Category Archives: How To

Contest, How To

Get Started with Twitter Guide UPDATE

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September 2012 EDIT: Like many social networks, Twitter is always updating its look and offerings. This post has been edited to reflect its newest look.

By now you’re no doubt aware of the power and need for social media and maybe you even read our Social Media Tips, but have you put those tips into practice? We hear from many of you on Facebook, but though we have more followers on Twitter, they’re not quite as vocal. We want to hear from you on Twitter and ensure you’re using it to be a successful GDI Affiliate. So read on for our Twitter “Get Started” guide!

Set Up Your Account

Twitter is a very simple platform, so signing up is quick and easy. Head over to www.twitter.com and click the bright yellow “Sign Up for Twitter” button. This will bring you to a page asking for your Full Name, what you would like your User Name to be, a Password for your account and a valid Email Address. Just fill out this information and accept the terms and conditions and you are almost there. Twitter will then send a confirmation link to that email address. Click that link and you’re ready to start tweeting!

But, before you start, we recommend customizing your page just a bit. Simply go to the widget wheel in the top right corner and then to Settings>Profile Profile to manage your profile. Here you want to add an image, say a little bit about yourself and share your website. Now you’re really ready to take advantage of Twitter.

Follow Your Interests

Twitter is about connecting to people, companies and organizations you’re interested in. Want to find more affiliate marketers like yourself? Use Twitter’s search option. This option functions just like any search engine in that you type in the keywords and it will come back with results in the form of users who match those keywords and tweets that do as well. This is a function that has a significant advantage over Facebook. Browse through your results and follow who you would like to hear more from.

Discover

More than just search, Twitter recently unveiled a new Discover tab. You can find it at the top of your screen as the hashtag (#). Discover shares “what’s happening right now, tailored to you,” which means this is where Twitter shares top news and tweets related to you based on who you follow and your interests.

Invite Followers with Great Tweets

Now onto what Twitter is most known for, sharing your thoughts. Many people don’t like Twitter because it can be a lot of noise, and they are right. It’s up to you to change that. Tweet what you’re interested in. Tweet great news about your business.

If it’s followers you want, you need to tweet things that would be of interest to potential followers and tweet things that are sharable. Stumble on a great news article related to your business that you would like to share? Tweet it. Have a great tip your followers could benefit from? Tweet it. To get followers you need to share content that makes you worth following. Twitter is not for link blasting, it’s for great content sharing and “from the mind of” thoughts.

Tweet Trends

Once you are logged into Twitter, you will see a list of Trending Topics on the right hand side. These are the most popular topics on Twitter. You can include a trending topic in a tweet and whenever anyone clicks on that topic, your tweet will appear in a feed for that topic, ensuring new eyes will see it.

Enjoy!

Lastly, enjoy! Social Media is meant to be social. So get on Twitter, and get tweeting about things you love, your business and your hobbies. Don’t take it too seriously and you will enjoy the time you spend on Twitter and get more out of it.

Have a Twitter question or topic we didn’t cover? Post it in the comments.

Affiliate, How To, Marketing

7 Powerful Content Marketing Tips

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One way to drive traffic to your site is to create smart content. How do you create smart content and get views? We share our seven tips.

  1. Set goals for your content. What are you trying to achieve with each post, video or page? Set a goal and then create content that will help you achieve it.
  2. Invite others to take part. Ask team members and those in your network for feedback on your site and your opportunity. Then share it in a post of video.
  3. Share across many social networks. Even though Facebook may be your favorite, it’s important to share across many different types of social networks like Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare and Storify.
  4. Set a schedule and stick to it.  Select how often you want to share new content and stick to whatever that schedule may be. Visitors will come to expect it.
  5. Switch up your content types. Switch things up between video, presentations and text.
  6. Be a thought leader, not a parrot. Don’t be one of many of the same voices online. Select a unique point of view or area of expertise and share it, don’t just echo what others post.
  7. Respond to specific requests. Do you have visitors asking questions? Respond to them with a great post of video.

Domains, How To, WebSites

Keep Your WebSite Interesting to Build Return Traffic

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Whether you have a SiteBuilder site, a WordPress blog or a fully personalized hosted site, traffic should be one of your goals. Traffic and return traffic mean more eyes on your site that will help you build your business, support your cause of just share your thoughts. So how do you get traffic to keep coming back? Simple, keep your site interesting! Here are a few easy tips to accomplish just that.

Use Different Types of Content

No matter the type of site you have, breaking up the forms of content you share is essential. This means sharing a video on your blog sometimes instead of just text. It’s also smart to include photos and images on your main site to break up text and draw eyes around the page.

Appeal to a Broad Audience

When creating content for your website, try to appeal to a broad set of viewers most of the time. This means your content will be relevant to a large group of people who may visit your site. An example of this is a post or page on earning extra income for anyone on a tight budget.

 Appeal to a Niche

While you should appeal to the broad audience most of the time, writing for a niche every now and then is a good idea too. Take stock of search terms that lead people to your site, or which posts are most popular. Create posts or pages specifically for these people; for example, stay at home moms looking for extra income. This targeting will help to build loyal visitors from a specific segment.

Stay on Trend

What is your website about? Your personal business? You affiliate team? Your causes? No matter you site’s topic, be sure to stay on trend and up to the minute with news related to your topic. Do this by sharing news stories about your industry or just using best practices for affiliate marketing. Set a Google Alert for any news that might be relevant to your site and share it for an easy update or post.