There are many routes to drive traffic to your blog. Google Organic is great, but that takes time. For most bloggers social plays a key role. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus certainly have their place. However, the undisputed champion is Twitter. Twitter is so important to Bloggers and it’s the engine that drives traffic back to our blogs.
We don’t even see it as Twitter on Google Analytics. Instead we see a pedestrian t.co somewhere near the top of our results. Here are 5 reasons why Twitter is so important to Bloggers.
photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa via photopin cc
Network Openness
Twitter is an open playground for users. It can be chaotic at times, but you can interact with just about everyone on the platform at any time. Following or being followed has no bearing on being able to tweet, mention, or RT any other user. The 140 character limit is genius, and allows for quick exchanges amongst users. This allows a lot of flexibility to bloggers.
Repeated Tweets
You just published your post and it’s ready for the world. Where to first? Well, Twitter of course. You send it out and share. Later that day you send out a tweet again of that same post. This time you throw in a #Hashtag. You can keep sending out that tweet, dressed up differently each time, if you desire.
If you have an “Evergreen” post where your content is not time sensitive, you can tweet out that post years later, and some bloggers do.
This might be the most important factor. On Twitter you can continue to promote your content indefinitely. It’s widely accepted, and practiced by many. Posting the same content consistently on Facebook, Google Plus, and/or LinkedIn wouldn’t fly.
Tracking Clicks
Goo.gl/ is one of the many URL Shortener’s available. Shorterner’s allow you to track clicks. Here’s three ways to send a message for the same post.
- 10 Ways to Optimize your LinkedIn Experience http://goo.gl/QZUeV
- 10 Ways to Optimize your #LinkedIn Experience http://goo.gl/QZUeV #in
- Optimize your LinkedIn Experience http://goo.gl/QZUeV #LI
So there are three different ways of sending a tweet with the same link. If you keep the percentage of these self promotional tweets below 20% of your Twitter activity you’ll be fine. Below 10% is probably the better option.
Multiple Twitter Accounts
Just about everyone that has their own blog has a twitter account for their blog, and a personal twitter account. That’s two accounts. There are people with 25-50 accounts. That’s a little much, but with two accounts you can tweet your content out through both. Again, this should be a small percentage of your overall Twitter activity.
Twitter Share Buttons
Make sure they are predominately displayed on your blog. Don’t make your readers search for them. Top, Bottom, and side bar are the options. It’s suggested to use 2 of the 3.
You also want the tweet to go out as via @twitterhandle There are too many tweets where the handle reads via @shareable or via @wordpresscom. Those two references didn’t publish the article, you did.
You can join the bloggers using these practices and gain thousands of visitors over time to your blog that you might be leaving on the table today. Make the most out of Twitter.
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I'm still trying to learn all the ins/outs and hows/whys of Twitter. Thanks for this post.
Debbie :)
You're very welcome Debbie…A lot of moving parts with Twitter for sure…
I don't agree with "Repeated Tweets." That's a fast way to become a spammer. I've unfollowed people for repeating tweets with less frequency than you're suggesting, and I'm in a constant war to keep this kind of spam from clogging my tweet stream.
Thanks for the comment Linda, and most importantly thanks for serving. That's bigger than anything, and very much appreciated.
Tweets have such a short shelf life, and such a small percentage of your following will see any one tweet. If a tweet, whether it be your own content or from another tweep, has a good response (Replies, RT's, mentions) than repeated tweets should absolutely implemented.
Twitter is a different animal. It's fast moving, and worldwide. The next time you send a tweet that generates a lot of activity, send it again in the next day or two. You'll see what I mean.
Twitter is my "go to" social space account, I am a complete Twitter chat addict. So much knowledge being shared and exchanged on Twitter each and every day…Nicely done Steve..
Thanks Gerry :)
Placement of twitter share button is equally important to derive good results from them. I placed it in my blog on the top, but in many blogs, I found it placed on the left. That's a problem with small screen it overlaps the content.
I have it at top as well George. You need to have it at the top or bottom for mobile. Otherwise it won't been seen. Definitely, is more important than people think.