Post Update: Here is a great tool to actually use Twitter to make some money – Carl

If you haven’t heard of it before, Twitter is a micro blogging tool that allows you to write short messages (up to 140 characters at a time) that can be exchanged between friends, and posted for all to see. You can access Twitter via Web, Desktop Applications and even SMS. Here are 5 ways to use Twitter to generate more traffic.

1.Network with people in your niche – add them as friends and ask them to do the same, so they’ll get your updates when you tweet them. Don’t friend random people, try and create a beneficial relationship
with all parties involved.

2. Use a Twitter Search tool like Summize to see who is talking about your topic. Find out what the buzz is about your topic, who is talking about it, and then join in on the conversation and share your expertise and knowledge. Also use Summize to see what’s popular in the Twitter world, and try and create targeted content around that topic.

3. Let your followers and friends know about your new content – you can use a tool like Twitterfeed or manually update your twitter account when you post a new article, blog post or other piece of content. Your follower list is highly targeted – so they’ll want to know and read new content you’ve published. Not enough followers? Try creating Twitter exclusive content that will attract more followers and friends.

4. Solicit feedback on Twitter – ask friends and followers to give you feedback on new content, get their reactions, and continue the conversation on your blog or on Twitter.

5. Embed a Twitter box on your web page. Let visitors to your web site know that they can always be instantly updated – install a twitter box on your web site that updates with your latest tweets, and invite your website visitors to follow you on Twitter.

Twitter is a great way for getting in touch with other bloggers, promoting content, and increasing stickiness – use it well and you will increase your traffic, create buzz and establish a loyal following.

This post was contributed by Maya Richard, a writer on the topic of high speed internet. You can email her at mayarichard@gmail.com with your feedback.

Note from Carl:  The best auto bookmark tool out there is Bookmarking Demon – check it out!

If you’re looking for a tool to promote your website(s), the buck stops with social bookmarking. With the advent of Web 2.0 and its focus on the social aspect of the Internet, listing your pages on bookmarking sites is a surefire way to get visitors to your pages – they either get there by directly clicking on your link, or if your page is ranked highly enough, it turns up on a Google search depending on how trusted your site is.

Since it’s tedious and time consuming to manually add bookmarks to various bookmarking sites, most people turn to automated software that is able to do this for them. While there are many options available, some free and others at a cost, the thing to remember when choosing automated social bookmarking software is to make sure your site is not blacklisted as spam.

Automated software that creates a large number of profiles and continually posts all your pages to every social bookmarking site there is, runs the risk of getting your site(s) labeled as spam. You also abuse your Internet Service Provider by running this tool continuously and risk cancellation of your service. And finally, the bookmarking sites you post to will end up blocking you and putting an end to your posting days.

The key to selecting a good social bookmarking tool is to look for one that does not send out your bookmarks on a continuous basis, but which posts tags gradually and once every few days. You must be able to set the time frame for the posting. You must also look for software that is server based and does not run on your PC. It’s more complicated to install but the difficulty is worth it when you consider the savings on your resources.

The bookmarking tool you use must randomly select tags and bookmarking sites so that the posting process looks like it’s been done by human beings and not a machine. Some tools even offer to post from proxy servers thus reducing the possibility of your sites being blacklisted and blocked as spam.

Automated social bookmarking tools are useful only when used judiciously – after all, there’s no use for a bookmarking strategy or tool when your sites are all blocked out as spam.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of dial up Internet. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

Note from Carl:  The best auto bookmark tool out there is Bookmarking Demon – check it out!

Guest Post: Trish Jones

Trish Jones, MBA, is an online marketing consultant and has created and managed her own Internet business, since 2004. Trish teaches entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using a simple blog. For more blogging tips, go to www.trishjones.com

Techno Who!?

This is the response I usually get from my clients when I suggest that they need to link their blog to Technorati.

But, if you have a blog, or you are thinking of adding one to an existing website, Technorati, the largest blog search engine is definately a site you'll want to romance with. This specialized search engine is devoted entirely to searching through blogs, and lately, it has started to seriously compete with search engine giants such as Google and Yahoo.

So, What Does Technorati Do?

Essentially, Technorati can index your blogs, whether they are about cooking, financing, engineering or entertainment. The name itself is based on a joining of the words technology and literati, the later referring to a group of critical intellectuals (I didn't feature in the latter group!). By tagging Technorati throughout your post e.g. this post is about commercial financing, you'll keep your posts at or near the top of the list at Technorati. And, to simplify this process, you can use a plugin called Tagalize It which makes tagging throughout your blog posts a really simple task.

I'm sure your next question is how can Technorati benefit my business?

At the most basic, you'll find that Technorati is one more way to let the people looking for your service find you. When people search using Technorati, they are searching for information that has a personal bent to it, and has a presentation that they find easy to read. In other words, people who search Technorati are looking for good information, and if they can find you and you can provide that information they are looking for, you will be one giant step closer to getting a customer, client or subscriber.

In terms of optimizing your blog for Technorati, be aware that the first and best thing that you can do is to tag your entries as I've explained earlier. If you haven't done this yet for your older entries, take the time to go back and tag them. Although this can be time consuming if you're working through a long backlog, you'll find that it will pay off once the hits start coming in. While you shouldn't go overboard, you'll find that you can use several tags on a single blog entry to help people find what they are looking for. For instance, if you have a cooking blog, an Italian recipe could easily have the tags, “Italian,” “vegetarian,” and “mozzarella.”

Although Technocrati has been criticized for not taking into account the 56 million blogs on MySpace, you'll find that it can still be quite useful to you and has some attractive search engine benefits particularly when you get ranked at or near the top.

Until next time,

Source: optimizing your blog