marketers try to make it in this world without networking. They build great content, have an awesome (but small) audience, and think that they are on the right track. If I’ve learned anything in marketing, it’s all about volumes of traffic and collaborating on Twitter can provide you with this.
By taking the time to interact with other people on Twitter who have similar goals to your own (ie own websites and are marketing), you can develop a highly lucrative network of marketers.
Since he wanted to grow a network of ticket sellers, Twitter would be the perfect place to discover potential members.
3. Twitter is Diverse
You’re going to be exposed to a slew of new / fresh ideas and links on Twitter. In the span of a minute, you could discover your next big break or the perfect product to sell to your audience.
You might find someone that you can help right now
and develop a new relationship with.
Twitter is a sea of possibilities.
4. Twitter feeds “THE LIST”
As a marketer, I am always looking at developing my lists of potential customers. I have dozens of lists comprising “THE LIST.” Right now, I am feeding my lists to the brim with an ever-growing Twitter following.
The power of email marketing was what sold my new friend on Twitter. He had never developed a list before, but the idea of it absolutely made him fall in love with my advice.
Maybe it was just the booze talking when he agreed to try it with his business, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he makes out with Twitter. It doesn’t stop there however, I am also interested in your success.
Part of the reason my new friend was so hesitant about Twitter was a lack of understanding. He truly believed that it was difficult to maintain a large Twitter following and grow it consistently. I believe he called it “a third job.”
My followers on Twitter (@Folderg1), have seen my Twitter account go from 1100 followers to 2400 in less than a week and a half, and it keeps on growing.
I’ve worked tirelessly since then to release a report on exactly how I am growing my Twitter account right now to the tune of 100-200 followers per day. I’ve even included how I am making so much money off Twitter right now. Please check out Twitter Feeder 2 to see how I’m being so successful with Twitter today.
Believe it or not, I’m spending less than a half hour physically on Twitter each day.
TheTrafficBlogger
Latest posts by TheTrafficBlogger (see all)
- Website Marketing Revealed: Consistent $4000 per Month Income Sales Funnel – Sold for $50,000 - October 21, 2011
- How to Twitter: 4 Advantages of a Healthy Twitter Account - October 7, 2011
- A "Kingly" Answer to the Relationship vs Content Question - July 26, 2011
Thanks! This is very encouraging. I am just starting to use Twitter and a little hesitant too but you’ve confirmed its benefits.
Twitter is not only helpful in advertising; it is also helpful for those who are involved in stock market trading. By interacting with other people on Twitter who also invest in stocks, you can form a network of intelligent stock investors. They can give you advice on where to invest your money, and update you regarding the financial standing of companies. They can help you avoid the risk of losing your money.
I’ve been using sprout social to easily log in different account.Anyway,if you are posting ads on twitter be sure to make it valuable.
Thanks! This is very encouraging. I am just starting to use Twitter and a little hesitant too but you’ve confirmed its benefits.
I wonder if we’ve really seen a tenth of Twitter’s potential – so many people don’t understand it yet, but there’ll be a real tipping point – I know there are loads of users now but wait until it really becomes widespread
John would love you to read ..The sack race: watch Dalglish’s odds
Amazing review and reflections. I noticed that Twitter is the top social media plugin and it’s provided so many advantages. Here you input 4 awesome advantages to make healthy Twitter account. I think these are not only advantages but also useful agreement. thanks mate! 🙂
I see how using Twitter for online sales can be helpful. What would your recommendations be for service industry people targeting a particular city. I was always using Twitter to find new people and network, but that wasn’t really getting me business. Any advice would be appreciated.
Brandon would love you to read ..Charlotte Search Engine Optimization
Hi Brandon,
Funny you should ask. I was just discussing working with another blogger to grow a DFW specific Twitter account I have – and THAT is the key to what you want to do.
There are many tools including Twellow that allow you to search by location. You need a Twitter account for each major metro or if the businesses you want to work with aren’t near one either a particular city, town, state or section of a state.
Follow people in that location and regularly tweet content of interest to that area. Find local bloggers and share my posts on why your location is your best niche because being able to reach a local audience is where the money is for bloggers because when they can do that it makes sense for businesses to advertise with them or hire them to do blog outreach and write about them on their own blogs.
Almost no one wants to read a blog about how to get their plumbing or air conditioning or car fixed or read a bunch of tweets all about the same business but almost anyone would be happy to see interesting tweets about where they live and interaction there between that Twitter account and local businesses.
Ideally you would even create a collaboration of bloggers in your area who write posts about why people would want to follow local businesses on Twitter and other social networks (in case they need what they have to offer!) and anything else of interest locally in addition to what they already blog.
These two posts have links to many other posts about this very topic and I provide mentoring to others and put together collaborations and mentor those, too.
Blogging Collaborations and Best Practices
Twitter Best Practices
I’d be happy to assist you or answer any questions you have. I am putting together a complete step-by-step process on geo-targeted Tweeting but it isn’t quite ready yet.
growmap would love you to read ..What NOT to Tweet on Twitter
Yeah I would definitely be open to discussion on how to target locally and garner business. What I have found tweeting in the past is finding one of 2 things: Restaurants and Social Media Representatives for companies. It’s just tough to reach like a person looking for our services thus far, though I’m certain you can help me with that!
Brandon would love you to read ..Charlotte Search Engine Optimization
Bloggers need to work together to grow Twitter accounts for specific locations and to create collaborations by location. Once we do that then what you want to do will work.
growmap would love you to read ..Twitter Retweets Plus More Traffic and Followers Using JustRetweet – Influencers Already On Board
Until now there are small business owners who still doubt the power of social media as a marketing tool for their business.
It’s ridiculous how much people earn through Twitter and other social media sites. Some high profile celebrities even earn as much as $20000 per tweet, I won’t name them anymore as you guys probably know who they are anyway. The power of Twitter is much much greater than some of us realize, and we should make use of it.
Forget to tell you, amazing tips! 🙂 I hope you convinced your friend.
Your really have done a good job discussing the advantages of twitter for a businessman. Twitter is one of the top social networking sites and it is certainly a wonderful tool for marketing strategies.
I think you did a good job of enlightening him about the benefits of using Twitter for his business. Hopefully he took your advice, and won’t get caught up in doing robo-tweeting, but actually put some time into tweeting like a real person.
>>I spent an hour convincing him that Twitter was the way to take his business to the next level. It’s not the first time I’ve had this conversation
It’s interesting how many people out there still have a sort of knee-jerk “gut” negative reaction to the concept of Twitter if you mention it while near them. It’s pure luddism and not based on anything but their desire to mock something that’s quickly become very popular and has a silly name.
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Twitter is undoubtedly one of the top 5 websites on the internet along with Facebook. With the advent of the internet, things have changed at a drastic level and advertising segment is not excluded.
Today, with digital media marketing, businesses have touch new facets within quick time. Social media is the latest buzz with online advertising and Twitter offers a great way to promote your site or service in an efficient manner. I really liked this post.
Twitter is surely a potential platform to promote our blogs and to get quality backlinks with huge traffic.
Thanks!
Great post.Thank you for sharing your Informative article.May God bless you.
I think twitter is useful in increasing traffics. Twitter strategies to get more followers work but rather slowly. Thanks..
I was just like your friend when i came to Twitter. Very skeptical and I didn’t think that Twitter would help my business… But man, I was wrong !!!
In just a couple of weeks I have seen enormous change in my adsense income and also in my affiliate income. Twitter is a great way to promote something on and I am “hooked” for life 🙂
[Sorry, Rasmus, We do not allow links to gambling related sites. If you any sites that are not related to adult content, illegal activities, vices or what search engines consider bad neighborhoods you are welcome to link to those.]
Hi,
I am newbie to twitter. Thanks for sharing this valuable information. I have certainly gained some knowledge about it and would apply it in near future. Thanks once again.
regards,
Southerndentalofbrooklyn.com
Rahul would love you to read ..Cavitron
Hey Chris,
I was just like your friend before I really started getting involved with Twitter. I was very hesitant and felt like gaining more followers was a task I didn’t want to do. Thanks for the great read, you made some great points to him why Twitter is the way to take his business to the next level.
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Twitter is a network of live people so it is necessary to make it more human rather than an advertising machine. 😉
It might take awhile to understand the do’s and don’ts but once you get the hang of it you can grow an enormous following and even start a movement on Twitter. Thanks
Jason would love you to read ..Get your ex back now
I have had so many people tell me how good twitter is yet I have never stuck with it for long. I think my fear is similar to that of your friend. I am interested in getting started though so I guess I have some limiting beliefs that needs breaking.
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There are a ton of different ways to use twitter really effectively. You can be personal, semi-personal, use it to crowd source or just use it to update people with your news. Some people use automation methods, while others do everything by hand. And then you can wrap it all up and monetize it as well. There’s a lot of untapped potential there.
Richard would love you to read ..How to Get a Blog Started
Chris,
Solid list of Twitter “do’s” here. I think you and I are on pretty much the same page. I try to connect on twitter as a ‘real” person while also growing my list and spending less than 40 minutes a day phsically on.
For all those naysayers in comments. It can be done. Sure there are a lot of bots and people simply doing marketing, but when you narrow down to lists you cut through the chaff and get the wheat. People that are actually engaging, reteeting at LEAST and trying to further the conversation.
Which of course means that YOU have to do that too simply to get including in the lists of those that are really participating.
Steve would love you to read ..7 Actions that Increase Blog Traffic by 25.3% [Traffic & Conversion #1]
Your goals with Twitter depend on your overall social strategy. A small brick and mortar business owner in a small town isn’t looking for 20k followers. I’m helping them use Twitter strategically in their geo to engage with their customers.
Me, on the otherhand, that’s a different story.
I’m running two Twitter accounts now. One that I’m experimenting with trying to get as many followers as possible, one in which I’m trying to engage with customers.
So far, both of them are performing about the same – driving no traffic to my site. Both have under 1k followers at this point. Is it my content or have I just not reached the tipping point?
Joe would love you to read ..Tell me a little about yourself!
Nice list of twitter tips here! I think that twitter can be used as email, some companies are tweeting back faster than emails that I sent to them. While some don’t ever reply to your tweet.
sanjay would love you to read ..How to Prepare your WordPress Blog for SEO
Twitter is a sea of possibilities. Totally agreed. With your business in Twitter, a lot of great opportunities could come in most especially when followers grow bigger and brighter. Awesome article and conversation with your friend. Glad you have finally convinced him to use Twitter for his business.
The live conversation part of Twitter is the main reason it survived and not only that, it’s doing really well. It’s something other social network badly lack.
It just takes more time to work with at an optimum level, but it some cases it’s worth it.
The great thing about Twitter is how diverse it is. Depending on the type of person you are, it can be a way to interact with clients, meet new friends, get travel advice – you name it. So many possibilities- if you can keep from letting it consume every minute of your free time.
Larry Lourcey would love you to read ..Changing Your Perspective
I am making sure my Twitter account is updated because I have more than 5000 followers who always retweet for my posts particularly about my business.
we can using twitter in any purpose but sometimes people tweet too much as if they have no one else in this real world, just take this advantage and get rid off the disadvantage.
james would love you to read ..knowing precisely on how much protein to build muscle
Guess I’m “one of those guys” and I have to agree with that guy, I can’t really see it, when it comes to twitter, at least from my point of view and niche. When I look at twitter I see only business, celebrities and bots, lots of bots.
Hi Chris, you are so right about the endless possibilities for networking on Twitter. It might take awhile to understand the do’s and don’ts but once you get the hang of it you can grow an enormous following and even start a movement on Twitter. Thanks for sharing your story and your resources.
I’m curious about the previous post that went viral. Can you link it? Also, it’s intriguing to think of Twitter as a sea of possibilities.
Here is the post: https://www.growmap.com/content-king-relationships/
Hi Annie,
There are interesting details and stats about Chris’ post that went viral and also about one I tweeted for another blogger that got even more traffic in the GrowMap Third Birthday post I mentioned.
We can’t make any particular post go viral – a lot of it is what catches someone’s eye – but the other post benefited from a very catchy and controversial quote.
Including stats and quotes that will fit in a Tweet can definitely help. When a writer makes points that fit in tweets I often schedule many tweets over more than one day for them.
Other writers have content just as worthy of sharing but if I can’t see any way to get it into a tweet they won’t get as much traffic.
growmap would love you to read ..CommentLuv Your Way to Business Prosperity
Twitter – I am still getting my head around it, still do not know how to use it the best to help spread the world about my local business. Any tips?
Some tips to get you started:
Follow people who you like.
Follow the people they like.
Tweet @someone to have a conversation.
Use #list to talk about an event or category.
Use DM to send a private message.
When you have the basics down, grab my twitter feeder 2 to take it to the next level overnight.
Hi Neil,
Start with what Chris shared and then check out my How to Twitter tips and Twitter best practices.
Everything you could possibly need is in that post from really basic What is Twitter and definitions of commonly used terms like hashtags and retweeting to advanced strategies for the already social media savvy.
Also see the post I’ve put in CommentLuv in this reply for what is important to local businesses. What we really need are more geographically targeted niche blogs.
I am mentoring bloggers and calling for bloggers to lead and get involved in Blog Collaborations.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
Hi Chris,
I agree with you Chris. Twitter definitely helps in collaborating at a professional level. I have created my twitter account to follow all the industry stalwarts and learn from them. And most of the time, i end up spending hours following other people conversation if it anything relevant to me. Thank you for the valuable tip about twitter feeder which i did not know about it earlier.